with the leading German firm, and with the approval of the American consul was deported in a British manof-war, and thus ended his career as premier.1

The disorder in Samoa continuing, the chiefs looked to some foreign power to give them a stable governA deputation went in 1877 to Fiji to ask support from the British authorities there, but without success. The same year they dispatched an envoy to Washington to seek a protectorate from the United States. The protectorate was declined, but Secretary Evarts made a commercial treaty with him in 1878, which was afterwards ratified by the chiefs, and in which the use of Pago Pago as a naval station was secured. The following year commercial treaties with the chiefs were made by Germany and Great Britain. Thus by these three powers was the independence of Samoa recognized. The treaties were followed by a convention the same year between the three powers, represented by their consuls, and the king of Samoa, whereby a municipal government, under control of the three consuls, was provided for Apia, the chief town of the islands.2

The next few years were full of wrangling between the consuls of the three treaty powers, and of discord, and sometimes of open war, between the recognized king, Malietoa, and the rival aspirants, Tamasese and

17 Presidents' Messages, 168; S. Ex. Doc. 45, 43d Cong. 1st Sess. ; H. Ex. Doc. 161, 44th Cong. 1st Sess.; H. Ex. Doc. 44, 44th Cong. 2d Sess.; A Foot-Note to History, Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa, by Robert Louis Stevenson, New York, 1892, p. 38.

2 7 Presidents' Messages, 469, 497; Treaties of U. S. 972; H. Ex. Doc. 238, 50th Cong. 1st Sess. pp. 126–134.

Mataafa.

The Germans had been longest on the islands, and controlled much the greater part of their trade. They had also acquired, largely by very questionable transactions with the natives, the possession The trade with Great

of considerable areas of land. Britain was next in importance, but very small. The British government had two reasons for its interest in the islands the presence of the English missionaries and the proximity of its possessions in that quarter of the globe. The commerce of the United States was quite insignificant, and there were few American residents. The chiefs had, however, time and again petitioned the United States to extend its protection against occupation by other powers, and twice had the American consul, upon his own responsibility, raised the national flag, to prevent, as he alleged, the annexation of the islands, first by Great Britain and then by Germany.

This turbulent state of affairs reached a crisis in 1885, when the German consul, on the claim that German interests were not protected, assumed control of affairs in the name of his government, and raised his flag in evidence of the exercise of sovereignty. This was responded to on the part of the American consul by the display of his flag, accompanied by the proclamation of an American protectorate over the islands. The act of the consul was promptly disavowed by the United States, and later the German government disclaimed responsibility for the conduct of its consul. But the events caused Secretary Bayard to address a note to both the German and British governments, asking that their ministers at Washington be authorized

to confer with him upon some scheme which would preserve the peace and assure to the islands a stable government. This proposition was assented to, and a conference of the three powers was held in Washington during the year 1887.

Two plans for the reorganization of the Samoan government were submitted. One was by the German minister, and was supported by his British colleague, the two governments having apparently reached an understanding as to their respective interests in the Pacific. This plan, based upon the claim of the superior interests of Germany in Samoa, would have given to that power a controlling influence in the islands. Mr. Bayard strenuously objected to the predominant control of any one power, and he proposed that the administration of affairs should be committed to an executive council consisting of the king and three foreigners, one to be nominated by each of the powers, and that the three governments should in turn keep a vessel in Samoan waters, to preserve the peace, and enforce, if necessary, the orders of the executive council.

The conference failed to reach an agreement, and an adjournment of some months was taken, to enable the British and German ministers to consult their governments, it being understood that the status quo would be meanwhile maintained. Immediately after the adjournment, the German consul, under the orders of his government, made a demand upon Malietoa for reparation for certain wrongs alleged to have been committed by him and his people previous to the meeting of the conference, and upon his refusal war was declared,

Malietoa was dethroned and deported, and Tamasese was installed as king, with a German, one Brandeis, as adviser. This provoked a counter-revolution led by Mataafa, and again general disorder prevailed throughout the group.

Much indignation was felt in the United States against Germany on account of its attitude in Samoa, and Congress made an appropriation of a half million of dollars for the protection of American interests. President Cleveland dispatched a squadron of the navy to Apia, which soon after its arrival was destroyed in the harbor by a hurricane, with the loss of a considerable number of its officers and men, an event which cast a gloom over the country, but gave increased interest to the question.

Secretary Bayard, by note to the minister at Berlin, made an energetic protest against the action of the German authorities in Samoa, taken with a view to obtain personal and commercial advantages and political supremacy, which was in direct violation of the agreement of the conference. On the other hand, he declared that the policy of the United States had been actuated not so much by the idea of any commercial interest, as by a benevolent desire to promote the development and secure the independence of one of the few remaining autonomous native governments in the Pacific Ocean. He passed in review the recent events in that quarter of the globe, showing how the European governments had appropriated, at their own will, the Polynesian islands, until almost the last vestige of native autonomy had been obliterated.

This note initiated a correspondence, which led to a proposition from Count Bismarck, in February, 1889, for the reassembling of the conference of the three powers, and invited a meeting at Berlin. This proposition was promptly accepted by Secretary Bayard, but as President Cleveland's administration was drawing to a close, the appointment of the American representatives to the conference was left to his successor. Soon after the inauguration of President Harrison, Messrs. Kasson, W. W. Phelps, and Bates were appointed commissioners to Berlin, Mr. Bates having made a visit to Samoa as special agent under the direction of Secretary Bayard.

In giving instructions to the commissioners, Secretary Blaine called attention to the plan proposed by Secretary Bayard in the first conference, and said that "It was not in harmony with the established policy of this government. For if it is not a joint protectorate, to which there are such grave and obvious objections, it is hardly less than that and does not in any event promise efficient action." He said the President disapproved of the plan, but if intervention in the affairs of Samoa should become absolutely necessary in the existing complication, "It is the earnest desire of the President that this intervention should be temporary." The commissioners, however, found that no other plan than joint intervention could save the islands from the complete control of Germany, and Secretary Bayard's plan was adopted in principle, though considerably modified in detail.

The plan as finally agreed to recognized the inde