TAHITI. 21 



this the priests well knew ; nor can any but zealots who think that 

 those whom they style heretics are worse than infidels excuse their 

 intrusion upon missionary ground already fully and successfully 

 occupied. On the other hand, their precipitate expulsion, under 

 circumstances of great hardship, exhibited an unchristian spirit, for 

 which the resident missionaries may justly be held responsible, as 

 they unquestionably had it in their power to prevent any positive ill 

 treatment on the part of the natives. 



The consequences of this expulsion of the priests remain to be 

 related. In due course of time the French frigate Venus, com- 

 manded by M. Du Petit Thouars, arrived at the island, and anchored 

 in the harbour of Papieti. The commander immediately demanded 

 satisfaction for the outrage committed on his countrymen the priests, 

 and threatened that unless two thousand dollars were paid him 

 within twenty-four hours, he would fire upon and burn the town of 

 Papieti. The queen had no money, and was inclined, as I was told, 

 to let the French do their worst ; but as in this case the loss would 

 have fallen wholly on the foreign residents, the required sum was 

 collected from them by Mr. Pritchard, and paid to M. Du Petit 

 Thouars. A treaty was also forced upon the government, allowing 

 all Frenchmen to visit the island freely, to erect churches, and to 

 practise their religion. Thus the local laws were abrogated under 

 the threats of an irresistible force, and the national independence 

 virtually surrendered. 



This was a high-handed measure on the part of the French 

 commander, and one that hardly admits of justification, particularly 

 the demand for money ; for he had himself been received with great 

 hospitalit}r, and not long before another of his sovereign's frigates, the 

 Artemise, I think, had been saved from wreck by the unrecompensed 

 exertions of the Tahitians. The amount demanded also was at least 

 four times as great as the pecuniary damage incurred by the priests 

 would be reasonably valued at. The French commander, therefore, 

 appears, in thus bullying a defenceless people into the payment of 

 an exorbitant indemnity and into a relinquishment of the right of 

 admitting or excluding foreigners and strange religious creeds, by 

 municipal regulation, in a light far from advantageous. 



We have seen that Paofai and his party at first countenanced the 

 French priests. This they no doubt did in the hope of introducing 

 an influence which might be opposed to that of the English mis- 

 sionaries. Subsequently to these transactions, and after an attempt 



