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Nāhiku Rubber Company

Nāhiku comes from “Na Ehiku” meaning “the Seven” and it relates to the seven stars of the constellation Pleiades, or the Seven Sisters – suggesting seven lands.  This area is just outside of Hāna.

Nāhiku is a fertile ahupuaʻa that was cleared and terraced with irrigated taro cultivation by the Hawaiians. To the east of Nāhiku out to Hamoa, the land slopes gently down to the ocean. No large gulches or streams run through the ahupua’a, although there is plenty of rain.

Along the shore there was a hala forest that extended from ʻUlaʻino to Hāna. The forests above Nāhiku were traditionally forested with native trees such as koa, ʻōhiʻa lehua and sandalwood. Many plants that were used for native medicine also grew there.

 In modern times, when Hāna was without a road, and the coastal steamer arrived on a weekly schedule, Hāna-bound travelers unwilling to wait for the boat drove their car to the road’s end at Kailua, rode horseback to Kaumahina ridge, then walked down the switchback into Honomanu Valley. Friends carried them on flatbed taro trucks across the Keʻanae peninsula to Wailua cove. (Wenkam, NPS)

By outrigger canoe it was a short ride beyond Wailua to Nāhiku landing where they could borrow a car for the rest of the involved trip to Hāna. Sometimes the itinerary could be completed in a day. Bad weather could make it last a week.  (Wenkam, NPS)

Today, Nāhiku is located off Hāna Highway (360) on Nāhiku Road between Wailua and Hāna.  Just past the 25-mile marker, you head makai on Nāhiku Road about three miles down to the bay. Nearby is the Pua’a Ka’a State Wayside for picnicking, as well as the Kopilula and Waikani Falls. The lower Hanawi Falls is located in Nāhiku.

Nāhiku is the site of an attempt to create a rubber plantation on Maui. The need for automobile tires made rubber a valuable product in the late-1800s.  In 1898, Mr. Hugh Howell, of Nāhiku, obtained some seeds of the Manihot glaziovii (Brazilian) and planted them in Nāhiku. These seem to be the first trees of any commercial species that have been tried.

After some initial experimentation in producing rubber, the company was not started until it was definitely ascertained that rubber trees of the best quality would grow at Nāhiku, and the yield of rubber from these trees was sufficient to make it a profitable investment. A number of trees of the Ceara variety have been growing at Nāhiku for six years, and when these were tapped it was found that the rubber obtained was equal to the best.  (Thrum)

The first Hawai’i rubber company incorporated in 1905 and on February 4, 1907, the Nāhiku Rubber Plantation was officially established. It was the first rubber plantation on American soil.

There are many thousands of acres of land on the Islands where it is rainy and not too windy, where rubber will thrive, and if this first rubber company proves a success, it is hoped that many other rubber companies will be started.

As this is the first rubber plantation ever started on American soil the officials of the Department of Agriculture at Washington arc greatly interested in its success, and are doing everything they can to help it along. (Thrum, 1905)

According to ‘Rubber World’ 7 (1913,) rubber was steadily becoming an important Hawaiian product.  On the island of Maui many trees have been planted and these are tapped in large numbers.  Steady efforts are being made to improve the methods of preparation in order to increase the marketable value: 35,000-trees were tapped during 1912, and altogether some 8,000-pounds of rubber were produced, most of which was exported.  For 1913, an output of 20,000-pounds is anticipated.  (Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, 1913)

Attention has been directed to an indigenous rubber tree (Euphorbia lorifolia) which grows in several localities; one place in particular on the Island of Hawaiʻi has 6,000-trees averaging 75-trees to the acre, whose product is 14-17 per cent of rubber and 60 per cent resin (chicle.)  It is reported that the latex contains 42 per cent of solid material and that one man can collect 16-30 pounds of crude product per day.  (Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, 1913)

Others followed the Nāhiku Rubber Company, each were in the area around Nāhiku:
Company………………Founded…Acres
Nāhiku Rubber Co……..1905…….480
Hawaii-American Co…..1903…… 245
Koʻolau Rubber Co…….1906……..275
Nāhiku Sugar Co……….1906……..250
Pacific Development…1907……..250
(Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, 1913)

Cultivation grew with companies and individuals controlling nearly 5,600-acres of land on Maui, Kauai, Oahu and the Big Island.

