Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1843-02-17
BY VIM. e. RYTHER.
COMMERCIAL INTERCOURSE
WITH CHINA AND THE SANDWICH
TCT NnS

WITH CHINA AND THE SANDWICH
-.ss ISLANDS. rf. ua-Haa
The following is copy of the Report
made by Mr. ADAMS, from the Committee
on Foreign Relations, harmonising, in its
spirit, as far as we have observed, with the
general opinion Of the press, aud of CONNER
cial men, on the subject to which it relates :
- National Int
The Committee on Foreign Affairs, to
whom was referred the message of the Presi-
dent of the United States of December 30,
1912, concerning the present condition of
of the relations, commercial and political,
of the United States with the Sandwich
Islands and with the Chinese Empire, and
recommending to the consideration of Con-
gress the expediency of adopting measures
for cultIvating and improving those relations
respectfully report
That, concurrng in the views of the
President, as expressed in the message, with
regard to the intercourse with those remote
regions suited to the best interests of the
United States, and adapted to the promotion
of benevoence and goodwill between breth-
rem Of the human family, separated hereto
fore not only by geographical distances to the
utmost ends of the earth, but by institutions,
in both extremes, ofbarbarisn and of civil
cation, alternating from one another the vari-
Gus tribes of man, children of one common
parent, and born for mutual assistance in
the purpose of promoting the happiness of all
they report for the consideration Of the
House two bills, to enable the President to
carry into effect the purposes set forth in
the message
8 Peace-lriendly, social, and commercial
intercourse-and the reciprocation of good
Offices with all nations, was proclaimed as
the fundamental policy of this Union, from
the day and in the instrument with which
the North American people, till then English
colonsts, assumed among the powers ofthe
earth that separate and equal station to which
the laws of Nature and Of Natures God, en-
title them" AT that time more than one
hall the surface of the habitabe globe was
Theoretically sealed up against them, and in
accessible to them. A series of events, all
emana;ng from one benhcent Providence,
but wonderfully various, and seemingly an
tagonistical in their original character, have
unlocked or burst open the gates of countries
ranging from the equator to the pole, in both
continents Of America, in the central dark
ness of Africa, and in the continental islands
Of Australasia
At that time the Sandwich Islands were
vet undiscovered BY the race OF civilized
man, and China, from ocean to ocean, had
surrounded herself, from ages immemorial,
by wall within which her population, count
ing by hundreds of millions, were pent up in
sullen separation and seclusion from all the
rest of mankind Within one year from the
day when the United States were first ac-
knowledged as nation, the discoverer of
the Sandwich Islands 1.-THE most illustrious
navigator of the eighteenth century, perish
ed on their shore by the hands Of their saw
age barbarian inhabitants.
1t is subject of cheering contemplation
to the friends of human improvement and
virtue, that, by the mild and gentle influence
of Christian charity, dispensed by humble
missionaries ofthe gospel, unarmed with Sec
uIar power, within the last quarter of a CEN
fury, the people of this group ofislands have
been converted from the lowest debasement
of idolatry to the blessings of the Christian
gospel united under one balanced Govern
ment rallied to the fold of civilization by
written language and constitution, provl-
ding security for the rights ofpersons, prop
erty and mind, and invested with all the ele-
ments of right and power which can entltle
them to be acknowledged by their brethren
Of the human race as separate and lndepen-
dent community. To the consummaton oil
their acknowledgement, the people of the
North American Union are urged by an in
terest oftheir own, deeper than that of any
other portion ofthe inhabitants of the earth
h,,o s,rrhf Of mot he
freedom of their brother man by the brutal
arm of physical power, but over the mind
and heart by the celestial panoply fthe gos
pei of peace and love.
Nor is the new opening to friendly, so
cal, and commercial intercourse with the
people of the Chinese Empire less suspicious
to the hopes of the philanthropist, and to the
antcipations of the philosophical well-wishel
to the progressive improvement of the con-
dtion of mankind upon earth. The i'm
mense extent of territory and almost mum
berless multtudes of men dwelling upon it
to which this access has been obtained, con
fer upon it an importance far tanscendint
that of the accession to the assembly of ma
tons of few solitary islands, scarcely per
ceptible on the face of the Pacific ocean
but right and wrong are dependent, not up
on the extent of surface over which the
spread, or upon the numbers of human be
ings over which they may rule, but upol
principles ofeternal justice, transcending tn
bounds of space and time, surrounding tn
globe, and binding upon the conscience q
every living soul upon its face
The access to the heart of the Chimes
Empire has also been obtained by conquest
but of far more questionable morality, an