HAWAIIAN GROUP. 



21 



To return to the Laplace treaty. A commission has been sent to 

 France with letters to its government, containing a statement of the 

 transactions of which we have spoken, and asking that the commer- 

 cial treaty might be annulled as injurious to the morals of his people, 

 and the king expressed his hopes that this appeal to the magnanimity 

 and moral sense of the French monarch would be successful. 



With the Cathohcs, to whom this treaty has given free entrance, I 

 had no direct intercourse. I saw however that they were zealous in 

 their exertions to inculcate their peculiar tenets ; they have already 

 several places of worship, and were busy in erecting a large chapel of 

 stone. All the chiefs, however, and the great body of the people, are 

 still Protestants. The existence of two diiferent creeds has caused 

 some difficulties. One relating to the school system took place during 

 the stay of our squadron ; and another relative to marriages between 

 native converts of different persuasions. 



I cannot but indulge the hope, that the competition of the teachers 

 of different creeds, if they be actuated by proper motives, will, by 

 stimulating their efforts, tend to the improvement of education and 

 the advancement of civiUzation. The Protestant missionaries have 

 already done so much good, that it is much more a matter of wonder 

 that there should be so many signs of piety, and so many instances of 

 strict obedience to the moral law, than that vice and sensuality are still 

 to be seen in existence in this community, so recently redeemed from 

 barbarism. 



Among the most obvious benefits of the missionary labours, are a 

 code of laws and a written constitution ; the last of which was pro- 

 mulgated on the 8th October, 1840. It is, no doubt, far from being 

 perfect, but it is as much so as circumstances would permit, and is a 

 proof of the sincerity of the interest the king and chiefs take in the 

 welfare of those whom they govern; for in it they have made a wiUing 

 sacrifice of their power to what they deem the general benefit of the 

 nation. 



I was furnished with a copy of this constitution by Mr. Richards, 

 and I insert it, as perhaps the best mode of contrasting the present 

 state of the Hawaiian people with that of the inhabitants of the other 

 Polynesian islands, and of exhibiting the advance which they have 

 made towards complete civilization. 



VOL. IV. 



