The Sun.
London, England, 1844-06-24 00:00:00

7"

HISTORY OF ENGLISH MIS-
SIONARIES IN OTAHEITE.
(From Le Constitutionnel)
The first disembarkment of missionaries at Otaheite
took place in 1797. Until 1809 their apostolical la-
bours were unfruitful ; but at that period their reign
commenced. They obtained from the savage King autho-
rity to establish auxiliary societies of the missions. This
was the first impost established to their profit. Each
memberof the Societies consented to pay a certain number
of hogs and a certain quantity of cocoa-nut oil, potatoes,
&c. There were few inhabitants who thought themselves
exempt from making this pious offering. Commencing in
1818, it soon it soon became a regular impost, which, in-
creasing every year, became very burdensome. In
1822 the contribution from Otaheite alone, amounted to
9,226 bamboos of oil (of 4lbs. each), 24 hogs, 267 packets
of arrowroot (of 51bs. each), and 191 bales of cotton.
The other islands contributed a proportionate amount.
The missionaries became more powerful, as Pomare 11.
towards the close of his life had become a con-
firmed drunkard. The portion of his time which
was not devoted to his bottle, was employed in
reading, and in translating the Bible into the Ota-
heitean language. He died on the 7th of Sep-
tember, 1841. He left two children—Pomare 111., four
years old, and Aimata, a daughter, about twelve years
of age. Pomare 111. (lied on the 21st of April, 1824,
and his sister Aimata ascended the throne under the
name of Pomare-Wahine I. This is the reigning
Queen. During the minority of these two children,
who were brought up under their guardians, the
missionaries regulated at the institutions of the
country. In the year preceding the death of Pomare 11.
they got him to issue the following edict which was at
once the civil and criminal code of the country. It com-
mences with a paraphrase of the commandments of God,
and it would be superfluous to say that the missionaries
did not neglect their own interests. This curious docu-
ment shows that the whole island was in their hands :

1. You shall put no one to death. No one may slay
any of his children, male or female, under the pretext of
sacrifices;* in short, you shall commit no murder. All
guilty of such crimes shall suffer death.
2. You shall not blaspheme. All persons guilty of
iiolatry, of whatever kind, in their adorations, or of re-
suming, in whatever manner, their idolatrous and wicked
customs, shall undergo the pains of death.
3. You shall not steal. All persons guilty of theft, or
of concealing the articles stolen, shall suffer the pains of
law, which consist of fourfold restitution, with hard
labour, as the judge and jury shall deem meet.
4. You shall do no evil to another. All private pro-
perty shall be regarded as sacred. No one shall violate
the property of his neighbours without punishment ac-
cording to law. All stray hogs bearing a mark shall
belong to their respective owners. Those unmarked
shall become the property of the principal chief, or of the
treasury of the missionaries.
5. You shall not attempt to disturb good order. Every
person guilty of sedition, of endeavouring to disturb the
peace of the islands, or of treason against the Govern-
ment, shall be punished according to the English laws,
the missionaries being consultathereupon, since they
alone can judge in a suitable manner.
6. No married person shall have more than one wife.
Marriages shall be made according to law, by the prin-
cipal missionaries or their assistants. * * *
7 and 8. You shall observe the Sabbath. The Sabbath
shall be kept holy to the Lord. No work "shall be done
of any kind. Every one shall be enjoined to attend
public worship. Whoever shall make their servants do
any work on the Sabbath day shall be held guilty of
infringing the law, and be punished accordingly.
9. If any one shall be guilty of quarrelling with, or
beating, or injuring his companions, young or old, male
or female, the agressor shall be punished with hard
labour. * * * *

12. Every woman, married or single, who shall
secretly go on board any vessel, or be known to have
correspondence with any European, shall be subject to
*the punishtaent of the stocks, or to hard labour.
13. Every one found guilty of maintaining a falsehood
shall be punished with hard labour.
14. Every one guilty of defaming the character of the
missionaries, without special cause, or of endeavouring
to prove that it is contrary to law to aid the missionaries
with person and property, shall be held guilty of violating
the law. Half the forfeitures and penalties shall accrue
to the Treasury of the Missionaries.
15. Every one who may hear the names or character
of the missionaries calumniated by a native, or a stranger,
and who shall not give information thereof to the public
assembly, shall be punished with hard labour.
16. If any one adopts a nqw doctrine, or broaches a
doctrine other than the true Apostolic religion taught
by the missionaries, he shall be deemed guilty of heresy,
and punished according to the decision of the mis-
sionaries, no other being competent judges, and this case
not being provided for by the civil code.
17. If any one pay attention to writings or transla-
tions of resident foreigners, not belonging to the Mis-
sionary Society—if he conceal, or cause to be concealed,
such writings, without bringing them to the missionaries
the moment they come to his knowledge these writings
shall be publicly burnt if they are not the Word of God,
and the culprits shall be punished according to law and
the decision of the missionaries.

