sure the Senate understands the general ground on which these few old women are to be pensioned. There are scarcely any of them, and I do not know of any, who are not really dependent, and all of them are getting to be quite old. The Senator from Missouri is not apt to err in the line of improperly loading up the pensionroll of the United States with cases which are not meritorious, and after considerable conference this substitute for the bill has been agreed to by him, and I am exceedingly anxious to have it disposed of now if possible. Otherwise we shall get no action during the present Congress. It covers not many cases, as I understand only a few hundred, and they are cases of great need. I do not know of any who are able to get along without this aid. They are required to have rendered six months' service and to have been honorably discharged (and many of them rendered several years' service), or they must have been disabled during the period of their service in order to get a pension at all."

The measure was not brought to a vote in the House.

Various other pension measures were proposed, but none of them were seriously considered by either House at the second session of the Congress. Samoa.-On Jan. 29, 1889, the Committee on Appropriations reported the following amendments to the diplomatic and consular appropriation bill passed by the House:

For the execution of the obligations and the protection of the interests of the United States, existing under the treaty between the United States and the Government of the Samoan Islands, $500,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary, to be expended under the direction of the President, this appropriation to be immediately available.

For the survey, improvement, and occupation of the bay and harbor of Pago Pago [or Pango Pango] in the island of Tutuila, Samoa, and for the construction of the necessary wharves and buildings for such occupation, and for a coaling station therein, under the direction of the President, $100,000, this appropriation to be immediately available.

In support of these amendments, Mr. Sherman, of Ohio, said: The time has arrived when Congress, and especially the Senate, must give intelligent attention to the questions involved in the occupation and settlement of the Samoan Islands. These questions are now exciting profound attention, not only in this country, but in Great Britain and Germany. While supporting the amendments proposed by the Committee on Foreign Relations, reported now from the Committee on Appropriations, I think it is due to the Senate and the people of the United States that I should state in a skeleton form the chief facts in regard to this matter, and that, too, without any feeling whatever, without any desire to interfere with our diplomatic negotiations or to disturb the harmony of our relations with Germany or Great Britain. I hope that the action of the Senate will be unanimous upon the adoption of these amendments, and that a frank and open debate will tend to this result.

"The Samoan Islands, formerly called the Navigator's Islands, are situated in the South Sea, almost midway between San Francisco and Australia, on the direct line of commercial intercourse from every part of America to the Australian or Polynesian Islands and settlements.

Their locality commands the natural interest of many nations. In extent they are comparatively insignificant, containing but about a thousand and forty-eight square miles composed of eight or ten different islands, the chief of which are Savaii, Upolu, and Tutuila, separated from each other by short distances. They are peopled by 32,500 innocent, harmless, tractable, and goodhumored natives of the Polynesian race, about 1,000 blacks taken there as laborers, and about 300 foreigners, nearly all of whom are either Germans, Americans, or English, occupying various commercial establishments there.

"These islands were first explored and surveyed in a scientific way by Admiral Wilkes in his famous exploration in 1840. The best maps of those islands within our reach are still the maps furnished by that expedition, and they are contained in the book of maps I have here before me. Admiral Wilkes was so impressed with the importance of those islands that he made surveys of the harbors and bays connected with them. The chief harbor, that of Pago Pago, in the island of Tutuila, is mapped with the soundings, etc., and is contained in the charts before me.

'Samoa has been since that time visited by many people. As I have said, it is in the line of communication from San Francisco to Australia. It has been in a measure settled and occupied since 1860 by Germans, English, and Americans. The attention of the Government of the United States was early called to it by the rather chivalric or adventurous experience of Colonel Steinberger, a citizen of the United States, who was sent there in 1873 as a special agent to ascertain all he could about this group of islands, and he made to the State Department an interesting report of his observations and intercourse with the Samoan people.

"During this visit he made something in the nature of an agreement or an arrangement with the King of the Samoan Islands, but it did not assume the form of a treaty, and was not brought before the Senate. He afterward became prime minister to the King, but was involved in one of the innumerable revolutions of the country, and was arrested and deported in an American vessel.

