It seems that Lueders is not a German citizen, after all. He is the son of a German father and a Haitian mother, was born on Haitian soil, and is, according to the laws of the country, a citizen of Haiti.
He had, therefore, no right to appeal to Germany for protection, and President Simon Sam will not listen to Germany's protest.
In addition to this, it seems that Lueders is a tiresome fellow, and that this is the second time he has been arrested for resisting and attacking officers in the performance of their duty.
The Haitian ministry looks upon this demand from Germany as a mere cloak to enable her to seize some territory, and establish a German colony in the West Indies.
With this belief in mind, Haiti has appealed to the United States to interfere and protect them, on the ground of the Monroe Doctrine.
We told you about this in the supplement following page 210. It says that the United States shall forcibly resist any attempt to extend the European political systems in America.
Our Government was in a slight quandary over this appeal from Haiti.
We have no quarrel with Germany, and we do not want to have one, but still it was clearly our duty to do what we could to assist a weaker sister republic.
After much consultation and thought, the heads of the Government decided that our ambassador in Berlin, Mr. White, should be instructed to ask what Germany's intentions were in the matter.
It was cabled back that the German minister had given a satisfactory reply to Mr. White, and so the United States has decided not to interfere actively in the matter unless Germany attempts to seize territory.