58 
SANDWICH ISLANDS. 
to be alluring in the eyes of these simple persons, they 
might be obliged, on his own terms, to go to the United 
States, and there, in exchange for the liberty of returning to 
their kingdom, barter one of the Islands to America, whose 
merchants have long desired to possess such a port in the 
Pacific. However that might be, his Majesty’s Govern¬ 
ment no sooner heard of the arrival of these singular and 
interesting visitors, than every attention was shown to them. 
They had landed at Portsmouth on the 21st or 22d of May, 
and in a day or two afterwards they had, under Starbuck’s 
direction, reached Osborne’s hotel in the Adelphi*. His 
Majesty’s Government immediately deputed a gentleman f- 
to perform the office of guardian to them, which office, dif¬ 
ficult and delicate as it was, he fulfilled with a kindness and 
good temper which neither the objects of his attention, nor 
those who witnessed it, can fail to remember with sentiments 
of the greatest esteem. 
The whole of the king’s baggage, including the money, 
had been left on board the Aigle at Portsmouth, to go 
* The conduct of Mr. and Mrs. Chaplin, owners of the hotel, was highly 
praiseworthy, for their kindness to their guests and the moderation of their 
charges. They underwent considerable loss in consequence of the residence of 
the Sandwich chiefs with them, as it was of course known that measles of the 
most malignant kind was the disorder under which the chiefs suffered, and 
people were consequently deterred from going to the hotel. 
-f* The Honourable Frederick Byng. 
