Baron Saurma to Mr. Gresham.
Washington, November 6, 1893.
Mr. Secretary of State: As your excellency may be aware, King Malietoa, in a communication dated August 14, 1893, and addressed to the consuls of the treaty powers, has expressed a wish for the alteration of the Samoa act so that not the president of the municipal council of Apia, as is provided in Article V, section 5, of the Berlin treaty, but the three consular representatives of the treaty powers shall be the advisers of the Samoan Government.
An understanding exists, however, between the signatory powers that individual changes in the Berlin treaty shall not now be made, and in the opinion of the Imperial Government there is at the present time the less reason for adopting the Samoan proposition, as such a proceeding might easily be regarded as an evidence of unkindly feeling on the part of the treaty powers towards Mr. Schmidt, the newly appointed president of the municipal council, who, as is known, is about to enter upon the discharge of the duties of his new office.
The negotiations relative to this Samoan proposition which have been entered into by the Imperial Government with the British Government have led to a perfect understanding so far as, in the opinion of both powers, no individual changes in the Samoa act should at present be made. The British Government, moreover, has complied with the desire of the Imperial Government that the British consul shall be instructed to meet the wishes of the new president of the municipal council to the fullest extent possible.
According to reports received from the imperial consul at Apia, Mr. Maben, the secretary of state of the Samoan Government is the instigator of this action on the part of King Malietoa, The inimical disposition towards foreign interests in Samoa was manifested by Mr. Maben during the period embraced between the years 1880 and 1890 to such an extent that it was necessary to effect his removal from the office of municipal judge of Apia, which he then filled.
The late administrative officers, Chief Justice Cedercrantz and Municipal President Baron Senfft von Pilsach, the latter of whom brought about Mr. Maben’s appointment as secretary of state, found their confidence [Page 694] in him to be so misplaced that they soon endeavored to secure his removal.
If, therefore, it is to be regarded as probable that Mr. Schmidt, the new municipal president, will be obliged to renew this proposal, which has hitherto been defeated through Melietoa’s opposition, such a step would expose the new officer at the very outset of his career to the most deplorable conflicts and, in the view of the Imperial Government, it is the duty of the treaty governments to protect the new president from the odium which would attend such a step, and, by joint instructions to the consuls, to effect Mr. Maben’s removal. Independently of his personal characteristics, there is another thing which militates against his retention in office; this is the amount of his salary ($1,800 per annum) which, in view of the depleted condition of the Samoan treasury, is no small item. To this must be added the circumstance that owing to the small compass of the administration of a little country like Samoa, the duties of the official adviser of the Government and those of the “secretary of state” must necessarily conflict with each other. The contemporaneous existence of the two offices is, furthermore, undoubtedly at variance with the views that were put on record by the three signatory powers when the Samoa act was adopted.
The Imperial Government is convinced that Mr. Schmidt’s usefulness, and especially his cooperation as a colleague with the consuls, is materially dependent upon the removal of undesirable advisers of the natives, and it entertains the hope that the United States Government will share this view.
As regards the proposed removal of Mr. Maben from the office of secretary of state of King Malietoa, the British Government has promised its cooperation in case a joint proposal shall be made by the United States Government and that of Germany.
The Imperial Government trusts that the Government of the United States will share the view of the two other treaty powers concerning the rejection of the Samoan Government’s proposal for a change in the provisions of the Samoa act, and that it will be prepared to instruct the acting consul general of the United States in Samoa to assume a friendly attitude toward Mr. Schmidt, the new president of the municipal council.
In the opinion of the Imperial Government, however, it is also desirable in the interests of a peaceful settlement of Samoan affairs to secure the assent of the United States Government to unite with the Imperial Government in a proposition to that of Great Britain to effect Mr. Maben’s removal.
Although the reasons which make this measure desirable have been elucidated and developed above, I would call especial attention to the fact that if Mr. Maben should be allowed to remain in his present position as secretary of state there would soon be two advisers of the King, and thus a state of things would arise which would be wholly at variance with the spirit of the Berlin treaty. The retention in office of such a superfluous officer, while the Samoan Government is in such financial straits as it now is, is the less defensible since an officer who is thoroughly acquainted with Samoan affairs is placed by the side of King Malietoa as an adviser in the person of Mr. Schmidt, the new president, and thus all reason for Mr. Maben’s retention is eliminated.
I therefore have the honor, in pursuance of the instructions of the Imperial Government, to solicit the friendly cooperation of the United States Government in the matter of the rejection of the Samoan proposition, of the removal of Mr. Maben, and of the sending of instructions [Page 695] to the American consul general to assume a friendly attitude towards the new municipal president, and I shall be grateful for a reply to the threefold proposition.
I avail myself, etc.,