18 HAWAIIAN GROUP. 



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

 French consul. Whatever he might have done had his first requisitions 

 not been complied with, I cannot believe, that to secure a commercial 

 treaty (which does not appear to have been part of his instructions), 

 however advantageous, he would have ventured to commence hosti- 

 lities, 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 

 the capacity of consul, of the irresponsible individual of whom we 

 have spoken under that style, but who had not hitherto been received 

 by the government. 



The affair terminated by the landing of Captain Laplace, with two 

 hundred of his men, fully armed and equipped for battle, for the pur- 

 pose of celebrating mass in one of the straw-built houses of the king. 



The frigate sailed the day after this ceremony ; and thus, in the 

 space of ten days, Captain Laplace had, by the terror of his cannon, 

 forced a dreaded religion upon a reluctant people, heaped ignominy on 

 the sovereign and chiefs, trodden down the laws, and left the islands 

 open to the introduction of immorality and vice, besides carrying off 

 in his frigate the whole of the circulating medium. This was truly an 

 heroic exploit, and one that must redound greatly to the credit of all 

 who were concerned in it ! 



The immediate consequences of the treaty, were it not for their 

 serious results, would be ludicrous. The brig Clementine, which has 

 before been mentioned, was immediately despatched by the French 

 consul to the coast of South America, whence she returned without de- 

 lay, having on board the Bishop of Nicopolis with several priests, and 

 a full cargo of French wines and brandy. It is needless to describe 

 the effect which the introduction of quantities of intoxicating liquor pro- 

 duced upon the population of the islands, the inferior classes of which 

 have still the propensity manifested by all savages for this worst pro- 

 duct of the arts of civilized nations. The chiefs have indeed endea- 

 voured to put some impediment in the way of the progress of the 

 scourge, by making it necessary to obtain a license for the retail of 

 spirituous liquors. 



After this account, it will be easy to understand the feelings of mor- 

 tification and regret with which the king spoke of the Laplace treaty. 

 He said, that he was not surprised that France should have sent a 

 force to inquire whether his people had injured the natives of that 

 country who had visited them, but he did wonder that so great a 

 nation as France was represented to him to be, should have wished to 

 destroy his laws, and make his people drunkards for the sake of selling 



