Mr. Gresham to Baron Ketteler.
Washington, August 10, 1893.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 8th instant, in which you inform me, in compliance with telegraphic instructions sent to you, of the report of the imperial consul at Apia, to the effect that Mataafa and his followers, having been utterly defeated by King Malietoa with a loss of 15 killed and 18 wounded, were subsequently made prisoners, without farther bloodshed, by the joint action of the German and British cruisers in Samoan waters.
[Page 681]I fully appreciate the grave emergency which, upon the precipitation of hostilities between the royal forces and the disaffected faction in Samoa, constrained the naval representatives of Germany and Great Britain to take immediate action without awaiting the arrival of the United States war vessel then under way to those islands in pursuance of the agreement previously reached between the three treaty powers; and I am pleased to believe that the action so taken by the German and British naval commanders was in accordance with the understanding of the three powers with regard to the restoration of peace and good order in the Samoan Islands by efficient cooperation to uphold the authority of the recognized King.
Accept, etc.,