Richard Charlton (Hawaii)
Encyclopedia
Richard Charlton was the first diplomatic Consul
from Great Britain
to the Kingdom of Hawaii
1825–1843. He was surrounded by controversies that caused a military occupation known as the Paulet Affair
, and real estate claims that motivated the formalization of Hawaiian land titles.
, Cornwall
in December 1791. His father was Robert Charlton and mother Christian Charlton. He married Betsy Bastram of Bristol
in 1818.
He worked for the East India Company
in the Pacific as early as 1821, starting as cabin boy
to command his own vessel.
Charlton knew King Kamehameha II
during his early trading visits to the Hawaiian Islands
. For example, Charlton commanded the schooner Active which arrived February 4, 1823 from Tahiti
with English missionary Rev. William Ellis, and was generally well-received.
Kamehameha II and his Queen Kamāmalu
died in 1824 while in London
trying to see the King of Great Britain. George Canning
who was British Foreign Secretary
was deeply embarrassed by the deaths, and wanted to formalize relations.
The United States had appointed John Coffin Jones
as an unpaid Consular Agent in 1820.
In July 1824 Charlton had just returned from the Pacific, and was recommended to become the first British representative in residence there. While en route, he was officially appointed British Consul
(trade representative) for the Hawaiian, Friendly (now Tonga
) and Society Islands
on September 23, 1824.
He took his wife Betsy, her sister, and a daughter Elizabeth on his ship Active which reached the Hawaiian Islands on April 25, 1825, from Valparaíso
.
The , a specially fitted warship with hand-picked crew was sent bearing the royal bodies. After the Blonde arrived two weeks later, Charlton took part in the elaborate state funeral put on by the military crew.
The Anglican ship chaplain led the funeral service, which started a lingering conflict with Hiram Bingham I
, the conservative American missionary leader from the Congregational church
.
Charlton brought a letter from former royal secretary Jean Baptiste Rives
indicating Hawaiian Prime Minister Kalanimoku
should grant land for the consulate site.
Beretania Street, 21°18′42"N 157°51′35"W in Downtown Honolulu
still bears its name: a variant spelling of Britain.
With the Spaniard Francisco de Paula Marin as witness, Kalanimoku granted a 299-year lease on some valuable harbor-front land.
Charlton toured the islands with the new young King Kamehameha III
, entertaining both Hawaiian royalty and visiting foreign guests at his several island estates. Charlton partnered with island governor Boki who had seen the vibrant British economy firsthand while accompanying Kamehameha II on the 1824 visit. Boki was happy to profit as he could, even from vices considered sinful by the American missionaries. Boki sailed off on one of his business ventures, and was lost at sea.
Conflicts continued with American missionaries.
In 1825 Charlton heard about reports in American newspapers quoting Maui missionary Reverend William Richards
accusing William Buckle, the British skipper of the whaling ship Daniel IV, of human trafficking
by buying a woman. By then Buckle and the woman were legally married. Charlton insisted that Richards be sent to England and charged with libel.
Instead, the powerful Queen Regent Kaahumanu declared Richards innocent.
In 1831 Catholic priests including Patrick Short
and some Frenchmen were expelled at the insistence of Bingham. Charlton's protest were ignored by Kaahumanu who followed Binghman's puritanical Protestant teachings.
Coffee trees
and other crops had been brought by the Blonde, and Charlton made an unsuccessful attempt to make growing them into a business. He also built a wharf on his land and started a shipping business. However, the sandalwood
trade declined, while crops such as sugarcane
grew in importance. The sugar business was dominated by American companies such as that Ladd & Co.
and Charles Brewer
.
In 1836, Charlton requested the sent under command of Lord Edward Russell
to secure the release of two British prisoners. Russell also insisted on religious freedom. In 1837 Edward Belcher
of the brought Catholic Priests to open a parish for the first time.
