THE UNITED STATES AND SAMOA 281 



The action of the Joint High Commission was generally 

 approved in the United States. Those who had followed 

 the course of Samoan history found in the proposed abolition 

 of the kingship the removal of the chief cause of dissension 

 in the islands. Most of the quarrels in Apia had no doubt 

 originated in the more or less open attempts of one or another 

 foreign faction to create a puppet king, who would do the 

 bidding of his masters. With this source of dissension 

 removed, the rival factions would have far less cause of 

 disagreement. 



In October, 1899, negotiations were begun in Washington 

 for a joint consideration of the proposals made by the com- 

 mission, and for the amendment or alteration of the Berlin 

 Act. In Samoa, the probable partition of the group had 

 for some time been hinted at, the current opinion being 

 that Germany would insist upon the retention of Upolu, 

 and that Great Britain would take the larger but less 

 important island of Savaii. Neither Great Britain nor the 

 United States seems to have contemplated such action at this 

 particular moment, nor to have considered the possibility at 

 that time of abrogating in toto the Berlin Act. From Ger- 

 many again came the rational proposition of the hour. All 

 three powers had been impressed by the assertion of the 

 Joint Commission that " the only system of government that 

 can assure permanent prosperity and tranquillity is a govern- 

 ment of one power"; but the difficulty lay in making a sat- 

 isfactory arrangement to that end. Indeed a division of the 

 islands among the three powers appeared to both England and 

 the United States a hopeless accomplishment, however desir- 

 able such a solution of the difficulties might be. The rival 

 interests of Germany and Great Britain in the Pacific seemed 

 to preclude any such action at least upon a thoroughly 

 friendly basis. However, the German foreign office in- 

 sisted that the time for partition had come, and upon 

 no other basis could the Samoan difficulty be adjusted. 

 Ultimate apportionment of the islands was inevitable, and 

 no time, it maintained, could be more appropriate than 

 the present for such action. The tripartite government 



