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Power & Choice: An Introduction to

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v

Contents

■■■

List of Tables, Figures, and Photos


List of Examples
Preface

PART I THE IDEA OF POLITICS

1 Politics: Setting the Stage


Politics
Politics as the Making of Common Decisions
Politics as the Exercise of Power
Power and Choice
Politics of the State
Political Science
The Pleasures of Politics
Key Terms | Review Questions

2 Modern Ideologies and Political Philosophy


American Ideologies
Liberalism
The Conservative Reaction
The Socialist Alternative
Communism and Socialism
Fascism
Ideologies in the Twenty-First Century
Religion, Politics, and Political Philosophy
Political Philosophy in Other Historical Eras
Key Terms | Review Questions

PART II THE STATE AND PUBLIC POLICY

3 The Modern State


The Development of the Modern State
The Origin of States: Power or Choice?
The State as a Device to Provide Public Goods
“State,” “Nation,” and the “Nation-State”
vi
State-Building
Government and the State
Challenges to the State
Example 3.1 ■ State-Building in Nigeria
Example 3.2 ■ State-Building in the European Union
Key Terms | Review Questions

4 Policies of the State


The Role of Government in the Third World
Why Are the World’s States Expanding?
Constraints and Conditions for Policy
Defense Policy
Education
Research and Development
Health and Social Welfare
Progress across the Last Century And a Half
The Place of Power in Policy Analysis
Example 4.1 ■ The Demographic Challenge
Example 4.2 ■ Economic Development Compared with “Human Development”
Example 4.3 ■ Rwanda’s War on Plastic Bags
Key Terms | Review Questions

5 Economic Policy of the State


Economic Performance I: Growth
Economic Performance II: Controlling Inflation and Unemployment
Distribution and Economic Inequality
Independent Central Banks
Corruption
Other Measures Available to Government
Globalization: Are States Losing Their Ability to Make Economic Policy?
Political Economy
Example 5.1 ■ Economic Policy in Germany
Example 5.2 ■ Economic Policy in Indonesia
Key Terms | Review Questions

6 What Lies Behind Policy: Questions of Justice and Effectiveness


The Problem of Justice
Other Aspects of Justice: Procedural Justice
Effectiveness
A Basic Question of Effectiveness: Authority versus the Market
Power and Choice
The Need to Act, Even under Uncertainty
Example 6.1 ■ Political Choice
Key Terms | Review Questions

PART III THE CITIZEN AND THE REGIME

7 Democracies and Authoritarian Systems


Democracy
vii
The Coming and Going of Democracy
Possible Explanations
What Did We Learn from the Third Wave?
Why Are Prosperous Countries Likely to Be Democracies?
Democracy and Freedom
Democracy and Capitalism
Authoritarian Systems
Military Government
Why Aren’t There More Military Governments?
One-Party States
Monarchies and Theocracies
Democracy versus Authoritarianism: Material Considerations
“Power and Choice” Again
Example 7.1 ■ Authoritarian Drift in Venezuela?
Example 7.2 ■ Theocracy in Iran
Example 7.3 ■ The “Arab Spring”: A Failed Wave of Democratization
Key Terms | Review Questions

8 Political Culture and Political Socialization


Analyzing Political Cultures
Religion and Political Culture
Political Socialization
Media as Agents of Political Socialization
Political Culture and the “Democratic Citizen”
How Well Do Citizens Meet These Requirements?
Social Capital
Example 8.1 ■ Building Authority and Legitimacy in West Germany after World War II
Example 8.2 ■ Declining Democratic Legitimacy in the United States
Key Terms | Review Questions

PART IV THE APPARATUS OF GOVERNANCE


9 Constitutions and the Design of Government
Variations in Formality
The Virtue of Vagueness
Other Principles of Constitutional Design
Constitution-Writing
The Geographic Concentration of Power
“Federal” and “Unitary” States
The Distinction between “Unitary” and “Centralized” States
How Much Centralization Is Good?
Constitutions and Guarantees of Rights
Written Constitutions Can Do Only So Much: The Importance of Norms
Constitutionalism and the Rule of Law
Example 9.1 ■ Constitutional Government in Great Britain
Example 9.2 ■ Constitution- Writing in South Africa
Key Terms | Review Questions
viii

10 Elections
Elections as a Means of Building Support
Elections as a Means of Selecting Leaders and Policies
Electoral Systems
Referendums
Electoral Participation
Effects of Choice and Information on Turnout
The Paradox of Voting
The Bases of Individuals’ Electoral Choices
Example 10.1 ■ Proportional Representation Elections in Israel
Example 10.2 ■ Elections in Nigeria
Key Terms | Review Questions

11 Parties: A Linking and Leading Mechanism in Politics


The Political Party
Origins of the Modern Party
Political Parties and the Mobilization of the Masses
Political Parties and the Recruitment and Socialization of Leaders
Political Parties as a Source of Political Identity
Political Parties as a Channel of Control
Striking a Balance in Partisanship
Party Organization
Party Finance
The Digital Challenge to Parties
Political Party Systems
Power and Choice
Example 11.1 ■ The Communist Party of China
Example 11.2 ■ Canada’s Political Parties
Key Terms | Review Questions

12 Structured Conflict: Interest Groups and Politics


Interest Groups and Representation
Interest Groups and the Problem of Public Goods
Types of Interest Groups
Tactics of Interest Groups
The Choice of Tactics
Patterns of Organized Interest-Group Activity
Pluralism
Neocorporatism
Pluralism and Neocorporatism: Power and Choice
Example 12.1 ■ Interest Groups in France
Example 12.2 ■ Attenuated Interest Groups in Bangladesh
Key Terms | Review Questions

13 Social Movements and Contentious Politics


Why Now?
Advantages (and Disadvantages) of Informal Organization
Example 13.1 ■ Two Uprisings in Iran
Example 13.2 ■ The “Orange Revolution” in Ukraine
Key Terms | Review Questions
ix

14 National Decision-Making Institutions: Parliamentary Government


Head of State
Head of Government
Cabinet Control
What Does a Parliament Do?
Parliamentary Committees
Upper Houses
Advantages and Disadvantages of Parliamentary Government
Let’s Make Sure I Haven’t Made This Sound Too Simple
“Consensus” Parliamentarism
Parliaments in Authoritarian Systems
Example 14.1 ■ Parliamentary Government in India
Example 14.2 ■ Parliamentary Government in Germany
Key Terms | Review Questions

15 National Decision-Making Institutions: Presidential Government


Political Parties and Presidential Government
Presidential Leadership
Presidential and Parliamentary Systems Compared
Responsibility for Policy
Presidential Systems and Comprehensive Policy
Recruitment of Executive Leaders
Review and Control of the Executive
“Court” Politics
Flexibility of the Political Process
The Split Executive of Parliamentary Systems
Why Aren’t All Democracies Parliamentary Systems?
Democracy and the Question of Accountability
A Note on Institutions and Power
Example 15.1 ■ Presidential Hybrid in France
Example 15.2 ■ Presidential Government in Mexico
Key Terms | Review Questions

16 Bureaucracy and the Public Sector


Public Administration as a Political Problem
Characteristics of Good Public Administration
“Bureaucracy”: A Reform of the Nineteenth Century
Bureaucracy versus Flexibility
The Problem of Protected Incompetence
Adjustments to Bureaucracy
Social Representativeness of Public Administration
Example 16.1 ■ The French Bureaucracy
Example 16.2 ■ Bureaucratic Cultures in Europe and Africa
Key Terms | Review Questions

17 Law and the Courts


Anglo-Saxon Case Law
Continental European Code Law
The Blending of Case Law and Code Law
Religious Law: The Sharia
x
Courts
Judicial Review
Example 17.1 ■ The Law in China
Example 17.2 ■ The European Court of Justice
Key Terms | Review Questions

PART V INTERNATIONAL POLITICS

18 Global Politics: Politics among States (and Others)


The Absence of Central Authority
Fiduciary Political Roles and International Morality
Impediments to International Communication
Power and International Politics
The Process of International Politics
The Evolution of the International System since World War II
The World since the Cold War
Power and Choice in International Politics
Example 18.1 ■ Climate Change: A Problem of Public Goods among States
Example 18.2 ■ The United Nations
A Personal Note
Key Terms | Review Questions

Appendix: Principles of Political Analysis


Falsifiability
What Makes a Statement Interesting?
Causation and Explanation
Historical Explanation
A Few Common Pitfalls in Analysis

