visit to papeete—duck-hunting trip—a peculiar woman—along a perilous path—an opinion of english ministers—arrival of elder s. a. dunn—learn of more missionaries arriving at tubuoi—news from my father and others—letters from the first presidency and some of the apostles—written statement sent to the governor of tahiti—visit the governor—our statement rejected—list of questions and statement presented by the governor—reply of elder a. pratt—objections by the governor—permission given us to travel and preach on the islands.
on september 5th, 1850, i met with the opportunity of going to papeete in a boat that was passing. my friends took me out in a canoe to the larger vessel. i was very seasick. the wind was so high that in two hours we were in taunoa, where we stayed over night. on the 6th we got to papeete, where i received a letter from b. f. grouard. i answered it the same day. we found friends who treated us very kindly; then returned to our lonely retreat, traveling through a heavy rainstorm all the way.
we continued our studies without anything to vary the monotony until october 2nd, when president pratt and hamatua, and three children from the latter's family, took their blankets and went into the mountains for a change, while i made a visit to my friend pohe to get my books, which had been left with him. when i returned i continued my studies alone until brother pratt and party came back; then, on september 15th, i went to papeno, duck-hunting. as sister hamatua had some relatives there, she and her stepdaughter accompanied me, thinking that my stay would be made more pleasant. sister hamatua was between fifty and sixty years of age, was well versed in the scriptures, and as true to her religion as anyone i have ever met. she had never had any children of her own, and yet she had taken three young babes, from their birth, and nursed them at her own breast, and gave them suck and reared them. i think one mother had died at her child's birth, and with another child the young mother had cast it away to die, as it was illegitimate, and she denied its being her child. the third had been promised to sister hamatua before its birth, and at that time she claimed it and took it home the same hour. i saw the children, and the natives bore witness to the truth of the narrative here given. the youngest child was princess of tubuoi, her name was aura, and at the time i write of she was a bright girl of eight years.
we went on our journey to papeno, passing down along the cliffs of rock and precipitous and deep, dark caverns that were almost impassable. the shrieking and howling of the wind as it was forced up through the crevices in the rocks by the surging waves from the open sea, combined with the dangers of the route, had such an effect on my nerves that i have never desired a repetition of the hazardous trip, though i traveled many times on the brom (state road), parallel with the perilous path. i had no desire to pass over or even to think of the jeopardy we were in on that terrible trail. suffice it to say, that we reached our journey's end in safety, and stayed with the governor of the village, who treated us very kindly. we returned next day, the 16th of september. on our way we saw a ship heading for papeete. this gave us hope that we would get some news from the outer world.
september 22nd. pipitila and i started for papeete, thinking we would meet with the elders, or at least get some word from them. all that we could learn was that they were expected in tubuoi instead of in tahiti. we stayed in taunaa, where we met with friends who treated us well. one old man said that he had become tired of the english ministers, for they preached one thing and did the opposite. said he, "i have been a fool that has no eyes all my life. i have belonged to the protestant church ever since it has been here, and still i am like a fool, for i am black or dark in my heart. i have tried ever since the missionaries came to get light. they came and went back and died, and still i am a fool, and darkness fills my soul, for i never learned before that christ was baptized. you have given me the first light that i have ever had on the gospel." we returned to our home on september 25th and found all well. on october 3rd friends from tiara came to visit us, and for a time broke the monotony of our island-prison life.
nothing out of the usual happened till november 6th, when i was ready to start on a trip of inquiry. a little girl came in and said there was an old white man out at the creek, and that he was asking for brother pratt. in a few minutes brother s. a. dunn came in, and to our great surprise and joy he brought word that brother pratt's family and a company of elders had arrived at tubuoi, all well. he had letters for us, too. i received one from my father—the first word that i had had since 1847. i also had a letter from my old friend and comrade, jonathan c. holmes, stating that my uncle alexander stephens had been wounded in a battle with the ute indians in utah county, but that he was getting around again very well.
