always free from mistakes in government, but they always studied the good of the people and the best interests of the king.1

Much diversity of sentiment has been expressed by writers upon the effects of the labors of the Christian missionaries in the Orient, but the better judgment of candid observers is in favor of their beneficial influence on the rulers and the people, even aside from the religious considerations involved. Their useful service in connection with the diplomatic intercourse of the Western nations with the Far East has been especially conspicuous. Notice has already been taken of the valuable participation of the Catholic missionaries, both as interpreters and advisers, in the negotiation of the first treaty between China and Russia in 1689. It has also been seen that in other missions to Peking during the eighteenth century the Christian fathers were an indispensable part of all of them.

When the British government was making arrangements to send the Macartney embassy to Peking in 1792, search was made for a competent person to act as interpreter, and the secretary to the embassy records that "in all the British dominions not one person could be procured properly qualified," and that after much inquiry two Christian Chinese students were found in the mission college at Naples, Italy, who were engaged for that service.

1 Anderson's Hawaii, 99. For account of work of missionaries, see Anderson, Bingham's Sandwich Islands, Jarves's History, and History of the Sandwich Islands by S. Dibble (1843). A letter from the secretary of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, dated May 7, 1902, estimates the total expenditures of the Board in the Hawaiian Islands at $1,595,335.

The well-known English missionary and Chinese interpreter, Dr. Robert Morrison, was the chief interpreter of the Amherst embassy in 1816, and he acted as the official interpreter and trusted adviser of the British government and the East India Company at Canton for twenty-five years. During the Opium War and in the peace negotiations, Dr. Gutzlaff, the German missionary and historian, was in the employ of the British government, as interpreter and adviser, and was most useful in the negotiations.' He was also of service to the government of the United States in a similar capacity, as will be noticed later.

When Mr. Roberts was sent by the American government to negotiate treaties with Siam and other oriental countries, he first went to Canton and there engaged the services as interpreter of Mr. J. R. Morrison, the son of Dr. Morrison. The valuable assistance of Dr. Peter Parker, a missionary of the American Board at Canton, has already been noticed in connection with Mr. Cushing's mission in 1844. In a later chapter his further service to the government will be mentioned. Dr. S. Wells Williams, another missionary of the American Board, it will be seen, was associated with Commodore Perry in the opening of Japan, and there will be frequent occasion to refer to him in connection with the diplomatic service of the United States in the East.

These instances are cited to show what an important part the missionaries have borne in the international

1 Staunton's Embassy, 24; Davis's China during the War, etc., passim ; Williams's Hist. China, 106, 184, 190, 204.

relations of the Pacific. The instances might be multiplied, and a detailed examination of these relations will disclose that up to the middle of the last century the Christian missionaries were an absolute necessity to diplomatic intercourse. Their influence upon the people and the governments of China and Japan will be discussed later. In Hawaii, after the conversion of the islands to Christianity, the missionaries were an everpresent factor in public affairs, and eventually their descendants became the leading advocates of annexation to the United States.

Before it had been determined by treaty what were the territorial rights of the United States in Oregon, and five years anterior to the acquisition of California, the President announced to the world by a message to Congress that the commercial and other interests of the United States in Hawaii were of such a predominating character that the government could not allow those islands to pass into the, possession or come under the control of any other nation. Notwithstanding the trade relations of the United States were established almost immediately after the discovery of the islands, that fact did not deter other powers from repeated efforts to secure their possession. Their commanding situation in the Pacific was a constant temptation to the greed of colonizing nations.

The first attempt at securing possession was made by the British naval officer, Captain Vancouver, on his third visit in 1794, who proceeded, as he states, " under a conviction of the importance of those islands to Great Britain." Before taking his departure he caused a

council of the chiefs to be convened by the king, Kamehameha, and, upon the promise of the captain that the British government would take them under its protection and send them a war vessel, they " acknowledged themselves to be subjects of Great Britain." A copper plate was prepared with an inscription reciting the fact that the king and chiefs of the island of Hawaii "had ceded the island to his Britannic Majesty; this tablet was placed in a conspicuous position, with much ceremony, the firing of salutes, and distribution of presents; and the squadron sailed away without further act of occupation. The report of Vancouver's action reached England during the troubles growing out of the French Revolution, and no further attention was given to the matter or steps taken to confirm the cession.

As early as 1809 the Russians had visited the islands, and a few years later had some trade relations with them. It is alleged that Baranoff, the able governor of Russian America, seeing the desirability of making the islands a part of the Russian possessions on the Pacific, set on foot an expedition for that purpose. In the year 1815 a vessel dispatched by him arrived at Kauai, and its commander, after some conference with the authorities, landed on the island, and proceeded to build a stone fort, over which the Russian flag was raised. Tikhmeneff, the Russian historian, states that an agreement was made with the king of Kauai for commercial privileges, by which he placed his island under the protection of the emperor of Russia; and that when the agreement reached the Czar he declined to ratify it. But however that may be, as soon as

Kamehameha heard of the occupation he ordered the Russians to leave the island, which they did under protest, and the fort was destroyed. This ended all attempts on the part of Russia to gain a foothold in the group.1

The first official connection which the government of the United States had with the islands was through John C. Jones, who was appointed September 19, 1820, as "agent of the United States for commerce and seamen." Under this appointment he discharged the usual duties of a consul, and sustained to the government and local authorities the relation of a political representative. He was the sole foreign official until 1825, when Richard Charlton arrived, as consul-general of Great Britain for the Hawaiian and Society Islands. Both of these officials remained at their posts for a number of years, but neither of them seems to have been happy in their relations with the authorities, and both were finally removed from office by their respective governments.2

In 1825 the government of the United States directed the commander of the Pacific squadron to have one of its vessels visit the Hawaiian Islands to inquire into the state of trade and concert with the government of the islands a better method of conducting relations. The task was intrusted to Captain Thomas ap Catesby Jones,

1 3 Vancouver's Voyage, 56; Greenhow's Oregon, 250; Hopkins's Hawaii, 123; 4 Foreign Relations of U. S. (folio ed.) 855; Jarves's Hist. Sandwich Islands, 201; Hawaiian Hist. Soc., Paper No. 6.

2 A. H. Allen's Report, Foreign Relations, U. S. 1894, Appendix ii. p. 8; Jarves's Hist. 251, 268; Hopkins's Hawaii, 274; 2 A Journey round the World, Sir George Simpson, London, 1847, p. 95.