Glossary
Notes
Index
xi

Tables, Figures, and Photos

■■■

TABLES
2.1 Various Types of Evangelical Protestants Compared
3.1 The European Union Compared with the United States
Government’s Expenditures as a Percentage of the Gross Domestic Product in
4.1
Selected Third World States
4.2 Defense Preparations for Selected States
4.3 Educational Effort for Selected States
4.4 Involvement of Selected States in Research and Development
4.5 Social Welfare Governmental Activity for Selected States
4.6 Health Expenditures and Outcomes for Selected States
The World’s Most Prosperous States, Ranked on per Capita Gross Domestic Product
4.7
and on the Human Development Index
5.1 Income Inequality in Selected States
5.2 Levels of Governmental Corruption
5.3 Labor Cost per Worker in Manufacturing, 1998–2002
7.1 Life Expectancy under Authoritarianism and Democracy
8.1 The Role of the Citizen
8.2 The Civic Culture Revisited, 1990
8.3 Values of Americans and Jordanians
8.4 Development of Political Orientations among Swedish Youth
8.5 Percentage of Americans Engaging in Seven Different Acts of Political Participation
Percentage That Have Ever Engaged in a Variety of Actions More Demanding Than
8.6
Voting, for Selected Countries
8.7 Percentage Accurately Stating Candidate’s Position on His Signature Issue
8.8 Attitudes toward the Past, 1951–1970
8.9 Trust and Hostility among Germans, 1946–1976
8.10 Frequency of Political Discussion, 1953–1972
8.11 Decline of Confidence, 1958–2008
9.1 Percentage of Revenue Collected by Different Levels of Government
10.1 Percentage Agreeing That Ordinary People Have Little Say in Government
xii10.2 Percentage of the Vote for the RIP, by District
10.3 Who Is Likely or Unlikely to Vote?
10.4 Social Bases of Support for the Social Democratic Party of Germany, 1953–2005
11.1 The Canadian Election of 2011
Percentage of Eligible Employees in the United States Who Are Enrolled in Labor
12.1
Organizations, for Various Industries
Percentage of Members Who Would Stay in the Association If It Did Not Lobby at
12.2
All
Managers Ranked by Country (Out of 44) in How Frequently They Would Rely on a
16.1
Given Source
17.1 Constitutional Review and Shared Powers: Western Europe and North America
18.1 Eleven Major Military Powers

FIGURES
3.1 Prussia In 1789
3.2 Linguistic Map of Europe
3.3 Ethnic Map of Nigeria
3.4 Collective Identification among French-Speaking Quebecers, 1970–1997
4.1 Government Expenditures as a Percentage of Gross Domestic Product
5.1 Per Capita Gross Domestic Product of the World’s States (PPP), 2016
Inflation and Central-Bank Independence. Annual Average Inflation Rate (Percent),
5.2
1972–1989
7.1 Percent of the World’s States Democratic, 1977–2017
Probable Reward for Coming Out in Favor of Democracy, as Probability Increases
7.2
That Democracy Will in Fact Be Established
7.3 Probabilities of Overthrow in Democracies and Authoritarian Systems
8.1 The Inglehart–Welzel Cultural Map, WVS-6 (2015)
8.2 Percentage of Voting-Age Population Voting, United States
9.1 Federal Systems (Shaded Areas) of the World
10.1 Aksala: A Hypothetical SMDP Result
10.2 A Hypothetical Election by SMDP, with Aksala Divided into Only Five Districts
10.3 Voter Turnout among Major American Ethnic Groups
10.4 Voting and Volunteerism in the American States
10.5 Turnout by Number of Parties, for Well-Informed and Less-Informed Voters
11.1 Continuity of Republican Strength in Tennessee, 1860–2016
11.2 Organizational Structure of Great Britain’s Conservative Party
xiii13.1 Parties, Interest Groups, and Social Movements
14.1 Parliamentary and Presidential Systems
14.2 The Process of Cabinet Formation
Total Number of Civilian Public Employees (Combined Local, State, and Federal)
16.1
in the United States, 1950–2012
18.1 Growth of Non-State Participants: NGOs and IGOs
Trade in Goods and Services (Exports plus Imports) as a Proportion of U.S. Gross
18.2
Domestic Product

PHOTOS

Politics as power: a child-soldier abducted and forced to fight. His shirt


reads, in either bravado or pathos, “I fear old age more than death.”
Adolf Hitler examining a prototype model of his “people’s car,” the
Volkswagen Beetle.
Karl Marx, architect of socialist ideology.
German soccer fans celebrate their team’s victory over Costa Rica with
waving flags. The sea of flags was controversial because many Germans
are ambivalent about nationalism, given their state’s history during the
Hitler period.
Policy at work. A doctor sponsored by Great Britain treating patients in
Pakistan after devastating floods.
The 2008–2009 economic crash shook the world’s financial leaders.
Germany’s economy minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg and finance
minister Peer Steinbrück contemplate new forecasts of the German gross
domestic product, 2009.
Michel Camdessus, director of the IMF, watches President Suharto of
Indonesia sign a 1998 agreement for fiscal austerity. Mr. Camdessus said
later that he just did not know what to do with his arms, but outraged
Indonesians thought the picture captured the arrogance of the IMF and
their country’s subservience to it.
An incineration plant in Mannheim, Germany, creates an externality for
nearby houses.
Demonstrators celebrate a military coup ousting Robert Mugabe, who had
ruled Zimbabwe for thirty years.
Queen Elizabeth presenting prizes at a horse show, performing one of the
many duties of the head of state.
Counting ballots in Ireland.
A powerful image of mobilization. Greece’s New Democracy party stages a
party rally.
Farm workers in Arizona. Moving frequently, working long hours, and
lacking education and political skills, such workers find it difficult to
organize themselves for political action. Note in table 12.2 that only 2
percent of agricultural workers are in labor organizations.
xiv
Demonstrators against a new pipeline for natural gas crowd the streets of La
Paz, Bolivia. After weeks of such demonstrations, with eighty deaths, the
president of Bolivia had to step down.
Subcomandante Marcos, the charismatic leader of the Zapatista movement,
addresses reporters at the outset of a nineteen-hundred-mile protest drive
and march from Chiapas to Mexico City.
View from the back benches of the Senate Chamber in Canada’s
Parliament.
One of the many duties of the president is to deliver an annual State of the
Union Address to congress. Donald Trump in 2018.
A citizen meets the state, Washington, D.C.
Defendant facing the judges of a Sharia Islamic court, Nigeria.
A son mourns a father lost in Syrian conflict.
The Republic of Maldives is the lowest state in the world, with its highest
elevation just 7.4 feet above sea level. This city, and the rest of the
Republic, is grievously threatened by rising sea levels.
xv

Examples

■■■

3.1 State-Building in Nigeria


3.2 State-Building in the European Union
4.1 The Demographic Challenge
4.2 Economic Development Compared with “Human Development”
4.3 Rwanda’s War on Plastic Bags
5.1 Economic Policy in Germany
5.2 Economic Policy in Indonesia
6.1 Political Choice
7.1 Authoritarian Drift in Venezuela?
7.2 Theocracy in Iran
7.3 The “Arab Spring”: A Failed Wave of Democratization
8.1 Building Authority and Legitimacy in West Germany after World War II
8.2 Declining Democratic Legitimacy in the United States
9.1 Constitutional Government in Great Britain
9.2 Constitution-Writing in South Africa
10.1 Proportional Representation Elections in Israel
10.2 Elections in Nigeria
11.1 The Communist Party of China
11.2 Canada’s Political Parties
12.1 Interest Groups in France
12.2 Attenuated Interest Groups in Bangladesh
13.1 Two Uprisings in Iran
13.2 The “Orange Revolution” in Ukraine
14.1 Parliamentary Government in India
14.2 Parliamentary Government in Germany
15.1 Presidential Hybrid in France
15.2 Presidential Government in Mexico
xvi16.1 The French Bureaucracy
16.2 Bureaucratic Cultures in Europe and Africa
17.1 The Law in China
17.2 The European Court of Justice
18.1 Climate Change: A Problem of Public Goods among States
18.2 The United Nations
xvii
Preface
■■■

T his book provides a general, comparative introduction to the major


concepts and themes of political science. For a number of years, I had
taught a course that attempted to accomplish this aim, and that
experience showed me how badly we needed a text that is conceptually
alive and that engages students with concrete examples of analysis without
losing them in a clutter of definitional minutiae. That is what I aimed for
when I first wrote this book, and I’ve been very pleased at the response it
has elicited. It is comparative in its theoretic focus and its method, but as it
is primarily intended for American students, many of its instances and
comparisons involve politics in the United States. All, however, are
comparative.
The title of the book, Power & Choice, indicates a subsidiary theme that
recurs at intervals. We may view politics as (1) the use of power or (2) the
production of a public choice. Often one or the other is heavily emphasized
in approaching the subject. Marxism emphasizes politics as the use of
power, while pluralism and much formal modeling work emphasize the
emergence of public choices. For our present purpose, I have defined
politics as the use of power to make common decisions for a group of
people, a definition that obviously demands that one hold both perspectives
simultaneously. At various stages of my presentation, I note instances in
which an emphasis on just one of the two halves of the definition may yield
a distorted interpretation.
Behind this subsidiary theme lies a broader theme that remains largely
implicit—it is best if we conduct political analysis eclectically, rather than
straitjacketing ourselves into a single approach. My own research is
squarely in the behavioral realm, for instance, but I found as I was working
on this book that necessities of exposition and understanding pulled me
toward a greater emphasis on policy and institutions than I had originally
intended. Similarly, the state as an organizer of politics thrust itself more to
the fore than I had anticipated. Distinctions that provide useful boundaries
for research proved unhelpful in my efforts to build an understanding of
politics among students. I think this is a healthy sign.
I present the material in the book topically rather than on a country-by-
country basis. However, in order to add the sort of detailed contextual
grounding that students gain from a country presentation, I have included
within each substantive chapter a couple of extended examples from
countries that particularly display the conceptual material of that chapter.
For instance, chapter 3, xviiiwhich deals with the state, concludes with
detailed sections on the establishment and maintenance of the Nigerian state
and on the European Union. Similarly, chapter 16, “Bureaucracy and the
Public Sector,” gives detailed treatment to France and a comparison of
bureaucratic cultures in Europe and Africa.

