ARTICLE VII

A declaration respecting arms and ammunition and intoxicating liquors, restraining their sale and use.

ARTICLE VIII

General dispositions.

Section 1. The provisions of this act shall continue in force until changed by consent of the three powers. Upon the request of either power after three years from the signature hereof, the powers shall consider by common accord what ameliorations, if any, may be introduced into the provisions of this general act. In the meantime, any special amendment may be adopted by the consent of the three powers, with the adherence of Samoa.

The assent of Samoa to this general act shall be attested by a certificate thereof signed by the King and executed in triplicate, of which one copy shall be delivered to the consul of each of the signatory powers at Apia for immediate transmission to his Government.

It will be observed that the first article of the act sets forth the recognition of the "independence of the Samoan Government and the free right of the natives to elect their chief or king and choose their form of government according to their own laws and customs." The act then proceeds to evolve a system of "autonomous government" for the patient Samoans as follows: First, the king is to be elected and supported by the natives (salary later fixed at $1800 a year); then in the same clause it is recited that the powers will select the king. Next comes a chief justice to be appointed by the three powers jointly at a salary of $6000; he is provided with a clerk and a marshal, whose compensation is to be derived from official fees. The jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, which is both original and appellate, covers all questions arising under the general act, and all questions concerning the powers of the king. This court hears differences between native Samoans, reviews the quarrels of foreigners, and exercises a right of appellate jurisdiction over all land titles and litigation arising therefrom. In addition to this and

to the police courts of the municipality of Apia, duly provided for, the consuls of the three nations represented in Samoa continued to maintain judicial functions according to the various laws of extraterritoriality.

The business of the islands is conducted at Apia, at which port the vessels that keep alive the trade of the nation arrive and depart, and it is there that the bulk of the revenues is collected. Accordingly a municipal council with a chairman or president is established. The president draws $5000 a year. He is the chief executive of the district, and advises the king "in accordance with the provisions of the general act, and not to the prejudice of the rights of either of the three treaty powers." This council has upon its table the affairs of the municipal district of Apia, which in fact must virtually be the affairs of Samoa, as it collects the customs revenue as well as the taxes at the only point of export and import in the nation, and where the great majority of the tax-payers reside. The council appoints its own subordinate officers for the district. All its legislative acts, however, are inoperative and of no effect until approved by the consuls of the three treaty powers in Samoa.

A land commission is established for the examination of all claims and titles to real property, their holdings being subject to review by the Supreme Court.

The salaries of all these officials, none of whom, excepting the king, were likely to be native islanders, are to be paid the first year by the contracting powers, and thereafter from the native treasury.

Besides this corps of officials and their lists of rules and regulations, the act provides a system of revenue containing a schedule of export and import duties, and embracing a code of laws covering internal taxation.

On the face of the treaty it plainly appears that the gov ernment provided for Samoa by the three powers was a joint protectorate pure and simple, that the words "autonomous government" contained in the paper were devoid of all meaning, while the act itself, in recognizing the "independence of the Samoan Government, and the free right of the natives to

elect their chief or king and choose their form of government according to their own laws and customs," was a farce. There is no word in the treaty that left to the king any actual power in his own realm. Every function of legislative or judicial government was to be performed by foreigners, who were appointed, and maintained if need be by the power of foreigners. The nation's revenues were to be collected, held and disbursed by the agents of the three contracting powers; and finally, the consular representatives of the three powers, whose sanction is necessary to every legislative act, manifestly controlled the nation's policy. An examination of the treaty therefore discloses the fact that instead of securing to the native Samoans an autonomous government, as it purported to do, it simply stationed a cordon of foreigners about the native king who should conduct the business of the nation in a manner not prejudicial to the interests of their home governments; and lastly it confirmed in the consuls their superior rights over all to control the destinies of the islands.

