THE MISSIONARY BENGHAM. 255 



tire change had taken place : — we might have 

 imagined ourselves in a different country. 

 Bengham had undertaken the education of the 

 young monarch, and was keeping him under 

 the strictest surveillance. He meddles in all 

 the affairs of government, and makes Kahu- 

 manna, and even sometimes Karemaku, the 

 instrument of his will ; pays particular atten- 

 tion to commercial concerns, in which he ap- 

 pears to take great interest ; and seems to have 

 quite forgotten his original situation and the 

 object of his residence in the islands, finding 

 the avocations of a ruler more to his taste than 

 those of a preacher. This would be excusable, 

 if his talents were of a nature to contribute to 

 the instruction and happiness of the people ; if 

 he understood the art of polishing the rough 

 diamond, to which the uncorrupted Sandwich 

 Islander may aptly be compared, so as to bring 

 out its intrinsic value, and to increase its ex- 

 ternal splendour. But the fact is widely diffe- 

 rent ; and one cannot see without deep regret 

 the spiritual and temporal weal of a well-dis- 

 posed people committed to the guidance of an 

 unenlightened enthusiast, whose ill-directed and 



