the Samoans so great a thing to offer, to the practical mind of Dr.
Stuebel seemed a trifle to receive; and the pressure was continued and
increased. Laupepa and Tamasese were both heavy, well-meaning,
inconclusive men. Laupepa, educated for the ministry, still bears some
marks of it in character and appearance; Tamasese was in private of an
amorous and sentimental turn, but no one would have guessed it from his
solemn and dull countenance. Impossible to conceive two less dashing
champions for a threatened race; and there is no doubt they were reduced
to the extremity of muddlement and childish fear. It was drawing towards
night on the 10th, when this luckless pair and a chief of the name of
Tuiatafu, set out for the German consulate, still minded to temporise. As
they went, they discussed their case with agitation. They could see the
lights of the German war-ships as they walked--an eloquent reminder. And
it was then that Tamasese proposed to sign the convention. "It will give
us peace for the day," said Laupepa, "and afterwards Great Britain must
decide."--"Better fight Germany than that!" cried Tuiatafu, speaking
words of wisdom, and departed in anger. But the two others proceeded on
their fatal errand; signed the convention, writing themselves king and
vice-king, as they now believed themselves to be no longer; and with
childish perfidy took part in a scene of "reconciliation" at the German
consulate.

Malietoa supposed himself betrayed by Tamasese. Consul Churchward states
with precision that the document was sold by a scribe for thirty-six
dollars. Twelve days later at least, November 22nd, the text of the
address to Great Britain came into the hands of Dr. Stuebel. The Germans
may have been wrong before; they were now in the right to be angry. They
had been publicly, solemnly, and elaborately fooled; the treaty and the
reconciliation were both fraudulent, with the broad, farcical fraudulency
of children and barbarians. This history is much from the outside; it is