"So matters proceeded until in 1878 a treaty was made between the United States and the King of the Samoan Islands. I will read one or two articles of that treaty. It was signed by Mr. Evarts when Secretary of State, now a member of the Senate, and by Mamea, the minister of the King. The second article of the treaty, and the most important one, so far as it affects our interests, provides that:

Naval vessels of the United States shall have the privilege of entering and using the port of Pago Pago and establishing therein and on the shores thereof a station for coal and other naval supplies for their naval and commercial marine, and the Samoan Government will hereafter neither exercise nor authorize any jurisdiction within said port adverse to such rights of the United States or restrictive thereof. The same vessels shall also have the privilege of entering the United States shall likewise have free liberty to other ports of the Samoan Islands. The citizens of enter the same ports with their ships and cargoes of whatsoever kind, and to sell the same to any of the inhabitants of those islands. All such traffic, in what

"The fifth article provides that:

If, unhappily, any differences should have arisen, or shall hereafter arise, between the Samoan Government and any other Government in amity with the United States, the Government of the latter will employ its good offices for the purpose of adjusting those differences upon a satisfactory and solid foundation.

"This treaty is the basis of our right to occupy and hold and establish in the Bay of Pago Pago and on the adjacent shores of the island of Tutuila a station for coal and other naval supplies."

After citing treaties of Samoa and with Great Britain and Germany securing the independence of the islands, Mr. Sherman said: "I need not dwell upon the painful features of the civil wars that have prevailed there, nor upon the general judgment expressed by all the consular agents there, and by the gentlemen who were afterward sent there to examine into the nature of the government and the nature of these people, that from their character, from their peculiarities, they seemed to be totally unfit to conduct a regular form of government. Upon this question there is an almost uniform expression of opinion. I will read what is said by Mr. Bates, the agent sent there in 1886, and he expresses only that which is stated by the British agent.

He says:

Such being the elements of society, with due regard to which any government in Samoa must be constituted, I must report, as the result of my intercourse with and observations of the Samoans, my thorough conviction that they are unable now, unassisted, either to construct or maintain a government which will enforce authority or command respect. A system of government of their own they undoubtedly had, and, to a limited extent, still maintain, but it has been so interrupted and interfered with by the foreigners who have settled among them that it is doubtful, even if all disturbing influences were removed, whether they

could now restore it. They have never had a government which was worthy of the name as we understand it. They have no conception of the modern idea of government. That any system of laws should bear equally on all men is to them a thing impossible of comprehension. Probably no better evidence of the truth of these statements could be had than the history of the country for twenty years past.

"As a matter of course, these papers disclose that all the time since the country has been known, since the first treaty was made with America, there have been civil wars there, civil contentions, rivalries between chieftains, two families, each claiming the right to rule. There are many peculiar features of the government which we can scarcely comprehend. They have no idea of a permanent government. While one side is uppermost to-day, the other may be tomorrow. That state of civil war continued from 1873 until, in 1883, by the aid of the consuls of the three great powers, they finally agreed to settle their differences and agreed that Malietoa should be King, and that Tamasese should be Vice-King, without very distinct ideas as to the definite tenure or nature of their respective offices. One was King and the other was ViceKing. That arrangement seems to have been

brought about by the friendly co-operation of the consuls of these three governments, and was probably the first and most formal establishment of a government in the Samoan Islands; and such would always be the result of the co-operation of the three consuls acting harmoniously together.

"But soon after that difficulties arose between the citizens, traders, and consuls of the three powers of a different character. Movements

were made in Australia and in New Zealand to annex the Samoan Islands to the British colo

nies. Perhaps I ought to read to the Senate one and what progress made in that direction. Malior two items showing what steps had been taken etoa himself was in that movement, and though Queen of England and to the authorities of New acknowledged to be King, himself applied to the Zealand for permission to be annexed to Great Britain-a manifest violation of the treaty not

only with Germany but with the United States. consul, rather, because he seems to be supreme there, entered into a treaty on the 10th of NoMalieota, bitterly complained of by the authorivember, 1884, which is bitterly complained of by ties, and referred to by him in his letter to the Queen. The German consul, with military force, then refused to give him a copy of it or to read as he charges, compelled him to sign a treaty, and it to him. Whether that be so or not I do not know, because I think there must be a good many statements in these documents that can not be relied upon as absolute verities. But the fact is that the treaty of Nov. 10, 1884, was ratified or approved in the first instance by the Berlin Government and was communicated by it to our Government. An appeal was made by the German Government to the American Government to acquiesce in that treaty of Nov. 10, 1884, which practically made German power supreme over Samoa. It established a German council to rule and govern the country, and superseded the municipal board of consuls."

