ing. Accordingly they entered into a compact with Malietoa Telavu, agreeing to support his government, he to accept three advisers, -a German, an Englishman, and an American. The successor of Telavu was to be chosen "by the three protecting powers" (March 24, 1880). Such an agreement Pas this bore all the earmarks of a protectorate; but both England and the United States declined to regard the agreement as more than a "scheme of arrangement between the consular body and the government of the islands for the protection of the foreigners." Malietoa Telavu, however, was explicitly recognized as head of the Samoan Government, and upon his death in 1881, Malietoa Laupepa was recognized as his successor. On March 19, 1881, Laupepa was duly anointed king, according to native custom, and installed at Mulinuu, the royal seat of Samoa.

In some other islands of the goup there was opposition to Laupepa. Possibly his too close association with the foreignPers who sustained him displeased some of the "old party.” At all events, a native anti-administration faction crowned a certain high chief Tamasese as opposition king to Malietoa Laupepa, and the rifles and spears were again brought into use. Captain Gillis, of the U. S. S. Lackawana, happening in port, succeeded in quelling the rebellion by bringing about a compromise. Malietoa Laupepa was to remain king, and Tamasese was created vice-king (July 12, 1881).

At last all native factions were appeased, and the consuls were reasonably in accord. Peace continued for several years; no one heard of Samoa's troubles; and seemingly all was well.

Those who profess to comprehend the untutored savage mind, maintain that primitive peoples cannot long remain in peace. Be that as it may, the period of rest from July, 1881, to the early part of 1885 proved to be only the calm that precedes the storm. With all due allowance for native vacillation and the savage's readiness for an affray, the foreigners in Apia must be held guilty for bringing about the troubles which followed, and the Germans must accept a little more than equal share in the guilt.

III

A glance at the somewhat complex social conditions which existed at Apia in 1884–89, the years of greatest disturbance, is necessary to an understanding of the series of events which, beginning about that time, culminated in the tripartite treaty of Berlin.

The municipality of Apia was governed wholly by the consular representatives of England, Germany, and the United States; and the private property within this neutral area generally belonged to citizens of one or the other of these three powers residing and doing business in the islands. To the Samoans, Apia was, to all intents and purposes, a foreign city, over which they exercised no control whatever. Here was concentrated the wealth of the islands, and within the neutral zone at Mulinuu resided King Malietoa Laupepa and his Vice-King Tamasese, the nominal heads of a peculiarly weak and unstable government. In the environs of Apia in every direction the painted sign-posts of foreign property holdings stealthily advanced, sometimes moving on by night into the wilderness that surrounds the neutral strip of the municipality.

In Apia proper the foreign population was composed of three distinct elements, that quarrelled among themselves or united in friendship as their own separate and rival interests dictated. Of these three elements the German was the most aggressive and commanding. Their commercial interests in Samoa, embodied in the Godeffroy firm (reorganized into the "Deutsche Handels- und Plantagen-Gesellschaft für Südsee-Inseln zu Hamburg"), greatly exceeded those of the American and English residents combined. A vast amount of capital had been expended in improving their large plantations scattered throughout the islands, and their excellent trade had been established by thirty years of constant vigilance and toil. To the Germans in Apia, the prestige of their country and the success of their great "firm" had almost become synonymous terms. Nothing should be permitted to

check their company's growth, not even an unfriendly native king. To "aid" in framing laws for Samoa, to incite a revolution, or to depose a hostile government, must be accepted as legitimate acts if the company's interest demanded them; in short, any means were permissible to that end. It is not to be wondered that the Germans regarded the American and English traders somewhat in the light that a gamekeeper regards a poacher within his preserves. When the latter evinced a tendency to adopt their own tactics for influencing native legislation, the Germans resented their boldness, and bitter feelings were aroused; when they hinted at annexation, the Germans lost their equanimity of temper. The predominance of their commercial interests was their excuse for all acts of interference in native affairs, and in the passively hostile attitude which they sullenly maintained toward the other foreigners in Apia.

