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THE SANDWICH AND BONIN ISLANDS.

A LETTER

TO A

NOBLE LORD,

ON THE IMPORTANCE OF SETTLING

THE SANDWICH & BONIN ISLANDS,

IN THE NORTH PACIFIC OCEAN,

ON THE PLAN OF A PROPRIETARY GOVERNMENT;

TOGETHER WITH

HINTS

ON THE PROBABILITY, IN THAT CASE, OF INTRODUCING

British Manufactures

INTO THE

GREAT EMPIRE OF JAPAN.

By T. HORTON JAMES, Esq.

LONDON:

PRINTED BY W. TEW,

34, QUEEN STREET, CHEAPSIDE, NEAR SOUTHWARK BRIDGE.

1832.

Thomas Horton James (1792-1867)

            My Lord,

                  HAVING lately arrived from a voyage round the world, and spent some months among the Sandwich Islands in the North Pacific Ocean, I cannot resist the temptation of urging to the Government the desirableness that such a valuable group should become, as soon as possible, substantially a British Possession.

      Ever since our illustrious countryman (53 years ago) completed this last and noblest of his discoveries, the Sandwich Islands have been gradually retrograding in happiness, population and productions; and from 400,000 fine athletic people in Cook's time, they have now dwindled down to about 75,000 souls, hardly able to obtain food, and groaning under a Missionary tyranny of American enthusiasts, worse even than that of Dr. Francia, in Paraguay.

      There can be no doubt that, but for the fatal accident at Karakakooa Bay, on the 14th February, 1779, which deprived the world of our great Navigator, these superb Islands would many years since have been entirely British; for, had Cook lived to have returned to England, he must have recommended the immediate settlement of them to the then Ministry. Accordingly, since Cook's time, by whose splendid talents they became ours by right of discovery, Vancouver in 1792 obtained the written and formal cession

of them to Great Britain from the then principal Chief, Tamahameah. But it was neither the good fortune of Cook, nor even of Vancouver, to discover that which now forms the most important feature in the value of this fine cluster of Islands; viz. the Harbour of Honoruru in the Island of Woahoo, and although this Island ranks only third in point of size, yet when its fine Haven is consideréd, it is decidedly the most valuable of them all. All Navigators had concurred in the superior fertility, greenness and beauty of Woahoo; but it is only a few years since that the narrow channel was discovered, leading to what the natives call Honoruru or "Fair Haven," where there is water enough at low spring tides for a frigate to enter with perfect safety; and within a natural Dock, capable of containing 50 to 100 square rigged vessels, besides small craft, free from every danger.

      To shew the importance of the discovery of this Harbour, I need only state, that there is no other place where a ship can be hove down, within 3000 miles. In addition to this fact, I have compiled a List of Arrivals of Shipping, for one year, in this Port of Honoruru, (the year 1830) exhibiting the names of 131 large vessels, amounting to 41,000 tons, entering the Port either for the purposes of trade, refreshment or repairs; an amount in this remote Island that would do credit to many Ports of Europe, averaging, as it does, 100 tons per day, and upwards. In this List you will observe that the large proportion of ships are American, and employed in the American Fishery for Spermaceti Whales, which the English participate in only to a very trifling degree; the Americans being in the proportion of about five to one of English.

      The principal Islands forming the cluster of the Sandwich Islands, you are aware, are as follows; viz.—

      OWHYHEE, the first and largest, being two thirds as large as Jamaica, and exactly the size of Corsica, containing

4000 square miles, and about 50,000 inhabitants, dispersed principally along the Leeward Coast. It contains two lofty mountains, each higher than the Peak of Teneriffe, and the crater of a volcano of the most stupendous and terrific character: but unfortunately there are only two spots that can be called Harbours; viz. the Hidos on the East, where H.M. Ship Blonde, Captain Lord Byron, lately anchored; and Toyeah on the North West; but the beauty, soil and capability of the Island are inferior to none in the whole world: and at Toyeah there is a plain of 70,000 acres ready for the plough. There are several American Missionaries here. The next in size is

      MOWEE, a splendid and lofty Island, as large as all the French West India Islands put together. It contains at this present time about 14,000 persons collected along the coast, especially at Laheina, a tolerably good Roadstead. There is a plain in Mowee of most excellent land, containing 50,000 acres, without a tree, and ready for the plough. There is an American Missionary also here of great influence, and so much involved in trade, that he will not allow any white person to remain on the Island, for fear he should oppose him in the sale of fire-wood and articles for the refreshment of vessels, of which there are generally ten or a dozen at anchor in the season.