At the height of the rubber production, Nāhiku had a Chinese grocery and post office, a plantation general store; Protestant, Mormon and Catholic churches and a schoolhouse attended by twenty children. One visitor to the area in 1910 said, “Every place has its peculiarities and characteristics; so with Nāhiku. It is rubber, first, last and all the time there.”

However, the quality and quantity of rubber produced by these plantations, despite the hard work of the laborers (who were paid 50 cents for a ten-hour day with a 30-minute lunch break) was not good enough to make a substantial profit for the investors. The companies began to phase out production as early as 1912. The oldest of the rubber companies, the Nāhiku Rubber Plantation, closed on January 20, 1915.

After the rubber plantations closed, some residents moved out of Nāhiku. Those who stayed resumed cultivating bananas and taro for food. Some tried growing bananas as a cash crop and when this didn’t work began growing roselle for jelly. Eventually these attempts also failed. The exodus out of Nāhiku to the “outside” continued.

 According to U.S. Census Bureau statistics, in 1930 there were only 182 people living in Nāhiku. Of them, 101 were Hawaiian. By 1941 only fifteen families and two non-Hawaiian families lived there, clustered around a one-room school and the churches.

In December, 1942, Territorial Governor Ingram Stainback tried to help the World War II effort by sending 40 prisoners from Oʻahu Prison to the Keanae Prison Camp (now the YMCA camp) to revive the old Nāhiku rubber plantation. The plan was to produce 20,000 to 50,000 pounds of crude rubber annually. The plan did not work.  Now, rubber trees left over from that time line the roads of Nāhiku.

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For the Birds

“The spread of civilization and the utilization of wild lands, added to the destruction of animals for food, adornment, clothing, and sport, threaten the very existence of many species of native birds and mammals.”

“The necessity of regulating the killing of game was perceived early in our colonial history, and even the need of caring for our insectivorous birds found recognition about 1850.”

“Only in comparatively recent years, however, has the importance been recognized of protecting the large class of birds which, although they do not destroy insects or other creatures inimical to agricultural interests, are nevertheless worthy of preservation because of their beauty, grace, and harmlessness.”

“If such birds add nothing to our material wealth, they beautify the world and greatly increase the joy of living.”

“Though by no means the first to recognize the importance of protecting its wild life, the United States has taken a leading place among the nations of the world in this respect”

“One of the most efficient of the conservation measures adopted by the Government is the setting apart here and there of islands and sterile tracts of land, worthless for other purposes, upon which our native wild birds and mammals may live and perpetuate their kind for the pleasure and profit of our own and future generations.” (Yearbook of the US Dept of Agriculture, 1911)

“The National bird reservations under the care of the Department of Agriculture already number 51 and play a very important part in the preservation of our wild game and birds.”

“One of the most unique and interesting of these is the Hawaiian Islands Bird Reservation in the mid-Pacific, which, at certain seasons of the year, harbors millions of sea fowls that repair thither to establish rookeries and rear their young.”

“The following is the executive order setting apart this refuge:”

Executive Order No. 1019. It is hereby ordered that the following islets and reefs, namely: Cure Island, Pearl and Hermes Reef, Lysianski or Pell Island, Laysan Island, Mary Reef, Dowsetts Reef, Gardiner Island, Two Brothers Reef, French Frigate Shoal, Necker Island, Frost Shoal and Bird Island …”

“… situated in the Pacific Ocean at and near the extreme western extension of the Hawaiian Archipelago between latitudes 23° and 29° north, and longitudes 160° and 180° west from Greenwich, and located within the area segregated by the broken lines …”

“… are hereby reserved and set apart, subject to valid existing rights, for the use of the Department of Agriculture as a preserve and breeding ground for native birds.”

“It is unlawful for any person to hunt, trap, capture, wilfully disturb, or kill any bird of any kind whatever, or take the eggs of such birds within the limits of this reservation except under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed from time to time by the Secretary of Agriculture.”

“Warning is expressly given to all persons not to commit any of the acts herein enumerated and which are prohibited by law. This reservation to be known as the Hawaiian Islands Reservation.”  Signed by Teddy Roosevelt, February 3, 1909.

The names have changed, a bit, but the place remains the same.

“This refuge consists of a dozen or more islands, reefs, and shoals that stretch westward from the archipelago proper for a distance of upwards of 1,500 miles toward Japan. The average distance between them is something like 100 miles.”

