|
The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from A Footnote to History by Robert Louis Stevenson: indeed from inheriting von Widersheim's close relations with
Commander Leary. It is believed by Germans that the American
officer resented what he took to be neglect. I mention this, not
because I believe it to depict Commander Leary, but because it is
typical of a prevailing infirmity among Germans in Samoa. Touchy
themselves, they read all history in the light of personal affronts
and tiffs; and I find this weakness indicated by the big thumb of
Bismarck, when he places "sensitiveness to small disrespects -
EMPFINDLICHKEIT UEBER MANGEL AN RESPECT," among the causes of the
wild career of Knappe. Whatever the cause, at least, the natives
had no sooner taken arms than Leary appeared with violence upon
|
