several rival foreign factions in Apia), finally induced the
Samoans to pray for an English protectorate over their
distracted country.
When the fact became known to the
foreigners in Apia, the German and American representa-
tives and residents were greatly alarmed. For once they
forgot their commercial rivalries, and acted together, their
interests being united in a common cause against English
annexation. With the connivance of the German Consul, as
is supposed, the American commercial agent at Apia hoisted
his flag over the city, and proclaimed a United States pro-
tectorate. A similar occurrence took place a year later, when
an English commissioner arrived at Apia for the purpose of
extorting certain treaty concessions from the king. Upon
this occasion English persuasion was rendered the more
potent by a squad of marines from a vessel lying in the
harbor; and the American flag was again hoisted by the agent
over the government building, in order to proclaim to the
world, and especially to the British commissioner, that any
treaties relative to Samoa should be made in Washington.
Both of these somewhat hasty acts were disavowed.

The efforts made by the natives for English annexation proved unsuccessful, and the disappointed chiefs returned from their mission abroad only to find the land still in the throes of civil war. Encouraged by the flag-raising propensities of the American Consul, they turned to the United States, in the hope of finding relief in an American protectorate. Mamea, a high chief, proceeded to Washington (1877), but there he found no disposition on the part of the authorities to depart from a policy that opposed all entangling alliances with foreign nations. The generous offer of his realm was declined by the President, but the object of his mission to the United States was not wholly defeated. He concluded a treaty in Washington, January 16, 1878, whereby the United States was granted "the privilege of entering and using the port of Pago-Pago, and establishing therein and on the shores thereof, a station for coal and other naval supplies "; the treaty further guaranteed, that thereafter Samoa would "neither exercise nor authorize any juris

diction within said port adverse to such rights of the United States, or restrictive thereof." In return for these concessions it was provided in the treaty, that:

If, unhappily, any differences should have arisen, or should hereafter arise between the Samoan Government and any other government in amity with the United States, the Government of the latter will employ its good offices for the purpose of adjusting these differences upon a satisfactory and solid foundation.

This treaty was made by the United States more in the desire not to appear wholly indifferent to the friendly advances of the Samoans than for any importance it attached to Samoa, or advantage to be gained by close political or commercial relations with her. It was indeed felt by many that the mere offer to use friendly offices in case of difficulty was a rash promise that might some day call for fulfilment, especially as Germany, with her preponderance of commercial interests in the islands, would probably sooner or later seek forcibly to acquire the group.

The Samoans, however, proceeded to make treaties of similar character the following year with England and Germany, granting to each exclusive rights in certain harbors for naval and coaling stations. In the case of the German treaty the Samoans were far more generous, through coercion it is said, and granted to the energetic German representative certain concessions that appeared to be incompatible with the favored nation clause in the American treaty. This fact excited some feeling of displeasure, which was no doubt more keenly felt in the American consulate at Apia than in the State Department at Washington. To American citizens in Samoa it suggested imposition on the part of Germany, and convinced them of Germany's intention to secure a grasp upon the islands that would lead to ultimate annexation. There can be little doubt had Germany then made a coup d'état, and formally seized the islands with a graceful recognition of American and English rights in their respective harbors, the world would not have been profoundly moved or the United States greatly shocked. But the American Consul, who hoped for an

American Samoa, became alarmed by the evidences of German intrigue, and he decided it to be his duty to thwart Teutonic ambition in the island. The breach between the United States and Germany in Samoa was thus begun, and English subjects in Apia took sides with the Americans against the greater rival.

Civil dissensions between various native factions continued unabated throughout the year 1878. The followers of Malietoa Telavu and the adherents to the old régime of the "Councils of the Chiefs" took to the bush, Samoan fashion, to glare at each other over their rude fortifications, to brandish fiercely their arms and to fill the forests with their warcries. It was during this long period of strife that the foreigners in Apia for their own safety obtained from both warring factions the recognition of a strip of territory, including the municipality of Apia, as neutral and sacred from all hostile attack. Over this tract of land the three nations, which were in treaty relations with Samoa, were authorized to exercise the rights of extra-territoriality. In regard to the native wars, the three consuls in Apia proclaimed officially the strictest neutrality; but notwithstanding their determination to hold aloof from any participation in the troubled affairs of Samoa, their languishing trade interests compelled them to intervene. In the light of later Samoan history, it is not a little remarkable that all three consuls, backed by the concurrent opinions of several naval captains in the harbor, were enabled to unite in the selection of Malietoa Telavu as the ruler of Samoa. They thereupon threw the weight of their influence in his favor. Desultory fighting continued, nevertheless, for over a year, when peace was finally restored only by the interposition of Captain Deinhart of the German cruiser Bismarck.

Though peace had been accomplished by no less vigorous measures than a bombardment of native villages, Samoan politics continued in a most unsettled condition. The three consuls decided to take a still more active part in the management of local affairs, if for nothing more than to insure the stability of the government they had united in establish

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 as 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 foreigners 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 vacil/lation 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