Mr. Foster to Mr. Herbert.
Washington, October 12, 1892.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 6th instant in regard to the proposal of the German Government, in view of the disturbed state of affairs in Samoa, to send one or two men-of-war there to protect life and property.
While the general act of Berlin is silent as to the naval force to be maintained by the three powers in the Samoan waters, yet in view of the proposal of this Government, at the first Samoan conference in Washington, June 25, 1887, looking to the keeping of a man-of-war of each power, alternately, in those waters for four months in each year to assist in maintaining the established government there and to preserve peace and order, this Government is not disposed to object to such action on the part of the German Government as may tend to observe the spirit of the engagements equally assumed by the three powers. Nothing, however, in the present situation in Samoa, so far as it is here apparent, suggests the necessity of more than one vessel of either power being dispatched to those waters.
No communication on the subject has been received by me from the imperial German chargé d’affaires, but should he bring the question to my attention, I shall be happy to answer him in the same sense.
I have, etc.,