Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-01-23

WASHINGTON, January 22-The Senate
to-day in secret session resolved to make
public the Samoan treaty published last
Sunday, negotiated in Berlin last spring.
In transmitting the treaty to the Senate on
January 6, the President says: II am
pleased to find in this general act an honor
able. lust and equitable settlement OF the
questions which have arisen during the past
few years between the three powers having
treaty relations with and rights in the
Samoan Islands"
Secretary Blaine's letter to the President
is very long. He speaks of the instructions
given to the commissioners, saying they
were told that the United States desired a
speedy and amicable settlement of the
Samoan question; that it maintained its
FULL EQUALITY OF
in the disposition of these questions, but
was influenced as much by an anxious de-
sire to secure to the people of Samoa the
conditions of a healthy, prosperous and
civilized life, and was bound to protect the
interests of its own citizens, and that the
President hoped and believed that the re-
suit of concentration would be to prove that
it was not the wish of any Of the three gov
ernments to subordinate the rights of the
Samoans to the exigencies Of a grasping
commerce, or to the political ambition of
territorial extension on the part of any of
the treaty powers,
The Commissioner were also instructed
that the conference was to be regarded as
the continuation of the efforts already made,
and not as the initiation of a new confer
ence on another basis, inasmuch as the
United States could not admit the condi-
lions to have been changed by any subse-
quent occurrences in the South Pacific.
THE COMMISSIONERS INSTRUCTIONS.
The subjects as to which the commission
ers were instructed fell under five heads,
viz:
First-Theyw were directed to ask the restora-
ton of the status quo, in order to remove the
disturbance caused by the forcible Intervention
of Germany and the deportation of Malietoa.
This was not to be an ultimatum, however, which
would close the conference.
Second-The organization of a stable govern
mental system for the islands. whereby native
served free from the control or preponderatIng
influence of any foreign Government.
Third-The adjustment of land claims.
Fourth-The prohibition Of the sale of fire.
arms and alcoholic liquors.
F1fth-The question of a municipal admins
tration of Apia as a foreign settlement, under
NAG SsAS VI SAeAS AASAA1
The Secretary says:
The protocols Of the several sessions here
with submitted. show the discussion which
took place on each Of these important heads,
and indicate the successive stages by which
the views OF the three Governments thereon
main, entirely in accord with the instructions
under which the American plenlpotentiaries
acted.
vEXED QUESTIONS SETTLED.
1t is proper to observe that the matters IN
respect of which an agreement seemed most
difficult were the restoration of the status quo,
the formation of a stable Government, without
the preponderance of influence on the part of
any of the treaty powers, and the raising of
revenue for the maintenance of that Govern
ment.
As to the first of these points, the chief OBJ
stacle to an unqualified renewal of the status
which existed when the conferences at Wash
ington were held, was found in the reluctance
of Germany to admit such a situation as would
appear to leave Mataafs, against whom she had
declared war, eligible for the free choice of the
natives as King. 1t is confidently believed that
the final accord removes the difficulties, and
the Samoans themselves, in the exercise of the
freedom which they are to continue to enioy,
appear TO have effected a practical solution Of
the matter.
On the second point the danger of preponder-
sting influence on the part of any one of the
three powers is obviated by taking the chief
foreign adviser and judge from a neutral ma
zion. The revenue question has been adjust
ed with a due regard to the limited resources
of the natives and the obligation of the three
powers to share in the burden which, by force
Of circumstances, it has been necessary to i'm
pose for protection of their common interests
and for the maintenance of peace and order.
In conclusion the Secretary expresses the
hope that the act may be conducive to the
good government of Samoa under native
autonomy, and to the lasting settlement of
the vexed questions which have agitated the
three powers in their complex relations to
these islands.