action of all parties engaged--and the bargain was kept for one
day. On the day after, the troops were again dispersed as post-runners,
and their commander resigned. With such a sovereign, I repeat, it would
be unfair to blame any individual minister for any specific fault. And
yet the 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