LETTER TO HER BRITANNIC MAJESTY 135 
" Tahiti, January 23, 1843. 
" My dear Friend and Sister, Queen Vic- 
toria, Queen of Great Britain, Health and 
peace to you ! And saved made you be by 
Jehovah, the Foundation of our power as 
Queens of our respective countries. We 
dwell in peace by the arrangements made by 
our predecessors. 
"This is my speech to you, my sister 
friend. Commiserate me in my affliction, in 
my helplessness, in which my nation is in- 
volved with France. 
" The existing protectorate government of 
France in my dominions I do not acknow- 
ledge. I knew nothing of what my chiefs 
and the French Consul had done before I 
wrote to you by Captain Jones, I being 
absent at Eaiate." 
After bemoaning the dependent state into 
which she had been thrown by French inter- 
vention, and the political movements of her 
chiefs, she proceeds : 
" And now, my friend, think of me, have 
compassion on me, and assist me ; let it be 
powerful, let it be timely, and saving, that 
I may be reinstated in my government. 
