, and Knappe dressed to
receive his visitors. The second consequence was inevitable. Captain
Hand was scarce landed ere it became public (was "_sofort bekannt_,"
writes Knappe) that he and the consul were in opposition. All that had
been gained by the demonstration at Laulii was thus immediately cast
away; de Coetlogon's prestige was lessened; and it must be said plainly
that Hand did less than nothing to restore it. Twice indeed he
interfered, both times with success; and once, when his own person had
been endangered, with vehemence; but during all the strange doings I
have to narrate, he remained in close intimacy with the German
consulate, and on one occasion may be said to have acted as its marshal.
After the worst is over, after Bismarck has told Knappe that "the
protests of his English colleague were grounded," that his own conduct
"has not been good," and that in any dispute which may arise he "will
find himself in the wrong," Knappe can still plead in his defence that
Captain Hand "has always maintained friendly intercourse with the German
authorities." Singular epitaph for an English sailor. In this complicity
on the part of Hand we may find the reason--and I had almost said, the
excuse--of much that was excessive in the bearing of the unfortunate
Knappe.

On the 11th December, Mataafa received twenty-eight thousand cartridges,
brought into the country in salt-beef kegs by the British ship
_Richmond_. This not only sharpened the animosity between whites;
following so closely on the German fizzle at Laulii, it raised a
convulsion in the camp of Tamasese. On the 13th Brandeis addressed to
Knappe his famous and fatal letter. I may not describe it as a letter of
burning words, but it is plainly dictated by a burning heart. Tamasese
and his chiefs, he announces, are now sick of the business, and ready to
make peace with Mataafa. They began the war relying upon German help;
they now see and say that "_e faaalo Siamani i Peritania ma America_,
that Germany is subservient to England and the States." It is grimly
given to be understood that the despatch is an ultimatum, and a last
chance is being offered for the recreant ally to fulfil her pledge. To
make it more plain, the document goes on with a kind of bilious irony:
"The two German war-ships now in Samoa are here for the protection of
German property alone; and when the _Olga_ shall have arrived" [she
arrived on the morrow] "the German war-ships will continue to do