The Struggle for Monarchy

CHAPTER SIX The Struggle for Monarchy Contributors: Ma ma Meleisea Penelope Schoeffel Meleisea Gatoloai Peseta S. Sio The Pulefou and Foreign Rivalry 1876-1888 For the remaining 24 years of the 19th century, conflict between the Samoans was to become increasingly complicated by the quarrels of the local Europeans and the international rivalry of the nations whose citizens they were. In 1876 Malietoa Laupepa's Puletua clashed with Ta'imua and Faipule, led by Tupua Tamasese Titimaea at Fale'ula, and Malietoa and the Puletua were defeated. Malietoa returned to Malie and his supporters dispersed to their villages. But the victorious Ta'imua and Faipule were not able to govern effectively and their administration was in a state of confusion. They decided to disband for a while with the hope of meeting again in a few months. Their frustrations were largely a result of the conflicting demands, influences and rivalry of the foreign consuls and their settler nationals. At this point Malietoa Talavou took advantage of the lack of a government and with his supporters, moved into Mulinu'u. With some support from factions on Savai'i who had supported Malietoa Laupepa, he set up a new government called the Pulefou and was declared king. The Ta'imua and the Faipule gave in because they had little support to enable them to resist and most of the Europeans were more sympathetic to the Pulefou since Malietoa Talavou's supporters were mainly from 89 Tuamasaga and A'ana which is where most of the foreign plantations were. Malietoa Laupepa was made vice-king under Malietoa Talavou and, when the latter died in 1880, Malietoa Laupepa was proclaimed king once more. This new government was recognised by the Powers in 1880. The disappointed Tui Atua Mata'afa, who had left the Tupua side to join the Pulefou government under Malietoa Talavou, was not favoured as the King, as he had hoped, so he rejoined the Ta'imua-Faipule side again. Mata'afa's genealogy linked him to the Sa Malietoa as well as the Sa Tupua. The rejection of Mata'afa as king caused a split among the Samoans in which support was divided between the Sa Tupua and the Sa Malietoa. Some historians think that the rejection of Mata'afa was due to anti-Catholic attitudes from the London Missionary Society, (the strongest church in Samoa) because Mata'afa was a Roman Catholic. The branches of the Sa Tupua were strongest in the Tumua districts of A'ana and Atua. Malietoa's families were mainly in Tuamasaga and Savai'i. The Tupua side had established a rival or rebel government at Leulumoega in A'ana, the traditional headquarters of the Tumua orator groups. In 1881 Malietoa Laupepa was made King by the consuls, so the opposing side immediately declared Tamasese as their King. Fighting broke out between the two sides but was contained by foreign naval intervention. A treaty signed aboard the US naval ship Lackawanna brougt the two parties together in a new compromise, with Malietoa remaining as King and the youthful Tupua Tamasese as the vice-king. The agreement was, as under the Steinberger constitution, that the two would take turns to be king. The re-united government was not effective at the local level because local chiefs continued to regard the villages as independent identities and took the enforcement and application of the new laws to suit themselves. They were reluctant to pay taxes because they could not see what the money was needed for and suspected it was going into the hands of the Europeans. The new government did not like the Germans, who treated them without respect, and twice in 1884 they petitioned Queen Victoria to make Samoa a British protectorate. Malietoa also protested to the German Emperor regarding the convention that he had been forced to sign, which allowed a German-Samoan Council to deal with Samoans who offended against the Germans, without reference to other authorities in Samoa. When the German Consul, Theodore Weber, heard about the petitions to the Queen he retaliated by claiming ownership of the land at Mulinu'u where the government had its headquarters, and expelled Malietoa from the area. At the same time he persuaded Tupua 90 Tamasese and his supporters to form a government again. Tupua Tamasese returned to Leulumoega to begin marshalling support and a new German arrival, Eugen Brandeis was sent out to Leulumoega by Weber to help them organize their government. He was appointed as the Pulefou Premier and set about training the A'ana people and their allies for war. Despite these moves by Weber, Britain, America and Germany did not officially recognise the Tamasese government, but local German interests continued to back