In 1837 a separate consular post was established for Tahiti and the Society Islands by former British missionary George Pritchard
. The French had expelled Protestant missionaries in Tahiti, and Charlton wrote to suggest British warships could do the same with the Americans in Hawaii.
In 1838 Charlton helped establish the Oahu Charity School with Stephen Reynolds. The school offered a liberal education including dance, which the conservatives thought was sinful.
In the 1839 First Opium War
the Chinese rebelled against the monopoly of the English East India Company
. This further disrupted the sandalwood trade.
In 1840 Charlton decided to formalize his claim for the area known as Pulaholaho near the Honolulu Harbor
. Charlton had built a wharf in 1838 at 21°18′34"N 157°51′52"W. Charlton claimed additional nearby land, even some that had been used by long-time residents. By this time, the signers and witnesses of the lease (Kalanimoku, Marin, and Boki) were dead. The kingdom ruled the lease invalid, since by tradition the land belonged to Kaahumanu, not Kalanimoku.
Sir George Simpson
of the Hudsons Bay Company (HBC) arrived in February 1842. Sir George was in favor of promoting free trade by keeping Hawaii independent.
Alexander Simpson (Sir George's cousin) had also been working for HBC.
Alexander blamed Sir George for the death of Alexander's brother Thomas Simpson
(1808–1840). Alexander aligned himself with Charlton, arguing for a full British annexation, putting him on a collision course with Sir George.
About this time Charlton alienated another fellow Briton: the HBC agent since 1834 in Honolulu, George Pelly, who was cousin of HBC Governor John Henry Pelly
.
Charlton had advanced a loan for goods to be sold in Honolulu; Pelly was trying to recover the money for his client.
In another case, Charlton had sold some of the waterfront land to Francis John Greenway with American William French acting as agent. Greenway later was declared bankrupt, so Charlton took the land back and sold it again to Briton Henry Skinner. Skinner also had a claim against Captain John Dominis (father of John Owen Dominis
).
These disputes dragged on for years.
While en route he met with Lord George Paulet
who took military control of the kingdom in what is known as the Paulet Affair
in February 1843. In May Betsy Charlton had Paulet order the destruction of 23 homes with 156 residents in Pulaholaho. She also convinced Paulet to prevent collecting any damages from Charlton's court cases.
had been sent to England with Richards to present their side of the story.
In London Charlton was fired for leaving his post without permission, and Lord Aberdeen
recognized Hawaiian independence.
William Miller was appointed the new Consul, at a slightly higher diplomatic rank. Miller had served as a General in the Latin American wars of independence with Simón Bolívar
. Robert Crichton Wyllie
came along when they arrived in February 1844.
Charlton returned to Honolulu in May 1844 thinking that Miller would easily force the disputed land to be given to him. Wyllie served briefly as acting British Consul while Miller traveled through the Pacific, and then became a cabinet minister of the Kingdom of Hawaii for the rest of his career.
On his return, Pelly accused Charlton of slander for accusations of sodomy
. Charlton was found guilty and fined in June 1844, but continued to appeal the case.
Experienced frontier lawyer John Ricord
had just arrived, and served as the first Western-style Attorney General for the Kingdom.
Miller was presented with enormous volumes of testimony presenting the issues of the Charlton land claim.
Surrounded by commercial wharves, the Pulaholaho beach was the only public boat landing left in Honolulu. Miller insisted the land was Charlton's, but did not fully trust him, so insisted on a third party to agree on the border.
On August 23, 1845 with Thomas Charles Byde Rooke as witness, Charlton fenced off the land and put it up for sale. In November he sold it to Robert C. Janion of the company that would become Theo H. Davies & Co.
; Janion subdivided and sold the valuable lots by the next year.
On February 19, 1846 Charlton left quietly with his wife and children to retire in England. Pelly on his departure called him a "liar, Slanderer, and Contemptible Coward."
He died on December 31, 1852 in Falmouth
.
The land claim case made it clear a formal land title system was needed. A Board of Commissioners to Quiet Land Titles was formed, with Richards elected president. This led to what would be known as the Great Mahele
, legalizing the fee simple
ownership of land by foreigners for the first time in Hawaii's history.
