13 HAWAIIANGROUP. 



would be again resorted to. It is not surprising that tlie king, on this 

 occasion, found himself, as he expressed it to me, completely at a loss 

 what to do, when lie found a second treaty presented to him for his 

 signature, which broke down his laws and the municipal regulations 

 of the island. These difficulties were enhanced by finding that he 

 was left entirely to himself, and without the aid of any friendly ad^^.ce; 

 for no time was allowed him, even to call in the counsel of his own 

 chiefs. The foreigners, both residents and missionaries, kept aloof 

 from him, although now was a juncture at which the true friends of 

 this people might have acted to advantage by stepping forward in sup- 

 port of the laws under which they lived. They cannot be too much 

 blamed for having suffered this flagrant outrage upon the rights of a 

 feeble nation to be committed with their knowledge, and without strong 

 and decided remonstrances on their part. The missionaries, in parti- 

 cular, lost a glorious opportunity. It would have shown their character 

 in a beautiful light, if, after abstaining as they did from any act that 

 might have increased the embarrassment of the government, when 

 they were themselves threatened, they had come forward to oppose, 

 by every means in their power, the overthrow of the laws enacted to 

 check the scourge of intemperance, against which they had so long 

 contended. 



The merchants, also, had not the spirit to raise a voice in condem- 

 nation of an act fraught with so much evil to the people from whom 

 they were gaining their livelihood. Although all were aware of 

 what was going forward, and some of them were appealed to, none 

 would take the responsibility of advising the king to withhold his sig- 

 nature from a treaty that was to degrade him in his own eyes, and 

 which subverted the laws that had hitherto been so beneficial. 



I make these comments on the conduct of the foreign residents and 

 missionaries, because I am satisfied that the smallest opposition would 

 now have checked the career of Captain Laplace ; and it would have 

 required but little argument to prove to him the selfish views of the 

 French consul. Whatever he might have done had his first requisi- 

 tions not been complied with, I cannot believe, that to secure a com- 

 mercial treaty, (which does not appear to have been part of his in- 

 structions) however advantageous, he would have ventured to com- 

 mence hostilities, or that, if opposed on this point, he would have 

 proceeded to trample on the rights of the monarch of a weak and 

 unoffending nation. 



It was now that Captain Laplace insisted upon the recognition, in 