"The German Government, or the German

Rapidly detailing the complications that had arisen out of the attitude of the German authorities in Samoa, Mr. Sherman said, in conclusion: We can do all I propose without endangering the peace of this country. I believe this contention can be settled by a straightforward, manly negotiation entered into between these three great Christian powers, to either of whom these little islands must appear to be a mere mote on the ocean; and it would be a shame and a disgrace to our civilization and to our Christianity if these three powerful nations can not agree upon some mode of autonomy, some mode of government for this far-distant region of islands, where we all have equal interests and equal power.

"Therefore I do not doubt that in some way or other, by the election of a new king or by some mode of agreement, probably improving their form of government, with the hearty assent of the people of that country, if they are prepared really to assent to anything, a government of that kind may be set up for local purposes there among the islanders, while the great powers may provide for themselves in Apia all the security necessary for their commercial enterprises. That, I hope, will be done.

"Whatever the newspapers may say, there is nothing in the situation that would justify on the part of either nation a breach of the peace until every effort is exhausted to bring about a peaceful and quiet settlement of this controversy. To me it seems the smallest controversy in which the United States could be or has ever been engaged. It does not seem to me that Germany, whose people are like our own, and Great Britain, with their boundless empire, will ever allow the disgrace to be inflicted upon our civilization of having a single man of either of these nations killed in war or contest over this puerile controversy. That is the way it looks to me.

"Now sir, I say therefore, first, we want to assert our rights and maintain and uphold them, and nobody will call them in question. Next, we want to do what we ought to do to these poor people there who first treated with us, who have leaned upon us, and who have reminded us over and over again that we promised them our good offices, and they understand by that something more than a diplomatic note. This we can accomplish. Therefore, Mr. President, I am willing to vote any sum of money to enable the President either to conduct negotiations, to make surveys of the harbors, or to get better information in regard to the country there. I am willing to vote the sum named here and place it at the discretion of Mr. Cleveland or of General Harrison, and I have no doubt with the powers thus given to them to send agents there or to send ships there they will bring about a prompt solution of this small controversy."

Mr. Dolph, of Oregon, advocated vigorous action, and made a long argument favoring the application of the Monroe doctrine to the acquisition of territory in the Pacific by European powers. As to their progress there, he said: The numerous island groups of the Pacific have one by one passed under the control of European powers. Recently the remaining islands not already subject to foreign control, excepting the Sandwich Islands, the Samoan Islands, and perhaps one other group, were partitioned between Germany and Great Britain, and now it seems evident that Germany is pursuing a plan to secure control of the Samoan Islands with the acquiescence of Great Britain. When that is accomplished Germany and Great Britain will be ready for fresh operations and further acquisitions of territory in the Hawaiian Islands, and we, feebly remonstrating, allow our treaty rights to be disregarded, the lives of our citizens to be jeopardized, their property destroyed, the Monroe doctrine to sink into innocuous desuetude.

The manner in which the islands of the Pacific have been partitioned out among the European powers is thus stated by Secretary Bayard in a dispatch to Mr. Pendleton of Jan. 17, 1888, in reply to a communication of Prince Bismarck to the German minister at Washington, complaining of the anti-German attitude assumed by the American consul-general at Apia, Mr. Sewall:

Should the opinion which has been expressed as to the part taken by the United States in seeking to preserve the independence of the Samoan Islands seem in any degree extravagant, it will no longer appear to be so when what has taken place in the last three years in regard to other island groups in the Pacific is considered,

Prior to that period Spain was holding the Ladrone

Between the years 1842 and 1847 France established a protectorate over the Marquesas, Society, and Paumota groups, and in 1853 occupied New Caledonia. In 1864 she formally assumed control of the Loyalty Islands, and in 1880 added Tahiti to the list of her colonies in the Pacific.

