quickest way to amend the constitution so as to abolish universal suffrage and place voting upon an income and property basis, he called a convention, which was opened in July, 1864. This convention, of which the king was president, consisted of twenty-seven delegates and sixteen nobles headed by the Kuhina-nui. Mr. Judd, who was made secretary, appointed Anglo-Saxons to fill the positions of chaplain, reporter, etc. Many American missionaries, fearing that the king desired to assume extra powers, had raised the cry of alarm. When the convention met, the American party led by Dr. Judd (the ex-minister) and his son (the secretary) and three or four others, stood for manhood suffrage, and opposed the policy of the king, whose views, delivered in both English and Hawaiian, were seconded by most of the nobles.

There were some remarkable speeches. Honorable D. Kalana and others, pointing to the United States for illustration, urged that universal suffrage led to corruption at the polls, and insisted that it was not the purpose of the king to take away the poor people's rights. M. Varigny, on the part of the king, intimated that to give suffrage to the poor was like placing a razor in the hands of a baby or giving a candle into the hands of a man to carry into a powder magazine. The opposition, denying that poverty was any argument against suffrage, urged that the ballot was an incentive to work, and claimed that purity of elections existed in the United States.

After a week of debates, a decision was reached that all three estates should sit in debate in the same chamber and vote unitedly on rules or by-laws, but that constitutional subjects must first be offered and carried by the representatives (lower house), then receive the separate vote of the nobles and the sanction of the king. The opposition of the representatives caused business to move slowly, and the king, becoming impatient on account of the long discussions on Article 62," and the failure to agree, after five weeks of fretful inculcation, declared it useless to prolong the session,

and claimed the right to abrogate the constitution of 1852. "I will give you a constitution," said he, and dissolved the convention.

On August 20 the promised constitution appeared. It omitted the "free and equal" clause; reversed the bicameral arrangement and returned to the single legislative chamber; abolished the Kuhina-nui; gave the king a larger place in the state; made the cabinet more responsible; excluded the ballot; required that representatives should own real estate worth $500, or have an annual income of $250, and that electors, besides possessing certain intellectual requirements, should own property worth $150, or receive $25 yearly rent and leasehold and $75 income. This constitution existed until 1887, when the legislative powers of the crown became entirely vested in the representatives of the people. The attempt of Liliuokalani in June, 1893, to increase her power and deprive foreigners of the right of suffrage by a new constitution resulted in the revolution that made Hawaii a republic, and prepared the way for annexation to the United States. The present territorial government was established by act of Congress in 1900.'

CHAPTER IX.

RELATIONS IN SAMOA.

The attitude of the United States toward the Samoan Islands furnishes an instructive chapter in the evolution of national policy. Compared to its policy in Hawaii, the American Government until recently has shown little interest in securing a control over the islands in the South Pacific, but local conditions, together with the increase of American interests in the Pacific and the Far East, led us first to a policy of protection for Samoa,' and then to division and acquisition.

'The Samoan Islands, located 4200 miles southwest from San Francisco, and 420 miles northeast of the Fijis, discovered in 1772 by a Hollander, are the largest and most populous Pacific group, with the exception of the Hawaiian Islands. Of the 13 islands in the group, only Savaii (700 square miles), Upolo (550 square miles), and Tutuila (55 square miles) are inhabited. The others are little more than barren volcanic rocks. The population is about 30,000, and the area about equal to that of Rhode Island. There are about 300 Europeans and Americans on the islands. The climate is tropical, and frequent thunder showers throughout the year supply the necessary irrigation for the rank vegetation. The products are bread-fruit, taro, yams, bananas, sugar, coffee, sea-island cotton, cocoanuts, etc. The lagoons and reefs abound in fish, which the natives catch with spears and nets. Both the import and export trade is in the hands of Germans. All accounts are kept in terms of United States currency. The natives are hospitable, open, amiable, brave and hardy and possess great mental ability, but are averse to labor. They speak a language similar to that of the Hawaiians. The principal amusements are quoits, card playing (casino), cricket and the siva, a kind of acting charade in which the life of the islands is represented in a very realistic manner by "living pictures." The actual siva is performed by girls, smeared with cocoa-nut oil, who frequently, under the excitement of their motions and contortions, divest themselves of all clothing. The marriage ceremony is very simple, and often there is no ceremony except the mere expression of a willingness to live together.