brother pratt received letters from the first presidency of the church, also from apostles amasa m. lyman and charles c. rich, all bringing good news and words of encouragement to us. elder dunn told us that he had called on governor bonard, who seemed very pleasant and who told him that as soon as we would get together and make a statement of what we would preach, and signed the same, we would have liberty to go where we chose, and should have the protection of the french government.
november 8th we wrote as follows to the governor:
"whereas, we, the undersigned, have been requested by his excellency, governor bonard, of tahiti, to make a statement of the intentions of our mission to the society islands, in compliance therewith we proceed to give the following:
"1st. to preach the everlasting gospel, which brings life and salvation to the children of men. 'for i am not ashamed of the gospel of christ, for it is the power of god unto salvation to every one that believeth, to the jew first, and also to the greek.'—(romans 1:16.)
"2nd. to teach the people by precept and by example the habits of virtue and industry, which are so desirable to the happiness and prosperity of civilized life.
"3rd. to observe and keep the laws of every land wherein we dwell, so far as it is required of preachers of the gospel in christian countries; and to teach and admonish the people to observe and keep the laws of the land.
"huaua, tahiti, november 8, 1850.
"[signed] addison pratt,
"simeon a. dunn,
"james s. brown."
we started on november 10th to see the governor and present to him the foregoing. traveling on foot, we went to papeno, where we were very kindly received by the governor, at whose house we stopped over night. many of his friends called to see and greet us. on the 11th we proceeded to papeete, arriving there in time to pass the guard and be ushered into the governor's office, where we were received very coldly. the governor was engaged talking with two officers. we stood until observed, from a side room, by a french officer, who invited us (speaking in english) to come in and be seated; he then called an interpreter. when the latter came he looked over the article that we had presented, and rejected it. then he produced one which the governor had had drawn up, and which he read as follows:
"on my arrival at tahiti, two or three persons styled mormon missionaries were residing either at tubuoi or at the pamutus. as they were already there, i thought it proper to allow them to remain, considering the small number of persons forming the mission, upon conditions, however, that they attended strictly to the laws which govern the lands of the protectorate, not interfering in any way with politics or civil matters, but solely religious, with which i have no intention whatever to interfere.
"now that a large number of persons attached to the mormon mission request permission to reside at the society islands, tending to create a sort of church government embracing all the lands of the protectorate of france, to create, it might be said, a new existence in the population of the islands, it is now my duty to interfere.
"i requested to be informed as to what are the means of the mormons for their living.
"1st. from whence the society of mormon missionaries derive the power of forming themselves into a body?
"2nd. what are the forms of government and the discipline which govern this society?
"3rd. what guarantee of morality and good conduct do they require from members appointed as missionaries for the foreigners?
"4th. what guarantee do they require before conferring grades and offices on natives?
"5th. what duty do they require either from foreigners or from native members, not including religious dogmas, with which i shall not interfere?
"6th. what number of religious services do they hold weekly or monthly?
"7th. finally, what morals do the mormons preach?
"these questions put, and satisfactorily answered. this is what it is my duty to make known to the mormon missionaries: as men, they, as all foreigners, are permitted to reside in the islands of the protectorate, and have a right to french protection by conforming themselves to the laws of the country; as missionaries, with an open pulpit which might consequently give them great influence over the population, and create, as it were, a new power, it is my duty to impose conditions that they guarantee, consequently:
"1st. the mormon missionaries shall bind themselves to preach their religion without interfering in any way or under any pretext with politics or civil matters.
"2nd. they shall withhold from speaking from the pulpit against the religion established in the islands of the protectorate, or the laws and the acts emanating from the authorities.
"3rd. they shall not exact from the inhabitants of the islands of the protectorate any tax, either in money, labor, provisions or material.
"4th. they shall not inflict penalties upon any one, either in money, labor, provisions, or material, for failing to comply with the rules of the religion they preach.
"5th. they cannot acquire land in the name of the society, without the approbation of the protectorate government.
"6th. no person can be allowed to unite himself with them, as a mormon missionary, in the society islands, before having signed that he adheres to the present declaration, and whenever proof might be made of guilt of an infringement of these articles, it would occasion his exclusion from the islands of the protectorate.
