Samoan Affairs.

Samoa Times and South Sea Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 15, 12 January 1889, Page 3

Samoan Affairs.

OPINIONS FROM NEW ZEALAND. {From the *fete foalund lltrald.) The news to hand from Samoa tolls us uf t!i«: co'iitinuaiMM) of florae 1 hftgt|l»tie< among tho natives, U>- > tuwn the-pnrty of Mahin*a Malietort ; ami Tnfiiawse, and the bloodiest ' liattK; has bean ftjiiglit .that ever vims 'fought in. the Somonn Oroup. Great numbers wore skin, ami pk»irty of j heads, wore taken as trophies, acj cording to the primitive Cushion of I the people. And all thin has been ! proceeding in tho immediate presence of tho rcpmsentiitivei of three ;of the most powerful and most ,' Christain nations of the worll ;und I n.me of them duiat put forth a hand to stay the internecine slaughter, because of their mutual jealousies and their suspicions of each other's object. That mrh a thing should

' i be is a disgrace to onr boasted civil- '; ization, and f>tliat humanity, tlio • iiupuwesof •which drive us to p*ne- ,; tratiiii; into tlio interior of Africa. ! and to hewing down thousands of , i Imlf-nrmvd and half-naked urn, iu I the cause of the suppression of slav- J j cry. One gunboat Dtove.l, c.n»> word j of authority from either -Germany,, I ( England, or America, aud every II gun in hanioa would bo lowered, 1 this taking of head* would Mowtte, i aud the civil war woikl he cured I • by fete of, the p«-ople.a* to who i , their rul'i. But uo; the ' ; ChtUtnjtn Powers luvo each sheir i own nbieote-to serva** and . aeeretly ! abaltedV if not ..aided, those . poor ; I Wanders are lvft. to puyauc* th. ir j mutual idaugbtor.io ifce Httar end : I No doubt the blatM*f4fafc i» not to •' ohotoo ami favorite of tho ujjfrftHjt-'

k TheynbG o.tty encoUrnged 'revolt against the. rightful King, but ' placed the sMHrper oil a throne \ which he cannot hold, and which 1 ■ the Gernituis are, apparently; "now |, ashamed to maintain; but England | ami America are not free from oom•plhity in actuation which iaallow- . ing Uii.s bloodshed to continue, [t , l win a disastrous thing for humanity i when tho Uerinac-Power was first

iucited by nu evil impulse to extend '.their iofiuonuo over the lands Of iu- , fcrior racos,whether in JJew Guinea, the Pacific, or in Africa, ray line dee.* trot kecin to bo imbued with tltoae liner feelings of Christian , humanity, wjiicb, at least profes- , ■ sedly, I'iwmt ; Uie* puUey of Ktigland . nnil Americay aud evutt France, in dealing withSofeneejesa raeee; and arrogance and remorseless force ap- '■ pear t«> .sunt up tlm; principles of their civilising- But even ; making foi**the influcLca of tl.teCe'rmrtrts in England and America. i)j t o^d' ¥ h»ve twaci-ted thedai.nsofhutoanityand this slaughter c&ife., grater stigma on o«r «txM«f tuon htiinanity than this head-cap- .; tmyig process ( .in Samoa within sighi of tho flags of England, Afneriro.and Germany it is hardry v possible to imagine. Government with the consent of the govomed is the rational principle accepted no was the . rule of all civilised and free people; I arid'if it were not for the shameful selfishness of Jjicse three. Powers, a plebiscite ntnong Samoans as to who ! supuld be their ruler, ought to have .promptly put an end to this desokttj iug struggle. .The Samoan i>eople S have shown a capacity for.adopting ', civilised institutions that should have been humanely and. sympathetically fostered by the auptrior race; but like the aucic.it gladiator,s,_ " butchered to make a Roman holt , day," they aVei left to annihilate ■ o'ie qdaet'tou, of which of us ahalt have the.

L'rwitvst infiueoce among them, as a preliminary to having the largest siiare of plunder. , — r .. ■ -...,- .--