In addition to the continent of Australia, to which Great Britain holds a comparatively ancient title, that New Zealand, the sovereignty of the latter being Government had also acquired the Fiji Islands and ceded in 1840 and that of the former on the 10th of October, 1874.

Germany had not then entered upon her present active policy of colonization in the Pacific, although her subjects had carried on a considerable commerce islands, including the Samoan. there, and had established places of trade on various

Such was the condition of affairs at the beginning of the present decade, nor was there observable at that time any marked evidence of the desire for new territorial acquisitions; but, beginning in 1884, numerous island groups have, in rapid succession, passed, in whole or in part, under the control of various European powers, until almost the last vestige of native autonomy in the islands of the Pacific has been obliterated.

The year 1884 witnessed the occupation by Germany of the northern side of New Guinea, from Cape King William to Astrolabe Bay, the imperial flag being hoisted at twelve different points. Almost coinci dently Great Britain occupied the south coast of the island, and in the months of November and Decemsiade group, Woodlark Island, and Long and Rook ber in the same year seized and occupied the Loui

Islands.

In the following year arose the dispute between Germany and Spain over the Carolines, which was terminated by the protocol signed at Rome on the 17th of December, 1885, under which Germany acknowledged the sovereignty of Spain over these islands and the Pelew group; and they have now passed finally under Spanish control.

But these events were merely the precursors of others, of which the seizure by France in 1886 of the New Hebrides was not the most significant. On the 6th of April of that year a joint declaration was made by Germany and Great Britain, which contemplated the absorption by those two powers of almost all the independent territory in that part of the Pacific Ocean called the West Pacific, lying between the fifteenth degree of north and the thirtieth degree of south latitude and between the one hundreth and sixty-fifth degree of longitude west and the one hundred and thirtieth degree of longitude east of Greenwich, which had not already been occupied by some foreign power. Through that part of the Pacific included in those bounds of latitude and longitude a line of division was drawn to mark the respective spheres of British and German influence and annexation; and each joint declarant agreed not to make any acquisitions of territory, nor to establish protectorates, nor to oppose the operations of the other in the sphere of action respectively assigned to it.

Under this declaration and agreement, from which Samoa, Tonga, and Niné Island were excepted, and by the line of division drawn as above stated, New Ireland, New Britain, and the adjacent western half of the Solomon group passed under the dominion of Germany, and certain islands west of the line to Great Britain.

On the first of August, in the same year, the latter Government took possession of the Kermadec Islands, and by the imperial decree of the 13th of the ensuing month the Marshall, Brown, and Providence Islands and groups were occupied by Germany.

As the result of what has been above detailed, of the vast aggregate of territory in the Pacific Ocean but

a few island groups, containing a few thousand square miles, remain to-day as independent and autonomous. Long anterior the United States had acquired, by discovery and occupation, the uninhabited island, or ocean reef, of Midway, as a possible coaling station.

In view of these facts, it is unnecessary to empha size the importance attached by this Government to the maintenance of the rights to which the United States has become entitled in any of the few remain ing regions now under independent and autonomous native governments in the Pacific Ocean.

Prince Bismarck has referred to this Government's treaty with Hawaii, of the 30th January, 1875, which has lately been renewed, and which is said by him to give the United States commercial advantages in those islands superior to those possessed by any other foreign power. In respect to this it needs only to be observed that the treaty was one of special reciprocity which both the contracting parties were alone competent to make, and that the United States has at no time, since the convention was concluded, sought to use it to control the native government of the islands or to regulate their internal affairs against the wishes of the inhabitants, although the geographical and historical relations of the group to the United States necessarily gives this Government an interest in the future of the islands such as no other foreign government can possibly possess.

"As I have said, there would be nothing inconsistent with our established policy in the United States interfering to preserve the independence and autonomy of the Samoan Islands as against the encroachments of a European power, or even of assuming a protectorate over them, if necessary to secure peace, order, and the protection of our interests there. A protectorate assumed upon the invitation and with the consent of the native government for the purpose of preventing the forcible interference of other nations would be a very different thing from intervention as practiced by European powers on the Continent of Europe.

