Mr. Secretary of State: It is provided in
Article V, section 3, of the Samoa act, that the consuls of the three
treaty powers shall compose a consular board, which shall pass upon the
resolutions adopted by the municipal council. The Samoa act presupposes,
moreover, that the influence which the consuls have a right to exert
with the local administration and the Samoan Government is to be exerted
on the basis of mutual consultation, as appears, for instance, from
Article VI, section 2. According, however, to the report of the imperial
consul at Apia, of December 29, 1894, a copy of which is herewith
inclosed, the United States consul-general in Samoa does not act in
accordance with those provisions. A resolution of the municipal council,
which he does not approve, seems rather to have led him to assume, on
principle, a hostile attitude toward all the measures adopted by the
municipal council, thereby crippling the efficiency of that body as well
as that of the consular board. Independently of this, moreover, his
arbitrary course, in which he ignores the consuls of the two other
treaty powers, is a source of frequent annoyance.
I have the honor, in pursuance of instructions received from the Imperial
Government, most respectfully to bring the foregoing to your
excellency’s notice, and I think that I may assume that the course of
the American consul-general at Apia does not meet the approval of the
United States Government, and that your excellency will consequently be
prepared to instruct the American representative in Samoa to discontinue
his opposition to the municipal council, and to act in harmony with his
consular colleagues in political matters.
Begging to be favored with a reply on this subject, I avail myself,
etc.,
[Inclosure.—Translation.]
The German Consul to
the German Government.
I have the honor, most respectfully, to inform Your Serene Highness
that Mr. Mulligan, the new American consul-general, has taken a
course in several official matters which justifies the conclusion
that
[Page 1127]
there will
hereafter be no harmonious action on the part of the three consuls,
such as has heretofore existed.
While the consulates have hitherto, with very infrequent exceptions,
acted only after previous consultation and deliberation in all
matters in which they were mutually interested, and have sent joint
answers to communications addressed to them, Mr. Mulligan has
frequently not only assumed an independent attitude in matters under
consideration, and expressed his opinion without paying any regard
to the other consuls, or ascertaining whether any agreement has been
reached, but in one case, without even notifying us of his
intention, he actually withdrew a resolution which had been jointly
communicated to the Samoan Government.
I have referred, both orally and in writing, to the practice which
has hitherto prevailed, and especially to the fact that the
authority of the consuls and respect for their decisions among the
natives has always been and must be better upheld if we jointly
decided and settled questions coming before us than if each consul
expressed his own opinion in a form different from those of the
others, thus giving rise to the thought among the natives of a lack
of harmony among the consuls.
Mr. Mulligan, however, has again presented his views alone in cases
which called for consultation in common, and has done this in so
positive and peremptory a manner that an understanding among the
three consuls has been rendered impossible.
The municipal council some time ago denied several applications for
license to sell spirituous liquors on the ground of existing legal
provisions, which had repeatedly been enforced. Personal interest
may have had some weight in this matter. At all events, the lack of
any necessity very properly influenced the decision. I say lack of
necessity, because there are already in Apia six places, for the two
or three hundred white residents, where liquors are sold at
retail.
As no actual resolution had been adopted by the municipal council,
the consuls, even if they had been agreed on this question, could
not have brought about any other decision.
Mr. Mulligan hereupon declared that he considered the decision of the
inunicipal council one-sided and unjust, and that, until further
notice, he would, as a matter of principle, refuse his sanction to
any resolution that might be adopted by the municipal council, and
that he would take no active part in the proceedings of the consular
board in municipal affairs.
Consul Cusack-Smith and I endeavored to make it clear to him that he
was thus assuming an attitude that was at variance with both the
spirit and the letter of the Berlin treaty, that he was exposing the
consular board, and that his course was calculated to effect
nothing, for now, as the resolutions of the municipality were not
unanimously approved by the consular board, they would go to the
chief justice, who has the power to approve the resolutions of the
municipal council.
Mr. Mulligan, however, adhered to his determination, and since then
has declined, out and out, to approve the resolutions of the
municipal council.
The efficiency of the consular board has thereby been seriously
impaired. If Mr. Mulligan, regardless of consequences, not only
refuses to take part in the joint deliberations of the consuls, but
acts independently, without previous consultation with the other
consuls, an unbearable state of things will thereby be created.
I desire, in conclusion, to call attention to the fact that,
notwithstanding the action taken by Mr. Mulligan, my own relations
with him
[Page 1128]
have always
been agreeable, and that he has in many cases kindly acceded to my
wishes and suggestions.
I can only wish for a continuance of so pleasant a state of
things.
