The Bismarck Bluff: Washington’s Last Stand in the Samoan Crisis

SEATTLE, Feb. 5.—In a significant intervention into foreign policy debates affecting the Pacific Northwest, W.H. Bates, late United States Commissioner and a resident of Seattle, offered a stark assessment of the growing crisis in Samoa.

Asked by an Associated Press reporter regarding the probable effect of Prince Bismarck’s recent orders to the German consul at Samoa and the commander of the German fleet, Mr. Bates did not mince words. "I do not see why the recent dispatches from Germany should affect the attitude of the United States," he began, before clarifying his deeper concern.

Bates argued that the true gravamen of the trouble was not the proclamation of martial law, but the "previous aggressions of local German officials and residents there" and their disregard for understandings upon which negotiations had proceeded. He noted an evident disposition by European powers to absorb the Samoan group without further consultation with the United States.

With respect to these matters, Bates stated there was as yet no sign of concession, unless it be the proposition for a conference at Berlin. "In my judgment," Bates asserted, "the restoration of the status quo right to be a condition precedent to any farther negotiation, and this involves among other things the reassembling of the conference at Washington."

He viewed Prince Bismarck’s proposal to move negotiations to Berlin as both a slight and a compliment—a slight because it excluded the American representative from his own capital, and a compliment because it indicated Germany believed its diplomacy would excel in secret proceedings.

However, Bates warned against trusting German assurances. "Past experience warns us not to be too quick in relying upon assurances from Berlin," he said, citing successive violations by German local officials. He suggested this might indicate gross insubordination or, worse, an understanding authorizing the consul to act on his own responsibility.

When asked about reports of a declaration of war by Germany against Samoa, Bates replied: "The prosecution seems to me utterly inconsistent with the restoration of the former status. If Germany goes to war in Samoa it will be useless to have a conference at all... If, however, we do not insist on an absolute halt; if we consent to less than this, we may as well wash our hands of the whole business and abandon all idea of preserving the neutrality of the islands."

The news comes as Washington D.C. reports that vessels are being chartered to carry coal to the U.S. station at Pago-Pago, signaling a military buildup in the region just days after London reported the U.S. had consented to continue the conference in Berlin.