68 ADDRESS. 



of the cruel treatment experienced by persons who have visited 

 them or have fallen unfortunately into their hands, has been in 

 flicted in the spirit of retaliation. The law of revenge is common 

 to savage man. He visits the offender with retribution, in the 

 first instance ; but if disappointed in this, he extends his hatred to 



The abused natives, from whom this statement was received, could not, of course, 

 designate the ship by name, but their description of her appearance induces the sus- 

 picion that she was a whaler. The relatives of Alden, who reside near New Bedford, 

 are not, as far as we know, aware of his subsequent fate. The injured chief declares, 

 that he marked well the features of the captain and his officers, determined, should 

 opportunity offer, to make his spear drink their heart's blood. It is trusted that the 

 offenders, of whatever nation they may prove, will yet be discovered, and brought to 

 justice. This is one flagrant instance of atrocity, but, unfortunately, it does not stand 

 alone. 



Captain Swain, of ship William Penn, it may be remembered, lost a boat's crew at 

 Navigator Islands. A ship, some weeks or months previously to his arrival, had 

 touched there for supplies, on which occasion a European resident went on board as 

 interpreter, and remained some days assisting to promote the object of the visit. On 

 taking leave, the captain offered him a pair of duck trousers by way of payment for his 

 services. The man respectfully submitted that the reward was insufficient. He was 

 told, that if dissatisfied he should soon have enough ; and thereupon was lashed to the 

 rigging, unmercifully flogged, and afterwards sent on shore. The consequence of this 

 treatment was, without question, the massacre of Captain Swain's boat crew, with 

 the exception of a Sandwich Islander, who, after being severely wounded, was spared 

 on account of the colour of his skin, and afterwards brought off by the ship Vincennes. 



The facts of other aggravated cases have reached the public ear, the guilt of which, 

 we regret to say, is imputed to the masters of one or two whaling vessels. At one of 

 the islands, a few years ago, after a friendly interchange of civilities between the natives 

 and their visiters, a large party of trie former were carried on board ship as she was 

 getting under way, and, after having been cruelly whipped, without the slightest pro- 

 vocation, were driven overboard by scores, many of them receiving severe injuries. 



On another occasion, when a ship, but not under our flag, had obtained supplies, 

 and her captain was leaving the shore in the last boat, he wantonly levelled his gun 

 and shot down a harmless, unoffending native, who was unconsciously leaning against 

 a tree on the beach. The poor fellow was carried off by his companions, apparently 

 dead. What feeling could such cold-blooded butchery generate but a fierce thirst for 

 revenge, to be wreaked on the first white man who should fall within their grasp ? 

 When a reason was asked for this act of fiendish brutality, it was given with the 

 utmost sang 1 froid " Oh, it was nothing but an Indian." 



With a knowledge of circumstances like these, and of what must naturally be their 

 consequences, it becomes apparent that an efficient naval force is required in the South 

 and Pacific Seas, not only for the greater safety of our commerce, and as a check upon 

 the savages, but for another reason, viz., to protect the latter against the wanton cruelty 

 of men claiming the appellation of civilized, and thus to remove the cause which has 

 led to so much suffering and slaughter. 