      The next in point of size, although the first of all in importance, on account of its excellent Harbour, is called

      WOAHOO, a large and fertile Island, abounding in lofty pinnacles and luxurious vallies, four times as large as Barbadoes, and of the same size as Cephalonia, exhibiting one of the prettiest pictures in nature. Its Port Honoruru, may be called invaluable, for there is no other of any description that deserves the name within 3000 miles; viz. at Otaheite to the South, and the coast of California on the East: the sooner this Island is in our possession the better, not merely in name, but in fact. The next in point of size and value, is 75 miles off, but in sight, called

      ATOOAI, a fine Island exactly the same size as the last, very mountainous, the first which our great countryman discovered, or rather landed at. Could he get up from his grave and see the desolation and havoc which civilization, as it is called, has produced, none can properly judge of his feelings but those who have travelled over it, as I have done, within the last nine months! The population has dwindled to one tenth of what they then were, (53 years ago only) and by the frenzied fanaticism of the Connecticut Missionaries, (see note a) this Island, which might be made an earthly paradise, bids fair to become entirely depopulated in a few years. The chief hovels of the oppressed people are at Wymea on the South coast, and Anare on the North. The next Island in importance is called

      RANAI, a small Island in comparison with the others, but still rather larger than Tobago. It has good shelter on one side for small vessels, and is capable of the highest cultivation; but not possessing, like the other Islands, mountains 10 to 18,000 feet high; it does not rain so much here, and is thought to be badly watered; because in the other Islands every man may have a stream at his door; for it rains in some of them on the high land every day in the 365, owing to the immense elevation of their mountains in the interior. The next in size is

      MOROKAI, a very good and pretty Island, but very thinly inhabited, owing to the natives having gradually removed to the neighbouring Islands, more frequented by the ships. This Island is about the size of Antigua or Zante, and might become much more productive and populous. The next in size are called

      ONEHOW and TOWROWA, rather poor places, but celebrated for producing the largest and finest vegetables of all the group; they are just the same size as Jersey and Guernsey. The natives here, as in all the Islands, though poor and wretched, are kind and hospitable in the extreme.

      The other two Islands have a name, but nothing else; though, under a British system, they doubtless would acquire a proportionate degree of importance with the others.

      The group of the Sandwich Islands here briefly described, are seated in the North Pacific Ocean, 19 to 22 degrees from the Equator, and enjoying, without any exception, what may be pronounced the finest climate in the world. Unlike the West Indies, surrounded, in a sort of Mediterranean sea, by extensive continents, and influenced by all the atmospherical phenomena acting on them; by Columbia on the South, Mexico on the West, and the United States on the North; producing violent and instantaneous changes in the air, with sweeping hurricanes and earthquakes, destructive alike to property and life; I say unlike these, the Sandwich group, though so large, yet compared with the vast ocean they are surrounded with, are but specks, and being so distant from any other land, enjoy a climate, as it were, of their own; and hurricanes, earthquakes, and even gales of wind, are totally unknown. It never even thunders, or very rarely, and by going up a little higher in the interior, the happy inhabitants, when the present black generation are passed away, (and they are fast going) may enjoy any climate they please, from the burning chocolate plains below to the ice and snow of the arctic regions: no man ever having yet ascended to the top of Mona Roa, and most likely no man ever will be able, as it is 6000 feet higher than Mont Blanc.

      These immense and cloud-capped mountains are for ever pouring down their gentle streams to the plains beneath; and it was these innumerable cascades on every side as you approach the land, which are the distinguishing feature of the Sandwich Islands, and which threw La Perouse and his companions into such extacies, when he first made the high cliffs of Mowee.

