On January 8th the
consulate was destroyed by fire. Knappe says it was the work of
incendiaries, "without doubt"; Fritze admits that "everything seems to
show" it was an accident. "Tamasese's people fit to bear arms," writes
Knappe, "are certainly for the moment equal to Mataafa's," though
restrained from battle by the lack of ammunition. "As for Tamasese,"
says Fritze of the same date, "he is now but a phantom--_dient er nur als
Gespenst_. His party, for practical purposes, is no longer large. They
pretend ammunition to be lacking, but what they lack most is good-will.
Captain Brandeis, whose influence is now small, declares they can no
longer sustain a serious engagement, and is himself in the intention of
leaving Samoa by the _Lubeck_ of the 5th February." And Knappe, in the
same despatch, confutes himself and confirms the testimony of his naval
colleague, by the admission that "the re-establishment of Tamasese's
government is, under present circumstances, not to be thought of."
Plainly, then, he was not so much seeking to deceive others, as he was
himself possessed; and we must regard the whole series of his acts and
despatches as the agitations of a fever.
The British steamer _Richmond_ returned to Apia, January 15th.
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