Prince Bismarck is to meet at Berlin, and is thus to be a new conference, the objection to the publication of the protocol, that it concerned a negotiation still pending, would lose much of its weight. I agree with you that the publication is very desirable, and I told Count Arco so.
To-day I wrote a letter to the Count in some respects supplementing my conversation with him. I should have sent you a translation of it had I had time to make it. But if you desire, I shall still do so.
TO JOHN SHERMAN
I thank you very much for your kind note and the copy of your speech which you had the goodness to send me. Your presentation of the case is as lucid as your conclusions are wise and statesmanlike. I have informed myself about this Samoan business as thoroughly as possible from all the sources open to me, and I have no doubt that if the negotiations concerning it are conducted in that calm, dispassionate spirit and with that sense of responsibility which animate your speech, all differences will be settled in an honorable manner and without any disturbance of our international relations.
As to the autonomy of the Samoan Islands and the maintenance of all treaty rights, the treaty Powers seem to be in substantial accord now. An agreement among them concerning their participation in the government of Samoa can probably be arrived at more easily after the present excitement than before.
Danger may, however, still arise from two sources. One is the greedy and quarrelsome spirit of the traders on the islands, who are constantly seeking to drag the representatives of their respective governments into their
