ptember in the fruitless attempt to
convey to the mind of Laupepa the sense of the word "resignation." What
can a Samoan gather from the words, _election_? _election of a king_?
_election of a king according to the laws and customs of Samoa_? What
are the electoral measures, what is the method of canvassing, likely to
be employed by two, three, four, or five, more or less absolute
princelings, eager to evince each other? And who is to distinguish such
a process from the state of war? In such international--or, I should
say, interparochial--differences, the nearest we can come towards
understanding is to appreciate the cloud of ambiguity in which all
parties grope--

"Treading the crude consistence, half on foot,
Half flying."

Now, in one part of Mataafa's behaviour his purpose is beyond mistake.
Towards the provisions of the Berlin Act, his desire to be formally
obedient is manifest. The Act imposed the tax. He has paid his taxes,
although he thus contributes to the ways and means of his immediate
rival. The Act decreed the supreme court, and he sends his partisans to
be tried at Mulinuu, although he thus places them (as I shall have
occasion to show) in a position far from wholly safe. From this literal
conformity, in matters regulated, to the terms of the Berlin
plenipotentiaries, we may plausibly infer, in regard to the rest, a no
less exact observance of the famous and obscure "laws and customs of
Samoa."

But though it may be possible to attain, in the study, to some such
adumbration of an understanding, it were plainly unfair to expect it of
officials in the hurry of events. Our two white officers have
accordingly been no more perspicacious than was to be looked for, and I
think they have sometimes been less wise. It was not wise in the
president to proclaim Mataafa and his followers rebels and their estates
confiscated. Such words are not respectable till they repose on force;
on the lips of an angry white man, standing alone on a small promontory,
they were both dangerous and absurd; they might have provoked ruin;
thanks to the character of Mataafa, they only raised a smile and damaged
the authority of government. And again it is not wise in the government
of Mulinuu to have twice attempted to precipitate hostilities, once in
Savaii, once here in the Tuamasanga. The fate of the Savaii attempt I
never heard; it seems to have been stillborn. The other passed under my
eyes. A war-party was