Eventually the unstable conditions in the Pacific began to draw in European governments, all of which acknowledged some responsibility for the protection of their nationals and their property. The French government was the first to intervene, after two Roman Catholic missionaries were expelled from Tahiti in 1836. In the same year, two more were deported from Hawaii. In 1839 the archbishop of Chalcedon suggested regular association between the Roman Catholic missions and the French navy, but the French government was also aware of the need for a good naval station for the fleet and for French commerce and for a ...(100 of 8125 words)