The San Francisco call., 1899-07-02
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Tanu then gave notice to the ConsuIs
and Chief Justice of his own election.
This dispute brought the matter into
the Supreme Court and Chambers had.
his innings. The intention AZ first was
to prove that Nfataafa was not elected
on account of his not possessing certain
titles ard also on account of other in
trtcate reasons based upon Samoan Gus
l. ms which To a laTman arc hard to-
-, ,.ie1atand The unwritten SaE. AM
Law is fall of knotty problems, and itI
would take too much space to eZpiafn
th contentious which arose. AttoF
neys for Tanu produced many Samoan
witnesses to prove their case, but they
failed utterly to do so, and Chambers
was in sore straits for some point Oh
which to decide in favor Of Tanu. The
much quoted protocol was finally pro-
duced and Mataafa was declared inelI-
gible. Chambers making the startling
declaration in his decision that before
the trial he had not known of the eX-
istence Of the clause relating to Ma
tasfas alleged ineligibihty, and this in
spite of the fact that the whole treaty
and protocols can be read in less than
half an hour I have seen letter from
Judge Chambers to gentleman in
Apia. written just before the election,
in which ne states he knows of no rea-
son why Mataafa should not be elected
King.
The Judges written decision is based
or the following paragraph, contained
in one of the protocols:
Count Bismarck consented to the
principle of the election of a King,
but he did so upon the condition that
one: exception should be made in the
person Of Mataafa on account of the !
outrages committed by his people,
and under his authority upon dead /
and wounded German sailors lying. on.
the field Of action. Sir E. Malet, 4
senior PIenipotentiary, on: behalf of
Great Britain, voiced the sentiments
of all the other Plenipotentiaries that
the exception made by Count. Bis i
marck was fair and reasonable, stat
ing that his Government would have
probably entertained similar. objec-.i
ton had like :.outrag ges been J, COM
mitted on British sailors. =. T.. =. =
Here#-is where Judge Chambers |
stopped quoting, and declared Mataafa
ineligible. The Judge should have read /
a few lines further in the protocol and
he would have seen the folio wing, ]
which would seem to place an entirely
different construction upon the para-cl
graph"
Mr. Phelps asked permission to re
vert to certain views expressed by
Count Bismarck at the beginning of
the session that he might state that
the silence of the American Plenipo-
tentiaries was not to be construed as
asserting, to those views, except as
they. expressed an indignation at the
atrocities mentioned, with which the
United States heartily sympathized. /
Happily the assent of the conference
to Sir E. Malet's proposition made the
question of who among the natives
was responsible for these atrocities |
mere academic question and the sub
ject need not, therefore,, be further
pursued.
Thus:was Chambers at his wits end
for material upon which to base his
decision, knowing all the time there |
would be bloodshed as soon as it was
rendered if unjust
In conclusion, it is but Just to refer
to Admiral Kautz's interview published !
in The Call of June 10 and dated I1o-
nolulu, June 2, in which he states that
when he arrived at Samoa he found a
great deal of disorder. The Tanu men !
were being arrested and there were
threats and fear of pillage.:.- British T
and American officials and citizens |
says the admiral, had gone on board /
Continued on Second Page.