Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress, With the Annual Message of the President, December 3, 1888, Part I

No. 523.
Mr. Bayard to Mr. White.

Department of State,
Washington, May 23, 1888.

No. 877.]

Sir: With reference to previous correspondence concerning Samoan affairs, I inclose herewith for your information a copy of a recent dispatch from our consul at Apia relative to the aggressive proceedings of the Germans in the Samoan Islands in the matter of lands owned by Americans.

I am, etc.,

T. F. Bayard.

[Inclosure in No. 877.]

Mr. Sewall to Mr. Rives.

Consulate-General, United States of America,
Apia, Samoa, April 27, 1888.

No. 113.]

Sir: Referring to my dispatches numbered 25, Hated October 8, 1887, and numbered 93, dated February 24, 1888, I have the honor to state that German activity in extending land claims continues.

The latest act of the German firm is to claim a large strip of valuable land, the sale of which to Mr. W. Blacklock, an American citizen, is duly recorded in the register of this office.

Mr. Blacklock is the manager for Mr. H. T. Moors, and it is his opinion that this claim has been made because of the feeling aroused by Mr. Moor’s recent visit to Washington.

As soon as the mission of Mr. Moors became known this claim was put forward.

Mr. Blacklock had some months previously inclosed the land and erected a house upon it, and no opposition was made to this.

The confidence on the part of the Germans in securing a settlement of their land claims favorable to them alarms our citizens, and the probable action of the United States in the protection of American land titles here is the subject of anxious inquiries at this office.

The German gun-boat Eber has arrived here.

I have, etc.,

Harold Marsh Sewall.