in order that this country might avoid being involved in anything like an alliance with the European powers for the maintenace of the neutrality of the Kongo. Another African country in which the United States has had much interest is the Republic of Liberia. This Negro State was founded in 1822 by the American Colonization Society, an organization which vainly hoped to solve the slavery problem by taking the Negroes back to Africa and establishing them in colonies there. In 1824 the United States sent a naval expedition to assist the Liberians in organizing a civil government, and then for some years left the colony to its own devices. Webster, as secretary of state, in 1843, however, announced through Everett, the American minister to England, that the United States took a deep interest in Liberia and was inclined to give to that country a degree of countenance and protection, and a little later Webster's successor, Upshur, told the British minister at Washington that the United States would be very unwilling to see Liberia despoiled or oppressed. There is little doubt that only this known attitude of the United States protected the African republic from being added to the colonial empire of some European power. A formal treaty was made between the United States and Liberia in 1862, and an American commissioner and consul was sent to that country. In 1879 a false report was circulated that France was seeking to establish a protectorate over Liberia, whereupon the United States expressed a marked unwillingness to see that done. In 1882, Frelinghuysen, our secretary of state, benevolently interested himself in a boundary dispute between Liberia and Great Britain, as a friend of both but with the special purpose of safeguarding Liberia's rights and welfare. Two years later French aggressions provoked from Frelinghuysen the warning that their continuance would produce a most unfavorable effect upon the minds of the American government and people; and again in 1892 and 1893 this country was compelled to interpose its remonstrances against the danger of French spoliation. S XXVII EMBROILMENT AT SAMOA AMOA is a small country, but American dealings with it loom large in the history of our foreign relations, chiefly as an example of maladroit departure from sound principles and of blundering which narrowly escaped disastrous results. Our relations with those islands involved from the beginning direct violation of two of the oldest and best principles of our foreign policy, namely, that the United States should refrain from intervention in the domestic affairs of other nations, unless, of course, in the necessitous emergency of its own self-protection; and that it should avoid entangling alliances with other and particularly with European powers. In the Samoan episode it did intervene in the affairs of another nation, and it entered into an entangling alliance with two rival European powers; and it did both without justification. The little group of Samoan Islands, in the South Pacific, became at an early date an object of interest to the traders of several nations, including the United States. The beauty of the islands, their wealth of natural products, the intelligence and amiability of their inhabitants, their location with respect to trade routes across the Pacific, and the capacity and security of at least one of their harbors, that of Pago-Pago, attracted attention and excited cupidity. But, as in the case of Hawaii, the rival interests of several powers served as counterpoises and for many years protected the islands from seizure or control by any one. Unhappily, there was no protection of the islanders from the malign influences of dishonest and immoral traders, and there soon appeared the characteristic corruption which too often results from the contact of selfish civilization with unsophisticated primitive society. The Samoans were by no means savages when Americans and Europeans first visited them. They were a primitive people of superb physical development, of excellent mental capacity, of good morals, and of a singu larly kindly and hospitable disposition. But the invasion of sordid self-seekers from America and Europe soon involved them in both physical and moral decay, and made their once peaceful islands the scene of savage wars. The three powers which participated in the exploitation of Samoa were the United States, Great Britain, and Germany. All three were represented by commercial agents at Apia, the chief town of the islands, as early as 1850. Four years later a great German corporation, Godeffroy & Co. of Hamburg, established itself upon the island of Upolu, with offices at Apia, and systematically undertook to secure a monopoly of trade and control, commercial and political, of the entire group. It soon acquired, by purchase and otherwise, title to a large area of the island, made extensive cocoanut plantations, and developed a highly profitable trade. This success aroused the envy of British and American traders, who sought vainly to emulate it, and who unfortunately resorted to political methods to discredit, if possible, the Germans. The result was the arising of faction among the natives. Intertribal conflicts arose, and the islands rapidly drifted toward chaos. Official relations between the United States and Samoa began in 1872. At that time Rear-Admiral Meade, of the United States navy, while cruising in that part of the Pacific, visited the islands and noted the superb proportions of the harbor