HER CHARACTER.

195

Her end was one of peace, and with decided evidence that your missionaries have not labored in vain. For twenty-four hours and more preceding her death, she was delirious, owing to the violence of Her characthe disease, which fell on the brain. This ter nation has lost one of its brightest ornaments; and speaking thus I disparage no one. Her life was a continual evidence of the elevating and purifying effects of the gospel. She was confessedly the most decided Christian, the most civilized in her manners, and the most thoroughly read in her Bible, of all the chiefs this nation ever had; and it is saying no more than truth to assert, that her equal, in those respects, is not left in the nation. There may be those who had more external polish of manner, but none who combined her excellences. She is gone to her rest, and we at this station will feel her loss the most. We cannot see how it can be repaired."

The hand of God is to be acknowledged in the consistent, Christian life, for twenty years, of this child of a degraded paganism. Hers was the religion of the Puritans, and the pious reader will desire that all those islanders, from the highest to the lowest, may be like her.

Premature diplomatic

CHAPTER XXIV.

NATIONAL CALAMITIES OVERRULED.

1842-1846.

WE now come to a period in the history of the mission, in which the infantile government relations. of the Islands was precipitated, by various causes, into premature diplomatic relations with some of the great powers of Christendom, and found no small difficulty in preserving an independent existence.

The Romish missionaries were fully tolerated, but the sentiment of the nation was against

Opposition of Romish

priests.

them, and against their religion. No prominent chief attached himself to them, though numbers of the lower order, disaffected with their rulers, or hostile to the Protestant missionaries, became enrolled as their neophytes. Among these were the unruly spirits, who, in the days of Boki and Liliha, were for restoring in some form the old idolatrous rites. The Romish priests complained of the government, particularly in regard to the school laws, and the laws concerning marriage. At first they went so far as to remarry couples at their option, and their partisans refused to pay taxes for the public schools. They were encouraged in their seditious proceedings by the belief that France would sustain them; and the French consul, under the

DEMANDS BY A NAVAL OFFICER.

197

same belief, protested against restraint being put, even in the form of license, upon the traffic in ardent spirits.1

a French na

While affairs were in this state, on the 23d of August, 1842, the French corvette Embus- Demands by cade, Captain Mallet, arrived at Honolulu. val officer. The captain refused the customary salutes, and immediately forwarded a letter to the king, with demands more arrogant than those of Laplace. Their purport sufficiently appears in the response of the king, which has a historic value, and was as follows:

"HONOLULU, September 4, 1842.

"To S. MALLET, Captain of the French sloop-of-war Embuscade.

"Greeting: We have received your letter dated the 1st instant, and, with our council as- The king's sembled, have deliberated thereon; and we response. are happy to receive your testimony that, if there are instances of difficulty and abuse in these Islands, they are not authorized by this government, and we assure you that we hold in high estimation the government of France, and all its estimable subjects. It is the firm determination of our government to observe the treaties with all nations. But the written laws are a new thing; the people are ignorant, and good order can only be preserved on the part of the government by affording the protection of the laws to all who will appeal to them at the proper tribunals.

"On the introduction of the Roman Catholic religion, it was understood that toleration was to be fully allowed to all its priests and all its disciples, and this has been done as far as lay in our power,

1 Jarves's History, p. 165.

198

THE KING'S RESPONSE.

and no one can prove to the contrary. But it is impossible to put a stop to disputes and contentions between rival religions, and the evils and complaints which result from them.

"The law favors literature, and as soon as the French priests are ready to found a high-school for the purpose of imparting it to their pupils, and teachers are ready, it shall find a location.

"The school laws were formed to promote education in these Islands, and not sectarianism; and no one should ask the government that they be altered to favor any particular sects. Any man qualified for teaching, being of a good moral character, is entitled to a teacher's diploma; this by reason of his acquirement, not of sect. No priest of either sect can give diplomas. Likewise marriage is regulated by law, and no priest of either sect can perform the ceremony, except the parties obtain a certificate from the governor, or his officer; and why should the

laws be altered? Difficulties often arise on the subject, and we should regulate our own people.

"The laws require the people to labor on certain days; some for the government, and some for the landlords to whom the labor is due according to law; and the kind of labor is regulated by those to whom labor is due.

"The laws are not fully established in all parts of the Islands, and probably an ancient custom has been practiced, by which the owner of land would pull down the house of one who built thereon without his cheerful consent; but if the owner of the house complains to the judges, they should grant a trial; and if no satisfaction is obtained, then the governor will grant a trial; and if that decision is unjust, an

THE DEMANDS NOT ENFORCED.

199

appeal must be made to the supreme judges, who will sit twice a year.

"The ground occupied by the French priests in Honolulu is held by the same tenure as that of the priests of the Protestant religion, and some other foreigners; and negotiations have been commenced, which it is to be hoped will give equal justice to all.

"When John Ii arrives from Kauai, that case will be adjusted, and if he denies the charge which you have represented, a trial will be granted.

"Please do us the favor to assure the admiral, that the present laws do not contravene the sixth article of the treaty of the 17th of July. Brandy and wines are freely admitted here, and if any one wishes a license to retail spirits, he may procure one by applying to the proper officers. Those who retail spirits without license are liable to punishment. Please inform him, also, that we have sent ministers to the king of France to beg of him a new treaty between us and France.

"Accept for yourself the assurance of our respect and our salutations.

KAMEHAMEHA III.
KEKAULUOHI."

Demands not

Admiral Dupetit Thouars took possession, about this time, on behalf of France, of Tahiti and the Marquesas Islands. If his object, in sending the Embuscade to the Hawaiian king with these impracticable demands, was to do the same with the Sandwich Islands, the announcement at the close of the king's letter, that he had sent ministers to France with a request for a new treaty, is probably the reason why the corvette left without giving further trouble.

enforced.