Consul (representative)
The political title Consul is used for the official representatives of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, and to facilitate trade and friendship between the peoples of the two countries...
from Great Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
to the Kingdom of Hawaii
Kingdom of Hawaii
The Kingdom of Hawaii was established during the years 1795 to 1810 with the subjugation of the smaller independent chiefdoms of Oahu, Maui, Molokai, Lānai, Kauai and Niihau by the chiefdom of Hawaii into one unified government...
1825–1843. He was surrounded by controversies that caused a military occupation known as the Paulet Affair
Paulet Affair (1843)
The Paulet Affair was a five month occupation of the Hawaiian Islands in 1843 by British naval officer Captain Lord George Paulet, of .-Paulet affair:...
, and real estate claims that motivated the formalization of Hawaiian land titles.
Life
Richard Charlton was born in St Anthony in RoselandSt Anthony in Roseland
St Anthony in Roseland is a village and formerly a parish in Cornwall, England, in the United Kingdom. It is one of four settlements in the Roseland Peninsula.At Trewince is a house of five bays and two storeys built in 1750...
, Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
in December 1791. His father was Robert Charlton and mother Christian Charlton. He married Betsy Bastram of Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
in 1818.
He worked for the East India Company
East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
in the Pacific as early as 1821, starting as cabin boy
Cabin boy
A Cabin boy or ship's boy is a boy who waits on the officers and passengers of a ship, especially running errands for the captain....
to command his own vessel.
Charlton knew King Kamehameha II
Kamehameha II
Kamehameha II was the second king of the Kingdom of Hawaii. His birth name was Liholiho and full name was Kalaninui kua Liholiho i ke kapu Iolani...
during his early trading visits to the Hawaiian Islands
Hawaiian Islands
The Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, numerous smaller islets, and undersea seamounts in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some 1,500 miles from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll...
. For example, Charlton commanded the schooner Active which arrived February 4, 1823 from Tahiti
Tahiti
Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...
with English missionary Rev. William Ellis, and was generally well-received.
Kamehameha II and his Queen Kamāmalu
Kamamalu
Kamāmalu Kalani-Kuaana-o-Kamehamalu-Kekuaiwa-o-kalani-Kealii-Hoopili-a-Walu was Queen consort of the Kingdom of Hawaii as the wife of King Kamehameha II. She is not to be confused with Princess Victoria Kamāmalu who was her niece...
died in 1824 while in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
trying to see the King of Great Britain. George Canning
George Canning
George Canning PC, FRS was a British statesman and politician who served as Foreign Secretary and briefly Prime Minister.-Early life: 1770–1793:...
who was British Foreign Secretary
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, commonly referred to as the Foreign Secretary, is a senior member of Her Majesty's Government heading the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and regarded as one of the Great Offices of State...
was deeply embarrassed by the deaths, and wanted to formalize relations.
The United States had appointed John Coffin Jones
John Coffin Jones
John Coffin Jones Jr. was the first United States Consular Agent to the Kingdom of Hawaii.-Life:John Coffin Jones Jr. was born in 1796 in Massachusetts.His father was John Coffin Jones, Sr...
as an unpaid Consular Agent in 1820.
In July 1824 Charlton had just returned from the Pacific, and was recommended to become the first British representative in residence there. While en route, he was officially appointed British Consul
Consul (representative)
The political title Consul is used for the official representatives of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, and to facilitate trade and friendship between the peoples of the two countries...
(trade representative) for the Hawaiian, Friendly (now Tonga
Tonga
Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga , is a state and an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, comprising 176 islands scattered over of ocean in the South Pacific...
) and Society Islands
Society Islands
The Society Islands are a group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean. They are politically part of French Polynesia. The archipelago is generally believed to have been named by Captain James Cook in honor of the Royal Society, the sponsor of the first British scientific survey of the islands;...
on September 23, 1824.
