Page:American Diplomacy in the Orient - Foster (1903).djvu/139

 the ports, of escaped convicts from Botany Bay, and of sailors of all nationalities. While there were honorable and upright merchants, many of the traders were more concerned about making fortunes than conserving the morals of the people. When the government was reorganized under the direction of the missionaries, it made the Mosaic commandments the basis of legislation, and strict laws were passed for the observance of the Sabbath, and for the punishment of licentiousness and intemperance. This strictness interfered not only with the depraved habits of the vicious, but with the profits of many traders. The port of Honolulu was divided into two parties—missionary and anti-missionary—and charges and counter-charges had been made. The anti-missionary party, headed by the British consul-general, proposed to submit the charges to the arbitration of Captain Jones, and the proposition was accepted by the missionaries. The result was a complete vindication of the latter. Captain Jones concludes a report of this trial or investigation in these words: "Not one jot or tittle, not one iota derogatory to their character as men, as ministers of the gospel of the strictest order, or as missionaries, could be made to appear by the united efforts of all who conspired against them."

Commanders of naval vessels of the United States were often called upon in the early part of the last century, in the far-off ports of semi-civilized and barbarous countries, to act as peacemakers in the settlement of differences between their countrymen and the natives,