compromise in the form of a General Act, to which Samoa
consented. The native government was retained, but the control
was given to a Chief Justice and a President of the Municipal
Council of Apia, who were to be foreigners chosen by the three
powers. Their relative authority is indicated by the fact that
the king was to receive $1800 a year, the Chief Justice, $6000,
and the President, $5000.

Small as was the immediate stake, this little episode was
remarkably significant of the trend of American development.
Begun under Grant and concluded under Blaine and Harrison, the
policy of the United States was the creation of no one mind or
party nor did it accord with American traditions. Encountering
European powers in the Pacific, with no apparent hesitation
though without any general intent, the United States entered into
cooperative agreements with them relating to the native
governments which it would never have thought proper or possible
in other parts of the world. The United States seemed to be
evolving a new policy for the protection of its interests in the
Pacific. This first clash with the rising colonial power of
Germany has an added interest because it revealed a fundamental
similarity in colonial policy between the United States and Great
Britain, even though they were prone to quarrel when adjusting
Anglo-American relations.

While the Samoan affair seemed an accidental happening, there was
taking shape in the Pacific another episode which had a longer
history and was more significant of the expansion of American
interests in that ocean. Indeed, with the Pacific coast line of
the United States, with the superb harbors of San Francisco,