REFLECTIONS. 167 
Missionaries; all the while conscientiously 
obeying the rule of conduct which had been 
delivered to him, according to the interpreta- 
tion he had been taught to put on it. 
How this coronation turned out—whether the 
son of Tajo allowed it to pass quietly—whether 
he has met the fate of many an unfortunate 
Kuropean pretender, or survives to become 
the originator of a civil war, which may yet 
give another destiny to Tahaiti, remains to 
be learnt from the accounts of some future 
traveller. 
Religion and _ political institutions may 
raise a nation in a short period to a high 
point of civilization, and they may also serve, 
as in case of the Turks, to retain them in 
perpetual barbarism. How will these mighty 
powers operate on the Tahaitians? How can 
they, the qualifications of their authors con- 
sidered ! 
True, genuine Christianity, and a liberal go- 
vernment, might have soon given to this people, 
endowed by nature with the seeds of every 
social virtue, a rank among civilized nations. 
Under such a blessed influence, the arts and 