The English element was a smaller, but in some respects a no less active, one. On the veranda of the British consulate and at the counter of McArthur and Company they discussed with much feeling the growing influence of the Germans, and plotted for the advancement of their own business affairs. England was known to favor imperialism, and she was constantly alive for the absorption of new territory. Her ships ranged the seas, and her commanders were quick to act. With an avowed policy of expansion in London, the English residents felt their strength in Apia. They watched the Germans narrowly, and resented their meddling with the natives. They also had considerable influence over the latter, by reason of the activity of the London Missionary Society, whose workers in Samoa had succeeded in favorably impressing the religiously inclined aborigines.

The American element in Apia consisted of a mere handful of men who rallied around the premises of an American firm to denounce the German and English attempts to gain greater influence in the islands. Their trade was a growing one, but they felt hampered by the knowledge that the United States would probably never care to annex thè group. It would be unfair to say that they always held aloof from

the purely domestic affairs of the Samoans, or that they constantly maintained that attitude of strict neutrality toward warring factions in the islands that the traditions of their country should have prompted them to observe. Theirs was the position of eager spectators whose interests led them from time to time to take a part in native politics, chiefly to thwart the machinations of their English and German neighbors.

In general, therefore, the one motive in Samoa was to acquire commercial advantage. When competition is fierce between citizens of several nationalities, in a neutral land and under a weak and dependent government, the temptation to secure a controlling influence in the councils of the nation becomes too great to withstand. It was impossible, under such conditions, for these commercial strugglers to eliminate the sense of patriotism from their efforts to increase their trade. Race prejudices were fed by business rivalry, and a clash was always imminent.

Each foreign faction was headed by a consul who was quick to discern the right and slow to detect any wrong in the acts of his "subjects." Under the laws of extraterritoriality these officials enjoyed considerable authority and power. They exercised judicial functions and supervised the governmental affairs of the municipality wherein those of their own nationality resided. In an advisory capacity they exerted a decided influence over the native government. As might be supposed, where all the elements were so favorable, political feelings were intense, and occasionally ran riot. The atmosphere was constantly charged with rumors of intrigue. The movements of native factions were keenly watched in the light of possible advantage to be gained by any threatened political change. Every act of the king or his vice-king was examined under the lens of a jealous interest, to determine whether it savored of preference for German, English, or American.

Besides these foreigners whose residence in Apia was ostensibly for legitimate purposes of trade, men of a lower social stratur, a bar-room riffraff of decidedly uncertain charac

ter, infested the place. The South Sea Islands appear to furnish the conditions necessary to the development of an unprincipled class of men who are always ready to breed dissensions among native peoples, whom, by glibness of tongue, they influence to evil. Thieves profit by confusion. These adventurers, like stormy petrels scenting the tempest from afar, were a constant menace to peace in the islands.

King Malietoa Laupepa, installed in a shanty at Mulinuu, gloomily contemplated the shadow of his slender authority. He was thoroughly dependent upon the coöperation of the consuls to repress the little rebellions that sprang up like weeds in his garden. He was nevertheless much loved by his people. Laupepa has often been described as a gentle, lovable old man, of the most generous impulses, but pitifully weak. Tamasese, the vice-king possessed no distinctive qualities, either good or bad, and his popularity among his people was but luke-warm.

Out in the bush, a great chief and warrior, a man of high courage and principle, of large and enthusiastic following, Mataafa by name, rested upon his arms. He may be said to have been at that moment in a quiescent state. ambitious for the throne, disliked Tamasese and bore a strong friendship for his kinsman, Malietoa Laupepa.

He was

Mataafa's personality was very striking, combining great vigor with a kindly, generous nature. He possessed a clear sense of justice, and was a good friend and a bad enemy. From childhood a curse rested upon this ambitious warrior. For some uncivil act he committed toward his elders he had been denounced by a relative who, as a prophet of evil fortune, cast upon him a future of great disappointment. Never should he rule Samoa, yet never should he rest from his vain efforts to reach the throne.

IV

During the earlier eighties the plantations of the German firm in the vicinity of Apia had been subject to petty pilferings of the natives. The managers of the company had made frequent complaints about these thefts; the German