ABSTRACT
The British Consul accused the missionaries of libel and threatened to take the American missionary who leveled the accusation back to London to provide evidence in a trial. In 1825, Captain Buckle of the British whale-ship Daniel, a previous visitor to the islands, arrived in Lahaina to discover that his crew no longer had sexual access to Hawaiian women. In early November, Richards sailed from Lahaina to Honolulu to answer the charges of Charlton and Buckle that he had made libelous accusations against Buckle. The confrontation and threats from the sailors lasted four days, but Richards reports that the guards and other "natives" stood by him. She called a council of all chiefs to decide if it was right to give up Mr. Richards to the rage of the foreigners or if it was their duty to protect him. The incident reveals the negotiation of sovereignty in European terms through the resolution of crises resulting from nineteenth century globalization.