18. Should any person carry on board a vessel any
merchandise without the permission of the principal judges
(the missionaries also being consulted), such merchan-
dise shall be forfeited, or an equivalent amercement over
and above a penalty to be. inflicted. * * *
21. The.principal chief and the judge advocates con-
stitute the superior judges. The inferior judges and the
jurymen must be composed of men of good character,
all baptised and belonging to the Church.- From the
decision of'the inferior judges an appeal may ibe made
by'any party accused to the chief judge, or the mission-
aries, but from their decision there is no appeal.
22. No person shall be held worthy of confidence, or
of holding a post under Government, or of having a
vote, if not a contributor to the Missionary Society ;
but in this matter there is no constraint, each being
free to act according to his conscience. * *

25. Every person marking (tatooing), or causing to
be marked, any part of his body, shall be compelled to
make a part of the highway, to the extent of fifty
fathoms, or to perform some other labour, for the first
offence, and for the second shall be subject to a double
task, and so forth, toties quoeties.
26. All lascivious games, songs, or diversions, are
strictly forbidden. No woman shall appear in the house
of God having her head adorned with flowers. The
guilty shall be punished with hard labour.
27. All parents, or heads of families, neglecting to
have family worship, morning or evening, shall be pu-
nished by law, as also shall those who conceal such of-
fences.

28. All persons who shall make known, and regularly
prove to the chiefs, the missionaries, or the public con-
ference, the unlawful practices of sinners, shall be con-
sidered eligible to a higher rank in the Church and State.
29. All incorrigible vagabonds, not reclaimed by hard
labour nor the stocks, shall be publicly whipped at the
discretion of the King, the judges, and the principal
men of the island.

L. P.—The establishment of the French protectorate
has brought with it the abolition of the penalties esta •
blished for difference of faith, absence from divine ser-
vice, and other infractions of religious discipline ; but it
has not taken from the missionaries the internal ad-
ministration of the country. The missionaries, or what
comes to the same thing, the English agents, remain
empowered to decide all questions of internal sedition
according 'tto the English laws ; they remain judges in
the last resort ; they remain arbiters of the commerce
of the inhabitants with the shipping. these provisions
should be modified or suppressed, the Queen still has
the right of causing them to be revived by the advice of
the missionaries.:We have seen in the preceding law that
the missionaries have imported into Otaheite the institu-
tion of a jury. They have also imported nearly all the
English institutions, comprising that of hanging.
For a long time, there was a sort of national repre-
sentation called to deliberate at Matawai, under an im-
mense shed. In imitation of the English House of
Commons, the Chamber of Otahetian representatives
had :for its principal object the discussion of financia
questions. It was by it that, in 1823, were voted the
annual contributions for the missionaries. The apostles
of Otaheite, however, have occasionally encountered de-
cided opposition to their projects on the part of certain
chiefs. It is even said that more than once the reverend
ministers, brought ,up in England to vocations quite
alien to the exercise of the apostleship, have seen them-
selves disconcerted in these assemblies by the natural
eloquence of the native tribunes. These assemblies have
fallen into disuse : they frequently thwarted the designs
of the mission.

We shall only further observe that the sketch of
civilisation effected by the English missionaries has a
fair side that must be respected ; but it has also an in-
terested side which has caused all the embarrassments
of the protectorate, and which will doubtless perpetuate
them. But there would be no embarrassment if France
were sovereign ; the agents of the Government would
protect the missionaries with so much the more tole-
rance, as they would be relieved from all suspicion of
their intrigues; whilst the latter, on their side, would
abstain from the profitless disturbance of a country de•
finitively withdrawn from their dominion. The protec-
torate can produce nothing but confusion; the sove-
reignty, on the contrary, is the final close of all conflicts.

This prohibition is addressed to the Society of arevis, who
have affiliations in the greater part of the South Sea Islands.
One of their principal injunctions is to slay all the children
resulting from intercourse with the associates. This bar-
barous custom hascontributed not a little to the depopulation
of Otaheite.

- - -
SAUSAGES FOR THE MILLION.—Thomas Rose, a
salestnan, in Smithfield Market, was brought before Alder-
man Gibbs, at Guildhall, charged by Sergeant Lambert, with
having exposed two cows for sale in Smithfield Market
which were unfit to be killed for human food. Mr. Charles
Clarke, a veterinary surgeon, stated he was called upon to
examine the cows, and found them in such a diseased state
that they were totally unfit to be slaughtered for butcher's
meat. The prisoner stated that the cows were not intended
to be'sold for slaughter, but for fattening! Lambert assured
the Alderman that there was a class of butchers who bought
up this description of animals in the market, for the purpose
of converting them into cheap sausages " for the million
Frederick Willis, the owner of one of the cows, said, that
he had no idea of its being sold for slaughter, for it would
not have been worth 40s. for butcher's meat, whereas it
might have fetched 5/. as a speculation for grazing.
The Alderman said he should not only order the cows to
be destroyed, but hold the salesman to bail, himself in 501.
and two sureties of 25/. each, to appear at the next session
to answer an indictment for exposing them to sale ; and
moreover he should order the City Solicitor to prosecute.
Among the objects deposited at the bank of M.
Caccia, whose failure was declared at Paris last month, was
a box containing Lord Byron's manuscripts. This box, be-
longing to the Countess Guiccioli, to whom the great poet's
friendship bequeathed his most precious souvenirs, wa's -es-
terday withdrawn from the office of the bankruptcy syndic,
and delivered to M. Micard, the Noble Countess's agent.
Besides the manuscripts of all the published works, the box
contains some unpublished poetical pieces and critical notes,
written by Lord Byron himself upon his own work.- .-Revs'
de Paris.

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