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A Footnote to History-Part25_ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON(1850-1894)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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taking a word out of one state of society, and applying it to



another, of which the writers know less than nothing, and no

European knows much. Several interpreters and several days were



employed last September in the fruitless attempt to convey to the

mind of Laupepa the sense of the word "resignation." What can a



Samoan gather from the words, ELECTION? ELECTION OF A KING?

ELECTION OF A KING ACCORDING TO THE LAWS AND CUSTOMS OF SAMOA?



What are the electoral measures, what is the method of canvassing,

likely to be employed by two, three, four, or five, more or less



absolute princelings, eager to evince each other? And who is to

distinguish such a process from the state of war? In such



international - or, I should say, interparochial - differences, the

nearest we can come towards understanding is to appreciate the



cloud of ambiguity in which all parties grope -

"Treading the crude consistence, half on foot,



Half flying."

Now, in one part of Mataafa's behaviour his purpose is beyond



mistake. Towards the provisions of the Berlin Act, his desire to

be formallyobedient is manifest. The Act imposed the tax. He has



paid his taxes, although he thus contributes to the ways and means

of his immediate rival. The Act decreed the supreme court, and he



sends his partisans to be tried at Mulinuu, although he thus places

them (as I shall have occasion to show) in a position far from



wholly safe. From this literal conformity, in matters regulated,

to the terms of the Berlin plenipotentiaries, we may plausibly



infer, in regard to the rest, a no less exact observance of the

famous and obscure "laws and customs of Samoa."



But though it may be possible to attain, in the study, to some such

adumbration of an understanding, it were plainlyunfair to expect



it of officials in the hurry of events. Our two white officers

have accordingly been no more perspicacious than was to be looked



for, and I think they have sometimes been less wise. It was not

wise in the president to proclaim Mataafa and his followers rebels



and their estates confiscated. Such words are not respectable till

they repose on force; on the lips of an angry white man, standing



alone on a small promontory, they were both dangerous and absurd;

they might have provoked ruin; thanks to the character of Mataafa,



they only raised a smile and damaged the authority of government.

And again it is not wise in the government of Mulinuu to have twice



attempted to precipitate hostilities, once in Savaii, once here in

the Tuamasanga. The fate of the Savaii attempt I never heard; it



seems to have been stillborn. The other passed under my eyes. A

war-party was armed in Apia, and despatched across the island



against Mataafa villages, where it was to seize the women and

children. It was absent for some days, engaged in feasting with



those whom it went out to fight; and returned at last, innocuous

and replete. In this fortunate though undignified ending we may



read the fact that the natives on Laupepa's side are sometimes more

wise than their advisers. Indeed, for our last twelve months of



miraculous peace under what seem to be two rival kings, the credit

is due first of all to Mataafa, and second to the half-heartedness,



or the forbearance, or both, of the natives in the other camp. The

voice of the two whites has ever been for war. They have published



at least one incendiary proclamation; they have armed and sent into

the field at least one Samoan war-party; they have continually



besieged captains of war-ships to attack Malie, and the captains of

the war-ships have religiously refused. Thus in the last twelve



months our European rulers have drawn a picture of themselves, as

bearded like the pard, full of strange oaths, and gesticulating



like semaphores; while over against them Mataafa reposes smilingly

obstinate, and their own retainers surround them, frowningly inert.



Into the question of motive I refuse to enter; but if we come to

war in these islands, and with no fresh occasion, it will be a



manufactured war, and one that has been manufactured, against the

grain of opinion, by two foreigners.



For the last and worst of the mistakes on the Laupepa side it would

be unfair to blame any but the king himself. Capable both of



virtuous resolutions and of fits of apathetic obstinacy, His

Majesty is usually the whip-top of competitive advisers; and his



conduct is so unstable as to wear at times an appearance of

treachery which would surprise himself if he could see it. Take,






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