and supply Tamasese. In 1887 Tamasese's forces attacked Malietoa and his allies, with the support of German warships. Malietoa tried to enlist the support of a parry of Hawaiian representatives of the monarchy (led by Gibson who sent the First Mormon missionaries to Samoa) who were there in turn to try to enlist Samoan support for a Polynesian confederation. Hawaiian support was forthcoming and Malietoa was defeated. He withdrew into the bush for a period, but eventually gave himself up to save his people being attacked by a German warship, whereupon the Germans promptly deported him to the Marshall Islands. They hoped that in his absence, support for the Tamasese government could be increased. Tamasese and his German advisors went too far, however, when Tamasese declared himself Tafa'ifa, also claiming the Malietoa title. This action antagonised many of his former supporters, including Mata'afa who held the Tui Atua and who had a claim to the Malietoa title. Mata'afa losefa took advantage of Malietoa's absence and in the name of Malietoa's rights, he raised support from the Malietoa factions n Tuamasaga and from those who had turned against Tamasese in A'ana, and of course from his own people in Atua. He also had the support of many Apia Europeans who thought him the `rightful' king. They supplied him with arms and he and his supporters went to war against Tamasese and his supporters. The war of 1888 was probably the most savage since Samoa had opened up to foreigners. Each of the powers hurriedly sent for naval support as fighting spread through the Apia Municipality. These - einforcements duly arrived, but were prevented from engaging in the action by the great hurricane of 1889. It sunk all but one of the ships. Three of the warships were American - the Trenton, the Vandalia and - .ne Nipsic. Three were German - the Olga, the Adler and the Eber. The seventh warship was British, the Calliope. The American and merman vessels were dashed to pieces against the shores and reefs of Iola harbour. Only the Calliope escaped, by getting out into the ocean beyond the force of the huge waves, which prevented the other ships fim~rn getting through the reef opening in time. Ninety two Germans prod sixty three Americans lost their lives, even though the Samoans 91 forgot their differences and made every effort to save them. As it was, many were saved by Samoans who risked their lives to swim out to the wrecked ships. Mata'afa's side won the war, but after all that, he was not recognised as King by the three powers, who had met in Berlin that year on the Samoa question and signed the Berlin Act of 1889. This acknowledged Malietoa Laupepa as the 'rightful' king. The act also established a Supreme Court in Samoa, to be presided over by a judge who was to be chosen by agreement between the three powers. In the event that they could not agree, the King of Sweden or Norway was to make the choice. The Germans particularly objected to Mata'afa since he had thwarted their aspirations in the last war. Prominent Europeans such as H.J. Moors and Robert Louis Stevenson regarded Mata'afa as the 'rightful' king. Among other things, he had by that time been given the Malietoa title by the branch of the Sa Malietoa who did not support Malietoa Laupepa. They argued that since he had won the war and since he had all the correct genealogical connections, he should be the King. Stevenson wrote long letters in support of the Mata'afa side which were published in British newspapers. He also wrote a book called A Footnote to History about the war. But even if Mata'afa had been king, the task of reunification would still have been difficult because of the bitterness and desire for revenge by the Tupua supporters who had been defeated earlier by Mata'afa. The terms of the Berlin Act of 1889 offered little to the Samoan people and limited their independence. The explosive issue of the Kingship remained unresolved and war was still imminent among the contenders. Mata'afa's closest allies were angry that he had not become king because when Tupua Tamasese Titimaea died in 1891, he had no rival from the Tupua side. Malietoa Laupepa, who had been brought back to Samoa in 1889, had said at first that Mata'afa should become king, but once he was among his supporters again they persuaded him to assert his own rights. So Mata'afa, the following year, began to disassociate himself from Malietoa Laupepa and established himself at the Malietoa headquarters at Malie and began to gather support for his right to become the King. Hostilities broke out again in 1893 and Malietoa's supporters defeated those of Mata'afa.

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