“Some of them, like Necker, Bird Island, and French Frigate Shoal, are masses of volcanic rock thrust up out of the ocean and so steep and rugged as generally to be inaccessible to anything without wings.”

“Others are little more than diminutive sand spits, snatched from the grasp of ocean by the aid of coral animals. Still others are larger, and a few, like Laysan, being covered with sandy soil, are clothed with a more or less flourishing growth of shrubs, vines, and grasses.”  (Yearbook of the US Dept of Agriculture, 1911)

“As the islands are part of our National possessions and have been set apart as a bird reserve, the care and the protection of their avian inhabitants would seem clearly to devolve upon the Federal Government. It is true that their remoteness and inaccessibility render it difficult to guard them properly.”

“An effort, however, will be made to secure from Congress sufficient funds to provide for the services of a warden for Laysan and for an assistant. It is hoped also to secure a small power boat of adequate size to enable trips to be made between Laysan and the other islands and Honolulu.”

“These measures, if supplemented by an occasional visit from one of the Government cutters during the height of the breeding season, will insure the continued safety of the nesting colonies. From a variety of causes sea birds are being reduced in numbers almost everywhere, chiefly as the result of plumage hunting and of the growing scarcity of breeding sites.”

“Hence these island bird colonies, one of the wonders of the world, will become of increasing importance with each succeeding year. They should be regarded as a National heritage, and the birds be adequately protected, not only for the sake of our own citizens, but for those of other countries whose people go down to the sea in ships.”

“Otherwise these birds will suffer the fate that overtook those on Marcus Island, also one of our possessions, where, as reported by Bryan, in six years a colony of albatrosses almost as large as that of Laysan was reduced to less than a score of birds through the unchecked activities of feather hunters.” (Yearbook of the US Dept of Agriculture, 1911)

Unlike all other islands and atolls in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, Kure Atoll is the only land area owned by the state of Hawaiʻi – all of the other Northwestern Islands are owned by the US government.

While I was at DLNR, we created Refuge rules that established “a marine refuge in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands for the long-term conservation and protection of the unique coral reef ecosystems and the related marine resources and species, to ensure their conservation and natural character for present and future generations.“ 

This started a process where several others followed with similar protective measures.  The BLNR unanimously adopted the State’s Refuge rules, President George W Bush declared it a Marine National Monument and UNESCO designated it a World Heritage Site. 

To me, this action reflects the responsibility we share to provide future generations a chance to see what it looks like in a place in the world where you don’t take something.

One of the issues about the rules, and in protecting the place, relates to access.  Due to the sensitivity of the area, permits are limited – so, rather than taking the people to the place, there are tools now in place to bring the place to the people.

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James Otis

It is hard to say exactly when the ‘American Revolution’ started.  However, John Adams gives a hint that it may have been on February 24, 1761, inside the Old Town House (now the Old State House) in Boston,

“Then and there was the first scene of the first Act of opposition to the Arbitrary claims of Great Britain. …”

“[James] Otis was a flame of fire!”

“With a promptitude of Classical Allusions, a depth of research, a rapid summary of historical events & dates, a profusion of Legal Authorities, a prophetic glance of his eyes into futurity, and a rapid torrent of impetuous Eloquence he hurried away all before him.”

“American Independence was then & there born.”

“The seeds of Patriots & Heroes to defend the Non sine Diis Animosus Infans [from Horace’s ode “Descende coelo”, which translates to ‘The infant is not bold without the aide of the gods.’];”

“to defend the Vigorous Youth were then & there sown.”

“Every Man of an immense crouded Audience appeared to me to go away, as I did, ready to take Arms against Writs of Assistants.”

James Otis originally supported Britain’s policies toward the Massachusetts colony. Though he held appointed positions in the colonial government, he gradually grew disenchanted with the English Parliament.

In 1761, Otis gave a tirade in Boston against the British use of writs of assistance. The writs, or court orders, allowed the government to search colonists’ homes and businesses. Their purpose: to seize undeclared imports that deprived the British treasury of funds.

Of the speech, historian John T. Morse wrote,

“This was the first log of the pile which afterward made the great blaze of the Revolution.”

Or, as John Adams wrote,

“Then and there the Child Independence was born. In fifteen years i.e. in 1776. he grew up to Manhood, & declared himself free.”

James Otis was called the most important American of the 1760s by John Adams.

