No. 425.
Mr. Pendleton to Mr. Bayard.
Legation of
the United States,
Berlin, October 24, 1887.
(Received November 4.)
No. 526.]
Sir: I send you herewith the originals and
translations of two clippings.
One from the Berliner Tageblatt, copying from a Sydney journal, stating the
force of the German fleet in the Australian waters.
One from the semi-official Nord-Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitttng, giving the
version of the foreign office here of the late transactions in Samoa.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure 1 in No. 71—Berliner Tageblatt,
October 23, 1887.—Translation.]
On the occasion of the attack of the German fleet on Samoa, about the end
of August, the Sydney Morning Herald published the following
observations, which are worthy of consideration:
“It has not escaped observers that the Germans support an uncommonly
strong fleet in the Australian waters—a fleet which bears no proportion
to the interests which they have to protect—and even if one believes
that they will not at present attempt to oppose the wishes of England in
reference to the scheme of South Sea annexation, nevertheless the fact
that they are represented with such a force must occupy the attention
not otherwise than very seriously of all interested parties. Taken ship
for ship, they surpass the English fleet in these waters, and control a
greater number of men. The Nelson, our strongest
ship, has a speed of about 14 knots, and is partially armored. In the
Bismarck, Olga, Carola, and Sophie, the Germans possess a quartette which can reach a
speed of 13 to 14 knots, and is armed with modern Krupp’s
breech-loaders. All the ships of the royal navy which are here, with the
exception of the Rapid, carry old-fashioned
muzzle-loaders, and not a single one of them could contend with the
Germans under even tolerably equal conditions. Besides the ships already
named the Germans have in these waters also the corvette Adler and the gun-boat Albatross, so that their force consists of six ships, which
carry about 52 guns and 2,000 men.”
[Inclosure 2 in No. 71. Nord-Deutsche
Allgemeine Zeitung, October 23, 1887.]
The New York Herald of the 10th instant published an original letter from
Apia, dated 1st September of this year, which, calculating on the
necessity for sensational news on the part of the American public, puts
forth untrue statements about the pretended excesses of the German
marines in Apia.
The correspondent, who without doubt is a sympathizer with the former
consular officer of German extraction, removed by the American
Government because of his odious conduct, indulges in anti-German
inventions, which are in part malicious and in part silly. His
statements of the German occupation of Samoa show of themselves to every
one acquainted with the model description of the imperial merine, that
they are the agreeable distortions and products of a fancy excited by
the descriptions of the Indian battles in America. The conduct of the
German troops landed in Apia has, in fact, given in nowise cause of
complaint, and all the individual instances of outrages and threats
against the inhabitants of Apia related by the American reporter [Page 578] are idle inventions. According
to the reports which have reached here from Apia of those proceedings,
the facts are simply these:
On the 24th of August last, only the neighborhood of the government
building in Mulinuu was taken into military possession, after the
landing of the detachment of German marines, in consequence of the
refusal of Malietoa to afford the satisfaction demanded. In order to
insure the protection of the white inhabitants and foreign property, a
guard was transferred to Apia and stationed on the property of the
German hospital. Every injury to the foreigners or to the
peaceably-disposed natives was carefully avoided. As no disturbance
occurred among the populace, the guard which had been at first stationed
before the government building was removed on the 25th of August. A
further occupation of Samoan territory has not taken place. In the town
of Apia trade was suspended partially only for an hour immediately after
landing.
When the correspondent of the American journal undertakes to prophesy of
the future that the condition of things in Samoa will continue to be
threatening and the outbreak of a “fierce and bloody war” is probable,
these groundless predictions found a settlement in the surrender of
Malietoa without bloodshed and without violence, and the recognition of
Tamasese as King on the part of all the influential chiefs.
Besides, it can be concluded, with satisfaction, from all the discussions
of the American press over the proceedings in Samoa, that it is on all
sides recognized that not the least occasion exists for an intervention
by the United States, since the Imperial Government voluntarily declared
that it desired scrupulously to observe all the treaty rights of America
in the Samoan Islands.
