72 
SANDWICH ISLANDS. 
regretted by King George IV., as there had been no op¬ 
portunity of granting them the personal interview, which 
was the chief object of their visit to Britain ; and which he 
desired as a proof of courtesy to stranger sovereigns who, 
entered so lately within the pale of civilization, had come 
so far to throw themselves at his feet, and to acknowledge his 
superiority. Besides, the commercial interests of England 
in the Pacific are likely to be greatly injured in case the 
Sandwich Islands should fall into the hands of the Russians 
or Americans, and it was of some importance to grant the 
protection the king had come to seek, for our own sake as 
well as for his. 
His majesty, therefore, appointed the 11th of September 
as the day on which he could see them at Windsor, whither 
they were conducted by Mr. Byng. 
Never, perhaps, was interview with a monarch so highly 
prized. Prepared as they were, by long dwelling on the 
happiness and honour they should derive from personal in¬ 
tercourse, to see every thing great in the King of England, 
they seem to have been touched and astonished in a very 
high degree at the graciousness and elegance of his manner, 
the kindness of his expressions when speaking of the death 
of their king, and of his wishes for their prosperity and that 