      But, the strongest reason for at once taking possession of these Islands is, the intense wish of all the inhabitants that

it may be done; added to the vast importance of their geographical position with regard to commerce. A three week's voyage takes you from any of the Islands, which are all in sight of one another, to the rich coast of Mexico and California on the East; the same duration of voyage taking you to Canton and the coast of China, Manilla and Japan, on the West; towards the North, three weeks takes you to the numerous and valuable Fur Settlements of the Russians, at Sitka, Petrowpowlowski, and Norfolk Sound; while three weeks to the South carries you to Otaheite and the whole group of the pretty little Society Islands. Such a position is the happiest in the whole globe, and offers to an enterprizing nation like the English, advantages incalculable. The Sandwich Islands may be considered also the very head quarters of the Sperm Fishery, which I presume to say is only in its infancy in this country, compared with what it will become when these fine Islands shall be settled from England.

      The only white inhabitants on the Islands are first the Connecticut Missionaries, of whom and their ultimate views to dominion there, I shall say nothing in this place; next a few American Gentlemen, owners of vessels, who, liking the climate, have built themselves houses; and a few English Gentlemen, and about 200 to 300 Artisans, English and American. These all to a man desire most strongly, that the English Government would send a Governor there, and promote the settlement of the country; perhaps of the two, the Americans were most loud in their entreaties to me that I would make known their wishes in this respect, as soon as I arrived in London. The Missionaries, their families and servants, are the most numerous class, and are living in a rich profusion of all the elegancies and comforts of life, supplied by their willing and simple contributors in the Eastern states of America, by cargoes at a time. These men are desirous of no change, but wish to have the Islands all to themselves.

      The black natives are most anxious to be taken from the

oppression of their Chiefs; and indeed it would be an act of the noblest benevolence, that the British Government should step in, and destroy the overbearing tyranny now exercised towards the labouring classes of the Sandwich Islands by their black Chiefs and the American Missionaries.

      A still further inducement to settle these Islands from Great Britain, is the discovery, of late years, of a small cluster, called the Bonin Islands, within a fortnight's sail of the Sandwich Islands, and close upon the coast of Japan. Their position on the Chart was given to an English Captain by a Japanese vessel, and they turn out to be exceedingly valuable in their proximity to that rich and powerful people. The Bonin Islands were discovered perfectly uninhabited, covered with a valuable timber, in a fine climate, and within four or five days sail of the Japanese territory; and there is no doubt, if ever the British manufactures can be introduced into that extensive empire, it will be through these Bonin Islands. (b)

      Of course these Bonin Islands would be an appendage to the Government of the Sandwich Islands, and indeed already is their value so well understood, that a small party of about a dozen Englishmen, with native women, have been lately taken to settle in the largest Bonin, where they maintain themselves by fish and turtle, and the increase of the poultry which was given to them by the respectable inhabitants, when they embarked in the Schooner Washington, Captain Dowsett, from Woahoo, in 1830.

      It may also be remarked, that the rising and fine colony of New South Wales would afford, by its comparative proximity, being distant only about six week's sail, great aid to the easy settlement of the Sandwich Islands, by a large supply of building materials and fuel, which are scarce in these latter Islands, but which abound in the ports of Sydney and New Zealand.

      As however the British Government may not, at the present moment, have any great predilection for the increase of its

colonies, especially so distant a territory as the Sandwich Islands, they might be granted in fee simple to a Company of Merchants of London, in the manner which the Argentine Republic have lately granted the entire property of the Malouines, or Falkland Islands, to Monsieur Vernet, on his undertaking to convey a certain number of Emigrants to that spot; and which Islands, considering the short time that has elapsed since the first landing of the settlers, have already become a very important, as well as most convenient station for vessels to refresh at, coming round Cape Horn.

      If the granting such barren rocks, situate in such an inhospitable climate, amid eternal gales of wind, has been productive of so great a benefit to navigation, as well as so lucrative a fishery for fur seals and black whales, how much more desirable is it to settle the great group of the Sandwich Islands, which in a few years might be made to produce all that the British West Indies now supply us with, in sugar, ginger and turmeric, which are growing wild in every direction; cotton, cocoa, coffee, pepper, indigo, rum, molasses, arrow root, &c. &c. of the finest quality and in the greatest profusion, and all by means of free labour, either of the natives of the Sandwich Islands themselves, or of the Marquesas and the Islands of New Zealand, whose inhabitants are a willing, hard working people, and as soon as they might be required, from an increase of settlers, would be glad to remove under the kind treatment and protection of English masters.