VIII

When the fury of the famous hurricane was spent, the war clouds that had hung low over Samoa for more than a year dispersed, and the islands were left distressed, but in peace. News of the efforts of the three powers at Berlin to solve the Samoan social problems had reached Apia, and all, natives and foreigners alike, remained expectant, the latter no doubt vastly relieved. Tamasese's straw palace fell, and that disappointed monarch, bereft of German support, sulked in silence in his native village. The German and American flags were lowered, and the angry-worded proclamations were torn down to be burned and forgotten. Dr. Knappe, the Orlando Furioso of the islands, was replaced by the more astute Dr. Steubel. The once popular Malietoa Laupepa, released from political bondage, returned from his long exile in the Cameroons to find his power and prestige belonging to another, his old ally and kinsman, Mataafa. Mataafa had fought in the trenches, and had suffered and bled for the

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cause of Samoa against the aggressions of the "invincible strangers." He was the hero of the wars, and richly deserved all honors. But when the Berlin treaty reached Samoa, it was Malietoa, to the amazement of the natives, who was recommended as sovereign. The two chiefs found themselves in a most embarrassing and aggravating attitude of rivalry. Probably no other candidates for royal honors in the world would have kept the peace under such circumstances. These two remarkable persons began a contest of civility, each pressing upon the other the acceptance of the crown. It was only by the extraordinary complaisance of Mataafa (a rare piece of good fortune for the foreigners who stood by the treaty) that Malietoa was at last accepted as king, and Mataafa, the Warwick, was content with the lesser dignity of vice-king.

The Samoans in due time gave their formal adherence to the treaty, and the foreigners in Apia celebrated the event. Chief Justice Cedarcranz (appointed by the King of Sweden) and Baron Senfft von Pilsach, the president of the municipal board, arrived, and took up the burden of their duties. The land commission set to work upon its seemingly endless task, and the wheels of the massive governmental machine were set in motion. For about one year all went well, or at least apparently so; but the seeds of dissatisfaction were in the soil and were maturing slowly. Now and then the natives betrayed rebellious symptoms, the powers, they cried, recognize our independence and sovereignty, and accord us the right to elect our own king according to our own fashion,

a fair election would make Mataafa king; we, the majority, want Mataafa, why must we be saddled with Malietoa, who is not our choice? The Supreme Court entered upon the usual routine of judicial duties, issuing warrants and other writs, which were duly served upon the people according to civilized custom, but which were as duly misunderstood and disregarded by the natives. The tax gatherers under the foreign régime appeared on time to collect the governmental dues, but they entered empty houses.

The relation of the native kings to the official foreigners

was far from satisfactory. Malietoa's salary, out of which he paid all his own expenses, amounted, all told, to scarcely $95 a month- a beggarly allowance for even a Samoan prince —while the monthly stipends of the chief justice, the president of the municipality, the chief of police and the private secretary of the chief justice were, respectively, $500, $415, $140, and $100 a month,—in all $1155. The difference was too apparent. The natives had so often tasted the bitter fruits of deceit in their dealings with foreigners, that suspicion quite naturally stole into their minds that they were again being duped. The treaty in one sentence accorded them rights which in the next sentence it took away. The government was almost entirely an alien one which they, the natives, were obliged to maintain upon a scale of generous salaries. They realized that their own king, the only native officer, was a mere figurehead. As an additional cause of grievance they were being taxed to support a government not of their own creation, and were being promptly prosecuted by the courts if they failed to pay. It also appeared that the land commission was confirming too many dubious titles in the German, English, and American traders to seem entirely just to the Samoans-surely, they were being plucked.

While Malietoa was nominally king, all the pomp and ceremony of that Gilbertian office, as well as the management of the few affairs left to the native government, fell to the share of Mataafa. The latter having the stronger personality of the two, and being all the time conscious of the moral support of the people, regarded the venerable Malietoa as "his poor brother," and maintained toward his superior an attitude of friendly and good-humored contempt. On May 31, 1891, Mataafa departed from the company of his colleague and took up his abode at Malie, a town some miles to the west of Apia, where he continued to live in royal manner attended by retainers and entertained by the visiting delegations of chieftains from all parts of the kingdom. To the apprehensive foreigners of Apia the departure of Mataafa from his post of duty by the side of Malietoa at