, because they had not been created. And we
fell into our old estate of government by the three Consuls, as it was
in the beginning before the Berlin Act existed; as it seems it will be
till the end, after the Berlin Act has been swept away.

It was during the time of this triumvirate, and wholly at their
instigation and under their conduct, that Mataafa was defeated, driven
to Manono, and (three warships coming opportunely to hand) forced to
surrender. I have been called a partisan of this chief's, and I accept
the term. I thought him, on the whole, the most honest man in Samoa, not
excepting white officials. I ventured to think he had been hardly used
by the Treaty Powers; I venture to think so still. It was my opinion
that he should have been conjoined with Malietoa as Vice-King; and I
have seen no reason to change that opinion, except that the time for it
is past. Mataafa has played and lost; an exile, and stripped of his
titles, he walks the exiguous beach of Jaluit, sees the German flag over
his head, and yearns for the land wind of Upolu. In the politics of
Samoa he is no longer a factor; and it only remains to speak of the
manner in which his rebellion was suppressed and punished. Deportation
is, to the Samoan mind, the punishment next to death, and thirteen of
the chiefs engaged were deported with their leader. Twenty-seven others
were cast into the gaol. There they lie still; the Government makes
almost no attempt to feed them, and they must depend on the activity of
their families and the charity of pitying whites. In the meantime, these
very families are overloaded with fines, the exorbitant sum of more than
L6,600 having been laid on the chiefs and villages that took part with
Mataafa.

So far we can only complain that the punishments have been severe and
the prison commissariat absent. But we have, besides, to regret the
repeated scandals in connection with the conduct of the war, and we look
in vain for any sign of punishment. The Consuls had to employ barbarous
hands; we might expect outrages; we did expect them to be punished, or
at least disowned. Thus, certain Mataafa chiefs were landed, and landed
from a British man-of-war, to be shamefully abused, beaten, and struck
with whips along the main street of Mulinuu. There was no punishment,
there was even no inquiry; the three Consuls winked. Only one man was
found honest and bold enough to open his mouth, and that was my old
enemy, Mr. Cedercrantz. Walk