It was seen that the position of the islands, on the great trade routes between Panama and California, on the one hand, and Australia and the Orient, on the other, together with their strategic advantages, both political and commercial, were more important than the value of their trade. The harbor of Pango Pango (on the Tutuila), which is owned by the United States, is the best place in the South Pacific for repair and supplies and for a coaling and cable station. The harbor of Apia, under German control, though a safe port under ordinary conditions, has proven unsatisfactory in a severe storm.

Though an American consul had resided at Apia many years before' to protect American interests, our closer relations began in 1872, when Commander R. W. Meade, a United States navy officer, of the Narragansett, on his own responsibility, entered into an agreement pledging the protection of the United States, stating that we were about to establish commercial relations with the islands by means of a line of steamers then plying between California, Hawaii, New Zealand and Australia, and desired a convenient coaling port.

Both parties to a dormant civil war, which had been pending in Samoa since 1870, interfering with the exports of the island and causing the natives to spend most of the time in sharpening their war knives and axes, expressed a wish to acknowledge the absolute authority of the United

Polygamy has almost ceased. In case of divorce the young children go to the mother. Cooking is done by the men, and each person at the meal uses a bread-fruit leaf for a table, a mat for a chair, and the nearest post for a table napkin. The early social, political, and religious life of the Samoans is an interesting study. See George Turner's "Samoa a hundred years ago and long before," [Macmillan, 1884], and J. B. Stair's "Old Samoa," [London, 1897]. A good review of Turner's volume appears in the Nation [N. Y.] of August 21, 1884.

2 See Senate Rp. Com. 148, 36-1.

3 Geo. B. Rieman: Narrative of a cruise of the U. S. Str. Narragansett, Oakland, Cal., 1874, 43 pp. Nineteenth Century, Feb.,

States, and on March 2 the Chief of Pango Pango "freely and voluntarily" signed a treaty with Commander Meade, granting the United States the exclusive privilege of establishing a naval and coal depot in the bay in return for the promise of friendly alliance and protection by the United States. In May, Grant, stating that he would not hesitate to recommend its approval, but for the protection to which it seemed to pledge the United States, sent the treaty to the Senate, which failed to ratify it.

In 1873 the Department of State determined to obtain further information regarding the condition of Samoa. Colonel A. B. Steinberger, sent for this purpose, reached the islands in 1874. Under him the chiefs assembled a council, formed a constitution and laws for a united government, and again asked Grant to take the country under the protection of the United States. Steinberger, after making a voluminous report on the fertility and resources and important position of the islands, was impatient to return, and the Government again sent him with the condition that he pay his own expenses. He received instructions, dated December 11, in which Secretary Fish doubted whether the importance of a commanding position in the Pacific was a sufficient consideration to satisfy the people that the annexation of the islands was essential to our safety and prosperity, and did not consider it expedient "to originate a measure adverse to the usual tradition of the Government."

'The treaty also provided for the protection of the persons and property of foreigners and foreign consuls, the regulation of port charges and pilotage, the prohibition of trade in intoxicating liquors and work on Sunday, the apprehension of deserters, and of foreigners from encouraging native females to prostitute themselves.

'On March 16, 1872, President Grant, in response to a House resolution, sent a reply of the Secretary of State of same date, stating that there were no papers in the Department of State to show that the inhabitants of the Navigators' Islands, in the Pacific had made any application to have the protection of the United States extended over said islands.

Sen. Exec. Doc. 45, 43-1, Apr. 22, 1874.