of Pago-Pago, on the island of Tutuila. It would be, he perceived, of great value as a coaling station, and a harbor of refuge and refreshment, and accordingly, upon his own authority, he made a compact with a local chief, under which the United States should have the exclusive privilege of thus using that harbor. The compensation for this grant was to be the protection of the United States, extended to the chief in his local rulership. Meade reported this transaction to the Government, but failed to secure its approval. The President and Senate declined to sanction the promise of "friendship and protection" to the native chief, and the bargain therefore practically lapsed, though the chief, not understanding the provisions and requirements of the American Constitution and the need of senatorial ratification of treaties, assumed the compact to be valid and himself to be entitled to American protection. Representations were made to the Government, however, concerning the commercial importance of the islands and the increase of American interests there, with the result that in 1873 the President sent an agent, Colonel A. B. Steinberger, as United States commissioner to Samoa, to investigate conditions, prospects, and needs there, and to report upon them. As a sequel to his report, he was in 1874 directed to revisit the islands and to observe and to report upon the progress of affairs, and also to impress upon the native rulers a sense of the lively and benevolent interest which Americans took in their welfare. The President was, however, unfortunate in his choice of this agent. Steinberger was an American citizen and officer, but he was also, as his name indicates, of German origin, and he appears to have felt a certain divided affection between the land of his origin and that of his adoption. At any rate, instead of returning to Samoa and executing his instructions, he repaired to Hamburg and placed himself in connection with the corporation of Godeffroy & Co. Thence he did indeed proceed to Samoa as United States commissioner in name, but in fact as an agent of the German firm. He reached Samoa in 1874, and then trouble began. He found marked dissensions prevailing between two members of the royal family, each aspiring to the title and rank of king. Steinberger at once entered into political intrigues, and presently succeeded in getting the Samoan constitution so amended as to further his designs. Then he got Malietoa Laupepa generally acknowledged as king, and himself appointed prime minister. The principal argument which he used in persuading the Samoans to adopt this policy was an assurance that the islands were already under the complete protection of the United States. When news of these extraordinary doings reached Washington, however, Congress quickly ordered an investigation, and in consequence, in May, 1876, the Senate formally denounced the pretension of a United States protectorate over Samoa, disavowed any purpose of intervening in Samoan affairs, and practically repudiated Steinberger and all his works. The next move, quickly following, was made by Great Britain. A vessel of the British navy visited Apia, and appeal was made to its commander by the British residents and traders there for his protection. In fact, matters were in a bad way, with civil war raging and Steinberger playing one hand against the other, American political against German commercial interests. The outcome of the appeal was that the British captain intervened, seized and deported Steinberger, and dethroned and imprisoned Malietoa. Those strenuous measures did not, however, pacify the islands, but rather increased the hostilities among the various factions, until presently in despair the leaders of the Samoan people prayed for a British protectorate to save them from themselves and from the Americans and Ger mans. When that became known there was a violent sensation at Apia. Americans and Germans both realized that there had entered into the problem a new and formidable factor, which was likely to prove dominant and to eliminate both of them. For self-protection, therefore, they decided to unite against the common foe. Commercial rivalries and political intrigues were laid aside in the face of the menace of British annexation of the islands. Instead of following the example which had been set years before in Hawaii, of insisting that the independent sovereignty of the Samoan native government should be recognized and main tained, the American agent in the islands adopted the policy ter of meddling in Samoan affairs and of entering into entangling intrigues with the German government. In pursuance of this ill-advised course he raised the American flag over Apia and proclaimed an American protectorate over the islands. Later, a British commissioner, backed up by a warship and a squadron of marines, visited Apia to make a treaty or to extort it from the king. Again the American flag was displayed and the American protectorate was proclaimed. This conduct of the American and German agents had the effect of defeating the designs of British annexation. It was, however, quite unauthorized, and as soon as it became known at Washington it was disavowed by the Government. When in 1877 Mamea, one of the principal chiefs of Samoa, visited Washington as the authorized representative of the islands, to negotiate for the ful filment of what he supposed to be the American promise of a protectorate, he received no encouragement. He offered the out |