Son of the elder James Otis, who was already prominent in Massachusetts politics, the younger Otis ((born Feb. 5, 1725, West Barnstable, Massachusetts) graduated from Harvard College in 1743 and was admitted to the bar in 1748. He moved his law practice from Plymouth to Boston in 1750.

A trained lawyer and master of argument, James Otis was a leader of the Patriot movement in Boston in those years. Initially a prosecutor for the British authorities, Otis changed sides in 1761, when he argued against writs of assistance (broad search warrants that British officials used to search the homes and businesses of colonists).

During the 1760s, Otis led the intellectual attack against British tyranny, composing ringing defenses of liberty that won Americans to the revolutionary cause and helped to inspire the well-known slogan, “Taxation without representation is tyranny.”

Otis was also one of the first well-known Americans to defend the natural rights of Africans and to condemn slavery. In doing so, he demonstrated his intellectual honesty and integrity, as well as his personal bravery.  John Adams and many others were alarmed by his arguments about race, though Adams knew that they could not be refuted.

In February 1761, Boston lawyer James Otis delivered a five hour speech that railed against the use of writs of assistance (general search warrants) in Massachusetts.

He noted, “One of the most essential branches of English liberty is the freedom of one’s house. A man’s house is his castle; and whilst he is quiet, he is as well guarded as a prince in his castle.

“This writ, if it should be declared legal, would totally annihilate this privilege. Custom-house officers may enter our houses when they please; we are commanded to permit their entry. Their menial servants may enter, may break locks, bars, and everything in their way; and whether they break through malice or revenge, no man, no court can inquire. Bare suspicion without oath is sufficient.”

This case, and the arguments he made, was the basis for the Fourth Amendment of the Bill of Rights, since John Adams witnessed the impassioned four-hour speech made by Otis and helped write the Massachusetts Constitution and the Constitution of the United States.

“Fourth Amendment

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

“Mr. Otis’s popularity was without bounds.”  He was elected in May 1761 to the General Court (provincial legislature) of Massachusetts and was reelected nearly every year thereafter during his active life. In 1766 he was chosen speaker of the house, though this choice was negated by the royal governor of the province.

As Adams notes,

“For ten years afterwards Mr. Otis at the head of his Countrys cause, conducted the Town of Boston & the people of the Province with a prudence & fortitude, at every sacrifice of personal interest, & amidst unceasing persecution; which would have done honour to the most virtuous Patriot or Mastyr of Antiquity.”

Already an eccentric, high-strung and unsteady man, Otis suffered brain damage when a British official whom Otis had singled out for criticism in a newspaper essay attacked him in 1769.

The assault incapacitated Otis and ended his public career. His contributions to the American resistance movement were largely forgotten, not only by his contemporaries but also by later generations.

He died on May 23, 1783,

On May 26, 1783, the Boston Gazette reported “that last Friday Evening, the House of Mr. Isaac Osgood was set on Fire and much shattered by Lightning, by which the Hon. James Otis, Esq., of this Town, leaning upon his Cane at the front Door, was instantly killed.”

“Several Persons were in the House at the Time, some of whom were violently affected by the Shock, but immediately recovering ran to Mr. Otis’s Support, but he had expired without a Groan.”

Click the following link to a general summary about James Otis:

Click to access James-Otis.pdf

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Raising the United States Flag

A Command from Captain Wiltse to Lieutenant Commander Swinburne; USS Boston, Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands, February 1, 1893 …

“Sir: You will take possession of the Government building, and the American flag will be hoisted over it at 9 am. Very respectfully, GC Wiltse, Captain US Navy, Commanding USS Boston.”

The following is a summary of a report prepared by Lieut. Commander Swinburne in preparation and response to that order and the events that followed (as recorded in the Report of the Committee of Foreign Relations, United States Senate, 1894.)

In accordance with that order, the battalion of the Boston landed at Brewers Wharf, in the city of Honolulu, at 5 pm January 16.

The following summarizes the forces that landed: Company A, Artillery, 40 men; Company B, Infantry, 35 men; Company C, Infantry, 34 men; Company D, Marines, 30 men;  Color guard, 4 men; hospital corps, 1 apothecary, 4 stretchermen; signalmen, 2; music, 3. Total, 153 men, 11 officers.

Each man carried the regulation knapsack, with blanket and change of clothing, haversack with mess gear and ration of hard bread, and filled canteen. Those armed with Lee rifle wore the double webbing belt carrying 60 cartridges in the loops and 20 in magazines. The marines were fitted out with the same belts, but the loops only were filled.