Pacific intervention which seeks the settlement of differences between nations, and, if successful, results in a treaty, a congress, or international conference, is justifiable and may be commendable; but armed intervention by one or more nations with the internal affairs of another nation can not, in my judgment, be defended upon principles of right or justice. Among nations, as among individuals, equality is equity. Forcible intervention is inconsistent with the equality and the independence of nations. On the Continent of Europe whenever a pretext has been wanted for war with a weaker nation and the acquisition of its territory it has been found in the doctrine of intervention.

"It has more than once served as the pretext for the spoliation of the weak by the strong. By the forcible intervention of the monarchies of Europe revolutions have been crushed, the progress of nations prevented, tottering thrones and kingly power sustained, the map of Europe changed, governments destroyed and their territory partitioned among neighboring nations, and what was created one day destroyed the next. The exercise of it is defined by no law, regulated by no precedents, and is governed only by the interests of the hour. The right denied at one time by a nation is asserted under precisely similar circumstances when self-interest demands it." The proposed amendments were adopted by the Senate; the House non-concurred, and a conference committee was appointed. As a result of

the conference, the appropriation of half a million dollars, to be expended by the President for the execution of the obligations and the protecion of the interests of the United States in Saamendment making a port for Pago Pago harbor moa under existing treaties, was agreed to. The was abandoned, as it was covered by an item in the naval appropriation bill.

Laborers on the Panama Canal.-On Feb. entitled "An Act to enable the President to 11, 1889, the Senate passed the following bill, protect the interests of the United States in Panama":

Be it enacted, etc., That there be, and is hereby appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of $250,000 to enable the President to protect the interests of the United States and to provide for the security of persons and property of citizens of the United States at the Isthmus of Panama, in such manner as he may deem expedient.

The measure was reported to the House on Feb. 15, and Mr. McCreary, of Kentucky, said, in explanation of it: "A few days ago the President of the United States sent to Congress a message referring to possible disturbances on the Isthmus of Panama in the event of the stoppage of work on the proposed interoceanic canal, and inclosed a report from the Secretary of State, with accompanying correspondence. Since that time work on the Panama Canal has stopped; and there are now something like 15,000 laboring men thrown out of employment, many of them very destitute. Of that number, as I am informed, between four and five thousand are Americans. This emergency has caused the minister of the United States at Bogotá to send the following dispatch to Secretary Bayard:

The Colombian Government fears disorders, and requests the United States to provide means to transport home discharged laboring men from Panama Canal. Great Britain has been similarly asked. MAURY.

"After this dispatch was received, Mr. Bayard wrote a letter to the chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate, from which I now read an extract:

I hasten to place before you a copy of a cipher telegram received late last night from Mr. Maury, our minister at Bogotá, by which you will perceive the expediency of hastening as rapidly as possible the action of Congress toward enabling the President to provide transportation of United States citizens from the Isthmus of Panama, in order to save them from the disasters threatened by the stoppage of work on the

Panama Canal.

"As I have stated, work has now stopped. Members of this House are most of them familiar with the treaty of 1846 between the United States and New Granada. Under the treaty of the United States with New Granada (now the United States of Colombia), made in 1846, the United States is required to maintain an uninterrupted and unembarrassed right of transit across the Isthmus of Panama. Not only that, but our Government has guaranteed the neutrality of the Isthmus of Panama, and also guarantees the sovereignty and the property which New Granada possesses there. The Senate of the United States has already passed this bill. The Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of

Representatives unanimously recommend its pas sage, and action should be taken immediately. Between four and five thousand Americans are now in Panama, many of them in a destitute condition, and the object of the bill is to enable the President to protect the interests of the United States and provide for the security of the persons and property of citizens of the United States at the Isthmus of Panama."

The bill passed the House the same day and was approved by the President Feb. 26. Retiring Gen. Rosecrans. On Feb. 15, 1889, the Senate passed the following bill for the relief of William S. Rosecrans:

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the President be, and he is hereby authorized to nominate, and, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to appoint William S. Rosecrans, late a major-general of United States Volunteers, and brigadier-general in the regular army of the United States to the position of brigadiergeneral in the army of the United States, and to place him upon the retired list of the army as of that grade (the retired list being thereby increased in number to that extent); and all laws and parts of laws in conflict herewith are suspended for this purpose only.

