page_title: Alexis Bachelot
section_title: Final years
hierarchical_section_title: Alexis Bachelot / Final years
caption_attribution_description: English: Title: "Assemblée des Chefs des Iles Sandwich en conférence avec le Commandant de la Vénus," by Louis-Jules Masselot. Lithograph 33.9 x 53.5 cm. The drawing pictures Hale Kauila in Honolulu. House built of kauila wood which once stood on the street in Honolulu which still bears the name of the building. It served as large council chamber or reception room for the King of Hawaii. drawn at the meeting of King Kamehameha III and Kinau with the French Captain Du Petit Thouars of the frigate La Venus and the British Captain Edward Belcher of the sloop-of-war Sulphur in which Thouars demanded equal protection for the French and Catholics in Hawaii. Present at this conference were the King, his sister Nahienaena, his wife Kalama, Kuakini (possibly asleep in the chair), Hoapili, Boki, Liliha, Kinau and other chiefs possibly including Francisco de Paula Marín which according to Thouars are drawn in "fair likeness". Thouars, calling it Queen Kinau's house, described the structure in his book Voyage autour du monde sur la frégate la Vénus, pendant les années 1836-1839: La case de la reine, dans laquelle nous eûmes nos conférences avec les chefs, est une des plus belles; elle est située à l'E., sous les murs du fort, et auprès du bord de la mer. Cette maison, bâtie en bois et couverte d'herbes sèches, est placée au milieu d'une enceinte fermée d'une palissade. La plate-forme sur laquelle elle repose est élevée au dessus du sol de la cour d'environ 30 centimètres, et elle est entourée, extérieurement, d'une galerie couverte qui la rend plus agréable. Sa forme, à l'intérieur, est celle d'un rectangle allongé; dans l'un des bouts, il y a un appartement formé par une cloison en planches qui ne s'élève pas jusqu'au toit. Cette pièce sert de chambre à coucher; dans le reste de l'aire de la case, et à l'autre extrémité , il y a une portion du sol élevée de 28 à 30 centimètres, qui est recouverte de plusieurs nattes: c'est sur cette espèce de grand divan que se placent les dames; elles s'y tiennent couchées sur un côté ou suite ventre&#160;: c'est ainsi qu'elles reçoivent et se tiennent pour causer et faire salon.
context_page_description: Alexis Bachelot, SS.CC., was a Roman Catholic priest best known for his tenure as the first Prefect Apostolic of the Sandwich Islands. In that role, he led the first permanent Catholic mission to the Kingdom of Hawaii. Bachelot was raised in France, where he attended the Irish College in Paris, and was ordained a priest in 1820. He led the first Catholic mission to Hawaii, arriving in 1827. Although he had expected the approval of then Hawaiian King Kamehameha II, he learned upon arrival that Kamehameha II had died and a new government that was hostile towards Catholic missionaries had been installed. Bachelot, however, was able to convert a small group of Hawaiians and quietly minister to them for four years before being deported in 1831 on the orders of Kaʻahumanu, the Kuhina Nui of Hawaii.
  Bachelot then traveled to California, where he served as an assistant minister while pastoring and teaching. In 1837, having learned of Queen Kaʻahumanu's death and King Kamehameha III's willingness to allow Catholic priests on the island, Bachelot returned to Hawaii, intending to continue his missionary work.
context_section_description: When Bachelot and Short arrived in Honolulu in May 1837, they spent only 13 days on the island. Notwithstanding the agreement he had signed with French Naval Captain Abel Aubert du Petit-Thouars that allowed French citizens to live on the island, King Kamehameha III sought to deport the priests. Bachelot and Short were confined to the ship on which they had arrived, the Clémentine, on May 22. However, the Clémentine's captain, Jules Dudoit, refused to transport them from Hawaii. Dudoit, a British citizen of French descent, met with Charlton, the British consul, and they publicly protested the priests' confinement. Their efforts to secure freedom for the priests to live on the island were unsuccessful until the British naval vessel HMS Sulphur and the French frigate the La Vénus arrived in Honolulu on July 8. The ships were commanded respectively by Edward Belcher and Dupetit Thouars, who each tried to convince the authorities to allow the priests to return to the island. After negotiations proved futile, they blockaded the harbor, boarded the Clémentine, and brought Bachelot and Short ashore. The La Vénus sent 300 sailors to escort them from the harbor to the French mission. King Kamehameha III agreed to allow the priests to stay in Honolulu until they could find a ship to transport them elsewhere, under the condition that they refrain from proselytizing.
  That year, Bachelot, who suffered from a form of rheumatism, became very sick. By November 1837, he had recovered sufficiently to leave Hawaii. He purchased a ship and sailed toward Micronesia, intending to work on a mission. Bachelot's health significantly worsened after leaving Hawaii and he died at sea on December 5, 1837. He was buried on an islet off the coast of Pohnpei. In 1838, a small chapel was built near his grave.
  Owing to the persecution of Bachelot and his fellow priests, the government of France sent the frigate L'Artémise to Hawaii in 1839. Its captain, Cyrille Pierre Théodore Laplace, had been instructed to force the government to stop persecuting Catholics. In response to this show of force, King Kamehameha III granted Catholics freedom of religion.
caption: 1837 painting of King Kamehameha III meeting with Captain Abel Aubert du Petit-Thouars and Captain Edward Belcher
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