The ammunition boxes of the Gatling gun contained four filled Accle’s Feeds and 1,380 extra rounds of .45 caliber in pasteboard boxes. The ammunition boxes of the 37 mm contained 64 cartridges, common shell. Reserve ammunition in 37 mm. caisson was as follows: After compartments, 112 37 mm. cartridges, common shell; forward compartment 1,600 caliber .45 cartridges in pasteboard boxes; top or center compartment, four filled Accle’s Feeds, and 800 .38 caliber revolver cartridges.

After the battalion was formed, they marched first to the United States consulate, where Lieut. Draper, with his company, was detached with orders to proceed to the legation and leave half his command in charge of the orderly sergeant, returning with the remainder to the United States consulate, himself, and remain there as a guard until further orders.

The remainder of the battalion then marched down King Street. In passing the palace the battalion, in column of companies, gave a marching salute, trumpeters sounding four ruffles in honor of the royal standard, which was flying there.

On arriving at the residence of Mr. JB Atherton, an American, the command was halted, and permission having been obtained, was marched into the grounds, arms stacked and ranks broken.  About 8 in the evening the battalion marched to Arion Hall and camped there.

During the night the men were kept ready for an instant’s call, but there were no disturbances of any kind.

At reveille the next morning, 17th, the camp routine was published and has been strictly carried out in all its details. Latrines were built in the yard and every sanitary precaution taken.

At 2:30 pm, a civilian, armed, reported that a policeman had been shot while attempting to stop a wagonload of ammunition which was being conveyed to the old armory where the civilian forces enrolled by the committee of safety were then assembling, and that a large crowd was collecting on Merchant Street.

The battalion was immediately assembled under arms in the yard in rear of the building to await developments. Until nearly 6 o’clock, the men leading the citizens’ movement had assumed charge of the Government building without opposition of any kind; the civilian companies under arms had marched in and established a line of sentries about the Government building.

The Boston’s battalion was kept in rear of the camp, at their company parades, with arms stacked. About 1 pm, they were notified that a Provisional Government, of which Mr. SB Dole was presiding officer, was in complete possession.  A letter from the United States minister recognized it as the de facto government of the Hawaiian Islands, and the battalion was to consider it as such.

During the night, again, officers and men were kept ready for a moment’s call, but the city was perfectly quiet.

During the day of the 18th the royal standard was hauled down over the palace, and the household troops disbanded, by order of the Provisional Government, except a small guard of honor, who accompanied the ex-Queen to her residence on Beretania street.

On January 19 new quarters were provided for the battalion at the unoccupied house on King street, the property of Mr. CR Bishop.  Having thoroughly policed the old camp, the battalion moved into the new quarters at 1:30 pm.  Daily routine followed.

In accordance with verbal orders given the evening of January 31, the battalion was paraded on the morning of February 1, at 8:30, in front of the quarters – ‘A’ Company as artillery with Gatling and 37 men; the rest as infantry in light marching order.

As the line was formed, a written order, dated February 1, was given; in obedience to those orders the battalion marched to the Government building, where we were received by the civilian troops, who presented arms as they entered. President Dole and all members of the ministry and advisory council were also present.

According to the order, Col. Sofer, Commander in Chief of the Provisional Government forces, at once turned over the custody of the building to Lieut. Commander Swinburne.

A proclamation from Minister Stevens establishing a protectorate over the Hawaiian Islands in the name of the United States, pending negotiations with the Hawaiian Commissioners at Washington, was read.

At 9 am, the United States ensign was hoisted over the building, the battalion and civilian forces presenting arms.  The Hawaiian flag, hoisted on the pole in the grounds, received the same salute.

The civilian forces of the Provisional Government were then withdrawn and the custody of the building turned over to Lieut. Draper with his company of 25 marines, which were withdrawn from the United States consulate for the purpose, the guard at the United States legation being continued but reduced to 5 men. The blue jacket companies of the battalion then returned to their quarters.

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Kamehameha III’s Secret Agreement of US Annexation

The French Invasion of Honolulu (also known as the Sacking of Honolulu, or the Tromelin Affair) was an attack on Honolulu by Louis Tromelin for the persecution of Catholics and repression on French trade.

On August 12, 1849, French admiral Louis Tromelin arrived in Honolulu Harbor on the corvette Gassendi with the frigate La Poursuivante. Upon arrival, de Tromelin met with French Consul Dillon.