NEW TO THE FIFTEENTH EDITION


Over the decades since I first wrote this book, the world has proved to be a
strange and wonderful place—even more than I realized at that time. The
book has seen the joy and light of the young people who pulled down the
Berlin Wall in 1989 and the darkness of the suicide attackers who destroyed
the World Trade Center in 2001. As it has evolved across a number of
editions during this time, very little that it started out with has remained
unchanged. Its mood has also varied from time to time, but one thing that
has been constant is my faith in people’s capacity to shape their futures
through politics.
In this fifteenth edition there is, of course, a great deal of updating. When
a book deals with all the states of the world, many things change over even
a couple of years. I have updated the continuing fallout from the 2008–2009
worldwide economic crisis, Russia, the failed Arab Spring, the upsurge of
populism and the fragility of democracies, new elections in Nigeria and
other states, and many other topics.
More substantial changes include
a new section on progress in the human condition, drawing on the
work of Angus Deaton;
a new section on the importance of norms in democratic government;
a new section on the need to strike a balance in partisanship;
a new section on the digital challenge to political parties;
a new section on “court” politics; and
new examples: Rwanda’s attempt to eliminate the use of plastic bags,
the failed Arab Spring, the two large-scale uprisings in Iran since its
revolution, and climate change as an international problem of public
goods.

I have also taken advantage of the change to this new edition to reorganize
the tools I offer students in the book. I have added a section at the beginning
of each chapter, “Major Themes to Look for in This Chapter,” in which I try
to help students see the forest, and a section of review questions at the end,
in which I help them check to see whether they have learned the trees. In
order to make room for these, I have eliminated the section of “Further
Reading.” I have also eliminated most of the boxed materials in the book,
keeping a few, incorporating others into the text, and dropping several. I
think the result will be a cleaner read for students.

SUPPLEMENTS

Test Bank. For each chapter in the text, there is a test bank section that
includes multiple choice, true/false questions, and essay questions. The
Test xixBank is available to adopters for download on the text’s
catalog page at https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781538114124.
Testing Software. This customizable test bank is available as either a
Word file or in Respondus. Respondus is a powerful tool for creating
and managing exams that can be printed to paper or published directly
to the most popular learning management systems. Exams can be
created offline or moved from one learning management system to
another. Respondus LE is available for free and can be used to
automate the process of creating print tests. Respondus 4.0, available
for purchase or via a school site license, prepares tests to be uploaded
to any of the most popular course management systems such as
Blackboard. Visit the Respondus Test Bank Network at
http://www.respondus.com/products/testbank/search.php to download
the test bank for either Respondus 4.0 or Respondus LE.
Companion Website. Accompanying the text is an open-access
Companion Website designed to engage students with the material and
reinforce what they’ve learned in the classroom. For each chapter,
flash cards and self-quizzes help students master the content and apply
that knowledge to real-life situations. Students can access the
Companion Website from their computer or mobile device; it can be
found at http://textbooks.rowman.com/shively15e.
eBook. The eBook allows students to access this textbook anytime and
anywhere they want. The eBook for Power & Choice, Fifteenth
Edition, includes everything that is in the print edition, and features
direct links to the Companion Website where students can access flash
cards and self-quizzes to help test their understanding of the major
concepts and terminology in each chapter. The eBook can be
purchased at https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781538114124 or at any
other eBook retailer.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I have been very pleased by the response to this book. It is a wonderful
experience to run into people who have used it and feel that it has helped
them. I benefited greatly from comments by the following reviewers who
will notice many of their suggestions incorporated: Lynda K. Barrow, Eric
Boyer, Richard P. Farkas, Lolita D. Gray, Michael Huelshoff, Hanna
Kassab, Wonik Kim, Nalanda Roy, and Noel A. D. Thompson.
I am also very grateful for the help and advice of Traci Crowell and Mary
Malley, as they patiently helped Power & Choice immigrate to Rowman &
Littlefield.
W. Phillips Shively
xx
PART I
1 The Idea of Politics
1
2 Politics: Setting the Stage
■■■

MAJOR THEMES TO LOOK FOR IN THIS CHAPTER

■ Politics is the making of common decisions, through the use of


power. This definition implies two complementary emphases in
interpreting politics: looking at politics as the search for a common
choice and looking at politics as the use of power to achieve your
ends.
■ Power is a complex, multifaceted phenomenon.
■ The state and its government are structures by which power can be
organized and used very efficiently.

E veryone knows something about politics, and many people know a


great deal about it. It is an interesting, amusing, and moving spectacle
that sometimes even supplants professional sports in the public eye.
Political scientists, however, study politics and analyze it. This involves
doing pretty much the same sorts of things that other people do who follow
politics: we read the newspapers, listen to press conferences, and take part
in political campaigns. However, we also do some things differently. We
usually try to see both sides of any question and to keep our emotions in
low key, because emotions can cloud judgment. We borrow deliberately
from other disciplines—such as economics, history, sociology, psychology,
and philosophy—to help us understand what is going on politically. Above
all, as you will see later in this chapter, we try to be precise about the
meanings of the words we use. Many words having to do with politics—
such as “liberal,” “represent,” and even “politics”—are quite complex, but
most people use them unthinkingly. Political scientists are careful to
analyze the varied meanings of such words and to use them precisely, partly
because it is important to know exactly what we mean by the words we use
and partly because careful examination of a richly complex word may teach
us a lot about the things it describes.
What do political scientists study? Over the years, we have seen work in
which political scientists

measured just how much it actually costs a country to lose a war;


devised a new system of voting in primaries that might have led to a
different set of candidates for most presidential elections;
analyzed and explained the various styles that members of the U.S.
Congress adopt in dealing with their constituents;3
studied the spread of stem cell research laws across the states;
showed that the roots of successful government may go back to social
institutions several centuries ago;
showed why most nations ignore warnings about surprise military
action by hostile nations; and
studied why democracies almost never wage war on other
democracies.

These are the sorts of things in which political scientists engage. This book
introduces you to the broad principles of what we have learned about
politics, especially about the politics of democracies. I hope the study will
sharpen and enrich the more general understanding of politics that you
already have.
This first chapter, in particular, involves the precise definition of several
words with which you are already somewhat familiar. We must examine
these definitions because you should start your study with some basic terms
in place. You may also find it intriguing to see complexity in words, such as
politics, that have probably not struck you before as particularly
complicated.
POLITICS
What is politics? What is it that makes an act political? Consider the
following questions, all of which involve politics. What do these have in
common?

How was Hitler able to take power through a series of supposedly


democratic elections?
Why do democracies tend not to engage in war against other
democracies?
Why should workers sort letters the way their boss directs if they know
a more efficient way?
Why were southern blacks denied the vote and placed in segregated
schools throughout the 1950s while at the same time their housing was
not as segregated as that in the North?
Should gays be barred from the military?
Should native populations in the Amazon basin of Brazil be displaced
in favor of economic development?
Why does the United States have only two major political parties when
most democracies have more?
Should state and local governments have the right to force landholders
to sell them land that they need for public purposes?
Was Harry Truman right to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
Why do people so often feel guilty about not doing what their parents
want them to do?

These questions deal with politics. The questions about bosses and parents
may not have looked to you as if they belonged in this group, but their
connection with politics should become clearer by the end of this chapter.
What is it that these questions have in common? There are two main
things, and scholars have often used both as the defining characteristics of
politics. First, all the questions involve making a common decision for a
group of people, that is, a uniform decision applying in the same way to all
members of the group. 4Second, all involve the use of power by one person
or a group of people to affect the behavior of another person or group of
people. Let us look at both of these in more detail.

POLITICS AS THE MAKING OF COMMON DECISIONS


Any group of people must often make decisions that will apply to all of
them in common, as a group. A family must decide where to live, what
sorts of rules to set for children, and how to balance a budget. A class in a
college or university (including the instructor as part of the “class”) must
decide on the required reading material, how to grade students, and the
brightness of lights in the classrooms. A country must decide where to
locate parks, what allies to seek out in war, how to raise revenue by taxing
its citizens, how to care for the helpless, and many other things. Each of
these requires setting common policy for the group, a single decision that
affects all members of the group.
Not all human actions, of course, involve making a common policy for
a group. When one brother teases another, he is not making a family policy,
nor is a family member who decides to write the great American novel. A
student who decides to read extra material on one section of the course (or,
perhaps, to skip a bit of the reading) is not making a policy of the class. A
person’s decision to build a new house is not part of any common national
policy, although the country may have policies—on interest rates, the
regulation of building, land use, and zoning—that affect this person’s
decision. Facebook’s decisions on a search algorithm are not part of a
common national policy.
Those actions that contribute to the making of a common policy for a
group of people constitute politics, and questions about those policies and
the making of those policies are political questions. The
political/nonpolitical distinction is not always easy to draw. The Facebook
example above is tricky because Facebook is so large that its decisions
verge on being common policy for the whole United States, even though the
company has no formal role in the nation’s government. In other words, one
might argue that because the U.S. government tolerates the concentration of
social media among a few giant corporations and because (as a result of
this) the decisions of any one of them bulk large in American life, those
decisions have a quasi-public character and are “sort of” political.
Another tricky aspect of the political/nonpolitical distinction is that it is
a matter of perspective. Ford Motor Company’s design decisions are not
political decisions for the United States, but they are political decisions for
Ford’s stockholders, managers, and workers, because they set a common
policy for the company. A family’s decision to build a house is not a
political decision for the country, but it is a political decision for the family
as a group inasmuch as it involves a common policy for the family.
“Company politics” is involved in Ford’s decision, and “family politics” is
involved in the family’s decision. Neither, however, is a national political
decision. Society consists of groups within groups within groups. Facebook
and its employees are a group within the United States, and a family may be
a group within the larger group of those dependent on Facebook. Politics
exists within any of these groups whenever they make a decision that will
apply to all the members of the group. Depending upon which group you
are thinking of, you may treat a given decision—the decision of the Clauski
family to 5 build a house—as either political or nonpolitical. The Clauski
decision is political for the family as a group but not political for the
country.