      It may be thought an objection to this plan of settling, or rather of granting the Islands to a London Joint Stock Company, which would undertake to convey settlers to the spot, and be empowered to grant or sell them Land; that we have no right to interfere with the existing state of society in these places; that there is already an independent native government established there, and that every well disposed person has liberty to settle and carry on a peaceable trade among them; and that, in confirmation of this, there was a King and Queen

of the Sandwich Islands, resident a few years ago in England, recognized by the authorities of this country.

      I can only say, in answer to this, that the natives are completely in a state of nature. The persons at present called King and Queen, Madame Boki, and the whole of the black tribe, being very little removed above the natives of New Holland and Van Dieman's Land. And that there never was such a ridiculous and laughable piece of humbug, to use a vulgar word, as was practised upon the English people, when these drunken blackguards, under the name of King and Queen, were introduced here into polished society in England, and waited upon by the junior branches of the British nobility!

      Madame Boki, as she has been nicknamed, may be seen in almost a state of nudity, every day, in her straw hovel in Woahoo, beastly drunk; a quart or bottle of strong raw rum, in the course of the morning being nothing to her. And this lady, the only one of the lot that has survived the visit to Europe, from her intemperate habits, cannot be expected to live long. If then this woman, who it must be admitted, is the highest person by birth, manners, dress, &c. among the native chiefs of all the Islands, notwithstanding the good example which she has had of a better state of things, during her temporary residence in the Adelphi, is so bad and abandoned, what can be supposed of the others, who have not had such advantages? The demi-civilized chiefs of the Islands, I have no hesitation in saying, are infinitely worse than any savages I have ever seen in all the Pacific Ocean; and it is mortifying to an Englishman's feelings, that he should not consider himself on his own soil, when he is treading those Islands, so dearly purchased by the blood of the greatest Navigator that ever lived.

      The Russians attempted, some 8 or 10 years ago, to make a settlement in the Sandwich Islands, seeing how convenient they would be to keep up a communication with their numerous and wealthy settlements on the N.W. coast of America;

and a vessel of war, belonging to the Czar landed her guns in the port of Anaré, on the North side of the Island of Atooai, and built a very commanding fort, which still exists, though the settlement was soon abandoned, in consequence of a hint from the court of St. Petersburg, that it would be displeasing to Great Britain. The Americans also, though not fond of foreign dependencies, and not a colonizing people, would be very glad if they could avail themselves of such a central situation as those Islands offer, for the more easy carrying on their increasing trade with China, and as a permanent resort to their hundreds of spermaceti whalers, but they also refrain from interfering with the prior rights of Great Britain; and so, what with the apathy of the English; the fear of giving offence on the part of the Russians, and the generous avowal of the Washington Government, that they cannot set up any claim to the Sandwich Islands; those beautiful and invaluable places are rapidly going to ruin, at present prostrate at the feet of an ignorant and fanatical hierarchy of Mechanic Missionaries from America, who interfere with every thing concerning the trade and resources of the Islands, as well as its internal Government, and connexion with vessels putting in for repairs and refreshment, after foreign voyages, to the great loss and embarrassment of the owners and captains.

      The daily depopulation of the Islands, owing to the existing tyranny, will, it is to be feared, leave, in a few years, the country without inhabitants. But surely it is better that an English system should be introduced, and tillage commenced, while there are yet a few thousands of the natives left for the purpose, strong and willing to work, than that we should wait until the Islands are a desert, and then have to import the natives of other countries to do the labour.

      In the hands of an English Company the Sandwich Islands would immediately become a Colony of the first rank and importance, quite as valuable, after some years, as the British West Indies; for, in addition to the great variety

and value of their productions, and their proximity to China and Japan, they are seated in the very centre of the Sperm Whale Fishery, and could give, by that branch of industry alone, a great impetus to the present drooping and melancholy state of the Shipping Interests of Great Britain.

      Moreover, such a plan of granting these Islands would be nothing new; for were not the successive Colonies of New England, of Pensylvania and New Jersey, of Maryland, of Virginia, of Carolina, of Georgia, &c. granted as propriatory Governments to enterprising and eminent Englishmen; such as James, Duke of York, Lord Say and Sele, Lord Brook, and the Plymouth Company; to Lord Bulkeley and Sir George Carteret; to Admiral Penn, for his share in the capture of Jamaica; to Lord Baltimore, Lord Delawarre, Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Summers; to Lord Grenville, to Colonel Wood, and to Sir Wm. Alexander in Nova Scotia?

