HONOLULU. 393 
detail. I therefore feel that I may be permitted to give an opinion 
without the imputation of having been over hasty, or prejudiced in 
forming it. Such haste or prejudice may with some reason be imputed 
to those who not unfrequently imbibe their notions of these islanders 
and their teachers from a few days’ sojourn, and who have had inter- 
course only with those opposed to both the government and missiona- 
ries. I am not at all surprised that this should be the case with those 
who only visit Honolulu. 
That great licentiousness and vice exist there, is not to be denied ; 
but to throw the blame of them on the missionaries, seems to me to be 
the height of injustice. I am well satisfied that the state of things 
would be much worse were it not for their watchfulness and exertions. 
The lower class of foreigners who are settled in these islands, are a 
serious bar to improvement in morals, being for the most part keepers 
of low taverns, sailors’ boarding-houses, and grog-shops. Every in- 
ducement that can allure sailors from their duty, and destroy their 
usefulness, is held out to them here. Such men must be obnoxious in 
any community, and that they are not able to make more disturbance 
than they do, supported as they are by those who ought to know 
better, is, I am satisfied, mainly owing to the attention and energy of 
the governor, and the watchfulness of the members of the mission over 
the natives. 
I do not desire to be understood to express the opinion that the 
course pursued by the missionaries is in all respects calculated to pro- 
duce the most happy effects. I am, however, well satisfied that they 
are actuated by a sincere desire to promote the welfare and improve- 
ment of the community in which they live; I therefore feel it my duty 
to bear ample testimony to their daily and hourly exertions to advance 
the moral and religious interests of the native population, not only by 
precept, but by example; and to their untiring efforts, zeal, and devo- 
tion, to the sacred cause in which they are engaged. 
I shall hereafter have occasion to speak of the institutions of which 
they are the authors, and of their connexion with the government; in 
short, of their secular avocations. I have myself had intercourse 
both with the missionaries and those who are their opponents ; and it 
gave me pleasure to perceive that, with but three or four exceptions, 
there was a degree of moderation exhibited by both parties, that 
bespoke the dawn of a good feeling towards each other, to which 
they had long been strangers. 
In consequence of this new state of things, I was not called upon to 
listen to the vituperation and abuse of the missionaries that I had been 
VOL. III. 50 
