It is probable that their real fear was that he would use the night to regain some of his lost influence, and that the progress of events would be arrested by some unforeseen action on the part of the king; but, as it was quite possible that, in the present temper of the people, Mr Baker might be roughly handled, the captain of the Rapid was asked to land a few marines and station them for the night at the palace already vacated by Mr Baker. Accordingly seven marines were landed unarmed under the command of a lieutenant. The verandah was occupied by a number of chiefs, and the night passed quietly.

Mr Baker had unfortunately time to remove several packages of papers from the palace, and he and his children were seen late in the night burning papers, perhaps those for which a diligent and unsuccessful search was made by his successors. At daybreak he made an attempt to enter the Palace, but went away when refused admission by the marines. He was met at the gate by Taufaahau, the king's great-grandson and heir, who, with the title of "Crown Prince of Tonga," had been sent to school in Auckland under Mr Baker's supervision. Infuriated at the ingratitude of his old protégé, he cried out, "You shall pay me for your keep in my house in Auckland.”

"And you," shouted the boy, "shall pay for living for years in my grandfather's house!"

A few weeks later Taufaahau received the bill for his entertainment in Auckland; but I have reason to fear that the debt is still owing, although he has long ago come into his kingdom and the command of his privy purse.

A little later his Majesty himself came forth for his morning bath in the sea. One of the marines, having

orders to allow no one to pass, and seeing nothing in an elderly native gentleman to betoken royalty, interfered. King George, much amused, attempted to explain the situation in the vernacular, but the marine was obdurate. The poor king had to go without his bath, but his admiration for the sentry outweighed any annoyance on that score. "No wonder," he said, "that Britain is so powerful: these soldiers obey their officers and no one else. Ah! if the Tongans were like that."

This day being Sunday, the High Commissioner attended church with the king, and after service accompanied him home by invitation. He had made a wonderful recovery from la grippe, and was in the same high health and spirits as he had been forty-eight hours before when visited by the Vice-Consul without notice, and as he had not been when seen by the High Commissioner by appointment. He spoke for some time with great animation, repeatedly expressing his thankfulness for the action taken by his chiefs and his release from Mr Baker. He also cordially accepted an invitation to visit the Rapid, which he had previously declined on the advice of Mr Baker. The marines were now withdrawn, and on the following day the Premier was formally dismissed from office by the king.

The vacancies thus created were rather numerous, for Mr Baker was Premier, Minister of Foreign Affairs, President of the Court of Appeal, Auditor-General, Minister of Lands, Judge of the Land Court, Minister of Education, Agent-General, and Medical Attendant to the king.

His Majesty at first wanted to appoint Josateki Tonga to the post of Premier, because, though a chief of inferior

A SECRET OF STATE.

17

rank, he had so long acted for Mr Baker in his absence that the king had a great belief in his knowledge of affairs. Sateki (as he is commonly called) declined, saying that he was more fit to follow than to lead. Tungi was then proposed, but he excused himself on the ground of age and infirmity. The choice, therefore, fell on his son, George Tukuaho, the ablest young chief in Tonga. Tungi became Minister of Lands, and Asibeli Kubu, a young chief of Vavau of high rank on his mother's side, took the portfolio of Minister of Police, an important office including the control of Crown prosecutions and prisons. The other offices remained unchanged. The new Ministers at once took charge of their respective departments. The Premier's office was found to be in a state of the greatest confusion, and Mr Smart, one of the Customs clerks, was employed in endeavouring to set the papers in order, when Mr Baker appeared on the scene, anxious to remove some of his account-books. He was stopped by a native sentry, and for the moment he forgot that the reins of office had fallen from his hands-indeed at this time his dismissal from office, though already signed, had not yet been handed to him. His temper gave way. "By whose orders was he prevented from entering his office?" "By the king's."

"But I insist on removing my private property from the office."

Consent was given provided that nothing was removed without the permission of a Government officer. They passed through the outer office to Mr Baker's elegantly furnished sanctum. Behind this was a "holy of holies" into which no Tongan had ever been known to penetrate.

B

There had always been a mystery about this inner room with barred windows. All that was known of it was that Mr Baker frequently retired thither during office hours, and returned to his work with renewed vigour and inspiration; and that large and heavy cases, marked “T. G.,”. were periodically landed by the steamer to be carried into this inner chamber. When they reached the door they found that Mr Smart had succeeded in opening it, and that the secret lay disclosed. Straw pyramids littered the floor: there were empty cases and cases yet unemptied; and a terrible array of " dead marines," square-shouldered, round-shouldered, and sloping-shouldered, shocked the eye as they lay in unblushing and uncompromising evidence in every corner. The ex-Premier blushed deeply. "This is all my private property," he said, angrily. But Mr Smart had been examining the cases. "I think not," he

said, with conviction; "the cases are marked 'T. G.,' which stands for Tongan Government."

"But I paid for them," retorted Mr Baker.

'In that case," said Smart, "they must have evaded Customs duty, private goods imported as Government property!"

Mr Baker was speechless with indignation. "I'll make you pay for this some day," he said, and turned away to claim other property. If views differ regarding Mr Baker's abilities as an administrator, no one who has since visited that inner room has thought of denying his genius as a judge of champagne. More than once have I heard a Cabinet Minister, the bitterest of his enemies, say with real conviction after repairing the tedium of a weary debate in the House, "Misa Beika was a wise man!"

THE CASE FOR THE EXILES.

19

He now wanted to remove his account-books, which were, he said, his private property; but the writing was the writing of Otto Lahnstein, who was paid with Government money, and the books had been paid for from the same funds. So he took his last view of the scene of his labours, and withdrew protesting. His son, who had been his Private Secretary, gazed with pride at the havoc of the clerk's office, and remarked to Smart, "Well, at any rate you fellows can't say that we haven't done a lot of work here."

A day or two later the king visited the Rapid in his State barge, and the High Commissioner paid an informal visit to him the same afternoon. He found him attended by thirty or forty chiefs in the ordinary native dress, a sure sign that they felt at ease. After a warm greeting the conversation turned upon Tongan affairs. Sir John expressed a hope that all petty oppression and persecution would now cease, and that the people would be allowed to return to their normal state of quietude. The king replied that he felt sure that a time of peace had arrived. The opportunity for testing the sincerity of his promises. had come, and the High Commissioner decided to ask him to do that which Mr Baker had persisted in declaring he would never do-namely, to allow those exiled to Fiji for their religious views to return. He referred to the chiefs present who had relations among them-to Fatafehi, Governor of Haapai, whose mother, Charlotte, the king's daughter, was among the exiles, though past sixty years of age. The king was visibly affected, and said, "I never sent them away: I did not want them to go. Let them come back. They were driven away. Bring them back