Polynesian., 1861-02-09
Ghe polunesian,
CORR ESPONDENCE.
lCOntinued.l
Thoughts on the System OF Legislation

HHch mas Terdited an the HGcdiidn Islands The last
forty gears the eciLs that hare arisen from 1t; and
on the possible remedies for these ers-5y JOHN RAE
4. ", VI. d., s. 5. r., w. E., District Justice and
Coroner for Hama, Mani, Notary Pubic for Maui
author OF NEW PRINCIPLES OF PoLIFICAL ECONOMY,
&C., &C., &c.
At great crises in their history an interesting and
trusttul have placed your hands, to mould into
the best form of which they may be susceptible only
their whole material interests but all the capacities of
their moral and intellectual being-all that makes or
unmakes peope-the very life of their nation Hi;h-
erto, Lounded in by the unbounded ocean, they have
lived apart in little world of their Masters of
the elementary principles of most Of tie more necessary
arts these have suced them, with light but unremit-
ting labor to bring out the wealth of the land and sea
of these their islands, beSt with genial skies and no
ungrateful soil, and 10 repensh them their remoest
| corners with swarmng and life enjoying multitudes
Possessed of language, rudimentary in form indeed
but of singular capacity and power and whose structure
and connections may with confidence be pronounced to
present by far the most curious and interesting pho-
logical problem of the age they have known how to
turn it to shadow out their magnings in lays of
heroes and demigOds, in songs of mrth and wang of
JOY and sorrows-an infant poetry that has shed its
light of varied hues their abOrs their ceremonies
their rejoicngs, their MORNINGS, and has lent more
vivid life to the whole of their social existence
by the fascination of the coOring which it has spread
over all its scenes And thus in the midst of the great
Paclhc, OF others all unknowng and unknown, have
they lived for centuries than we can number.
| But now great change is coming them. The
days have arrived when the uttermost parts of the
earth to meet together when that ocean, which
hitherto has separated them from the ofmankind is
to be the highway conducting its various to their
shores Manifold the gifts these strangers bring
Arts and sciences, almost superior their the
reasoning procedure of the to the simple instinct
of the animal religion of love and peace, bringing
| life and Immortality to light to them, to replace the
cruel rites by which they had sought proptae their
divintes new and vast fields of knowledge and pow
er in which all their faculties may have for
| limited expanse. Great gifts these and containing,
doubtless, the elements of much happiness. Yet, as
their acceptance implies change not without their
drawbacks for all changes dangerous. They all
require fresh adaptations of materials and adjustment
of parts and it depends the fitness of the mode in
which these processes conducted, whether they
suit in failure You by the side of some
remote mountain torrent young tree whose bright
| leaves and crimson blossoms you admire, and whose
fruit though it has touch of wdnes in it, is yet
grateful TO your taste you transplant it to your gar
den with the thought that the rich soil in which you
place it, and the with which you tend it, will cause
it to shoot up in luxurant beauty, and impart
luscious flavor to its produce but, it dwarfs it with
ers and dries up under your fstering and at
length you pluck up, and cast it forth worthless
thing, that has but ill rewarded all your pains My
friend, it is you yourself and the luckess plant
that is in fault Nature, or the God of Nature made
it to grow and flourish out its time. You stretched
forth your hand with intent to benefit, but, act, to
| destroy. 1efnapS your naSte you neeueu NOT Inc
delicate -springing fbrs with which it sought out
its nourshment in the cefts of the rocks, but though
they its life, you rudely tore it from them or
the juices of the plot into which you put it
rich, and acted poison to its unaceustomed system
you neglected water it to make up for the
moisture that abounded in its original site. Some great
you must have committed Its death under your
hands is proof not of the worhessness of the plant
but of your want of wisdom. Had your procedure
been more udicous, had you suited the position
4 - a. L.
ed to adapt itself it, and long have ourshed to beau
| tify and adorn the spot
The process of moving plant into richer soil and
warmer is not without its anaoges TO the giving
new arts and new and better principles of action to
nation In BOTH the new life is to be made to grow out
of the old, and both must be conducted understanding
ly and with caution. In the Of this nation there
is need to redOube that caution for there not want
ing circumstances prejudical to success The gifts
which the strangers bring not all good
evil. Disease and provocatives to vice among them
Nor does this alone constitute the great difficulty of
the procedure. The vastness of the change is far
greater obstacle to its For first, respects
the religion ITSELF il stands opposed to the
cent belief that the process of uproong the and
impanting its stead the other implies so complete
revolution in the first principles of human action that
the contemplation of its magnitude may well induce
dread lest it fail, and by its failure the minds of the
people be unsettled the ties that bind them together
weakened and the foundations of their social system
endangered
For no people can exist without a religion Human
society incapable of maintaining itself without
belief in the existence of SUPERIOR invisible, SUPER
intending power, experimenting powers, governing
the course of human affairs and dealing vengeance
all who transgress those lines which each society has
marked for ITSELF dividing the right from the
wrong. Everywhere, all over the world. both ancient
and moderu the atheist he who denies the existence
of God or of the gods the avengers of broken oaths
boSb Of a Of
society," because he is cut free from the bonds that unite
men in each social system.
Hitherto the Hawaiians have not been without re-
lgon. They have, the contrary. been emnently
God fearing people belief unhesitating, undoubt-
ing, in the existence Of their several deties in their
agency in all the events of life both public and private,
and in their absolute control them has held firm
possession of their souls To them they have been
stantly addressing prayers to them they have been
continually offering up sacrifices; their propitous
influences they have attributed all their successes; to
their hostile agency all their misfortunes.
Utterly to exrpate this ancient faith. and TO i'm plant
the new in its place, assuredly be easy task;
for the beliefs of the cid and the completely at
variance. Setting aside the consideration that one is
true the other false they differ essentially in this par
cuar under the ancient superstition the prospect of
any after life was dim and dark that it exercised
practical influence the lives Of the All the
judgments that fell them from their dvinites
temporal and immediate Sickness, the being swarw-
I'd up by the shark the being smOthered by the pes
erous breath of Pee impelled by her to cast ones
self from precipice, death suddenly coming
down the springs Of life, and sitting the offender in
his sn have hitherto been daily occurrences visible to
all who have dwelt among them. They have hitherto
lived in constant dread of these swift ministers of the
vengeance of the superior powers But that they
should live after DEATH and in that other life be reward
ed or punished for deeds done in the esh scarcely
tered their imaginations.
Now this belief in after life is the very foundation
of the Christian system To that future life all its
wards and punishments had reference In this agrees
with the religions that prevailed before it in Europe
very different character, they were all based
common ground Hence the comparative facility with
which Christianity was there prOpagated Hence the
apparent difficulty Of building it up here The very