The Litchfield County post. [volume] (Litchfield, Conn.) 1826-1829, 1828-10-30

in some respects, more aggravated than a
nv preceding one. The aSSailantS were
the officers and crew of the John Palmer,
an English whale-ship. The assault was
made under the direction, or with the sane
ton ofthe captain who is said to be a ma
tive of Massachusetts.
! The history of this affair is we'll written
by Ho0pir0, the governOur of Maui, (of
which island Lahdin0 is the port) in an Of
fetal despatch addressed to Kadhamanu,
the regent of the Sandwich islands. Be-
fore the reader enters upon the perusaI OF
this document, let him remember that four
years previous TO the date which it bears,
the man who wrote it was an unlnstructed
pagan not able to read or write. Let the
official report be eonSidered-itS order, ex-
plicitness, freedom from every thing like
extraneuus matter, and from swelling and
bombaEt, and its manly assumption of res
possibility; and then let it be said, wheth-
er such men ale to receive abuse & insult,
their towns to be fred upon, mot only with
out provocation, but when the rulers are
discharging publick duty, which they
owe to themselves and their prosecutors
and whether the civilized world is to look
calmly on, and see the peace and the ter
ritory of the unoffending natives barbar-
ously violated merely because riotous sail
ors will not brook the restraints of ciViliz-
alton and Christianity
The despatch of Hoapiri was sent to
this country in the original, accompanied
with translation by Mr. Richards. The
translation can be compared with the orig
inal by Mr. Stewart and Mr. LOOMS, now
in this country. The letter is as follows:
Lahaina, Oct. 81, 1927.
Love to you Elisabeth kaahumanu.
This is the word have to declare unto
you. We have recently been in difficulty
we here of Maui. No one else is in
volved, alone. Itwas my own resolu-
tioR.
This is the ground of the difficulty you
are to consider-a strict regard to God
because you and we had said, the women
must not 60 on board the ships for the pur
poses ofprostitution. have strictly OBJ
served this word of ours.
There have secretly gone several wo-
men, then / requested the captain of the
vessel, Capt. Clarke, to return to me the
women. He would not consent--he rid-
euled what said.
That day passed-next morning ! urged
him again: three times insisted on it.
He said to me-your efforts are van.-
1t is not right for you to Withhold women
from Englishmen. 1t is not thus in Great
Britain. 1t is not right. Do not keep
back the women that 60 in the bad way
otherwise man of war will come and de-
stroy you all.
. Then I replied; I do not regard what
you have said. There is but one thing
that is right in my view-that you send me
back the women: but understand, if you
do not return them, shall detain you here
on shore, till we get the women. Then
you may 60 to ship.
My requirement was not at all complied
with.
- Then / sent men to take the boat. The
boat was detained by me and the foreign
er was detained by me here on shore.
He said to me, this place will be full Of
ships-and Maui shall be free from tabou,
or entirely burnt, so that not a cluster of
houses shall be left. My ship is ready to
FIRE upon you this night.
] answered if the guns of your ship fire,
] willtake care of you. You and and my
chief will 60 together to another place. Ii
your men fire from the ship, we the peo-
pie of the island will re main quiet, but if
the people of the ship land here upon the
shore to fight US then we will fight them.
You and will sit still and let your people
and mine do the fighting. Twill take care
of you. you do not give me back the
women, you and | will dwell on shore and
you shall not return to your vessel.
have but one desire and that is the return
here of the women. ended.
We continued together from the early
to the latter part of the evening, when the
cannon Off the ships were fired.
Mr. Richards had come to me saying, l
have como to promote reconciliation, out
oflove to- you and of love to them. Mr..
Richards inquired of me, d" What is your
design 7" l said, my only design is, that
the women be returned. We were urged
to yield by Mr. Richards. therefore sent
back the foreigner-but did not obtain the
women.
These are my thoughts concerning the
recent doing in this place belonging to
your king. Perhaps 1t is nearly ight and
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