policy of our two whites against Mataafa has appeared uniformly so excessive and implacable, that the blame of the last scandal is laid generally at their doors.  It is yet fresh.  Lauati, towards the end of last year, became deeply concerned about the situation; and by great personal exertions and the charms of oratory brought Savaii and Manono into agreement upon certain terms of compromise:  Laupepa still to be king, Mataafa to accept a high executive office comparable to that of our own prime minister, and the two governments to coalesce.  Intractable Manono was a party.  Malie was said to view the proposal with resignation, if not relief.  Peace was thought secure.  The night before the king was to receive Lauati, I met one of his company,—­the family chief, Iina,—­and we shook hands over the unexpected issue of our troubles.  What no one dreamed was that Laupepa would refuse.  And he did.  He refused undisputed royalty for himself and peace for these unhappy islands; and the two whites on Mulinuu rightly or wrongly got the blame of it.

But their policy has another and a more awkward side.  About the time of the secession to Malie, many ugly things were said; I will not repeat that which I hope and believe the speakers did not wholly mean; let it suffice that, if rumour carried to Mataafa the language I have heard used in my own house and before my own native servants, he would be highly justified in keeping clear of Apia and the whites.  One gentleman whose opinion I respect, and am so bold as to hope I may in some points modify, will understand the allusion and appreciate my reserve.  About the same time there occurred an incident, upon which I must be more particular. A was a gentleman who had long been an intimate of Mataafa’s, and had recently (upon account, indeed, of the secession to Malie) more or less wholly broken off relations.  To him came one whom I shall call B with a dastardly proposition.  It may have been B’s own, in which case he were the more unpardonable; but from the closeness of his intercourse with the chief justice, as well as from the terms used in the interview, men judged otherwise.  It was proposed that A should simulate a renewal of the friendship, decoy Mataafa to a suitable place, and have him there arrested.  What should follow in those days of violent speech was at the least disputable; and the proposal was of course refused.  “You do not understand,” was the base rejoinder. “You will have no discredit.  The Germans are to take the blame of the arrest.”  Of course, upon the testimony of a gentleman so depraved, it were unfair to hang a dog; and both the Germans and the chief justice must be held innocent.  But the chief justice has shown that he can himself be led, by his animosity against Mataafa, into questionable acts.  Certain natives of Malie were accused of stealing pigs; the chief justice summoned them through Mataafa; several were sent, and along with them a written