to strike a blow at the supposed enemy, he sailed, with his frigate, the United States, and the sloop of war Cyane, to Monterey, where he arrived on the 19th of October, 1842. Having disposed his vessels in front of the little town, he sent an officer ashore, to demand the surrender "of the castle, posts, and military places, with all troops, arms, and munitions of war of every class," in default of which, the sacrifice of human life and the horrors of war would be the immediate consequence. The commandant of the place, astounded by such a demand, made in a time of profound peace, summoned his officers to a council, in which it was decided that no defence could be made: he therefore submitted without delay, and the flag of the United States replaced that of Mexico over all the public edifices; the fortifications were garrisoned by American soldiers, and the commodore issued a proclamation to the Californians, inviting them to submit to the government of the federal republic, which would protect and insure to them the undisturbed exercise of their religion, and all other privileges of freemen. Scarcely, however, was this proclamation sent forth, ere the commodore received advices which convinced him that he had been in error, and that the peace between his country and Mexico remained unbroken; he had, therefore, only to restore the place to its former possessors, and to retire with all his forces to his ships, which was done on the 21st of the month, twenty-four hours after the surrender. Thus ended an affair, the effects of which have been unfortunately to increase the irritation already existing in Mexico against the United States, and to render less easy the adjustment of the differences between the two nations. The armed force in California was soon after considerably augmented; but it is evident that all the efforts of Mexico would be unavailing to retain those distant possessions, in the event of a war with a powerful maritime state.

In the Sandwich Islands, a complete change has taken place since the death of Tamahamaha. His son and successor, Riho Riho, died, in 1824, in London, whither he had gone, with his queen, to visit his brother sovereign of Great Britain; and he was himself succeeded by Kauikeaouli, another reputed son of the great Tamahamaha, who ascended the throne, under the name of Kamehamaha III. These changes were all advantageous to the missionaries from the United States, many of whom were domiciliated in the islands; particularly after the conversion of Krymakoo, or Billy Pitt, the old prime minister, and of Kaahumanu, the widow of the great Tamahamaha, who, after passing half a century in the con

stant practice of the most beastly sensuality, embraced Christianity in her old age, and became a zealous and efficient protector of its professors.* Boki, the brother of Krymakoo, a powerful chief, who had accompanied Riho Riho to England, and, on his return, endeavored to obtain the sovereignty of the islands, proved very refractory and annoying to the missionaries, alternately coöperating with them, or setting them at defiance, according to the dictates of his ambition.†

After the death of Riho Riho, Kaahumanu, first, and then Kinau one of the widows of the late king, conducted the government as regents, until 1834, when the young sovereign threw off all restraints, and, taking the reins into his own hands, determined to enjoy life like other legitimate princes. Feasting and dancing in the old style were again seen in the palace; drinking shops were opened, distilleries were set up, and other ancient_immoralities reappeared, under the immediate patronage of the court. But the church had become a part of the state. The chiefs were all nominally Christians; the missionaries exerted themselves to stem the torrent, and they succeeded. The king was obliged to yield; the shops and distilleries were successively closed, and order and decency resumed their reign.

The ill success of this attempt, on the part of the king, to free himself from the trammels imposed by the missionaries, of course increased their power; which they exerted with energy, and gen

Krymakoo died in 1825, and Kaahumanu in 1832; the exemplary manner in which they took leave of the pomps and vanities of life is minutely described in the History of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, pp. 175 and 23 0.

↑ Boki, having been disappointed in his hopes of attaining the sovereignty of his country, sailed, in 1829, with a number of followers, in two vessels, in search of some new islands, covered with sandal-wood, which were said to have been discovered in the south-west. One of the vessels returned to Woahoo; of the other, in which Boki commanded in person, nothing has been since heard, except some rumors that she was blown up.

The London Quarterly Review for March, 1827, contains a letter purporting to have been written by Boki, at Woahoo, to a friend in London, expressing considerable dissatisfaction with the conduct of the American missionaries, which has given those worthy persons much uneasiness, and has caused them to expend much more of virtuous indignation and serious argument, in refuting the charges, than it deserved. The letter is an exquisite morceau of orthography and style, and should find a place in the Comic Almanac. See the History of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, p. 176, and Mr. C. S. Stewart's narrative of his residence in the Sandwich Islands, p. 342. The latter work will amply repay the reader for the time which he may devote to it; not only from the information afforded respecting the islands, but also as exhibiting, in the most interesting manner, the workings of a pure and enthusiastic mind.

erally with discretion, for the benefit of the community. They employed every means to keep the chiefs in what they considered the right path, and to conciliate the young. Schools were opened wherever scholars could be found; and the Bible, in the language of the islands, was placed in the hands of all who could read it. Laws restraining drunkenness and other vices were proposed to the government and adopted: in 1838, the importation of spirituous liquors was prohibited; and, in 1840, a written constitution, also the work of the missionaries, exhibiting much wisdom and knowledge of the world on their part, was subscribed by the king and his principal nobles.

