278 AMERICAN DIPLOMATIC QUESTIONS 



meetings held with chiefs in various parts of the group, 

 which resulted in a discovery that the larger sentiment of 

 natives and foreigners favored the plan of the commission 

 to do away entirely with that office. In the wisdom of this 

 reform both Tanu and Mataafa agreed, the latter chief no 

 doubt concluding to abandon his struggle against what now 

 seemed to him to be the decrees of fate. Another provisional 

 government was thereupon established consisting of the 

 three consuls, with the president of the municipality, Dr. 

 Solf (Herr Raffel had resigned), as adviser. Pledges of 

 peace between the rival native factions were secured, and 

 harmony reigned when the commission departed upon the 

 homeward journey, July 18. Mr. Chambers left the islands, 

 Mr. Osborn was designated Chief Justice, and Dr. Solf re- 

 mained president of the municipal council. There was 

 no king. 



Before leaving the islands the commissioners reached an 

 agreement recommending a new form of government for 

 Samoa. Their conclusions were embodied in a preliminary 

 draft of treaty before the three powers for the amendment or 

 the modification of the Berlin Act. Accompanying the draft 

 of treaty was a joint report explanatory of the proposed 

 reforms. 



The conclusions of the commissioners had been' arrived at 

 in a logical manner. First, the ills of Samoa and the evils 

 which caused them were investigated and classified, and then 

 to each category of evils were proposed such remedies as 

 seemed to the commission best calculated to remove or at 

 least to minimize them. These " evils " were grouped under 

 four heads. 



1. Those evils which appear inevitably to attend the 

 election of a king in Samoa, and his subsequent efforts to 

 exert his authority. 



2. Those evils due to the rivalry of foreign nationalities and 

 to the disposition of the whites to take sides in native politics. 



3. A class of evils having origin in the fact that there is' 

 no law or government in the islands outside of Apia other 

 than native customs. 



