The six ringleaders, acting in
Mataafa's interest, had been guilty of a delict; with Mataafa's approval,
they delivered themselves over to be tried. On Friday, September 4,
1891, they were convicted before a native magistrate and sentenced to six
months' imprisonment; or, I should rather say, detention; for it was
expressly directed that they were to be used as gentlemen and not as
prisoners, that the door was to stand open, and that all their wishes
should be gratified. This extraordinary sentence fell upon the accused
like a thunderbolt. There is no need to suppose perfidy, where a
careless interpreter suffices to explain all; but the six chiefs claim to
have understood their coming to Apia as an act of submission merely
formal, that they came in fact under an implied indemnity, and that the
president stood pledged to see them scatheless. Already, on their way
from the court-house, they were tumultuously surrounded by friends and
clansmen, who pressed and cried upon them to escape; Lieutenant Ulfsparre
must order his men to load; and with that the momentary effervescence
died away. Next day, Saturday, 5th, the chief justice took his departure
from the islands--a step never yet explained and (in view of the doings
of the day before and the remonstrances of other officials) hard to
justify.
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