POLITICS AS THE EXERCISE OF POWER


A second characteristic of politics, one that runs through the questions at
the start of this chapter, is that politics always involves the exercise of
power by one person or persons over another person or persons. Power is
the ability of one person to cause another to do what the first wishes, by
whatever means. Politics always involves this: one person causing others to
do what that person wants. Looking back at the questions, we note that
Hitler rose to high office by convincing many Germans to vote for him, the
U.S. Congress disagrees with the president so often about energy policy
because the president does not have much power either to force or to
convince Congress to go along with his wishes in that area, and so on. In
such ways, each of these questions involves the power of one person or
persons over others.
The two defining characteristics of politics, then, are that (1) politics
always involves the making of common decisions for groups of people and
(2) those decisions are made by some members of the group exercising
power over other members of the group. Power can consist of a wide
variety of tools that help one person affect the actions of another. Power
may be stark, as when a police officer stops a demonstrator from marching
up the street, or it may be subtle, as when 6a group of poor people, by their
very misery, elicit positive governmental action on their behalf.

Politics as power: a child-soldier abducted and forced to fight. His shirt reads, in either
bravado or pathos, “I fear old age more than death.”
©AP Photo/Boris Heger

We may exercise power as coercion when we force a person to do


something he or she did not want to do, as persuasion when we convince
someone that that is what she or he really wishes to do, or as the
construction of incentives when we make the alternative so unattractive that
only one reasonable option remains. The ability to exercise any of these
forms of power may be based on all sorts of things—money, affection,
physical strength, legal status (the power of a police officer to direct traffic,
for instance), the possession of important information, a winning smile,
strong allies, determination, desperation (which helped North Vietnam to
defeat the United States in the 1970s), and many more. Any of these can
help some people convince other people to act as they wish.
It is not necessary to learn the specific bases of power I have listed here.
They are meant to provide a sense of the variety and complexity of power,
not as an exhaustive list of its important sources. The point is that all
politics involves the use of power, and such power may take varied forms.

An Example of the Difficulty of Analyzing Power


Both because power is important to politics and because it is difficult to
measure precisely how and when power is exercised, there are recurrent
disputes within political science about how much power various groups
have. A famous dispute of the 1950s and 1960s centered on American
cities, about which scholars asked, “Is there a small group of people [the
“downtown people,” the political bosses, or what have you] who run things
in American cities?” This might seem like a simple question, but it was
difficult for political scientists to answer, and we still do not have a clear
answer to it. In a broader form, the dispute has continued to this day.
The dispute started when in a study of Atlanta, Georgia, Floyd Hunter
attempted to answer the question by asking journalists, officials, business
leaders, and others who the most important people in the city were.1 When
his varied sources named roughly the same set of leaders, he concluded that
Atlanta was run by a small group of insiders.
In response, however, Robert Dahl observed that Hunter’s respondents
might all be mistaken, but mistaken in the same way; they might think that
the downtown corporate elite ran Atlanta because that idea was part of the
conventional wisdom about the city, but they might be wrong. That the
downtown people had a reputation for power did not prove to Dahl’s
satisfaction that they really had power; rather, he said, we must actually see
power being used. As a response to the earlier Atlanta study, he performed a
new study of his own based on New Haven, Connecticut.2 He chose a set of
major issues that faced the community, which included education and urban
renewal, and recorded who participated in making decisions on each type of
issue. He was restricting himself to observable power, so he had to ignore
the possibility of indirect influence. Other than that, his procedure was
straightforward. He found that quite different groups of people were active
on the different issues. Parents and “society people” were especially
involved in education, for example, while downtown people were especially
involved in urban renewal. He concluded that New Haven was not run by a
single group of insiders but that all sorts of groups were involved, moving
in and out of participation depending on what issue was up for decision.
7Still a third position was then staked out in the dispute. Peter Bachrach
and Morton S. Baratz criticized Dahl’s study of New Haven, noting that it is
not enough just to see who has been active in various kinds of decisions but
that we must also investigate why particular issues get raised in the first
place.3 Perhaps the most important decision is the one that governs which
issues will be brought before the public. For instance, during the period
Dahl studied, New Haven did not consider any policies for taking over
utilities and running them publicly, for breaking up the residential racial
segregation of the city, or for cutting taxes. An ability to influence or
control the public agenda in this way gives one great power over public
policies. Who has this ability? Political leaders? The media? Teachers and
professors? Bloggers? At this level, decisions may or may not be controlled
by a small “power elite”; we simply cannot tell from a study designed as
Dahl designed his.
This question of which issues enter public debate is crucial to politics.
Larry Bartels notes, for example, that the American people value economic
equality and think of equality as one of the characteristic virtues of
American society. Yet, economic inequality is greater in the United States
than in almost any other prosperous, advanced economy in the world, and
has increased sharply since 1980.4 How is it, then, that economic inequality
has not become a major issue in the press or in popular opinion? Bartels
shows that the failure to bring this issue to the fore has affected American
politics profoundly.
Going even beyond the complexity that such control of agendas adds to
the concept of power, Peter Digeser, drawing on the work of Steven Lukes,
suggested a “third face of power.” Taking Bachrach and Baratz beyond the
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leagues off. It proved to be the easternmost of the Mulgraves', for which we
run down on the following morning, and anchored on the lee shore, within
less than a cable's length of the surf, in six fathoms water.

The island was low, of coral formation, and, in all respects, resembled
Caroline, Clarence, York, Byron's, and Drummond's Islands. The inhabitants
were not numerous, and differed from all we had seen before in dress and
manners. They gave us a most kind and hospitable reception, freely offered
whatever any of us expressed a wish for, and in all respects acquitted
themselves in a manner highly satisfactory. Near our landing place we had
the satisfaction to find two or three old wells of water, which, after being
cleared out, would afford us a supply without much labour in getting it off,
the landing being tolerably good.

On the twenty-first and twenty-second of November, we filled our water-


casks, and, with several parties, explored the island. In our search we found
a whaler's lance, and several pieces of old canvass; but all our efforts to
obtain a knowledge, from whence they came, or of the persons who brought
them, were unavailing. Some of the natives came on board, all of whom
were neatly ornamented. They wore wreaths of flowers round their heads,
bracelets and necklaces of beautiful shells; a large roll of leaves, from one to
two inches in diameter, through slits in their ears, and as a covering for their
loins, two bunches of a kind of grass, that resembled hemp, hanging below
their knees, one bunch being behind, and the other before. Nothing was
stolen by them. They behaved in a most orderly manner, looking round the
deck inquiringly, or seated themselves, and chatted familiarly with our
people, taking pains to make themselves understood. In their look and action
they appeared to be lively and intelligent; but whenever the subject of our
visit was pressed upon them, by pointing to the whaler's lance, they became
silent, pretending to be ignorant of our meaning. The activity of our
exploring parties, in traversing all parts of the island, and our close
examination of every thing amongst them, that had belonged to the whites,
produced a sensible alarm by the third day; and, besides the desertion of
their habitations by some of them, a large canoe was missing, that had
departed from the island during the night.

Beyond us, to the south and west, was a range of islets, as far as we
could see from the masthead, and having thoroughly explored the island,
where we were anchored, completed our watering, and made such repairs
upon the vessel as were necessary, we determined to proceed further in that
direction. At our anchorage here the wind several times changed from
blowing off shore, which, as we had not room to ride in shore of our anchor,
made it, upon such occasions, necessary to get underway, and stand off. At
such times, we remarked, with particular satisfaction, the advantage we
possessed in our vessel, being schooner rigged, as none but a fore and after
could, with the same facility, have performed the delicate operation of
getting underway, and crawling off, when riding upon a lee shore, within a
few fathoms of the rocks, to have touched which would inevitably have been
attended with shipwreck.

Upon the island, besides cocoa-nut, there were a few bread-fruit trees,
growing in great luxuriance. The golden yellow fruit, with which the females
of Nooaheeva ornamented their necks, grew here in the greatest abundance,
and was eaten by the natives almost constantly, who called it bup. A species
of small rat, with a tuft of hair upon the tail, was very numerous, and so
tame, that hundreds of them were constantly feeding about the huts.

The first land we approached in proceeding to the southward and


westward, was a narrow islet, made up of dry reefs, and verdant spots, from
one to two miles long, and two hundred yards wide. On most of the islets
grew cocoa-nut, and bread-fruit trees,—the invariable indication of
inhabitants. They were, however, but thinly inhabited. Some of the reefs that
connected them were covered with water sufficiently for the passage of a
boat. The captain landed upon the eastern extremity, where he found a few
people, most of whom fled at his approach, and such as remained, were so
timid, that we could hardly look upon them as the countrymen and near
neighbours of the natives, who had treated us with so much kindness at our
anchorage.

