RENEWED RESISTANCE & THE LAST CIVIL WAR IN TONGA, 1852 (contd) The Uesiliana missionaries were equally unsuccessful. Misi Tana (Journal, Mar. 6 1843) alleged that when he and John Thomas went to Mua to see the Tui Tonga, he ran away to the bush and refused to see them...it seems that political issues were involved.l Bishop Blanc points out that the main reason for Laufilitogas not accepting either Catholicism or Protestantism was Tupou I...whod defeated him in war many yrs ago...had accepted a foreign religion and the missionaries supported him. When the Catholic mission, another foreign religion arrived, Laufilitoga couldnt understand that theres a vast difference between the 2...and so he preferred to remain heathen. (Taumua Lelei, July 1931:3-4) However, Father Sevelo persisted and finally Laufilitoga recognized that the 2 missions werent the same and permitted Father Sevelo to reside at Mua in 1847. In the following yr, 1848, he decided to accept Catholicism and attended the mass on Sunday, Sept. 24th and was baptized by Bishop Bataillon on Sept. 30th, 1851. The Uesiliana missionaries claimed that the conversion of Laufilitoga was an integral part of the priests general plans to destroy their influence on the people of Tonga. They alleged that the priests were secretly encouraging the spirit of disaffection, which the termination of the war of 1840 had not removed from the minds of several important heathen chiefs (West 1865:291). They claimed that after Tupou Is appointed Tui Kanokupolu in 1845, the priests began, at first secretly and then openly...to try to undermine his authority. Rev. Thomas West (1865:291) wrote that the priests: first of all attempted to advance the claims of their principal convert, the Tuitoga, to the supreme government. They asserted his right not only among the natives, but to captains of merchantmen, and ships of war, belonging both to England and France; whilst they denounced King George as an ambitiou usurper. (from a traditional viewpoint, Laufilitoga wouldve been an equally legitimate claimant as was Tupou I...but he wasnt as gifted for leadership nor nearly as powerful as his rival (Tupou I). At an encounter with 2 of the priests from Mua...whore on board the Mary Jane anchored in Nukualofa, Misi Tana (Journal, Nov. 5 1848) accused them of trying to make Laufilitoga King of Tonga, among other things. These things, he wrote, I told to the priests and showed them ow unbecoming it was for them to meddle so much with the chiefs and the Government of the Islands. Misi Tana then wrote 2 long letters to Tupou I, giving an account of the state of affairs in Europe and France in particular. In the same letters he urged Tupou I to come to Tongatapu...noting A word from him goes a long way with many of the heathens. Tupou I reacted promptly, as West (1865:291) recorded: No sooner, however, did the letter become acquainted with these facts, than he manned a few canoes, and sailed direct to Mua, where he publicly charged the priests with the offence, and where he also confronted the Tuitoga. The latter denied all participation in any attempt to advance himself to civil power; and declared further that he had no right to it, nor did he wish it.
Posted on: Wed, 26 Mar 2014 07:22:50 +0000
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