"the persons calling themselves mormon missionaries, and who sent a delegate to me whom i could not recognize officially, are hereby informed that before i can authorize them as a society they must reply categorically to the questions which i have put to them; that until then their residence is illegal, and i refuse, as it is my duty to do, all authorization to the mormon missionaries to take up their residence. moreover, it is my duty to inform them that when they are constituted a society no meetings, except on days regularly known as days of prayer and preaching, can be held without the permission of the authorities, on pain of being prosecuted according to law."
when this long and proscriptive roll had been read and strongly emphasized, we were handed a copy, and the interpreter said we could make such answers as we saw fit. at this we went to a quiet place, and on november 12th president pratt wrote out the following reply:
"as it has been requested by his excellency, the governor of tahiti, to give answer to certain questions that he has propounded to us, we herein comply:
"1st. first, as it is declared in the new testament of our lord and savior jesus christ, that they that preach the gospel shall live off the gospel, we are sent forth by the authority of the church to which we belong with expectation that those to whom we preach will contribute to our necessities, so far as life and health are concerned, of their own free will. second, we have no authority from those who sent us to the islands to form ourselves into a body compact, either civil or religious, nor have we any intention of so doing. third, the reason of our going to tubuoi is this: i, addison pratt, arrived at tubuoi in the year 1844, in the capacity of a missionary of the gospel of jesus christ. i remained there in that capacity about nineteen months, and when i was about to leave there i was invited, by the authorities of the island then in power, to return to them with my family, and reside with them as their preacher. they wished also to be instructed in the arts and sciences of civilized life. after i left tubuoi, i went to anaa, to assist mr. grouard in his missionary labors, having been sent for by request of the people living there. i remained at anaa about nine months, and while there a general conference was held, by the people we had baptized, on the 6th of october, 1846. at that meeting a request was made by the people of whom aniipa was head, to send by me to our church, in north america, for more missionaries to assist mr. grouard and myself, as the gospel had spread in several islands of that group. the company that has arrived at tubuoi are the missionaries who have been sent for, as i returned to north america in the year 1847 and laid the minutes of the conference held at anaa, and the request of the people of tubuoi, before the church. a part of that company now at tubuoi are preachers of the gospel, and a part of them are mechanics and husbandmen; they have brought with them tools and seeds for carrying out the object for which they were sent.
"2nd. the forms of government by which the society is governed are those set forth by jesus christ and his apostles, as laid down in the new testament, to which we have referred.
"3rd. we request them to be strictly virtuous in every sense of the word, observing and keeping the laws of the land wherein they dwell, and teaching the people so to do.
"4th. we request of them all that is contained in the articles.
"5th. we request of them what is contained in the third article and nothing more.
"6th. we have no stated times for religious services except upon the sabbath; we hold semi-annual conferences. besides these, we are subject to the will of the people.
"7th. we preach to and admonish the people to keep all the commandments of god, and strictly obey the laws of the land wherein they dwell."
our answer was signed by addison pratt, simeon a. dunn and james s. brown, and was presented to his excellency, who objected to the first statement, about our means of support. he said he wished men to get a living in a more honorable way than that. the second paragraph he did not like. he seemed to dislike scripture references. we told him we had been reared to work, that we still expected to labor for our living, and that a part of our people had come to work and a part to preach the gospel.
after he had interrogated us to his satisfaction, and placed about us all the restrictions that seemed possible, the governor told us that if we would go with mr. dugard, one of his officers, he would give us permits to reside among the islands of the protectorate, after we had signed the articles he presented to us.
as we left the governor's presence, mr. dugard told us that, as it was getting rather late, we had better call at his office the next morning at 8 o'clock, and he would attend to our case. we complied with his suggestion but did not find him at home. the lady of the house told us to call at 2 o'clock and he would be there. in a short time we met the interpreter who advised us to call at 11 o'clock, which we did, finding the official ready to wait on us, as we supposed; but instead, he directed us to go to a certain notary public, who would give us our permits. we did as instructed and obtained the documents, paying three francs each. thus we were permitted to go as ministers of the gospel among the islands of the french protectorate.