{"id":"01KG8AKXGBWQVSGVF4WQHY3GFM","cid":"bafkreiflfccb5d73fomdmn3kdm6wgbnpa2r6jea2qnlukujrvj7fnkmj24","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":4450,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:15.149Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J1H7Y803CZ7X80F0QFHZ","start_line":4387,"text":"For these, and similar alleged outrages, a large pecuniary restitution\r\nwas demanded (10,000 dollars), which there being no exchequer to\r\nsupply, the island was forthwith seized, under cover of a mock treaty,\r\ndictated to the chiefs on the gun-deck of Du Petit Thouars’ frigate.\r\n\r\nBut, notwithstanding this formality, there seems now little doubt that\r\nthe downfall of the Pomarees was decided upon at the Tuilleries.\r\n\r\nAfter establishing the Protectorate, so called, the rear-admiral\r\nsailed; leaving M. Bruat governor, assisted by Reine and Carpegne,\r\ncivilians, named members of the Council of Government, and Merenhout,\r\nthe consul, now made Commissioner Royal. No soldiers, however, were\r\nlanded until several months afterward. As men, Reine and Carpegne were\r\nnot disliked by the natives; but Bruat and Merenhout they bitterly\r\ndetested. In several interviews with the poor queen, the unfeeling\r\ngovernor sought to terrify her into compliance with his demands;\r\nclapping his hand upon his sword, shaking his fist in her face, and\r\nswearing violently. “Oh, king of a great nation,” said Pomaree, in her\r\nletter to Louis Philippe, “fetch away this man; I and my people cannot\r\nendure his evil doings. He is a shameless man.”\r\n\r\nAlthough the excitement among the natives did not wholly subside upon\r\nthe rear-admiral’s departure, no overt act of violence immediately\r\nfollowed. The queen had fled to Imeeo; and the dissensions among the\r\nchiefs, together with the ill-advised conduct of the missionaries,\r\nprevented a union upon some common plan of resistance. But the great\r\nbody of the people, as well as their queen, confidently relied upon the\r\nspeedy interposition of England—a nation bound to them by many ties,\r\nand which, more than once, had solemnly guaranteed their independence.\r\n\r\nAs for the missionaries, they openly defied the French governor,\r\nchildishly predicting fleets and armies from Britain. But what is the\r\nwelfare of a spot like Tahiti to the mighty interests of France and\r\nEngland! There was a remonstrance on one side, and a reply on the\r\nother; and there the matter rested. For once in their brawling lives,\r\nSt. George and St. Denis were hand and glove; and they were not going\r\nto cross sabres about Tahiti.\r\n\r\nDuring my stay upon the island, so far as I could see, there was little\r\nto denote that any change had taken place in the government.\r\n\r\nSuch laws as they had were administered the same as ever; the\r\nmissionaries went about unmolested, and comparative tranquillity\r\neverywhere prevailed. Nevertheless, I sometimes heard the natives\r\ninveighing against the French (no favourites, by the bye, throughout\r\nPolynesia), and bitterly regretting that the queen had not, at the\r\noutset, made a stand.\r\n\r\nIn the house of the chief Adeea, frequent discussions took place\r\nconcerning the ability of the island to cope with the French: the\r\nnumber of fighting men and muskets among the natives were talked of, as\r\nwell as the propriety of fortifying several heights overlooking\r\nPapeetee. Imputing these symptoms to the mere resentment of a recent\r\noutrage, and not to any determined spirit of resistance, I little\r\nanticipated the gallant, though useless warfare, so soon to follow my\r\ndeparture.\r\n\r\nAt a period subsequent to my first visit, the island, which before was\r\ndivided into nineteen districts, with a native chief over each, in\r\ncapacity of governor and judge, was, by Bruat, divided into four. Over\r\nthese he set as many recreant chiefs, Kitoti, Tati, Utamai, and\r\nParaita; to whom he paid 1000 dollars each, to secure their assistance\r\nin carrying out his evil designs.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJJFTRJ08XFHKDZRZG9TS","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1H7Y803CZ7X80F0QFHZ","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKXGBJTPJX2W55KXE4ZZ5","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AKXGB1S4ZAVQWAWPPDMXD","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:19.979Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:27.134Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}