Polynesian., 1861-02-02
No. 40.

needful occasions to rival and surpass profession
as in the wordy abasement of SELF in the warmth and
energy OF their beseechings Are sanctimonous de-
meanor and sober suit of clothes esteemed ensgns Of
inward piey, both with almost equal ease be put
on Is regular attendance at church requisite thew are
there Neither wildness Of doctrine nor prosness Of
manner can weary them out Are cards. dice and other
more entcing pleasures TO be given up they aban
doned only INDUCED in when a safe secrecy can be
bought.
All this is doubt something of heavy price to
pay, and, accordingly, were not the reward proper
tonal, they would themselves very ill-used
men. OF consequence, every Office of trust or emoIu-
ment, whether they be fitted for it or not must be
theirs Theirs too must be all governmental windalls,
and advantageous contracts. Means to be found
for gratifying worse propensities with mpunity. Com
plants against debaucheries extortons, calumnes and
frauds that would wthsr the reputation of other men.
must be put down with the cry He is q gody man,
We know him to be incapable of such things" Woe.
| then, to the accuser /! He is marked and blasted
man.
All this the purtanical party experienced and evil
were the consequences both within their camp, and
without it. Within, even the really pous were
tamnated by the bad example when they that
of the same religious standing themselves were
cordiDg to the phraseoogy of the day. seeeksrs they
also became selfseekers, entered into the common
scramble, and contributed to bring disgrace their
party. So universally predominant had sef-interest
become, so far had the conagion spread, that, 10
well known, Cromwell could not find men enough in his
party sufficiently untanted by it, to enable him to
carry on constitutional government He actually
compelled to be despot.
Outside of the camp again, honest men who had
stood aoof from the peculiar religious views and civil
policy Of that party now looked on them with abso-
lutte detestaton They felt wrouged by the state Of
political and social depression. and consequent ing
ncance in which they had been so long compelled to
exist. They exasperated at the debarment from
harmless sports and recreatons, at the sabbataran
gloom in which the land plunged at the fines and
sequestraOns under which it groaned, all to crafty
the tastes and ill the pockets of set who had proved
themselves not whit better, but rather little worse
than their neghbors settled Indignation pervaded
the minds Of men, the forerunner Of the revolution
that ensued. They fell, and Charles was brought in.
Then was seen what they had done for themselves and
England.
multitude regarded them phsrisaical hypocrites,
more wicked at heart than pubicans and sinners.
How widely this sentiment prevailed in England may
be gathered from the reception Buffers celebrated
tire met with To the the picture he draws of times
"when pulpit drum ecclesiastc,
Was beat with fist instead of a stick,''
seems too grossly exaggerated and deficient both in
probability and decorum But then il convulsed the
nation with laughter, and from to they clapped
their hands with all the delight which people feel when
they lash well Eid on upon a rabble rout Of
scamps. As party they were completely sunk the
really good among than finding it impossible to extr-
cate themselves from The mre Of the slough into which
good and bad had been together hurled, How unlike
the fortune of that body of English Puritaus
once so famous, to that of the handful of them who
to'k refuge in q of North America, and, hap
PLY for themselves, had opportunity to attempt to
domneer over others. The sunk in obscurity-the
other revered and celebrated having largely
tribued to lay the foundations and give solidty and
strength, to the fabric of a mighty Empire. This
what the unhappy project of the English Puritan had
done for himself: what he had done for the English
people was still more calamitous.
He had found them least decent Piety and virtue
among them had their praise. Vice had been for q
proach, not an honor. Now, men 90 to ex-
tremes, because harmless mrth had been held a SIM
they flew into the embrace Of centious folly Because
an air Of pety and devotion had been used 10 cloak
wickedness, they conceived, whenever they them
that they covered knavsh hypocrite. To be openly
centious to mock at religion and virtue, to be
honest fellow Drunkenness and debauchery overran
the nation 1t is not unusual to lay all this the
head of Charles but that to ascrbe greater power
to hlm than he had or could have had No single man
can change the morals of a nation. Charles indeed,
willingly headed the frohy stream, and. he gaily
sailed along it. caught with delight at the gittering
bubbles that hoated its surface, but the polluted
tide itself had far deeper sources, and flowed from the
diseased and corrupted national heart. In proof OF
my assertion might cite the whole recorded history,
the whole literature of the nation during the
periods the Immediately preceding. the other follow
ing the Civil War, but content myself with particu
lar In those days. before the existence of newspapers
and the currency of what is termed light literature. the
playhouse was the great resource for daily intellectual
timents and tastes of the age Now. if we take up
any of the dramasts who Aourished during the regns
of Elizabeth. James and Charles l., Shakespeare, for
instance, or Ben johnson, even think Fletcher,
We hnd indeed a free picture Of life and manners,
but nothing vicious. The picture, on the contra
ry, Is that Of vice punished and virtue rewarded.
To tastes indeed of the not very de-
corous, but it is indecorum which excuse We
do that of an infant gambolng the carpet In some
Of his tumbles we might wish perhaps that he wore
something else than peticoat ; but he no harm
That was the drama which the puritans had denounced
and prohibited The drama which in with Charles,
and which that education had given The nation taste
for, of different stamp. In il, It in the
pages of Congreve Dryden and Wychery, the hero il
always prohgae, and is rewarded for his prohgaey.
The Puritan had made adultery death /; the plot Of
these dramas generally turns successful adultery.
He had made serious offence Of that free wit which
only aims at a laugh. In the drama that followed his
reign coarse is the ribadry, indecent the prohga
cy, as to be disgusting We ought to recolect too,
that II not the unwashed multitude alone that took
delight in these representations but the wit the fashion,
the nobility, and the beauty Of the realm. Stately
danes and high born maidens listened with complacency
to what 1t shocks even to read / might continue,
but must have respect for the patience OF my
reader was very long before England ceansed her
self from the foul leprosy with which crude humours,
unwisely pent up till they became yated, had thus
defaced her fair form. and yet some scars remain.
We may then, the one hand, set it down great
truth that as virtue springs from the heart. morality.
OF peculiar forms or morality and rehgon, can never
be made to take root and flourish among people bya
force operating from without-by eompulson. The
attempt preudical if not fatal to the real inter-
ests Of both. Were it necessary, might proceed TO
cite other examples in proof Of this principle, for mod
history is full of them, but have written enough,
perhaps more than enough for my purpose.
Again, the other hand, il is, think, unQues-
onsble fact that the course Of governmental and leg
satve action in these Islands for nearly the last forty
years-that is both before and after the framing Of
written has run counter 10 this principle There
has been constant attempt to bring in the Christian
religion and the morality founded it, or rather the
peculiar views Of Christianity and Christian morality
entertained by particular sect Of Christians, through
the influence Of rewards and punishments- / do not
know what the religious body would prefer for
the system which they are attached but bY the rest