He took his wife Betsy, her sister, and a daughter Elizabeth on his ship Active which reached the Hawaiian Islands on April 25, 1825, from Valparaíso
Valparaíso
Valparaíso is a city and commune of Chile, center of its third largest conurbation and one of the country's most important seaports and an increasing cultural center in the Southwest Pacific hemisphere. The city is the capital of the Valparaíso Province and the Valparaíso Region...
.
The , a specially fitted warship with hand-picked crew was sent bearing the royal bodies. After the Blonde arrived two weeks later, Charlton took part in the elaborate state funeral put on by the military crew.
The Anglican ship chaplain led the funeral service, which started a lingering conflict with Hiram Bingham I
Hiram Bingham I
Hiram Bingham, formally Hiram Bingham I , was leader of the first group of Protestant missionaries to introduce Christianity to the Hawaiian islands.-Life:...
, the conservative American missionary leader from the Congregational church
Congregational church
Congregational churches are Protestant Christian churches practicing Congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its own affairs....
.
Friction
Charlton and George Byron, 7th Baron Byron who commanded the Blonde, addressed the Hawaiian leaders assembled for the funeral, encouraging them to adopt a more formal set of written laws. However, a lack of any trained legal professionals would cause this to be a slow and contentious process.Charlton brought a letter from former royal secretary Jean Baptiste Rives
Jean Baptiste Rives
Jean Baptiste Rives was a French adventurer who served in the court of the Kingdom of Hawaii. His first name was sometimes spelled John and last name Reeves by English speakers. Some sources give other middle names.-Life:...
indicating Hawaiian Prime Minister Kalanimoku
Kalanimoku
William Pitt Kalanimoku was a High Chief who functioned similar to a prime minister of the Hawaiian Kingdom during the reigns of Kamehameha I, Kamehameha II and the beginning of the reign of Kamehameha III. He was called The Iron Cable of Hawaii because of his abilities.-Life:Kalanimoku was born ...
should grant land for the consulate site.
Beretania Street, 21°18′42"N 157°51′35"W in Downtown Honolulu
Downtown Honolulu
Downtown Honolulu is the current historic, economic, governmental, and central part of Honolulu—bounded by Nuuanu Stream to the west, Ward Avenue to the east, Vineyard Boulevard to the north, and Honolulu Harbor to the south—situated within the larger Honolulu District...
still bears its name: a variant spelling of Britain.
With the Spaniard Francisco de Paula Marin as witness, Kalanimoku granted a 299-year lease on some valuable harbor-front land.
Charlton toured the islands with the new young King Kamehameha III
Kamehameha III
Kamehameha III was the King of Hawaii from 1825 to 1854. His full Hawaiian name was Keaweaweula Kiwalao Kauikeaouli Kaleiopapa and then lengthened to Keaweaweula Kiwalao Kauikeaouli Kaleiopapa Kalani Waiakua Kalanikau Iokikilo Kiwalao i ke kapu Kamehameha when he ascended the throne.Under his...
, entertaining both Hawaiian royalty and visiting foreign guests at his several island estates. Charlton partnered with island governor Boki who had seen the vibrant British economy firsthand while accompanying Kamehameha II on the 1824 visit. Boki was happy to profit as he could, even from vices considered sinful by the American missionaries. Boki sailed off on one of his business ventures, and was lost at sea.
Conflicts continued with American missionaries.
In 1825 Charlton heard about reports in American newspapers quoting Maui missionary Reverend William Richards
William Richards (Hawaii)
William Richards was a missionary and politician in the Kingdom of Hawaii.-Family life:William Richards was born in Plainfield, Massachusetts on August 22, 1793. His father was James Richards and mother was Lydia Shaw. He was schooled under Moses Hallock in Plainfield, attended Williams College...
accusing William Buckle, the British skipper of the whaling ship Daniel IV, of human trafficking
Human trafficking
Human trafficking is the illegal trade of human beings for the purposes of reproductive slavery, commercial sexual exploitation, forced labor, or a modern-day form of slavery...
by buying a woman. By then Buckle and the woman were legally married. Charlton insisted that Richards be sent to England and charged with libel.
