“What more can any of us say? The unity of to-day has been our desire for years. I have now been twenty years in Fiji, and I have never before seen such a sight as I see to-day—Fiji actually and truly united. We tried a government ourselves; we did not succeed. That has passed away. Another and a better and more permanent state of things has been brought into existence. I believe that I speak the mind of all present when I say that we are really and truly united in heart and will, and we are all gratified with what we have heard. We are true men, and will return to our homes knowing that the unity of Fiji is a fact, and that peace and prosperity will follow.” On the eve of Sir Hercules’s departure, a deputation of the Wesleyan Mission waited upon him to express their intense satisfaction with the deed of cession; but for which, they considered that their work as Christian missionaries would have received serious injury. They added: “We venture to remind your Excellency that it is not forty years since missionaries representing the British Wesleyan Churches came to Fiji, then in a state of savage heathenism; and that, but for the blessing of God upon their labours, there would have been no British Fiji at the present day.” Sir Hercules’s reply must have been truly gratifying to his hearers. Its conclusion was— “I fervently trust that a new era has now dawned upon Fiji, and that under British rule the moral as well as the material progress of the new colony may, by the blessing of Providence, be effectually secured. The great social advances which have already been made within the last forty years from savage heathenism, are due to the self-denying and unostentatious labours of the Wesleyan Church; and I can therefore heartily wish to your missionary enterprise in this country continued vitality and success. “With renewed thanks for the good wishes which you are pleased to express for myself personally, I have, &c., “HERCULES ROBINSON. “To the Rev. JOSEPH WATERHOUSE, ” SAMUEL BROOKES, ” D. S. WYLIE.” With reference to the provision to be made for the chiefs who had thus voluntarily resigned their rights, without knowing to what extent these might be really taken from them, Sir Hercules suggested that Thakombau should receive a pension of £1500 a-year, and a present of £1000 to buy a much-coveted little vessel for his own use; that in the event of his death, his queen, Andi Lydia, should continue to receive £1000 a-year for her life. Their three sons would probably find employment under Government, with suitable salaries; as would also be the case with the principal chiefs, all of whom would continue to hold their office of Rokos of the twelve Provinces—a native dignity held in much reverence.