Omaha daily bee., 1899-02-22

the provisions Of this act aud to the laws
and customs OF Samoa not in conflict there
with and the stgnatory governments will
accept and abide by such decision"
The protest Of the Tanu- -Tamasese party
was accepted and the Mataafa party notified.
Every effort was made by the latter to
show their strength and the weakness Of the
other side to the chief Justice so that he
would see how hopelessly beaten .he weaker
side was. number Of the foreign resi-
dents endeavored to point out how trifiing
the opposition Wis and how II was only kept
! together by the lawyers. The Mataafa peo-
pie who occupied Mulimni (the capitaD gave
feast and paraded past the chief justice
$500 armed warriors whom they had gath
| cred in a few days. They challenged the
Tanu- Tamasese party to show anything like
this force but though they were doing all
they could to muster men in Apia they were
unable to make even a respectable showing.
Mntnnfa Proclaimed King.
shortly after this Mataafa was anointed
and proclaimed king in the public square at
Mulimni in the presence OF very large
gathering Of people. Replying TO the COM
| plimentary speeches that we're made to him
| he stated that he accepted the office only to
| please the people, as he personally had no
| ambition to be king OF Samoa. As they had
freely chosen him. he would take UP the
! reins of government as soon as the treaty
powers had confirmed their choice and he
| should always do his best to bring about
that harmony and good feeling between the
whites and his own people that always ought
| to exist.
A few days later. in native house not
far distant from the supreme court, Tanu
| was invested with a number OF titles and
| ,od hy infariOr chiefs Df his fol-
| lowing Thus there we're two kings. Chief
| Justice Chambers, against the advice of
| people whose opinions should have had
weight with him. decided to have trial in
open court, instead of making careful in
quiries from all sides and deciding after the
result of these had fixed his conclusions
Before proceeding with the trial he drew
UP an agreement which he wanted both
sides to sign binding them to abide by his
decision when rendered, and at the same
time he intimated that the lawyers might
be introduced into the case. The Mataafa
party, it appears, had no objection to a fair
| trial of a matter in which all the parties
concerned were Samoans, but, as they did
not believe in having lawyers meddle with
their affairs and as they should not employ
one, they objected to the other side having
any. The Mataafa party thought they had
good reason to suspect that the chief JUS
tice would favor the opinions of the mis-
sicn party IL it were possible and the agree
ment was declined. The Tanu Tamasese
party was ready to accept anything and
signed without hesitation.
At this point in the dispute the chief
justice proposed to the Mataafa chiefs that
both sides count their forces in his pres
ence and thus settle in one day which was
the larger party, for the Tanu-T -Tamasese
bow olo 70 fully 10 fol
lowing as Mataafa. This proposition was
accepted by the Mataafaites but declined
by the lawyers
Finally the chief justice ordered both
parties to appear in his court on December
49, and declared that on the Goth he would
render his decision. On the opening of the
court he again demanded that both parties
sign his agreement, but met with a firm re-
fusal from the Mataafa chiefs, among whom
were nearly all of the prominent followers
of the late King Malietoa. On the one side
the whole of Samoa was represented by
the highest chiefs in the land on the other
few lesser chiefs, mostly from the dis
trict surrounding Apia. At the last mo-
ment the Mataafa chiefs were induced by
the German consul who had been a number
of years in Samoa and who had taken great
pains to find out the true situation, to ac-
cept of the services of Mr.. Won Bulow,
who knew nothing of law but good deal of
the Samoan customs.
Lawyers Bring on War.
Instead Of confining the discussion to the
circumstances Of the election and thereby
trying to discover which was the stronger
party, the lawyers were allowed the widest
latitude and undertook to search back
through many generations to prove that
Mataafa was ineligible and, in fact, no chief
at all. Several times the court was nearly
broken up by the principal chiefs, who were
provoked by the statements of very COM
mon people which they believed to be un-
true.
No result was reached and the trial was
followed by the outbreak accurately de-
scribed in press dispatches. The Tanu-
Tamasese party was defeated and many cap
tives were taken.
After making their humble submission
and signing an agreement never again to
fight against their chiefs four-tifths OF the
prisoners have been dismissed and ordered
to go to their homes. OF the remainder,
mostly natives who have long resided in or
dangerous to the public peace, part have
been sent to Manono, an island some
twenty-five miles distant from Apia, and the
others to Tutuilla and Manua, with orders
for the people there to treat them kindly.
A few prisoners still remain in the Mulimni
Jail, but they will likely be dismissed in a
few days, possibly after first removing the
| l,arr ,t.hi ctill nhnr Ito