The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition, Vol. 17Stevenson, Robert Louis
History
The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition, Vol. 17
Stevenson, Robert Louis
Islands of the Pacific -- Fiction; Samoan Islands -- History; Short stories
was delightfully amusing. The champions asked for the English printer.
They were shown the wrong man, and the blows intended for Cusack had
hailed on the shoulders of his rival Jones. On the 12th, Cusack had
reprinted an article from a San Francisco paper; the Germans had
complained; and de Coetlogon, in a moment of weakness, had fined the
editor twenty pounds. The judgment was afterwards reversed in Fiji; but
even at the time it had not satisfied the Germans. And so now, on the
third day of martial law, the paper was suppressed. Here we have another
of these international obscurities. To Fritze the step seemed natural
and obvious; for Anglo-Saxons it was a hand laid upon the altar; and the
month was scarce out before the voice of Senator Frye announced to his
colleagues that free speech had been suppressed in Samoa.
Perhaps we must seek some similar explanation for Fritze's short-lived
code, published and withdrawn the next day, the 23rd. Fritze himself was
in no humour for extremities. He was much in the position of a
lieutenant who should perceive his captain urging the ship upon the
rocks. It is plain he had lost all confidence in his commanding officer
"upon the legal side"; and we find him writing home with anxious
candour. He had understood that martial law implied military possession;
he was in military possession of nothing but his ship, and shrewdly
suspected that his martial jurisdiction should be confined within the
same limits. "As a matter of fact," he writes, "we do not occupy the
territory, and cannot give foreigners the necessary protection, because
Mataafa and his people can at any moment forcibly interrupt me in my
jurisdiction." Yet in the eyes of Anglo-Saxons the severity of his code
appeared burlesque. I give but three of its provisions. The crime of
inciting German troops "by any means, as, for instance, informing them
of proclamations by the enemy," was punishable with death; that of
"publishing or secretly distributing anything, whether printed or
written, bearing on the war," with prison or deportation; and that of
calling or attending a public meeting, unless permitted, with the same.
Such were the tender mercies of Knappe, lurking in the western end of
the German quarter, where Mataafa could "at any moment" interrupt his
jurisdiction.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account