Qualla: Paulet Affair

Paulet Affair: Introduction

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. Hawaii's state motto -- Ua Mau ke Ea o ka Aina i ka Pono, "The sovereignty of the land is perpetuated in righteousness" -- was not coined by a philosopher or a founding father. It was spoken by King Kamehameha III on July 31, 1843, the day he got his kingdom back from a British naval captain who had taken it without permission from anyone in particular. The Paulet Affair, as the five-month seizure came to be known, is one of those episodes where a single officer's ambition nearly rewrote the map of the Pacific.

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Image: Unknown author | Public domain

Paulet Affair: A Consul with a Grudge

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unidentified painter, Public domain. The trouble began with Richard Charlton, the British consul to the Kingdom of Hawaii since 1825. By the early 1840s, Charlton was embroiled in a land dispute with the Hawaiian government and had convinced himself that British subjects on the islands were being denied their legal ...

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Image: Unidentified painter | Public domain

Paulet Affair: Five Months Under the Union Jack

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. Between February 20 and 23, daily meetings took place between Paulet, acting consul Alexander Simpson, and the king. Kamehameha III agreed to reopen the disputed legal cases but refused to overrule the courts or bypass due process. On February 25, an agreement was signed ceding a...

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Paulet Affair: The Race to London

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. The Hawaiian response was resourceful and desperate. Minister Gerrit P. Judd secretly boarded the Boston and gave American merchant James F. B. Marshall an emergency commission as "envoy extraordinary," tasking him with reaching London to plead Hawaii's case for independence. Pau...

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Paulet Affair: Restoration Day

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. American warships began arriving in Honolulu in July. Commodore Lawrence Kearny came first, followed by Commodore Thomas ap Catesby Jones on July 22. Jones landed in Hilo and consulted with missionary Titus Coan before proceeding to Honolulu. Rear-Admiral Thomas, Paulet's own sup...

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Image: Unknown author | Public domain