A small canoe came off, paddled by one man, who ventured on board,
and looked round for a few minutes, when he departed, without seeming to
have had any other object in view than to gratify his curiosity. We should
have suspected him of being a spy, had we not believed these people too
simple, to adopt such an expedient of civilization. This we, however,
afterwards ascertained was the capacity in which he came, having been sent
by the principal chief of all the Mulgrave Group.
The schooner coasted along the islands, keeping way with the captain,
who continued on to the westward, examining all parts of it. Beyond, in what
we afterwards ascertained was an inland sea of great extent; several large
sail canoes were discovered coming from a distant islet. The captain crossed
the reef into the inland sea, where he found the water smooth, but every
where filled with shoals of coral. Without indicating a wish to examine the
canoes, which might have caused them to put back, he soon afterwards
returned on board, and another boat was sent to continue the examination of
the islet, as we advanced. The officer prevailed upon some natives, that he
met with, to come near him, and one of them gave him, in return for a
present, some glass beads. Upon arriving at the western extremity of the
islet, the captain put off for the shore, where he found four large canoes
hauled up on the beach, and those he had seen before, coming over the
inland sea, just in the act of landing. As we afterwards ascertained, it was the
high chief of the Mulgrave Group, with from fifty to a hundred of his chiefs
and warriors, on a cruise of observation, to satisfy himself who, and what we
were, and what was the object of our visit to his lonely and unfrequented
isle. None of the chiefs had any thing to distinguish them, so that we knew
not but that they were here upon some ordinary pursuit, otherwise, their
presence would have excited in us a much more lively interest. As it was, we
were gratified to have an opportunity of seeing so many of the natives, with
their canoes, which we could examine, for proofs of the crew of the Globe
having landed upon these islands, of which we were already pretty well
satisfied from what we had seen. The fact was satisfactorily proved in a few
minutes afterwards, by our discovering upon the platform of their canoes the
lids of several sailors' chests. On a farther examination, pieces of cloth and
ash-spars were also found. The natives were watching our every look and
motion, and notwithstanding their pretended apathy and indifference, could
not conceal the intense excitement that our close examination produced
amongst them, It soon gave rise to an animated conversation, which was
accompanied with angry looks, and the only satisfaction they gave us, when
we pointed to the chest-lids, was a vacant stare, or a few words of their
island language not more intelligible. Not far from the beach was a pleasant
grove of cocoa-nut and bread-fruit trees, through which was scattered a
number of neat little Indian huts. One of them, near the shore, was
frequented by a great many of the natives, with whom our people freely
mingled. It was about ten feet high, and above the ground; had a small
garret, which was screened from observation by a floor of sticks, thickly
interwoven with leaves. Although most of the huts had been examined by
our men, it was our good or ill fortune, that this, where so many were
constantly assembled, should escape observation. We should there have
found one of the men, as he afterwards informed us, for whom we were so
anxiously looking; but the discovery might have been attended with
bloodshed, and, perhaps, fatal consequences to our shore party, than whom
the natives were much more numerous.

William Lay, one of the Globe's crew, had been brought to this islet, by
the chiefs, to be used as circumstances might suggest. He was concealed in
the garret of the hut, and guarded by a number of old women, who were
directed, the first whisper of noise that he made, to put him to death, the
chiefs having also denounced their heaviest vengeance upon him, if he
should, in any way, disclose the secret of his being there. He lay in this
unhappy situation for several hours, listening to the interchange of opinion
amongst his countrymen, from whose conversation he was informed of the
character of our vessel, and the object of her cruise.

Towards sun-down, when our parties were weary with the labour of the
day, they repaired on board for the night, and the natives, getting into their
canoes, took their departure from the islet, and steered away, over the inland
sea, until they were lost in the horizon. We stood off and on during the night,
and, at nine in the morning, anchored in nine fathoms water, near our place
of landing. Here there was a channel into the inland sea, having nearly water
enough for the schooner, and through which we made an unsuccessful
attempt to pass. Our situation was now becoming very unpleasant. It was
necessary for us to have parties on shore, exploring the islands, and the
remainder of the crew was quite insufficient to get the vessel underway,—an
expedient indispensable, whenever the wind came on shore, as the anchorage
hardly ever extended more than half a cable's length from it. That we might
lose nothing from delay or want of perseverance, however, soon after we
came to, an officer, with a party of eleven men, attended by a boat to take
them over the drowned reefs, was sent to march round, and explore the
islets, that formed a continued chain to the southward and westward of us.
We felt a conviction, from the conduct of the natives, that they were
unwilling to give us the intelligence we required, and that we must depend
entirely upon our industry and good fortune, for any discovery we might
make. In the evening we sent a boat to communicate with our party, but they
had advanced so far, that she returned without seeing any of them.

On the following day, November the twenty-fifth, the weather clear and
pleasant, a boat was sent with refreshments to our exploring party, who were
overtaken at the distance of ten miles from us, just commencing their
morning's march. The islets, thus far, were narrow, not averaging a quarter of
a mile in breadth, and but thinly inhabited. Our party were pleased with the
conduct of the natives they had seen. They gave them cocoa-nuts, without
receiving any thing in return, and in the evening, when they stopped to
repose for the night, provided them with huts to sleep in. The officer of the
party, in the course of the day's march, found a mitten, with the name of
Rowland Coffin marked on it, who, by referring to a list of the Globe's crew,
proved to be one of the boys left with the mutineers. From the place where
the party was found, the extent of the island could not be seen. I landed at
the settlement where we were anchored, and found the hats nearly all
deserted. Such of the natives, as remained, seemed disposed to be very
friendly, and followed me to the beach, where I shot a few sand-snipe, which
drew from them loud shouts of applause, on witnessing the effect of my
musket. Near the huts I observed a number of small white cranes, one of
which I shot, supposing them to be wild, but afterwards regretted it very
much, on learning that they were domesticated, and held in great reverence
by the natives.

At five in the morning, November the twenty-sixth, a squall arose from


the eastward, which struck the vessel adrift, in the direction of the trending
of the land, and, dragging off the bank, we hove the anchor up, and stood
along shore to the westward. When we had run fifteen or twenty miles, we
came up with our party, to whom we sent refreshments, and proceeded on,
passing several remarkable points.

At three, P.M., we came to, under a point, by which we were somewhat


protected from the sea, in ten fathoms of water, and about thirty fathoms
from the coral rocks, where there was but three feet. We were considerably
in advance of our party, whom we had now determined should march round
the whole circle of islets, if information of the mutineers should not sooner
be obtained. In front of us the islet was wider than any we had seen
elsewhere, and presented a noble forest of cocoa-nut, interspersed every
where with the broad green leaves of the bread-fruit tree, which indicated a
most luxuriant growth. Huts were scattered about through the trees, and
some close to the shore, forming a peaceful and romantic scene. The landing
was good at low water, and practicable at high tide. As far as we could see to
the westward, the land still continued.

The surgeon, who was very much debilitated, when we sailed from the
coast of Peru, had gradually, and almost imperceptibly, become more feeble,
and for some time past believed that he had a disease of the liver. Until
within two days of coming to our present anchorage, he discharged his
ordinary duties, in attending the sick, when his mind began to fail, and it was
evident to us that the period of his existence was near its close. He lay for a
time in a state of insensibility, receiving the little aid that his friends could
afford him; and at forty-five minutes after four, P.M., November the twenty-
seventh, breathed his last, deeply lamented by all the crew, to whom he had
greatly endeared himself, by kind and assiduous attentions, even when he
was extremely ill, and knew that he was fast hastening to the close of life. In
the morning, I took a party of men on shore, and in a grove, at the foot of a
wide-spreading bread-fruit tree, made the narrow bed of our departed
messmate. At nine, the vessel struck adrift, and dragged off the bank. When
she again stood in towards the shore, we landed, with as many of the officers
and men as could be spared to bury the doctor's remains, with the honours of
war. The natives assembled, to the number of twenty or thirty, and followed
us to the grave, watching all our motions with an expression of great
surprise. They were silent until the first discharge of musketry, when they
burst into loud shouts and laughter, for which we drove them back, with
threats of punishment, a considerable distance from us, where they
afterwards remained quiet. At the foot and head of the grave we planted
seeds of orange, lemon, and cheramoya, and upon the bread-fruit tree, at the
head of it, carved his name, rank, and the vessel to which he belonged.
Below this we spiked, firmly upon the tree, a brass plate, with his name, age,
the vessel to which he belonged, and the day of his death inscribed upon it.
A little to the eastward of the grave we had the satisfaction to find two
springs of excellent water.