      It would be desirable indeed that this plan should be followed, not only with the Sandwich Islands, but many other places on the globe, now wanting to decay, wanting nothing but the hand of man to create in all of them a prodigious wealth.

      Besides, it is important to consider at this moment, the probable effect of the present agitated state of the public mind in England, on the Question of Slave Labour in our West India Colonies. Those who are best informed on the Question, and they are generally the least noisy, it is needless to say, have the most gloomy forebodings of the early fate of Jamaica and our Caribbee Islands, should the present false and feverish philanthropy of the English public continue. Then where are we to obtain our four million cwts. of sugar now supplied by English estates the West Indics; and how will the Exchequer support the loss of nearly five millions of revenue from this one article alone? That this is probable, we have only to look at the

wretched and altered state of St. Domingo since the emancipation of the blacks; where they exported in 1786 nearly 150 millions of pounds of sugar, and 80 millions of coffee, this fine Island now, in the year 1832, hardly exports a dozen cargoes.

      In the Sandwich Islands of course there will be nothing but free labour, and any additional supply of labour that may be required, above the limited means of the Islands, can be procured from the Islands of the Marquesas and New Zealand.

      In the certainty of a great falling off, at all events, in future years, of the supply of sugar from the British West India Islands, it will be consoling to think that a commencement has been made in the Pacific, of quite as valuable a group; and whose supply of tropical productions will amply make up for any new demand in Great Britain, consequent either on the increase of population, the reduction of duties, or the loss of our West India possessions.

      As for the Island of Mauritius it is to be lamented that the British Legislature should ever have countenanced the introduction and consumption of French sugar amongst the British people, to the serious detriment of the West India proprietors.

      The Isle of France is, with the exception of the authorities, garrison, and a few English residents, as much a French Colony as ever; all the owners of estates, nearly, are Frenchmen, the language spoken is the French, and I believe there is not any English Newspaper on the Island. And the curions history of the manoeuvre of obtaining the equalization of Duties, a few years ago, was known by almost every body, except those most interested in it, viz. the British Parliament; and it is to be hoped the day will come when these sugars will again be considered foreign.

      One word in conclusion, as to the Sandwich Islands. If the British Government should still refuse to colonize them or to grant them, which perhaps would be the cheapest manner of the two; if, I say, they should still persist in refusing to do either, it is at least to be hoped that the Beach at Karakakooa Bay, the most sacred and classical spot in the wide and vast Pacific, will not be allowed to remain in its present degraded state, without a Memorial or Monument to the great Man, to whose intrepid and insatiable devotedness to Nautical Discovery we are indebted, for the knowledge of these Islands.

      While the captain and officers of a French corvette, not many months ago, as well as the officers of an armed ship of his Prussian Majesty, on her way to China, all went ashore in succession in this celebrated Bay, prostrating themselves on the Black Lava Rock, and actually kissed the spot, hallowed by the massacre of Captain Cook, and for ever identified with his imperishable name; we, his countrymen, are satisfied with a cold and silent approbation, and have allowed the place to remain for 53 years without any thing more than a rude heap of loose volcanic stones, about 4 feet high, to mark the memorable scene of his sudden and savage murder.

      If the French Government sent out a corvette in 1826 for the purpose of affixing a Tablet of Brass on the south head of Botany Bay, marking the spot of earth last touched by La Perouse in 1788, surely we ought to do as much for a still greater man, our countryman, and on the spot of his ever to be regretted loss.

                  I have the honor to be,

      P.S. As the writer of the foregoing letter will shortly embark again for these interesting Islands, he has been careful rather to understate than exaggerate what he witnessed there, particularly as regards the American Missionaries. The dark deed on the voyage from Atooai has not been alluded to, nor the infamous treatment of those accomplished Catholic Missionaries, Messrs. Batchelier and Short, with a few others of an interesting nature.

American Missionary taking a Drive in the Sandwich Islands.

      Situate in 142° East longitude, and 27° North latitude, and within six day's sail of the Harbour of Nangasaki in Japan, from which coast the junks and small craft would run over to Bonin, if they could purchase British goods there.

