Washington sentinel., 1899-04-15
The Trouble In samoa.

The Trouble In samoa.
The Administration, il Admiral
Kautz has merely carried out in
structions in making war upon the
Island OF Samoa, has placed itself
in a most undesirable position 1t
has proven what the English
American Alliance means, to wit,
to carry out the selfish policy oi
England at the expense Of the
friendship Of other friendly nations.
The Washington Post, the organ
Of the Administration and, as is
generally stated, in control Of
England, lets the cat out OF the bag
in an editorial on tuesday, in which
it first shows that after the ChieI
Justice had decided that Malietoa
had been elected King-he receiv
ing one out Of every six votes and
Mataafa Hye--the question was
settled and Consul Rose was, there
fore, wrong in maintaining that
Mataafa had been elected King.
1t declares the provisional" gov
ernment, though all the consuls
agreed to it, a "purely German
establishment" formed to let the
home governments have a chance
to settle this question; and as is
well known, the latter went inn
mediately to work and would have
settled the trouble in few days.
But the following portion Of the
PoSfarticle shows that England and
America were not in earnest. II
says:
Then followed. as might have been
expected. naval re.enforcements Tor
both the ousted powers, and C coincidently
came Admiral Kautz with instructions
which enabled him TO deal with the
emergency. Thus il happened that
Kautz, with the support and assent of
both British and American authorities,
issued his now famous proclamation:
"WheReas at a meeting held this
day on board the United States flagship
Philadelphia, at anchor at Apia, at which
were present the consular representa-
dives of she signatoRY powers of the
Berlin treaty OF 1889 and the three senior
naval officers OF the same powers, 1t was
hak ehn al
government under High Chief Mataaia
and thirteen other chiefs can have no
legal status under the Berlin treaty, and
can therefore not be recognized bY the
consular and naval representatives, 1t is
hereby ordered that the high chief and
the thirteen other chiefs 60 quietly to
their homes and obey the laws of Samoa
and respect the Berlin treaty."
According to this Admiral
Kautz and the English ships sim
ply followed orders, ignoring and
ialsifying the position and protests
ofthe Germans, claiming even that
they had the latter's consent .
ignore the provisional" govern
ment which had only short time
before been established by all three
governments, to last until the ques-
tion had been settled by the home
authorities.
Mataaia not obeying, the three
American and English vessels inn
msdiately commenced to lombard
the towns and villages and con-
tinued for more than ten days. AS
the first shot was fired from the
philadelphia" the commanders
Of those ships could not claim to
have fred in self defence. To con-
tinue the bombardment for more
than ten days was certainly a cruel.
unwarranted outrage. and the
question is now whether Kautz
really had any orders, as the PoSI
claims, to declare war against a
helpless people, both white and
native.
If Kautz merely obeYed orders
the odium oi this miserable and
iaithless transaction falls upon MIR
McKinleY and his Secretary o.
State, Hay. II he exceeded them
he must be recalled Immediately
as he went even so far as to force
the Commander oil the German
steamer Fake to obey his orders
and remain in port--another ael
OF war.
Germany has acted very honor
ably and peacefully. she will take
care ol England, and the Ger
man. Americans will, at the polls
settle with the Administration TO
this new OUTRAGE Of the English
American Alliance.
We copy some articles from
leading GeEman-Ameriean papers