On the following morning our party arrived, and, after receiving


refreshment, continued on to the northward and westward. They crossed a
long reef, that connected the islet abreast of us with another, at the distance
of a few miles, that had the appearance of a large settlement, from the
immense cocoa-nut forests that rose in that direction. Soon after crossing the
reef, and arriving at the extreme east end of the islet, where it was narrow
and sandy, they suddenly came to a place that was strewed with several
hundreds of staves of beef and pork barrels, and old pieces of canvass and
cloth. In advancing a little further, they found a skeleton, lightly covered
with sand, and a box, containing a few Spanish dollars. The natives, some of
whom had been constantly following our party, and occasionally mingling
with them, and administering, as well as they could to their wants, upon
approaching this place disappeared, or were seen at a distance, skulking
through the bushes. These discoveries excited the liveliest expectation of
soon making others more satisfactory, and proceeding a mile further, they
found an unoccupied hut, where, night approaching, they encamped. Early in
the morning they took up their line of march, and had not gone far, when it
was evident that the natives were preparing for hostilities. Groups of them
were frequently seen at a distance, armed with spears and stones, and
holding animated discussions. They were much more numerous than our
party, who, upon examining their ammunition, found it was wet, and that the
few arms they had, which were no other than a pistol, for each man, were
also wet, and unfit for immediate use. The officer, therefore, determined to
retreat to the place of his night's encampment, until he could despatch
information of his situation, and ask for a reinforcement and ammunition.
On arriving where he had spent the night, he found that the hut he had
occupied was gone, and also that a large sail canoe, he left there, had been
taken away. Not a single person was any where to be seen. Here he
remained, sending two of his party to the schooner, which was now several
miles from him. A little after meridian, we received them on board, and
heard, with great interest, the information they gave. There was no doubt in
our minds, that this was the place where the mutineers, and others of the
Globe's crew, had been left,—but where are they now?—was a question,
which naturally occurred to us. We had given the natives no cause, to excite
them to hostility; but, on the contrary, had taken every means that suggested
itself, to gain their confidence and esteem. If they wished to make war upon
us, opportunities had been frequently presented, when our exploring party
might have been assailed by overpowering numbers, with a prospect of
success, of which they had not availed themselves, and here they were now
apparently wavering between peace and war, just at the moment of our
discovering the place where our countrymen had been. We knew not how to
account for this change in their conduct, but by supposing that the mutineers
were amongst them, and that, from our near approach, they were becoming
alarmed for their safety, and had roused the natives to war, with the hope of
defending themselves by open combat. If this supposition were true, and it
seemed very probable, the situation of our party was very critical, and no
time was to be lost in giving them the aid they asked for, and renewing our
search with redoubled activity. The launch was hoisted out, and fitted with
all possible expedition, and at four, P.M., November twenty-ninth, sailed
with two officers and eleven men, together with the three belonging to the
party, being all that we were willing to spare from the schooner, as a bold
attempt upon her by a large party of the natives, led on by an enterprising
and desperate chief, might have placed her and the lives of all her crew in
the greatest jeopardy. I crossed the reef, which was sufficiently overflown by
the high tide, to admit of it, and ran down in the inland sea to the
encampment of our party, where I arrived at eight in the evening, and found
them all safe; but looking for our appearance, with the greatest anxiety. I
allowed the boat's crew to land, and get their supper in company with those
on shore, preparatory to commencing their night's work. When we were
prepared for our departure, and had embarked, I was greatly chagrined on
examining the boat, to find that the shore party, to whom I had brought fresh
arms and ammunition, had, in their over-anxiety to be well supplied,
deprived me of part of mine, and I was under the necessity of landing, and
searching, not only the men, but even the bushes, before I found them.

Our party had acquired no information since morning, but from the
discoveries that had already been made, we felt satisfied, that on the
following day, we should find other traces of the mutineers. In taking my
departure, I stretched off with a fine breeze, but it was blowing directly from
the point to which I wished to steer. I suffered the men to lay down and
refresh themselves with sleep, whilst midshipman S. and myself steered the
boat, and to my regret, in returning back towards the shore from whence I
had started, discovered that we had lost ground; besides, our boat being
clumsy and badly fitted, we found that we had to contend with a strong
current. I got the oars out, therefore, and pulled dead to windward until day-
light, when having proceeded about six miles, we again made sail to the
northward and eastward, close haul upon a wind; it gradually veered, until I
could head for an island eight or ten miles from us, which just appeared
above the horizon, and where I designed to land and give the men breakfast.
When within two or three miles of the island, I observed a number of canoes
leaving places nearer to me and landing upon it. Two canoes had put off
from thence, and were standing for me as I was beating with my clumsy boat
to weather an intervening coral reef; they were manned with about twenty
natives, all armed with spears and stones. When they had approached me
pretty near, and were passing under my lee, I ran alongside to examine them,
for which they gave us a great many cross looks. As soon as I suffered them
to depart, they immediately returned to the shore from whence they came,
and where I not long afterwards discovered about twenty canoes that would
carry from twenty to forty men each.

The canoes I had boarded, sailed at least three miles to my one, and I
now discovered the impossibility of possessing ourselves of the mutineers of
the Globe, whilst they, or the natives, if friendly, to them, had the disposal of
such fleet vessels, with which to avoid us whenever our too near approach
endangered their safety. I determined, therefore, to take possession of all that
were now assembled, even though I should be opposed by the natives, and
reduced to the necessity of measuring our strength with them.

The island was small, producing but few nut trees, and having but a
small number of huts upon it, notwithstanding which, there were several
hundreds of people assembled;—a great crowd, considering the thinly
populated state of the islands. But as this large assemblage could only have
been brought together from some extraordinary cause, I determined to land
and search their huts, and look round, before I made so wide a breach with
them, as must necessarily result from the seizure of their canoes. I was sorry
to see, on our coming near them, that they were sending their women and
children towards the huts, which were at a short distance from the
assemblage of natives; a movement that indicated a want of confidence in us
on their part, or what was still less agreeable to us, a disposition to hostility.

There was some surf on the shore where we were about to land near the
canoes, and that the boat might be the more readily at our disposal when we
should have occasion for her after landing, I dropped an anchor, and was in
the act of veering to through the surf, when, to my astonishment, a person
dressed and looking like a native, addressed us in our own language. He was
standing upon the beach thirty or forty yards distant, and half way between
us and the natives, all of whom had seated themselves. The first words that
we understood, were, "The Indians are going to kill you: don't come on
shore unless you are prepared to fight." The scene now presented to us,
inspired an indescribable sensation; for, although we were convinced that
this was one of the men we were so anxiously looking for, his sudden and
unexpected appearance, his wild attire, and above all, his warning, seemed
like an illusion of fancy. His hair was long, combed up, and tied in a knot on
the top of his head; round his loins, he wore a large mat, finely wrought, and
the use of cocoa-nut oil, and the action of a tropical sun, for nearly two
years, had made his skin almost as dark as that of the natives. He earnestly
repeated, several times, that we must not land unless we were prepared to
fight, and described the plan the natives had concerted with him, which was,
to prevail upon us to come on shore and seat ourselves amongst them, when,
at a given signal, they would all rise and knock us on the head with stones.
This statement was probable enough, but the suspicion that this was one of
the mutineers, very naturally occurred to our minds, with the questions,
"Why have we not found him before? and, why does he not now fly to us for
protection, if he is innocent?"—forgetting that our contemptible numbers
precluded all idea of safety to him, if opposed by the numerous assemblage
of natives by whom he was surrounded. I asked his name, which he told me
was William Lay, and that he was one of the crew of the Globe. His stature
and juvenile appearance, answered the description we had of him. I told him
to come to the boat, but he said that he was afraid of the natives, who had
directed him not to advance any nearer to us. I then directed him to run to us
and we would protect him; but he declined, saying, that the natives would
kill him with stones before he could get there. During all this time, they
thought he was arranging their plan for us to come on shore, and called out
frequently to him to know what we said; to which, he replied in a way
calculated to suit his purpose.

After discharging and re-loading our pistols, with one of which and a
cartridge-box each man was provided, we landed, and marched up to the
place where Lay was standing. Still doubting whether he were not more foe
than friend, and determined that, under any circumstances, he should not
escape, I received him with my left hand, presenting, at the same time, a
cocked pistol to his breast. I was not insensible to the sentiment my harsh
reception was calculated to inspire; but circumstanced as I was, I could not
risk every thing in preference to inflicting a momentary pang, keenly as it
might be felt. I repeated the question, "Who are you?" to which he replied, "I
am your man," and burst into tears. I told him then to say to the natives, that
if they rose from their seats, or threw a stone, we would shoot them all; but
the poor fellow, delirious with joy for the moment, knew not what he said,
and, instead of obeying my command, called out in half English, and half
Island language, in broken sentences, most of which was unintelligible to us;
amongst other things, he exclaimed, "they are going to kill me, they are
going to kill me." I ordered him to be silent, and then asked, why he told
them we were going to kill him.—Recollecting himself immediately, he
begged my pardon, declaring that he knew not what he was saying. By this
time, some of the natives had risen, and were becoming very animated and
violent in their conversation and gestures. Two or three of them advanced
towards us; I pointed my pistol at them, and made Lay repeat my threat,
which had the desired effect on all but one old man, who, unarmed,
advanced in defiance of me. Lay desired me to suffer him to approach,
which he did, and taking hold of Lay's hand with both of his, he asked what
his countrymen were going to do with him. Lay explained to him, in a few
words, as clearly as he could, at which the old man seemed much affected.
This was his benefactor, the person to whom he was indebted for life; and
the poor fellow seemed not wanting in sensibility or gratitude, at the moment
of their parting. He embraced him affectionately, told him that he would see
him again before he departed, and wept like a child. I was unwilling to
remain longer than was absolutely necessary, lest the natives, when they had
recovered from their first surprise, should conceive a contempt for our small
number, and make trial of our strength, in which I knew they would be much
superior to us, if they were determined and brave, as the first discharge of
our pistols would place us upon an equality with the same number as
ourselves. I therefore cut short Lay's interview with his friend, and hastened
him to the boat; there he wept for joy, and gave us several proofs of the
agitated state of his mind. His first impulse, which did great credit to his
heart, was, to inquire if his friends were well, and then recollecting that it
was probable none of us knew them, told us he belonged to East Saybrook,
Connecticut, and asked if any of us were acquainted in that section of the
country. He several times repeated the same questions, forgetful that he had
asked them before, and that we had replied in the negative. When his mind
was a little composed, we made inquiries of him respecting the rest of the
Globe's crew, who had been left on the island; to which he answered, that
they were all dead except Cyrus H. Huzzy, who was on an island a few miles
to windward of us, and now full in sight. He asked, with an expression of
great solicitude, if we would go for Huzzy, and when I told him we would, it
seemed to afford him not less pleasure than his own deliverance. He stated
that he and Huzzy both knew that we were in search of them, and that our
vessel was a man of war. He said that the chiefs had sent spies on board of
the schooner every day when it was practicable, who had communicated to
them the number of guns we carried, and, within a very few, the number of
which the crew consisted. They had apprised them of the force and conduct
of our exploring party, descending to the minutest particulars, and even
describing most of the individuals on board. They had seriously debated the
question of making war upon us several times, and always consulted Lay
and Huzzy as to the propriety of it, and what would probably be their
prospect of success. They dissuaded them from it, of course, and filled them
with apprehension, by declaring, repeatedly, that we were invincible, and
that there was scarcely any thing we could not accomplish with our six-
pounders; they even made them believe, trifling as our armament was, that
we could sink the islands with our cannon: so ready is the human mind to
receive for truth what it cannot comprehend, if recommended by superior
intelligence, though it may be at variance with every thing in nature or
reason.