Instead, the powerful Queen Regent Kaahumanu declared Richards innocent.
In 1831 Catholic priests including Patrick Short
Patrick Short
Patrick Short was a Roman Catholic priest who is best known for his role in the first Catholic mission in the Kingdom of Hawaii.He was a member of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, a Catholic religious order. Short was of Anglo-Irish descent.Short left for Hawaii from...
and some Frenchmen were expelled at the insistence of Bingham. Charlton's protest were ignored by Kaahumanu who followed Binghman's puritanical Protestant teachings.
Coffee trees
Coffea
Coffea is a genus of flowering plants in the Rubiaceae family. They are shrubs or small trees native to tropical and southern Africa and tropical Asia. Seeds of several species are the source of the popular beverage coffee. Coffee ranks as one of the world's most valuable and widely traded...
and other crops had been brought by the Blonde, and Charlton made an unsuccessful attempt to make growing them into a business. He also built a wharf on his land and started a shipping business. However, the sandalwood
Sandalwood
Sandalwood is the name of a class of fragrant woods from trees in the genus Santalum. The woods are heavy, yellow, and fine-grained, and unlike many other aromatic woods they retain their fragrance for decades. As well as using the harvested and cut wood in-situ, essential oils are also extracted...
trade declined, while crops such as sugarcane
Sugarcane
Sugarcane refers to any of six to 37 species of tall perennial grasses of the genus Saccharum . Native to the warm temperate to tropical regions of South Asia, they have stout, jointed, fibrous stalks that are rich in sugar, and measure two to six metres tall...
grew in importance. The sugar business was dominated by American companies such as that Ladd & Co.
Ladd & Co.
Ladd & Company was an early business partnership in the Kingdom of Hawaii.Its founders were William Ladd , Peter Allen Brinsmade , and William Northey Hooper...
and Charles Brewer
C. Brewer & Co.
C. Brewer & Co., Ltd. was a Honolulu-based company that was once part of the Big Five companies in territorial Hawaii. The company did most of its business in agriculture....
.
In 1836, Charlton requested the sent under command of Lord Edward Russell
Lord Edward Russell
Admiral Lord Edward Russell CB MP was a British naval officer and Whig politician.-Early life:He was the son of John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford and his second wife Lady Georgina Gordon-Career:...
to secure the release of two British prisoners. Russell also insisted on religious freedom. In 1837 Edward Belcher
Edward Belcher
Admiral Sir Edward Belcher, KCB , was a British naval officer and explorer. He was the great-grandson of Governor Jonathan Belcher. His wife, Diana Jolliffe, was the stepdaughter of Captain Peter Heywood.-Early life:...
of the brought Catholic Priests to open a parish for the first time.
In 1837 a separate consular post was established for Tahiti and the Society Islands by former British missionary George Pritchard
George Pritchard (missionary)
George Pritchard was a British Christian missionary and diplomatist.Pritchard was born in Birmingham and studied at the mission seminary at Gosport. In 1824 he travelled to the Society Islands to undertake work for the London Missionary Society. In 1837 he was appointed British consul at Tahiti,...
. The French had expelled Protestant missionaries in Tahiti, and Charlton wrote to suggest British warships could do the same with the Americans in Hawaii.
In 1838 Charlton helped establish the Oahu Charity School with Stephen Reynolds. The school offered a liberal education including dance, which the conservatives thought was sinful.
In the 1839 First Opium War
First Opium War
The First Anglo-Chinese War , known popularly as the First Opium War or simply the Opium War, was fought between the United Kingdom and the Qing Dynasty of China over their conflicting viewpoints on diplomatic relations, trade, and the administration of justice...
the Chinese rebelled against the monopoly of the English East India Company
East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
. This further disrupted the sandalwood trade.