      N.B. The Sale of Land in the Sandwich Islands might be made, under a judicious plan of Settlement, to pay all the Expenses of the Civil Government, and leave a good profit to the Company.

      Note. There is not a single English Missionary in the Sandwich Islands.

Thomas Horton James
(1792-1867) ^*

      . . . Thomas Horton James (1792-1867) is little known in Australia today, but shortly after he arrived in Sydney in 1824 he became well known and well respected.

      Mr. James arrived in New South Wales in 1824 and launched several enterprises, including a merchant’s store, fishing ventures, importing goods, farming an extensive estate in the Hunter Valley and trading as a merchant. He is best known for establishing the first tobacco manufactory in New South Wales and he encouraged the growth of tobacco within the colony. He was well regarded in Sydney, becoming the foreman of the first Grand Jury in the colony and, when a meeting Sydney’s merchants was held to establish a third bank in the colony, Mr. James was called to chair the meeting ahead of Mr. Gregory Blaxland. After giving up his initial store at 96 George Street in the Rocks, he opened his second store in George Street, just south of Bridge Street.

      In 1831 Mr. James bought a ship and sailed to the South Pacific, then to the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii), before returning to London. There he published a pamphlet on the Sandwich and Bonin Islands, in which he encouraged the British Government to take possession of the islands. As a result of his pamphlet he was invited to an audience with the King. Having sold his ship in the Sandwich Islands, he purchased another vessel and brought a shipload of immigrants to Hobart and Sydney.

      Arriving back in the colony in 1833 with his fiancée, he married and recommenced his commercial activities. He sold his building near Bridge Street and built another store on the corner of George Street and Barrack Lane, which was later to become the first store of David Jones and Company. He then bought the auctioneering business of Solomon Levey in a partnership with John Terry Hughes and John Hosking. Mr. James also became a land agent and land developer.

      Ultimately his enterprises failed and he escaped his creditors by travelling overland to Port Phillip, then travelling to Adelaide, where he stayed for a period before returning to London. In London he attempted to launch a business trading with the colonies, but this business also failed.

      The great legacy of Mr. James is not his business interests, but his writings. As well as the X. Y. Z. Letters, he wrote several accounts of life in the colonies—from his description of his journey to Hobart and Sydney (travelling on the same vessel that brought George Arthur to Van Diemen’s Land as Lieutenant-Governor), his early impressions of Sydney, his travels around the colony (penned under the pseudonyms of Rubio, X. Y. Z. and H.), and his account of Adelaide one year after it was established. This last account was published in London as Six Months in South Australia, with some account of Port Phillip and Portland Bay, in Australia Felix.

      He also published in Sydney An Address to the Passengers of the Ann, an address given on his arrival in Hobart with his cargo of immigrants, as well as Rambles in the United States and Canada During the Year 1845, with a short account of Oregon under the authorship of “Rubio”, following a trip to these locations some years after he had left Australia.

      Mr. James was also a significant player in the Sydney press. As well as contributing articles on his travels through the colony, he was a regular contributor to The Australian during 1827 and in early 1828 he became co-proprietor of the newspaper with Dr. Wardell. The pair were forced to sell the paper in June 1828 after the paper’s prolonged attacks on Governor Darling.

      Mr. James then worked with the Reverend Mr. Mansfield from February 1829, running The Sydney Gazette (after the death of Robert Howe in January 1829). After his return to the colony in 1833, Mr. James helped establish The Sydney Times with Nathaniel Kentish, as well as establishing the Commercial Journal and Advertiser.

      That a man so active in the development of New South Wales should be so little known today is largely due to his ignoble departure from Sydney and the failure of his enterprises. The life of Mr. James is now recorded in the biography Thomas Horton James - The Life of X. Y. Z. and a companion volume, Confections of Thomas Horton James, Including the X. Y. Z. Letters, reproduces many of the shorter works of Mr. James.

Source:

T. Horton James.
      A letter to a noble lord on the importance of settling the Sandwich & Bonin Islands ... : together with hints ... of introducing British manufactures into the great empire of Japan
    London: Printed by W. Tew, 1832.
Web: National Library of Australia. 18 July 2020 <>

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