Four natives were brought to trial for this horrid fact: not
before a native judge, but before the German magistrate of the tripartite
municipality of Apia. One was acquitted, one condemned for theft, and
two for assault. On appeal, not to Malietoa, but to the three consuls,
the case was by a majority of two to one returned to the magistrate and
(as far as I can learn) was then allowed to drop. Consul Becker himself
laid the chief blame on one of the policemen of the municipality, a half-
white of the name of Scanlon. Him he sought to have discharged, but was
again baffled by his brother consuls. Where, in all this, are we to find
a corner of responsibility for the king of Samoa? Scanlon, the alleged
author of the outrage, was a half-white; as Becker was to learn to his
cost, he claimed to be an American subject; and he was not even in the
king's employment. Apia, the scene of the outrage, was outside the
king's jurisdiction by treaty; by the choice of Germany, he was not so
much as allowed to fly his flag there. And the denial of justice (if
justice were denied) rested with the consuls of Britain and the States.
But when a dog is to be beaten, any stick will serve. In the meanwhile,
on the proposition of Mr.
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