The natives were told to let us go where we pleased, without molesting


us in any way, to give us whatever we asked for, and, at all times, to show
themselves friendly to us. They had strictly pursued the course of conduct
pointed out to them by the young white men, in whose superior knowledge
of us and our prowess, they placed every reliance; but still they doubted the
probability of conciliating our friendship in the sequel, and adhered
tenaciously to the idea of accomplishing our destruction in some way, to
make their own security the more certain. With this object, a variety of plans
were submitted at different times, to Lay and Huzzy, by those amongst the
chiefs esteemed the wisest and bravest, all of which were discouraged, and
the success of such an undertaking in any way, as frequently declared to be
utterly hopeless.

One of their plans was, to get alongside of us at night, unobserved, and


with some of the sharp instruments they had obtained from the Globe, make
a hole in the bottom of the vessel, and sink her; when, they very truly
believed, that those who were not drowned, would be an easy prey to them,
and that the party on shore, unaided by the schooner, might soon be
overcome and destroyed by their superior numbers.

Another of their plans, and the most plausible one, was, to assemble
secretly all the canoes of the islands, at some point not distant from us, and
approaching under cover of the night, surprise and board us.

If this last plan had been put into execution, in a dark night, it is possible
that it might have succeeded, as we could hardly have seen them in time to
use our cannon, and the fire of musketry which they had heard before, would
probably not have driven them back when they had advanced near to us,
particularly if, as might be apprehended, at night, the fire were not directed
effectively. They would not have found us entirely unprepared; for, under the
impression that the mutineers were still living, and on terms of friendship
with the natives, we were on the lookout for such an attempt being made, as
it seemed to be the only means by which they could possibly escape, and the
plan which would most naturally occur to desperate men in their situation.

In advancing towards the island where we expected to find Huzzy, Lay


told us that the island where we found him was a favourite place for fishing
at a particular season, when numerous shoals of fish swam upon its shore.
Our schooner was anchored at the place of residence of the high chief, who,
with those we found assembled upon the small island, had fled there to avoid
us. The boat's crew being oppressed with fatigue and hunger, I landed upon a
dry reef, after proceeding a few miles to give them rest and refreshment. It
was painful to witness Lay's anxiety to depart, who, fearing a messenger
might be despatched to the chief who had Huzzy in custody, kept his eyes
fixed upon us with an anxious, hurrying look, and several times expressed
his fears that the chiefs might have the boldness to attempt his rescue. On
finishing our frugal repast, we pulled up under an uninhabited point of
Lugoma's Island, (this was the name of Huzzy's chief,) which, having passed
without observation, an ample bay, upon the shore of which was situated the
village of the chief, opened to our view; and, to our great joy, the only sail
canoe in his possession, was seen hauled up on the beach. For a few
moments, no one was seen; but when we were in the act of landing, Lugoma
and several old women came walking down to the beach, attracted by the
strange and unexpected appearance of our boat. They were struck with the
utmost consternation at beholding Lay, who was still in his native dress; and
the old women began calling out, in a loud tone, demanding of him what he
was doing there, and what we wanted. Before he had time to reply to them, I
got out of the boat, and taking, hold of Lugoma, and pointing a pistol at him,
bade Lay say to him, that unless Huzzy was brought to me immediately, I
would kill him. He begged that I would not hurt him, and said Huzzy was
near and should come to me. The old women, alarmed for the safely of the
chief, instantly ran off, calling aloud for Huzzy. It was but a few minutes
before he appeared, walking towards us, with his fine yellow hair hanging in
ringlets about his shoulders, and his person quite naked, with the exception
of a piece of blanket, tied round his loins. When he had approached
sufficiently near, and I said to him, "Well, young man, do you wish to return
to your country?" his eyes filled with tears as he replied, "Yes, sir; I know of
nothing that I have done for which I should be afraid to go home."

As soon as Lugoma felt relieved from his apparently dangerous situation,


he began to express his solicitude for Huzzy, begging that I would not hurt
him; and when he was assured that no injury was intended towards his son,
as has called Huzzy, entreated me not to take him away. The old women
united with the chief in the expression of their wishes, and seemed, by their
loud talk and significant gestures, to insist upon the white man's remaining
with them. The scene was an interesting one, and we found a picturesque
group assembled on a beautiful lawn, in front of a number of huts,
surrounded by cocoa-nut and bread-fruit trees. Huzzy owed his life to the
native chief; he had been in the condition of a slave to him for two years. To
him he was indebted for many acts of kindness, some of which he had
requited by his industry in his service, and some had been cancelled by harsh
treatment; yet, still he stood in a delicate situation towards the chief. The
saving of his life alone, conferred an obligation upon him, which could
scarcely be repaid by long and faithful services. The chief evidently
appeared to regard him as his son, and when the moment of our departure
arrived, and he saw we were determined to take our countryman with us, he
joined tears to entreaties, saying he should weep long and bitterly for him.
He told Huzzy that he must come back again, and asked me if I would bring
him. As the only way in which I could get clear of so strange a petition,
urged with so much feeling, I promised to bring him back if his mother
consented to his return. With this, he appeared to be tolerably well satisfied,
and we were about returning to the boat, when Lugoma took Huzzy aside to
talk to him privately. When their interview was ended, I asked Huzzy what
the chief had been saying to him; to which he replied, that he had been
reminding him how difficult it would be for him to get along with his work
without him, and that he must return as soon as he could, and bring with him
some axes, guns, and cloths, such as his countrymen wore. "I have promised
to bring them," said he, "when I return, and he is quite satisfied." When we
were ready to depart, to conciliate the good will of the female part of
Lugoma's family, I presented them with a variety of trifles, such as finger-
rings, glass beads, &c., for which, in return, they loaded me with a profusion
of small mats, and rude shell ornaments, accompanied with many
expressions of thankfulness and regard. When I came to take leave of
Lugoma, I presented him with a jack-knife. With the exception of an axe, I
could have given him nothing more valuable, and it gained for me his
unreserved confidence. He immediately proposed going with me to the
schooner, and got into the boat with his son, a lad eight years old. Huzzy
took with him a musket and a Bible, the only things he had saved at the
massacre. The first had been preserved for him by the chief, who thought
that with this in Huzzy's hands, although he had no powder, he was a match
for all his enemies; and the Bible he had clung to himself, and had kept as
the companion of his lonely hours. The Bible was more an object of
curiosity to the natives than any thing else they found in the possession of
the white men: they often inquired of Huzzy what it was, its use, &c., and
his explanations seemed only to increase their superstition and aversion to it.
They were never pleased to see him retire to the garret of his little hut, to
read it, as was his custom; and invariably remonstrated with him against it.
They urged him frequently to destroy it, and when he refused, they
threatened to do it themselves. As the reason of their dislike, they said it
would bring spirits round the house that would kill or hurt some of the
family. Huzzy told them, that if they destroyed it, the Great Spirit would
come and kill them all; to which he was probably indebted for its
preservation.

I was walking, back of the huts, over a level green spot, enclosed by
cocoa-nut trees, when Lugoma came to me in great haste, and with a
disturbed look beckoned me to come away, at the same time saying to
Huzzy, that I must not go there: it was a place for the dead; my presence
would disturb them, and bring spirits round his huts; I indulged his
superstition, and walked off. Lugoma was about thirty years of age, of
moderate stature, square built, with low forehead, and flat nose; having an
expression of countenance that indicated intelligence and enterprize. Huzzy
gave him the character of being very passionate, inveterate in his enmities,
fierce and determined in his hostility, but firmly attached to his friends, and
possessing a benevolent heart. He often became offended with Huzzy, in
their ordinary occupation, and upon such occasions would use violent
language, and sometimes threaten to kill him; but, when his passion
subsided, would be very sorry for what he had said, and soothe Huzzy by
telling him not to be afraid; he would not hurt him. Once, however, in
working their canoe, when something went wrong, he raised a paddle and
struck Huzzy with it, upon which, the poor fellow, slave as he was, gave way
to his indignant feelings, and was in the act of repaying the chief's violence
with interest, who, seeing that he had gone too far with the high-spirited
white man, and that his life was menaced, begged him not to strike,
declaring that he would never again raise his hand against him; and the
quarrel was amicably settled by Huzzy's telling him, that if ever he did, he
would kill him. From this story, I thought there might be some truth in the
one which Huzzy told me was one day related to him by Lugoma's son, the
boy that was in the boat with us. We had a mulatto lad on board of the
schooner, and at the time our contemplated capture was spoken of amongst
the natives, this little boy told Huzzy that his father was going to save the
life of the mulatto boy, and then kill him as he was getting too large. The
mulatto boy was a great favourite amongst the natives, and upon several
occasions, quarrels had arisen amongst the chiefs who should have him,
when in the presence of Lay or Huzzy they were debating the question of our
capture.

