372 MISSION OF HAALILEO AND RICHARDS. [1842. 



Captain Laplace also thought proper to declare in a circular, that, 

 in case he should attack Honolulu, the American missionaries 

 would not enjoy the protection promised by him to the people of 

 civilized nations ; fortunately, however, he had no occasion to 

 carry this threat into execution, as it might have produced 

 a most serious breach of good understanding between his govern- 

 ment and that of the United States. 



Difficulties about the same time arose between the government 

 of the Sandwich Islands and the British consul ; in consequence 

 of which, the king determined to despatch an agent to the United 

 States, Great Britain, and France, in order to obtain, if possible, 

 a distinct recognition of the independence of his dominions by 

 those nations, and to make some definite arrangement for the 

 prevention of difficulties in future. With these objects, Timoteo 

 Haalileo, a young native who had been educated in the school of 

 the missionaries, and had filled several important offices, was 

 selected as the agent ; and he was to be accompanied by Mr. W. 

 Richards, one of the American missionaries, who, having distin- 

 guished himself, during a long residence in the islands, by his 

 zeal in behalf of the people and their government, had, with the 

 assent of his brethren, entered regularly into the king's service. 

 They arrived in Washington in the winter of 1842, and, upon 

 their application, President Tyler addressed a message to Con- 

 gress,* in which, after briefly recapitulating the advantages derived 

 by the United States from the Sandwich Islands, as a place of 

 trade and refreshment for vessels in the Pacific, and alluding to the 

 desire manifested by their government to improve the moral and 

 social condition of the people, he declared that any attempt by 

 another power to take possession of the islands, colonize them, 

 and subvert the native government, could not but create dissatis- 

 faction on the part of the United States ; and, should such attempt 

 be made, the American government would be justified in remon- 

 strating decidedly against it. An American commissioner was 

 accordingly despatched to the Sandwich Islands, charged to inquire 

 and report as to the propriety of establishing diplomatic relations 

 with their government ; and Messrs. ^Haalileo and Richards, after 

 some time spent in the United States, proceeded to Great Brit- 

 ain and France, where their presence proved ultimately useful in 

 bringing about the peaceful solution of the difficulties which had 

 occasioned their mission. 



* Message of December 21st, 1842. 



