them how the life of the land' had been restored to him. His would be no cold words. The unrealities of older civilized states had not yet taught the Polynesians to listen to official eloquence with unbelieving calmness and a condescending 'hear hear,' in its due place. Kaméhaméha III. had serious faults of character, but he loved his people and his land with a warm, true, and devoted love, and the words which he uttered that day were genuine and deeply felt both by the speaker, and his breathless auditory. The King's speech was followed by a spirited address from one of the chiefs, who announced, in his sovereign's name, a general amnesty, the release of all prisoners, and a festival of ten days. During that period of carnival, balls and entertainments were given by the residents of Honolulu, in which native chiefs, and the officers of the numerous men-of-war in port, met in friendly intercourse; and before the festival days were over, the U.S. ships United States' and 'Cyane' arrived, bringing with them news which increased the general joy, that the independence of the Hawaiian Islands had been recognized by England and France. As a final act to that eventful rejoicing, an endeavour was made to take advantage of it to reconcile all conflicting parties in the kingdom.

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It is a peculiarity with the Hawaiians, that in all the events in which our own country has been concerned with them, they look to England with gratitude and love. They have had to bear from us at times some wrongs, and some of the arrogance of a superior people. But they possess the happy temperament of being able to forget a wound given, and bless the hand--the same which stabbed-that binds up the wound. Thankfulness for the restoration of their country immediately succeeded and supplanted any feelings of resentment;

NATIONAL GRATITUDE.

297

and among the most honoured names in the roll of their remembrance, stands that of the late Admiral Thomas. Lord George Paulet was a courteous but firm Englishman, who carried out with an unhesitating decision the duty which seemed to lie before him. Towards him. the people did not seem to cherish any anger, and their joy at the restoration of their islands has taken the form of a perennial gratitude to the English officer who was the instrument of that act of justice. Admiral Thomas's day is one of three yearly celebrations kept at Hawaii, and on that day the most distant consular agents of the kingdom are required to hoist the national flag. This grateful feeling follows him beyond the grave, and seeks to express itself to his descendants. There is an unusual simplicity in all this, very startling in our days of complex motives and restrained sentiments. We scarcely know whether to smile or to blush at the lesson afforded us, and we are inclined to repeat the words of the great reflective poet :

'I've heard of hearts unkind, kind deeds

With coldness still returning;—

Alas! the gratitude of men

Hath oftener left me mourning.

CHAPTER XIX.

HISTORICAL SKETCH-THE ENVOYS EXTRAORDINARY

THE

THE BELGIAN CONTRACT.

HE scene now shifts to Europe, whither the principal actors in our history have simultaneously betaken themselves. Thither has gone, burning with anger, the English Consul, Mr. Charlton,-to be finally extinguished. There, too, has gone Mr. Brinsmade, the United States Consul, upon important business to be mentioned hereafter, about which he laboured long and with the most perfect unsuccess. Thither have gone, though by different routes, the ministers plenipotentiary and envoys extraordinary, viz., Sir George Simpson, Governor of Hudson's Bay, viâ Siberia, and Mr. Richards, the ex-missionary, and Haalilio, a chief of inferior rank, and late secretary to the King, viâ United States. Thither also has gone Mr. A. Simpson, late acting English consul; to carry news to the English government of the cession of the islands, and to find his news already known, and himself as coldly received as the messenger who brought the tidings of Saul's death to David. Lastly, thither had gone Mr. J. F. B. Marshall, charged with secret instructions from the King, to act as a corrective to Mr. Simpson in England, the latter travelling with him in perfect innocence of his mission,-as quietly

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299

as the acid and the alkaline powders rest side by side in a seidlitz-powder box, though so antagonistic in their nature, and so ready to fizz when finally brought into contact. Simpson was doomed to find, too late, that men betray,'—particularly American citizens. He says in his pamphlet

A Mr. Marshall, an American shopkeeper at the islands, by a ruse de guerre of Judd and the American consul, got a passage in the schooner sent to convey me to Western Mexico. He spread abroad the news as he passed through the Stateswhere it excited intense attention; and on his arrival in England, entered, in conjunction with Richards and Haalilio, into communication with the Foreign Office.

The first business of Richards and Haalilio was at Washington. There, after some negotiation, though no declaration of independence was at that time obtained, the President, in a message to Congress on the 31st December, 1842, used language respecting the Hawaiian Islands which was considerate enough, and coupled with the appointment of a commissioner to reside at the court of Hawaii, was taken to be tantamount to a formal recognition. The commissioner despatched to Honolulu was Mr. George Brown. The envoys arrived in London in February 1843, and being joined by Sir George Simpson, had an interview with the Earl of Aberdeen, who was at first unfavourable to the idea of formally recognising the independence of the islands, believing them to be too greatly under American influence. On the 8th of March the envoys went to Belgium, on their way to Paris. They saw King Leopold, who pledged his influence to aid the object of their mission. On the 17th they had an interview with M. Guizot, who received them with marked courtesy, and promptly gave a pledge to acknowledge

the independence of the islands. The different impression made on the observant native chief Haalilio by the two diplomatists is striking and amusing. When we went to Lord Aberdeen,' he said, 'he was very grave and angry-looking; but he gave us all we wanted: when we went to Monsieur Guizot, he was very polite and friendly, but would give us no satisfaction.'

Returning to London, the commissioners received, on the 25th of February, in an interview with Lord Aberdeen, the assurance that the independence of the islands. would be virtually or really acknowledged, and that Mr. Charlton would be removed; and on the 1st of April his lordship formally communicated to them the willingness of the English government, and its determination, to recognise the independence of the Sandwich Islands under their present sovereign; adding that Her Majesty's government desired no special favour or immunity for British subjects, but on the contrary wished to see all foreigners residing in the Sandwich Islands treated on a footing of perfect equality before the law, and equal protection afforded by the government to all.

Shortly after this satisfactory decision of the English government, the news was received of the provisional cession of the group to Lord George Paulet. The same intelligence had already been made known in the United States by Mr. Marshall, 'where,' says Mr. Jarves, added to other causes tending to influence the national mind against England, it created a prodigious excitement.' The newspapers wrote sensation articles upon English rapacity, and stump-orators worked up the English captain's act into excellent political capital.

On the 13th of June Messieurs Haalilio and Richards were informed that the English government had no desire to retain possession of the Sandwich Islands;