In 1840 Charlton decided to formalize his claim for the area known as Pulaholaho near the Honolulu Harbor
Honolulu Harbor
Honolulu Harbor, also called Kulolia and Ke Awa O Kou, is the principal seaport of Honolulu and the State of Hawaii in the United States. It is from Honolulu Harbor, located on Mamala Bay, that the City & County of Honolulu was developed and urbanized, in an outward fashion, over the course of the...
. Charlton had built a wharf in 1838 at 21°18′34"N 157°51′52"W. Charlton claimed additional nearby land, even some that had been used by long-time residents. By this time, the signers and witnesses of the lease (Kalanimoku, Marin, and Boki) were dead. The kingdom ruled the lease invalid, since by tradition the land belonged to Kaahumanu, not Kalanimoku.
Sir George Simpson
George Simpson (administrator)
Sir George Simpson was a Scots-Quebecer and employee of the Hudson's Bay Company . His title was Governor-in-Chief of Rupert's Land and administrator over the Northwest Territories and Columbia Department in British North America from 1821 to 1860.-Early years:George Simpson was born in Dingwall,...
of the Hudsons Bay Company (HBC) arrived in February 1842. Sir George was in favor of promoting free trade by keeping Hawaii independent.
Alexander Simpson (Sir George's cousin) had also been working for HBC.
Alexander blamed Sir George for the death of Alexander's brother Thomas Simpson
Thomas Simpson (explorer)
Thomas Simpson , Hudson's Bay Company agent and personal secretary for Hudson Bay governor Sir George Simpson, and arctic explorer.-Early life:...
(1808–1840). Alexander aligned himself with Charlton, arguing for a full British annexation, putting him on a collision course with Sir George.
About this time Charlton alienated another fellow Briton: the HBC agent since 1834 in Honolulu, George Pelly, who was cousin of HBC Governor John Henry Pelly
Sir John Pelly, 1st Baronet
Sir John Henry Pelly, 1st Baronet, DL was an English businessman. During most of his career, he was an employee of the Hudson's Bay Company , serving as Governor of the HBC for three decades. He held other noteworthy offices, including Governor of the Bank of England...
.
Charlton had advanced a loan for goods to be sold in Honolulu; Pelly was trying to recover the money for his client.
In another case, Charlton had sold some of the waterfront land to Francis John Greenway with American William French acting as agent. Greenway later was declared bankrupt, so Charlton took the land back and sold it again to Briton Henry Skinner. Skinner also had a claim against Captain John Dominis (father of John Owen Dominis
John Owen Dominis
John Owen Dominis was an American-born statesman. He became Prince Consort of the Kingdom of Hawaii upon his marriage to the last reigning monarch, Queen Liliuokalani...
).
These disputes dragged on for years.
Paulet
Charlton left for London in September 1842 to present his grievances in person before the British Foreign Office. He appointed Alexander Simpson as his successor, but this was not recognized by either government. While he was gone, several of his trials went to court with juries of Americans, generally reaching verdicts against him.While en route he met with Lord George Paulet
Lord George Paulet
Admiral Lord George Paulet CB was a officer of the Royal Navy.He entered the navy shortly after the end of the Napoleonic Wars and after some years obtained his own command. He served off the Iberian Peninsula during the Portuguese Liberal Wars and the Spanish First Carlist War, protecting British...
who took military control of the kingdom in what is known as the Paulet Affair
Paulet Affair (1843)
The Paulet Affair was a five month occupation of the Hawaiian Islands in 1843 by British naval officer Captain Lord George Paulet, of .-Paulet affair:...
in February 1843. In May Betsy Charlton had Paulet order the destruction of 23 homes with 156 residents in Pulaholaho. She also convinced Paulet to prevent collecting any damages from Charlton's court cases.
