But I may seem to exaggerate the degree of white opposition. And it is
true that before fate overtook the Brandeis government, it appeared to
enjoy the fruits of victory in Apia; and one dissident, the unconquerable
Moors, stood out alone to refuse his taxes. But the victory was in
appearance only; the opposition was latent; it found vent in talk, and
thus reacted on the natives; upon the least excuse, it was ready to flame
forth again. And this is the more singular because some were far from
out of sympathy with the native policy pursued. When I met Captain
Brandeis, he was amazed at my attitude. "Whom did you find in Apia to
tell you so much good of me?" he asked. I named one of my informants.
"He?" he cried. "If he thought all that, why did he not help me?" I
told him as well as I was able. The man was a merchant. He beheld in
the government of Brandeis a government created by and for the firm who
were his rivals. If Brandeis were minded to deal fairly, where was the
probability that he would be allowed? If Brandeis insisted and were
strong enough to prevail, what guarantee that, as soon as the government
were fairly accepted, Brandeis might not be removed? Here was the
attitude of the hour; and I am glad to find it clearly set forth in a
despatch of Sewall's, June 18th, 1888, when he commends the law against
mortgages, and goes on: "Whether the author of this law will carry out
the good intentions which he professes--whether he will be allowed to do
so, if he desires, against the opposition of those who placed him in
power and protect him in the possession of it--may well be doubted.
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