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.
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