In these endeavors to raise a barbarous people to civilization, and to place their country among Christian states, the American missionaries were constantly opposed and thwarted by their own fellow-citizens and the subjects of other nations, who resorted to the islands for the purposes of trade, or of refreshment, after long and dangerous voyages. The precepts of a religion enjoining selfdenial in all things could not find favor among such persons; to whom its apostles became objects of hatred, as the destroyers of all their pleasures. Bickerings took place between the two parties the missionaries were assaulted with sticks, and stones, and knives, all which they fearlessly confronted, rather than yield a foot of the ground already occupied; and the young king was daily subjected to complaints from sea captains and consuls on the one side, and to remonstrances from his spiritual advisers on the other. That the latter carried their restrictions too far, considering the circumstances, there is reason to believe; for, though no defence can be made for the practices which they reprobated, yet many of them can never be prevented by means compatible with the enjoyment of civil liberty; and it may be neither prudent nor just to set a mark on all who are guilty of them.

-The American missionaries had to encounter greater difficulties from a different source. Other laborers entered the vineyard. In 1827, two Roman Catholic priests, Messrs. Short, an Irishman, and Bachelot, a Frenchman, arrived in the islands, and engaged in the conversion of the natives to their form of Christianity. They were, of course, regarded with unfriendly eyes by the Protestants, and particularly by the pious regent Kaahumanu, to whose faction they were opposed; and, through her influence, they were at length, in 1831, expelled from the islands, on the grounds that they were idolaters, and worshipped the bones of dead men. A

chapel and school were, nevertheless, soon after opened at Honolulu, by another Catholic priest, named Walsh; and, in 1838, Kaahumanu being dead, Messrs. Bachelot and Short ventured to return to the islands, from California, where they had passed the greater part of the time, since their expulsion. They were again ordered by the government to take their departure; and, on their refusal, were forcibly put on board the vessel which brought them, and thus sent away, notwithstanding the protests made by the consuls of the United States and Great Britain, on the part of the owners of the vessel, and by the commanders of a British and a French ship of war, which arrived at the time in the islands. That the Protestant missionaries were the instigators of this proceeding, has been asserted, though it is denied by their friends; that they might, if they chose, have prevented it, there can, however, be as little doubt, as that they should have done so, if it were in their power.

For this act, which, besides being entirely at variance with the constant principle of Protestantism, and the spirit of toleration now so happily pervading the world, indicated extreme ignorance, and culpable disregard of consequences, on the part of those who directed it, a severe retribution was soon after exacted. On the 9th of July, 1839, the French frigate Artemise arrived at Honolulu, and her captain, Laplace, immediately demanded reparation for the insult offered to his country and its national religion; with which object, he required that the Roman Catholic worship should be declared free throughout the islands, and its professors should enjoy all the privileges heretofore granted to Protestants; that the government should give a piece of ground for the erection of a Catholic church; that all Catholics imprisoned on account of their religion should be liberated; and, finally, that, as a security for the performance of these engagements, twenty thousand dollars should be placed, and should remain, in his hands. With these demands the king immediately complied; and, had the French commander contented himself with what he had thus effected, his conduct would have been blameless in the eyes of all unprejudiced men. But he also required and obtained, that the brandy and wines of his country, the introduction of which, as of all other spirituous liquors, was most properly prohibited by law, should be admitted into the islands on paying a duty of not more than five per cent. on their value an act, considering the relative degrees of civilization of the two parties, far more reprehensible than that for which he had just before obtained atonement

Captain Laplace also thought proper to declare in a circular, that, in case he should attack Honolulu, the American missionaries would not enjoy the protection promised by him to the people of civilized nations; fortunately, however, he had no occasion to carry this threat into execution, as it might have produced a most serious breach of good understanding between his government and that of the United States.

Difficulties about the same time arose between the government of the Sandwich Islands and the British consul; in consequence of which, the king determined to despatch an agent to the United States, Great Britain, and France, in order to obtain, if possible, a distinct recognition of the independence of his dominions by those nations, and to make some definite arrangement for the prevention of difficulties in future. With these objects, Timoteo Haalileo, a young native who had been educated in the school of the missionaries, and had filled several important offices, was selected as the agent; and he was to be accompanied by Mr. W. Richards, one of the American missionaries, who, having distinguished himself, during a long residence in the islands, by his zeal in behalf of the people and their government, had, with the assent of his brethren, entered regularly into the king's service. They arrived in Washington in the winter of 1842, and, upon their application, President Tyler addressed a message to Congress,* in which, after briefly recapitulating the advantages derived by the United States from the Sandwich Islands, as a place of trade and refreshment for vessels in the Pacific, and alluding to the desire manifested by their government to improve the moral and social condition of the people, he declared that any attempt by another power to take possession of the islands, colonize them, and subvert the native government, could not but create dissatisfaction on the part of the United States; and, should such attempt be made, the American government would be justified in remonstrating decidedly against it. An American commissioner was accordingly despatched to the Sandwich Islands, charged to inquire and report as to the propriety of establishing diplomatic relations with their government; and Messrs. Haalileo and Richards, after some time spent in the United States, proceeded to Great Britain and France, where their presence proved ultimately useful in bringing about the peaceful solution of the difficulties which had occasioned their mission.

Message of December 21st, 1842.