Judge, then, what is muttered of Laupepa,
housed in his shanty before the president's doors like Lazarus before the
doors of Dives; receiving not so much of his own taxes as the private
secretary of the law officer; and (in actual salary) little more than
half as much as his own chief of police. It is known besides that he has
protested in vain against the charge for Dr. Hagberg; it is known that he
has himself applied for an advance and been refused. Money is certainly
a grave subject on Mulinuu; but respect costs nothing, and thrifty
officials might have judged it wise to make up in extra politeness for
what they curtailed of pomp or comfort. One instance may suffice.
Laupepa appeared last summer on a public occasion; the president was
there and not even the president rose to greet the entrance of the
sovereign. Since about the same period, besides, the monarch must be
described as in a state of sequestration. A white man, an Irishman, the
true type of all that is most gallant, humorous, and reckless in his
country, chose to visit His Majesty and give him some excellent advice
(to make up his difference with Mataafa) couched unhappily in vivid and
figurative language. The adviser now sleeps in the Pacific, but the evil
that he chanced to do lives after him.
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