When the subject was brought up in the House Feb. 22, there was a rancorous debate on the passage of the measure. Mr. Struble, of Iowa, said, in opposition, to it: "In my judgment, it is not good policy to continue in the line of encouraging our officers in the regular army, after having been educated by the Government and fitted for that service and assigned to their respective positions, to give up their places in the army of the United States and retire from that service with a view of accepting political honors or business vocations, and after making such trial as each may see proper in such line as may be chosen, to come to Congress and request restoration to rank theretofore held by them.

"I wish to say that, in my opinion, if this policy is pursued it will be in its tendency demoralizing to our regular army service. I think it ought not to be pursued further, but rather when our cadets go from West Point and take their positions in the regular army of the country, it ought to be the understanding that they should hold the places to which they have by the Government been assigned; or if they voluntarily abandon them for other positions, whether in political or business life, they can never expect to be restored to their former military status. I have stated the most serious objection I entertain to this bill, but while I have anotherand one that I feel intensely-before proceeding to state it, let me say that it is not my purpose to indulge in any filibustering tactics to defeat or postpone final action on the bill.

"My mind runs back to-day to the Fortyeighth Congress, to the second session thereof, when the friends of General Grant on both sides of the House were intensely anxious to do a noble deed, that the heart of the old commander might, in the gloom of rapidly approaching night -the night of death--be somewhat cheered and sustained. The session was fast waning. The bill proposing to restore him to his former rank was finally called up, but serious opposition was found to exist to its passage. From what source did it come, and who led the opposition? Was

it one of the then so-called "brigadiers," one of those who might have felt a lingering bitterness toward the old hero because of his career while leading armies in the South? No. Some of these had objections to the bill, but the one prominent, persistent, bitter, and unyielding foe of that humane measure was the gentleman who is now so anxious to be placed on a military list from which he retired in time of war and of peril to the Union. Can any of us on this side of the chamber who were here forget the spirit of unrelenting hatred with which Gen. Rosecrans then pursued Gen. Grant? Others possibly may, but I can not and will not.

"There is a homely old maxim that I am told obtains even among the lowest classes who engage in personal combat, as well as in higher circles of pugilists, and that is, 'Never kick a man when he is down.' At the close of the Forty-eighth Congress and at the time to which I have referred, the dear old warrior who had, more than any other man, saved us a nation, was 'down 'down on a couch of intensest suffering and near the last day of his earthly life. Did the beneficiary in this bill exhibit a sense of common humanity, of sympathy for a fellow-man down and dying? No, verily! On the contrary, he continued to kick the poor, helpless creature until forced off the floor of the House by the persuasion of those of his associates whose hearts beat in unison with those of the people in all parts of the land, and whose tears flowed copiously at the thought of the silent, uncomplaining warrior who was then so grandly battling the great foe of us all."

Mr. Anderson, of Iowa, said, in support of the measure: "Mr. Speaker, hand in hand with bravery go generosity and charity. No man in this presence had greater admiration for the great captain of his time than I had while he was living, and there is no man that reveres his memory, now that he sleeps the last sleep, more than I. I was in a frame of mind at the time, in consequence of the assault that Gen. Rosecrans made upon that great captain, that made me feel I would never forgive him. But I have changed with time, and I have come to the conclusion that the manly thing, and the brave and charitable thing to do (in view of the great infirmities of human nature that attach to the great heroes that came from the war, as well as to other men), is to overlook them, and this has changed my purpose and will cause me to give my vote for the passage of this bill.

"With all Gen. Grant's heroism, with all his greatness, he had his imperfections, and he from time to time, the war being over, made criticisms of men that he regretted. The same is true of that very distinguished general that followed in his wake. He likewise has said things he regretted.

"I served throughout the entire war, and, knowing what I do of the perils and hardships of that struggle for national life and of the value of the services rendered, I never have and never will lift my voice or cast my vote to withhold any honor or favor from any one of the loyal heroes engaged, from the grand commander of all the armies to the humblest soldier in the ranks.

"I have said it, and am willing to say and still