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 went, the severity would lose its effect; for his children were as yet too young to be corrupted; and, moreover, as his majesty was so well versed in scripture, he must know that it was his duty to forgive. " Besides," I said, " her majesty the queen has a strong arm, and can always assist in repelling or chastising any future act of aggression or disobedience." I suspect that the moral code of his majesty was not unlike my own: it yielded to the necessities of the time. He must have found it particularly inconvenient not to be on speaking terms with his prime minister and arch chancellor, whom he had banished to the opposite side of the island on pain of death. The sentence was originally for six months; but on my intercession the delinquent was pardoned and restored to favour. I felt much self-complacency when I reflected on this successful instance of my mediatorial power, which had perhaps smothered a civil war in its birth.

The emperor informed me, that an American whaler was lying at the east side of the island,