oads--a great shock to the Samoan sense of the
becoming, which was rendered the more sensible by the death of one of
the number at his task. Mataafa was involved in the same trouble. His
disaffected speech at a meeting of Atua chiefs was betrayed by the girls
that made the kava, and the man of the future was called to Apia on
safe-conduct, but, after an interview, suffered to return to his lair.
The peculiarly tender treatment of Mataafa must be explained by his
relationship to Tamasese. Laupepa was of Malietoa blood. The hereditary
retainers of the Tupua would see him exiled even with some complacency.
But Mataafa was Tupua himself; and Tupua men would probably have
murmured, and would perhaps have mutinied, had he been harshly dealt
with.

The native opposition, I say, was in a sense continuous. And it kept
continuously growing. The sphere of Brandeis was limited to Mulinuu and
the north central quarters of Upolu--practically what is shown upon the
map opposite. There the taxes were expanded; in the out-districts, men
paid their money and saw no return. Here the eye and hand of the
dictator were ready to correct the scales of justice; in the
out-districts, all things lay at the mercy of the native magistrates,
and their oppressions increased with the course of time and the
experience of impunity. In the spring of the year, a very intelligent
observer had occasion to visit many places in the island of Savaii.
"Our lives are not worth living," was the burthen of the popular
complaint. "We are groaning under the oppression of these men. We would
rather die than continue to endure it." On his return to Apia, he made
haste to communicate his impressions to Brandeis. Brandeis replied in an
epigram: "Where there has been anarchy in a country, there must be
oppression for a time." But unfortunately the terms of the epigram may
be reversed; and personal supervision would have been more in season
than wit. The same observer who conveyed to him this warning thinks
that, if Brandeis had himself visited the districts and inquired into
complaints, the blow might yet have been averted and the government
saved. At last, upon a certain unconstitutional act of Tamasese, the
discontent took life and fire. The act was of his own conception; the
dull dog was ambitious. Brandeis declares he would not be dissuaded;
perhaps his adviser did not seriously try, perhaps did not dream that in
that welter of contradictions, the Samoan constitution