142 HOW TO LEGISLATE [PART I. 



their inalienable rights. His Excellency the Lieu- 

 tenant-Governor was instructed to acquire the sove- 

 reignty from the native chiefs by means of treaty. 

 This was done with a few tribes in the northern 

 parts of the island, and with some individuals in 

 the southern ; but circumstances made it afterwards 

 necessary, without consulting the wishes of the in- 

 habitants, to assume at once the sovereignty over 

 the three islands. This was a mere formal step to 

 prevent other nations, or individuals, or bodies, from 

 acquiring in any way sovereign rights. It could 

 not imply any duties to be performed by the natives, 

 nor any sacrifices to be made by them, before 

 they had become fully acquainted with the duties 

 of a citizen, and were able to participate in the 

 benefits of the new organization. The measure 

 was also unavoidable, for, the numerous tribes being 

 perfectly independent of each other, it would other- 

 wise have been necessary to send a commission over 

 the whole country to acquire their consent. But, 

 even in the case of a single tribe, the chief has no 

 authority to give away what he does not himself 

 individually possess; each of its members is the 

 sovereign possessor of his own plot of ground, and 

 to have the consent of all would have amounted 

 nearly to an impossibility. 



A far more important question for the Adminis- 

 tration to settle is that of the territorial rights of 

 the natives. I have shown that they are perfectly 



