20 TAHITI. 



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 mis- 

 sionaries 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, commanded 

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

 harbour of Papieti. The commander immediately demanded satisfac- 

 tion 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 com- 

 mander, and one that hardly admits of justification, particularly the 

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

 hospitality, 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 missionaries. 

 Subsequently to these transactions, and after an attempt by two 

 foreigners to murder Mrs. Morenhout, they have endeavoured to obtain 

 the passage of a law for the expulsion of all foreigners whatsoever. 



The aversion to the permanent residence of foreigners is general, 

 and although there is no law forbidding the sale of land to them, yet 

 no offers have hitherto been found sufficient to induce the chiefs to 



