Baron Ketteler to Mr. Foster.
Washington, October 15, 1892.
Mr. Secretary of State: I have the honor, in obedience to instructions received, to lay before you the following:
A report made to the foreign office, under date of August 14, 1892, by the imperial consul at Apia, describes the sad state of political affairs which exists on the Samoan Island, and leads to the conviction that the protection of the lives, property, and trade of foreigners, which is guaranteed to them by the Berlin general act, can not be made effective unless energetic steps are taken to suppress the anarchy which prevails there.
The Royal Government of Great Britain and the Imperial Government reached an agreement, as is known, in September, 1891, concerning a common intervention of war vessels belonging to the three governments, the special object of which was the disarming of the natives. The United States Government declined to accede to this proposal on the ground that no revolutionary outbreak had yet occurred, that the proposed measures seemed calculated to frustrate the good effects that were to be expected from the Berlin conference, and that the mere presence of three war vessels would undoubtedly be sufficient to restore order in Samoa.
Thus it was that only an agreement of the three treaty powers was reached, according to which war vessels are under obligations to the supreme court of Samoa to render certain assistance of a non-military nature. It is evident that, under circumstances such as those described in the report just received from the imperial consul at Apia, i. e., the systematic plundering of foreign plantations by the armed bands of Mataafa, the assistance of the supreme court must be of no avail, even in case of the cooperation of the war vessels, as provided by that agreement. It is further reported that Mataafa’s armed followers, to the number of upwards of a thousand, now occupy a fortified position, and the revolutionary outbreak which was regarded by the United States Government as being necessary to base action upon, has consequently become an indisputable fact.
The Imperial Government does not consider itself authorized, so long as the two other treaty powers do not refuse their cooperation, to uphold by itself the rights guarantied by the Berlin act to Germans as well as to other foreigners in Samoa, but it thinks that it is entitled to claim the joint assertion of those rights.
It is, therefore, earnestly suggested by the Imperial Government that each of the three treaty powers send at least two war vessels for the restoration [Page 652] of peace in Samoa, which vessels shall have orders to intervene in the manner proposed last year by the British Government.
Referring to the interview which I had with you to-day, I have the honor, Mr. Secretary of State, in view of the urgency of the case, to beg you to be pleased to reply with as little delay as possible.
I avail myself, etc.,