Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-02-16

New York, Feb. 16.-Dr. Porter Cham
bers of this city has received a letter
from his brother, William l.. Chambers,
chief justice of Samoa under the Berlin
treaty, dated Apia, January %. Justice
Chambers speaks of the trial of the con-
test for the kingship between the two
rival factions and says:
after eleven days of patient investi-
cation, two sessions each day and a hard
study every night, of Samoan genealo-
sies, customs, titles and practices, came
to the conclusion from a legal and con-
scientious point of view, besides upon
the treaty and the laws and customs OF
Samoa not in conflict herewith, that A.
Tanu, the son of the late King Malletoa,
and who by the gift of the people has
been endowed with the name of Malietoa,
was duly elected king.
"The natives, during the delivery of
my decision, exercised a discretion which
was the better part of valor. Things
were exceedingly quiet and respectful on
the surface, and the crowd dispersed
peacefully.
"The United States consul general,
Judge Osborne of Nebraska, a man of
fine character and legal ability, and the
British consul, Mr.. Maxse, a nephew of
Lord ~Salisbury's wife and a man of Is
years experience in diplomatic service
in England's foreign service, both i'm
lnSuldlely dCcepleu the decision lOT their
respective governments.
THE German consul general, Rose,
who had also attended the trial, refused
to accept the decision for his govern
ment, although his government had al
ready agreed with America and England
that it would accept and abide by the de-
cision, whatever it might be.
"A meeting of the consuls and the cap
tains of the English and German men-o'-
war was held within an hour. The Amer
lean and English consuls and Captain
turde reported that the king lin whose
favor l had decided) be Immediately rec
ognized by calling upon him. the war
ships giving him a royal salute. This
the German consul and the captain Of
the German warship refused to do. If it
had been done, there is no doubt that he
would have been firmly upon the throne
that very day.
"Within two hours the German consul,
for the defeated side, and the other Ger
man syn.pathiZers were leading the
armed troops of the Mataafa factions
into the streets of the municipality. The
PRESIDENT, who is a German, threw all
his influence on that side and the Ma
taafa people, realizing that they had the
support OF the German consul, of a Ger
man warship and of the entire German
population, got ready with amazing
q~uickness for the violent attack which
followed.
1.-THE Malietoa people, when it became
known that the Mataafas were going to
make war, got together all the men they
could in Apia and the surrounding coun-
try. They had no time to gather their
supporters from the different parts of
the islands. They succeeded in mastering
about 1000 men, indifferently armed, and
provided with miserable ammunition
The rebels, who had been preparing for
the situation for several weeks, perhaps
may have mustered about $500 men, and,
a c nfiaFI,rn - n 9 yu1 c Shnyyn hoI r,,1aI hot
ter guns and were we'll supplied with
ammunition.
IN fact there seems to be no doubt
that the German traders and one Ameri-
an, sympathizing with the Mataafa side,
had provided many new guns and great
quantities Of fresh ammunition for them
Justice Chambers described the fight
ing, the details of which have already
been given by the Associated Press. He
declares that the Germans led the Ma
taafa troops, the German consul genera,
riding at the head of about 500 rebels.
Justice Chambers continues:
1.-The English man-o'-war could not in
t~erferc beyond the protection of American
and British interests, because of German
sympathies on the other side, and the
} from the English ship in the native ques-
ton would be taken by them as an in,
sulting act to Germany.
zone Of the first things the victors die
was to forcibly close up the supreme
court, station around it an armed force
and publish a proclamation saying thai
the court should not be reopened eXcepl
upon their order. A provisional govern.
> menG was organized, consented to by the
c~onsuls upon the expressed condition tina
, it was simply to preserve peace and order
Z and in no way to interfere with the treaty
: or the rights of any of the treaty officials
) Or. Raffel. a German, was placed a
the head of the provisional government
; and we thought he would have sens,
4 enough to at least try to execute peace,
full purposes. But the opportunity wa!
too great for the satisfaction of his am
} bition to be resisted. l had recently de
! cided a very important case adversely t.
, him. He grasped the opportunity to pro
) claim himself chief justice. l prompt,
: called upon the c"ns.is Of the three gov,
Z ernments anticipating that the German
) consul would refuse-which he did-fol
} protection in re-opening the court.
Z THE u. S. and British cOnsuls laid tn,
7 matter before the captain of the British
: ship who promptly rendered me all tn,
force required. l issued a notice that tn
} court would be opened at ~ o'clock tn
: neXt day. The British consul gave motto,
to all American and British subjects t.
) come on board the man of war before I
} o'clock and the captain gave notice to tn,
Z captain of the German ship advising Ger
man subjects to go to places Of safety a
) he was determined to open fire at an.
} time after half past II O'Clock if my pur
: pose of re-opening the court should b
, resisted.
5 by II o'clock the ship was we'll file,
; with women and children only a few mel
2 coming on board, be it said to the credi
: of their courage, for when | landed at l
o'clock practically all the Americans ant
the Rritishers in .Apia We're ready on tn,
! spot to cooperate with our government
, AT ten minutes before Il o'clock twt