[Found under: “Ka Hoku Loa o Hawaii”]

What is the nature of a warship [Manuwa]?—Is it something that destroys? It is supplied with weapons of war to bring punishment upon the unethical [kolohe] lands who act unethically towards the land to whom the ship belongs. It is something that protects those who go to foreign lands to Trade, so that the way of life and trade there is protected. That is its main purpose when there is no war. Let us not be mistaken, it is something that brings destruction. Like a proper chief, it brings protection to the land, and it punishes those who are unethical in that it makes them afraid to overthrow righteousness; that is a proper warship. The ocean is being protected for the good of Traders travelling, and so that their trade is protected. It siezes pirates on the sea, and it punishes unethical people in unenlightened lands. That is its duties in times of no war. But when there is war, it possesses a different nature. It speeds on to capture the ships and property of the enemy. And it brings war upon the lands of the enemy, killing people, and stripping them of their belongings, and burning their towns down in fire. Proper warships are good, and unethical warships are bad.

[It is ironic that this is what was claimed in the Hawaiian-language page of the pro-American Pacific Commercial Advertiser a little more than 10 years since George Paulet rode in aboard the HMS Carysfort, and not 40 years before the USS Boston was blatantly used in the unlawful overthrow of the Kingdom.]

(PCA, 8/7/1856, p. 4)