eated not half so great a sensation, at least in
America, as was caused by the proceedings of the English at the Sandwich
Islands. No transaction has ever been more grossly misrepresented than the
events which occurred upon the arrival of Lord George Paulet at Oahu.
During a residence of four months at Honolulu, the metropolis of the
group, the author was in the confidence of an Englishman who was much
employed by his lordship; and great was the author's astonishment on his
arrival at Boston, in the autumn of 1844, to read the distorted accounts
and fabrications which had produced in the United States so violent an
outbreak of indignation against the English. He deems it, therefore, a
mere act of justice towards a gallant officer briefly to state the leading
circumstances connected with the event in question.

It is needless to rehearse all the abuse that for some time previous to
the spring of 1843 had been heaped upon the British residents, especially
upon Captain Charlton, Her Britannic Majesty's consul-general, by the
native authorities of the Sandwich Islands. High in the favour of the
imbecile king at this time was one Dr. Judd, a sanctimonious
apothecary-adventurer, who, with other kindred and influential spirits,
were animated by an inveterate dislike to England. The ascendancy of a
junta of ignorant and designing Methodist elders in the councils of a
half-civilised king, ruling with absolute sway over a nation just poised
between barbarism and civilisation, and exposed by the peculiarities of
its relations with foreign states to unusual difficulties, was not
precisely calculated to impart a healthy tone to the policy of the
government.

At last matters were brought to such an extremity, through the iniquitous
maladministration of affairs, that the endurance of further insults and
injuries on the part of the British consul was no longer to be borne.
Captain Charlton, insultingly forbidden to leave the islands,
clandestinely withdrew, and arriving at Valparaiso, conferred with
Rear-Admiral Thomas, the English commander-in-chief on the Pacific
station. In consequence of this communication, Lord George Paulet was
despatched by the admiral in the _Carysfort_ frigate, to inquire into and
correct the alleged abuses. On arriving at his destination, he sent his
first lieutenant ashore with a letter to the king, couched in terms of the
utmost courtesy, and soliciting the honour of an audience. The messenger
was denied a