, on the German side of the bay, a more manly spirit was
exhibited in circumstances of alarming weakness. The plantation managers
and overseers had all retreated to Matafele, only one (I understand)
remaining at his post. The whole German colony was thus collected in one
spot, and could count and wonder at its scanty numbers. Knappe declares
(to my surprise) that the war-ships could not spare him more than fifty
men a day. The great extension of the German quarter, he goes on, did
not "allow a full occupation of the outer line"; hence they had shrunk
into the western end by the firm buildings, and the inhabitants were
warned to fall back on this position, in the case of an alert. So that
he who had set forth, a day or so before, to disarm the Mataafas in the
open field, now found his resources scarce adequate to garrison the
buildings of the firm. But Knappe seemed unteachable by fate. It is
probable he thought he had

"Already waded in so deep,
Returning were as tedious as go o'er";

it is certain that he continued, on the scene of his defeat and in the
midst of his weakness, to bluster and menace like a conqueror. Active
war, which he lacked the means of attempting, was continually
threatened. On the 22nd he sought the aid of his brother consuls to
maintain the neutral territory against Mataafa; and at the same time, as
though meditating instant deeds of prowess, refused to be bound by it
himself. This singular proposition was of course refused: Blacklock
remarking that he had no fear of the natives, if these were let alone;
de Coetlogon refusing in the circumstances to recognise any neutral
territory at all. In vain Knappe amended and baited his proposal with
the offer of forty-eight or ninety-six hours' notice, according as his
objective should be near or within the boundary of the _Eleele Sa_. It
was rejected; and he learned that he must accept war with all its
consequences--and not that which he desired--war with the immunities of
peace.

This monstrous exigence illustrates the man's frame of mind. It has been
still further illuminated in the German white-book by printing alongside
of his despatches those of the unimpassioned Fritze. 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 t