Lingering claims
Timothy HaalilioTimothy Haalilio
Timoteo or Timothy Kamalehua Haalilio was a royal secretary and first diplomat of the Kingdom of Hawaii.-Life:Haalilio was born early in the 19th century, probably 1808. He was the son Haalou, the governor of Molokai, and his wife Kipa. He was the elder brother of Levi Haalelea, husband of...
had been sent to England with Richards to present their side of the story.
In London Charlton was fired for leaving his post without permission, and Lord Aberdeen
George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen
George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen KG, KT, FRS, PC , styled Lord Haddo from 1791 to 1801, was a Scottish politician, successively a Tory, Conservative and Peelite, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1852 until 1855.-Early life:Born in Edinburgh on 28 January 1784, he...
recognized Hawaiian independence.
William Miller was appointed the new Consul, at a slightly higher diplomatic rank. Miller had served as a General in the Latin American wars of independence with Simón Bolívar
Simón Bolívar
Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios Ponte y Yeiter, commonly known as Simón Bolívar was a Venezuelan military and political leader...
. Robert Crichton Wyllie
Robert Crichton Wyllie
Robert Crichton Wyllie was a Scottish physician and businessman. He also served two decades as Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Kingdom of Hawaii.-Early life:...
came along when they arrived in February 1844.
Charlton returned to Honolulu in May 1844 thinking that Miller would easily force the disputed land to be given to him. Wyllie served briefly as acting British Consul while Miller traveled through the Pacific, and then became a cabinet minister of the Kingdom of Hawaii for the rest of his career.
On his return, Pelly accused Charlton of slander for accusations of sodomy
Sodomy
Sodomy is an anal or other copulation-like act, especially between male persons or between a man and animal, and one who practices sodomy is a "sodomite"...
. Charlton was found guilty and fined in June 1844, but continued to appeal the case.
Experienced frontier lawyer John Ricord
John Ricord
John Ricord whose birth name was probably Jean Baptiste Ricord-Madianna II, was a lawyer and world traveler. He was involved in cases in Texas, Oregon, Hawaii, and California.-Life:...
had just arrived, and served as the first Western-style Attorney General for the Kingdom.
Miller was presented with enormous volumes of testimony presenting the issues of the Charlton land claim.
Surrounded by commercial wharves, the Pulaholaho beach was the only public boat landing left in Honolulu. Miller insisted the land was Charlton's, but did not fully trust him, so insisted on a third party to agree on the border.
On August 23, 1845 with Thomas Charles Byde Rooke as witness, Charlton fenced off the land and put it up for sale. In November he sold it to Robert C. Janion of the company that would become Theo H. Davies & Co.
Theo H. Davies & Co.
Theo H. Davies & Co. is a company that was one of the Big Five trading and agricultural companies in the Territory of Hawaii.-History:Starkey, Janion, & Co. was a trading company founded in Liverpool in April 1845 by Englishmen James and John Starkey and Robert Cheshire Janion. Janion arrived in...
; Janion subdivided and sold the valuable lots by the next year.
On February 19, 1846 Charlton left quietly with his wife and children to retire in England. Pelly on his departure called him a "liar, Slanderer, and Contemptible Coward."
He died on December 31, 1852 in Falmouth
Falmouth, Cornwall
Falmouth is a town, civil parish and port on the River Fal on the south coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It has a total resident population of 21,635.Falmouth is the terminus of the A39, which begins some 200 miles away in Bath, Somerset....
.
The land claim case made it clear a formal land title system was needed. A Board of Commissioners to Quiet Land Titles was formed, with Richards elected president. This led to what would be known as the Great Mahele
Great Mahele
The Great Mahele or just the Mahele was the Hawaiian land redistribution act proposed by King Kamehameha III in the 1830s and enacted in 1848.-Overview:...
, legalizing the fee simple
Fee simple
In English law, a fee simple is an estate in land, a form of freehold ownership. It is the most common way that real estate is owned in common law countries, and is ordinarily the most complete ownership interest that can be had in real property short of allodial title, which is often reserved...
ownership of land by foreigners for the first time in Hawaii's history.