Tromelin formulated ‘ten demands’ and presented them to the Hawaiian Government with the commanding request for immediate action.

On August 25, the demands had not been met.

The Hawaiian government offered to refer any dispute to the mediation of a neutral power, and informed the admiral that no resistance would be made to the force at his disposal, and that in any event the persons and property of French residents would be scrupulously guarded.

After a second warning of the impending invasion, 140-French Marines, two field pieces and scaling ladders were landed by boat, which were met with no opposition and Tromelin’s troops took possession of an empty fort. The invaders also took possession of the customhouse and other government buildings, and seized the king’s yacht, together with seven merchant vessels in port.

On the 30th, Tromelin issued a proclamation, declaring that by way of ‘reprisal’ the fort had been dismantled, and the king’s yacht, “Kamehameha III,” confiscated (and then sailed to Tahiti,) but that private property would be restored. He also declared the treaty of 1846 to be annulled, and replaced by the Laplace Convention of 1839. This last act, however, was promptly disavowed by the French Government.

Tromelin sailed away with the understanding that the King would send an agent to France to settle the difficulties. Garret P Judd left on September 11, 1849 on a mission to get the governments of Great Britain, France and the US to recognize Hawaiʻi as an independent country.

Judd was accompanied by Prince Alexander Liholiho, the heir apparent, and his brother, Prince Lot Kamehameha. The brothers served as secretaries to Dr Judd. Judd succeeded with Great Britain and the US but failed with France. They returned at their year-long expedition on September 9, 1850. (Lowe)

Shortly after their arrival, December 13, 1850, French commissioner M Emile Perrin arrived on the warship Sérieuse. He and Foreign Minister RC Wyllie took up the disputed issues between the two countries.

On February 1, 1851, Commissioner Perrin again forwarded a list of ten demands, similar if not identical to those that had first been presented by Admiral de Tromelin. The renewed demands, the general hostility in the negotiations, and the presence of the French warship caused great alarm within the government of Kamehameha III. (McGregor & MacKenzie)

On that same day, as a measure of self-defense, King Kamehameha III signed a secret proclamation putting the islands under the protection of the US until relations between France and the Hawaiian Kingdom should be restored.

This proclamation, which was given to the US commissioner, Luther Severance, was to be used only in case of emergency. (McGregor & MacKenzie)

Although Severance did not think the Islands should be taken by “virtue of the ‘manifest density’ principle,” on the other hand, “can we not accept their voluntary offer?” (Remini)

US Secretary of State, Daniel Webster had no desire to annex Hawai‘i and in a confidential letter on July 4, 1851 he instructed Severance to return the document transferring sovereignty of the Islands to the US to assure the King that his administration was committed to preserving Hawaiian independence. (Remini)

Some suggest Secretary of State Daniel Webster declined this 1851 agreement, saying “No power ought to take possession of the islands as a conquest … or colonization.”

(However, that line (and references to Tyler) is from a communication he gave in a letter to Haʻalilio and Richards on December 19, 1842. President Tyler confirmed this expression in his message to Congress in December 1842.) (Daniel Webster was US Secretary of State twice (March 6, 1841 – May 8, 1843; July 23, 1850 – October 24, 1852.))

French Counsel Perrin, having heard of the Hawaiian government’s approach to the US, discovered that he could reduce the difficulties of his Government to two points—those regarding the liberty of Catholic worship, and the trade in spirits. Nothing more was ever heard of the other demands. (Owen)

Although the settlement was not definitive and did not settle all issues in dispute, it was enough to avert the immediate danger of French aggression.

Nevertheless, Kamehameha III felt it necessary to consider a more permanent arrangement with the US. Wyllie and Severance conferred and drew up a document that set forth, in order of preference, several alternate plans by which Hawaiʻi might be saved from French occupation.

The first called for the establishment of a joint protectorate by the US, Britain, and France; if France would not agree, then a joint protectorate by the US and Britain; if England would not agree, then a protectorate under the US. The last option was cession to the US.

None of these options, however, was to be considered unless France endangered the islands again. The government of Kamehameha III again called upon Great Britain and the US to use their good offices to bring about a resolution of the difficulties with France

Fortunately, the alternatives set out in the document were not necessary. The Serieuse left Honolulu on March 30th and Perrin left at the end of May in order to consult with authorities in France. (McGregor & MacKenzie)

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