The day was far advanced when we left Lugoma's Island, and stood
along the shores of the islets to intercept the land party whom we met at no
very great distance, making rapid marches. We landed to inform them of our
success, and that their labour was at an end, in which they could not but
rejoice with us, although they were extremely disappointed that they should
not themselves have been the fortunate persons, after all the toil they had
experienced in the search. We put off and made sail in both our boats, and as
the canoes were all still upon the beach of the island from whence we had
taken Lay, I intended to land and get his musket, which, in the hurry of our
departure, he had forgotten. No sooner, however, did the natives see both our
boats standing towards them, than they put off with all their canoes, and bore
away directly before the wind. We made all sail in chase, but soon perceived
that they were leaving us very fast; and, as night was coming on, we made
the experiment of a few musket shots, fired over their heads, with the hope
of bringing them to. Instead of answering the desired purpose, it served only
to increase their alarm, and the weather becoming squally, we suffered them
to depart without further pursuit. I had cause to regret that I had fired; for
from the first discharge, poor Lugoma was in the greatest agony, for fear we
were going to kill him, as well as the rest of the chiefs. All the explanations
that Lay and Huzzy could make, and all their assurances of my friendship,
could not quiet him. Several times he would have taken his son and jumped
overboard, had we allowed him to do so. Whenever I went to the stern of the
boat where he was sitting, he repeated to me again and again that he was my
good friend, and that I must not kill him; my replying that I would not hurt
him, that I was his friend, &c., had not the least effect; it only caused him
again to repeat what he had before told me of, his being my friend, and that I
must not kill him.

The numerous shoals of coral, with the violence of the wind, rendering it
somewhat dangerous to run in the dark, I determined to come to for the
night, as we were yet a long distance from the schooner. For this purpose, we
stood in towards the place where, on the preceding night, we had met the
exploring party. Lugoma no sooner found himself so near the shore, than he
became more earnest than ever in his petition to be permitted to land with his
son, although he was more than twenty miles from his home. I would have
allowed him to leave us, had I not been apprehensive of the hostility of his
countrymen; I knew not but by his aid in piloting them to our night's
encampment, we might be surprised before morning, and my resolution to
keep him was confirmed, when it was reported to me, by some omen who
had landed from the other boat, that one or more natives had been seen near
us, skulking through the bushes. We also determined, not to trust ourselves
on shore, but to lay in the boat, and make an awning of our sails, to screen us
from the heavy showers that were frequently coming over, in the best
manner we could.—When we had finished our repast, we hauled off and
anchored, but not to sleep. Our awning was but poorly calculated for shelter,
and the showers that constantly succeeded each other, kept us too wet and
cold for rest; besides this, I was frequently reminded of Lugoma's presence,
who made me pay dearly for his detention. He would lay no where else than
alongside of me, and during the whole night, not more than ten minutes
elapsed at any one time, that he did not move his hand over my face, and
when he thought my attention was sufficiently awakened, call out to me,
"Hitera;" a word that signified he was my good friend, nor would he suffer
me to rest a moment afterwards until I had replied to him "Hitera."

We were anchored but a short distance from the place where the chief
mutineer of the Globe and his murderous companions had landed—where he
had fallen by their hands, and where they, in their turn, had been killed by
savages. It was a spot, calculated to revive, in the minds of Lay and Huzzy,
the liveliest recollection of sorrows and sufferings, that no language could
describe; and as we all wished to hear an account of the mutiny, and of the
events that subsequently transpired, I desired Lay to favour us with the
relation. Lay's narrative was as follows: "The first that I heard of discontent
on board of the ship, was a few days previous to the mutiny. I went to the
maintop-mast-head, where I found Comstock; after a few moment's
conversation, he said to me, 'What shall we do, William? we have bad usage:
shall we take the ship, or run away?' To this I did not make much of any
answer. I do not now remember what I said; I was quite inexperienced, it
being my first voyage. In the afternoon, or the next morning, I heard him
talking to some of the men on the forecastle about running away with him
when we arrived at Funning's Island, for which, I believe, we were then
steering. This, I suppose, was for the purpose of sounding them, to find out
their disposition, and who would join him in the mutiny.—From what we
heard, we began to think that all was not right, and tried to get the news aft,
but unfortunately did not succeed. In the afternoon, before the night on
which the mutiny took place, we were on the main yard furling the mainsail,
and I tried then to tell the second mate, but Paine or Comstock was between
us, and I was afraid to say any thing. Comstock had, some days previous,
taken his cutlass from the cabin into the forecastle; he was a boat-steerer,
and used to eat in the cabin with the officers. I knew nothing more about it
until twelve or one o'clock on the night that the mutiny took place; I was
sleeping in the forecastle, when Rowland Coffin came and awoke me, saying
I must come upon deck, they had taken the ship. I got up and went aft, where
all the crew were mustered on the quarter-deck. When Comstock had told us
what he had done, and what his regulations were, he said, that such as would
not swear to stick by him, must go on the other side of the deck. I did not
know how many were engaged in the mutiny, and believing that we should
be killed if we did not swear, we all swore to stick by Comstock and obey
his orders. He then told us to haul the third mate up out of the cabin; I was
one that had to take hold of the rope made fast to him. We laid him in the
gangway, and I thought he was dead; but when Comstock was throwing him
overboard, he clung to the ship with his hands. Comstock told some one to
bring an axe and cut his hands off, when he let go and went overboard. I saw
him in the water astern, swimming after the ship for some time. We then
made sail; Comstock was the only navigator on board. We first went to the
Kingsmill Group, but did not like to stop there, as the natives were very
numerous and thievish; besides, Comstock had shot one of them for stealing
something; after which, he was afraid to stay amongst them. From
Drummond's Island, of the Kingsmill Group, we came directly to the
Mulgraves, and made this part of them, where we anchored and commenced
landing the stores.

"The crew of the Globe consisted of between twenty-five and thirty; but
the only persons engaged in the mutiny were Comstock, Paine, Oliver, and
the black steward, (Lilliston, who was one of the mutineers he did not
mention.) It was midnight, and previous to descending to the cabin, one of
the number was placed as a sentinel at the cabin door, with an axe,
Comstock saying to a young brother who was at the helm, that if he did not
keep the ship in her course, he would kill him as soon as he came on deck.
Comstock killed the captain by striking him on the forehead with an axe
whilst he was sleeping, having first locked the mates up in their state-rooms,
that they might not escape. He then went with the other mutineers, and, I
believe, cut the throats of the first and second mates, and shot the third mate.
I did not see any but the third mate, and was told that the others were thrown
out of the cabin windows.

"Not many days after the mutiny, the black steward was detected in the
cabin loading a pistol which was forbidden on pain of death; and on being
asked by Comstock what he intended doing with it, he replied, at first,
"Nothing;" but, when questioned more closely, he said that he had heard
Smith and some one else say, they intended to take the ship. Smith and the
other person named by the steward, were called up by Comstock, and asked
if they had threatened to take the ship; to which they replied in the negative,
insisting that they had never intimated or intended any thing of the kind.
Comstock declared that such an offence could not go unpunished, and that
the steward must be tried by a court martial; he thereupon told the steward to
choose one man, and said that he would choose another, and that the two
should sentence the steward to such punishment as the offence merited. The
two men were accordingly chosen, the steward selecting Rowland Coffin for
his advocate, and Comstock, Paine for his. After hearing the evidence, and
deliberating for a short time, they found the steward guilty, and sentenced
him to be hung at the yard-arm until he was dead. Immediately afterwards,
all hands were called to witness the execution; and the steward was taken
forward and given fourteen seconds to make his peace with God.[9] The
foretop-mast steering sail haulyards were overhauled down and tied round
the steward's neck, and Comstock, after making every body take hold of the
haulyards, held the fourteen second glass in one hand, and his cutlass in the
other. When the glass was out, he gave the signal for the people to run away
with the haulyards, by striking the ship's bell with his cutlass, and, in a
moment, the criminal was run up to the yard-arm.

"After the death of the officers, Comstock made us all live in the cabin
with him, where the mutineers used to sing, and carouse, and tell over the
story of the murder, and what they had dreamed. Paine and Oliver, who
could scarcely ever sleep, spoke with horror of their dreams, and of ghosts
that appeared to them at night; but Comstock always made light of it, and
appeared to exult in what he had done. He said once, that the captain came to
him with his wounded and bloody head, and showed him what he had done,
when he told the captain to depart and never come again, or he would kill
him a second time.

"After our arrival here, we made a raft of two whale-boats and some
spars, and on the first or second day, landed thirty or forty barrels of beef
and pork, sails, rigging, and a variety of other articles, when Comstock
having pitched a tent on shore, commenced with the mechanics to work on a
whale-boat that he was going to raise upon and make larger. Paine was
displeased with his doing this so soon, and sent word to him that he had
better discharge the ship, and then work upon the boats. This greatly enraged
Comstock, who hailed the ship for a boat, and on her being sent to him,
came on board. There he and Paine had a violent quarrel, and Paine dared
him to take a musket and go on shore with him and fight it out, which
Comstock refused to do. When he landed, being afraid that Paine and Oliver
would kill him if he slept in the tent, he went off to pass the night with the
natives; in his absence, Paine and Oliver agreed to shoot him when he came

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