SAN FRANCISCO TO MANILLA. 279 



to any large amount ; yet with the provisions and supplies to ships, 

 these suffice to afford all the necessary comforts to the inhabitants of 

 this group. 



Fortunately for the Sandwich Islands, they have no port that is 

 defensible against a strong naval force, and therefore their conse- 

 quence will be comparatively small in a political point of view. 

 No foreign power, in fact, could well hold them, without great 

 expense and difficulty. Honolulu is the port where vessels can best 

 receive repairs, but it can only be used by the smaller class. By 

 these circumstances, the neutral position of this group I think is 

 insured ; and this is most desirable for its peace and happiness. 

 This fact seems to me to be tacitly acknowledged by the mari- 

 time powers, as no attempt has as yet been made to take pos- 

 session of them, and they will, in all probability, be long left in 

 the enjoyment of their neutrality, which King Kamehameha III. is 

 now endeavouring to establish through a formal recognition of his 

 kingdom by the United States, England, and France, by negotiations 

 that are now pending. Such recognition will render them less liable, 

 if not altogether exempt from aggressions, exerted in the manner that 

 has already been related, in the course of this Narrative. These 

 islands seem intended for peaceful occupations alone; their products, 

 situation, and inhabitants, require and wish it. The power on which 

 they must become dependent hereafter, is that which is to be esta- 

 blished in Oregon and California; and, adapted as they are to supply 

 all the products of the tropics, they will become a valuable appendage 

 to those states ; but, I deem the idea entertained by many, who sup- 

 pose they ever can become so powerful as to command those states, 

 to be a mistake. So far as the consumption of a small amount of 

 manufactures go, and the convenience of our whaling fleet, but no 

 farther, they will be beneficial to the United States. In this relation, 

 the character of the government becomes a source of solicitude to us. 

 It is the interest of the United States that they should maintain the 

 neutrality that they seek to establish, and should not be permitted to 

 fall into the hands of any other power. 



I am rather disposed to think that, in the progress of civilization in 

 the South Seas, this group will be considered of less importance than 

 it now appears, and instead of its being looked to as it now is, as a 

 point of attraction, or a place wherein to obtain information and 

 supplies, it will be only visited by whalers for recruiting. Their 

 growth has already arrived at the greatest extent to which it can 



