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1889] Settlement of the Samoan question. 663 But when the correspondence in relation to Samoan affairs was published, and the facts concerning the adjournment of the conference and the subsequent seizure and deportation of Malietoa became known, there was produced in the United States a widespread feeling of resentment, not untinged with suspicion. The naval forces of the United States in the islands were increased ; and a considerable sum was appropriated by Congress for the protection of American interests. In this situation, which was such as to cause grave apprehension, Prince Bismarck proposed a resumption of the conference, with Berlin as the place of meeting. This proposal was accepted on certain conditions, which were duly arranged. The representatives of the three Powers met in Berlin on April 29, 1889. At the first session Prince Bismarck stated that, as Malietoa had expressed his earnest wish to be reconciled with the German government, he had been released and was at liberty to go wherever he pleased. This statement forestalled the raising of a pre- liminary question, the discussion of which could hardly have promoted good feeling; and on June 4, 1889, there was signed a general act, under which a condominium of the three Powers was established in Samoa. The results of this arrangement proved to be altogether unsatisfactory ; and ten years later, by a treaty concluded on December 2, 1899, the group was divided, the United States receiving the island of Tutuila and its dependencies, while Germany took the rest. Great Britain, by a separate arrangement with Germany, obtained compensation in other directions. The predominance of German commercial and landed inte- rests in Samoa was thus finally recognised. But the chief historical significance of the Samoan incident lies less in the disposition ultimately made of the islands, than in the assertion by the United States not merely of a willingness but even of a right to take part in determining the fate of a remote and semi-barbarous people whose possessions lay far outside the traditional sphere of American political interests. The tendency thus exhibited, though to a certain extent novel, was by no means inexplicable. The intense absorption of the people of the United States in domestic affairs, which resulted from the Civil War and the struggle over Reconstruction, had ceased. A last effort to extend political support to the negro, by means of a federal law for the control of national elections, was about to end in failure. The effort nowhere excited enthusiasm. The old issues were no longer interesting: the national energy and sense of power sought employment in other fields. The desire for a vigorous foreign policy, though it jarred with traditions, had spread and become popular. The reconstruction of the navy had also begun. The first session of the fifty-first Congress, which met in December, 1889, was rendered notable by changes in the procedure of the House of Representatives, under the direction of Reed, the new Speaker. By counting for the purposes of a quorum members present but not voting,