On the 22nd (day of the suppression of the TIMES)de Coetlogon wrote to inquire if hostilities were intended against Great Britain,which Knappe on the same day denied.On the 23rd de Coetlogon sent a complaint of hostile acts,such as the armed and forcible entry of the RICHMOND before the declaration and arrest of Gallien.In his reply,dated the 24th,Knappe took occasion to repeat,although now with more self-command,his former threat against de Coetlogon."I am still of the opinion,"he writes,"that even foreign consuls are liable to the application of martial law,if they are guilty of offences against the belligerent state."The same day (24th)de Coetlogon complained that Fletcher,manager for Messrs.MacArthur,had been summoned by Fritze.In answer,Knappe had "the honour to inform your Excellency that since the declaration of the state of war,British subjects are liable to martial law,and Mr.Fletcher will be arrested if he does not appear."Here,then,was the gauntlet thrown down,and de Coetlogon was burning to accept it.Fletcher's offence was this.
Upon the 22nd a steamer had come in from Wellington,specially chartered to bring German despatches to Apia.The rumour came along with her from New Zealand that in these despatches Knappe would find himself rebuked,and Fletcher was accused of having "interested himself in the spreading of this rumour."His arrest was actually ordered,when Hand succeeded in persuading him to surrender.At the German court,the case was dismissed "WEGENNICHTIGKEIT";and the acute stage of these distempers may be said to have ended.Blessed are the peacemakers.Hand had perhaps averted a collision.What is more certain,he had offered to the world a perfectly original reading of the part of British seaman.
Hand may have averted a collision,I say;but I am tempted to believe otherwise.I am tempted to believe the threat to arrest Fletcher was the last mutter of the declining tempest and a mere sop to Knappe's self-respect.I am tempted to believe the rumour in question was substantially correct,and the steamer from Wellington had really brought the German consul grounds for hesitation,if not orders to retreat.I believe the unhappy man to have awakened from a dream,and to have read ominous writing on the wall.An enthusiastic popularity surrounded him among the Germans.
It was natural.Consul and colony had passed through an hour of serious peril,and the consul had set the example of undaunted courage.He was entertained at dinner.Fritze,who was known to have secretly opposed him,was scorned and avoided.But the clerks of the German firm were one thing,Prince Bismarck was another;and on a cold review of these events,it is not improbable that Knappe may have envied the position of his naval colleague.It is certain,at least,that he set himself to shuffle and capitulate;and when the blow fell,he was able to reply that the martial law business had in the meanwhile come right;that the English and American consular courts stood open for ordinary cases and that in different conversations with Captain Hand,"who has always maintained friendly intercourse with the German authorities,"it had been repeatedly explained that only the supply of weapons and ammunition,or similar aid and support,was to come under German martial law.Was it weapons or ammunition that Fletcher had supplied?But it is unfair to criticise these wrigglings of an unfortunate in a false position.
In a despatch of the 23rd,which has not been printed,Knappe had told his story:how he had declared war,subjected foreigners to martial law,and been received with a counter-proclamation by the English consul;and how (in an interview with Mataafa chiefs at the plantation house of Motuotua,of which I cannot find the date)he had demanded the cession of arms and of ringleaders for punishment,and proposed to assume the government of the islands.On February 12th he received Bismarck's answer:"You had no right to take foreigners from the jurisdiction of their consuls.The protest of your English colleague is grounded.In disputes which may arise from this cause you will find yourself in the wrong.The demand formulated by you,as to the assumption of the government of Samoa by Germany,lay outside of your instructions and of our design.
Take it immediately back.If your telegram is here rightly understood,I cannot call your conduct good."It must be a hard heart that does not sympathise with Knappe in the hour when he received this document.Yet it may be said that his troubles were still in the beginning.Men had contended against him,and he had not prevailed;he was now to be at war with the elements,and find his name identified with an immense disaster.
One more date,however,must be given first.It was on February 27th that Fritze formally announced martial law to be suspended,and himself to have relinquished the control of the police.
