[1] The French government had issued orders to Guillaume Patrice Dillon, its new consul in Honolulu in 1848: "Avoid in your conduct any show of pugnaciousness [esprit de lutte].

"[2] On August 12, 1849, French admiral Louis Tromelin arrived in Honolulu Harbor on the corvette Gassendi with the frigate La Poursuivante.

Tromelin, angered by the Protestant ABCFM missionaries’ intention to shut out Catholicism and French trade, worked with Dillon to compose ten demands to King Kamehameha III on August 22.

That afternoon, after a second warning to the civilians of the impending invasion,[5] 140 French Marines, two field pieces, and scaling ladders were landed by boat.

[6] The marines spiked the coastal guns, threw kegs of powder into the harbor and destroyed all the other weapons they found (mainly muskets and ammunition).