The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1866-12-15
THE PACIFIC
Commercial Advertiser.
SATURDAY DECEMBER Is.

SATURDA Y, DECEMBER Is.
THE AMERICAN Mission IN THE SANDWICH ISLANDS:
\ Nindication and an Appeal. in relation To the
Proceedings of the Reformed Catholic Mission at
Honolulu. BY Rev. William Ellis, honorary
Missionary in the Sandwich Islands. and honor
airy member OF the American Board of Commits
siOners for Foreign Missions. Honolulu Re
printed from the London Edition. by H.. VI.
Whitney-lS66.
The London publishers of this pamphlet did
not send out a consignment to any one in Homo
lulu, to supply the demand which has existed
for it. Under these circumstances. we conclud-
ed to reprint the document, and offer it FIR sale
where 50 much interest has been awakened in
regard to the subject treated of. 1t is now some
eight months since it appeared in London, and
from the notices o. it in periodicals, we infer it
has had a wide circulation on both sides of the
Atlantic. We are not aware that any writer
has dared to deny the statements made by Mr..
Ellis. If any satisfactory reply could have been
made. we are confident it would have appeared
in England or America. The Bishop OF Oxford,
Consul Hopkins il London, and Others>n6 tbs !.
High Church and FHty never would
h-ye received this broadside from the veteran
Missionary, if thg had been able to return a
counter fire. Tley are not the men to sit
still and receive a shower of missiles, unless
they pick up some Of them, and hurl them back,
if there is the least chance of throwing one, even
at a venture, which shall take effect.
Perhaps there was no man in the world SO well
fitted to write II careful, di-passiOnate resume of
this unfortunate controversy. He is an English
man, of large experience ana observation. Ills
early life was spent in the Pacific. His subse-
quent years have been passed i'll England and
Madagascar and his whole life has been con-
nected with Missions. He stands at the head of
writer's who have touched on affairs in POLYNESIA,
and his " Researches - will long remain n stand
ard work. With Geiy facility for writing on a
subject he is familiar with, he has sent forth this
pamphlet-a plain statement of facts, written in
such calm and dispassionate language. that it
must command the respect of all. We trust that
every one of our readers will peruse it.
He first takes W the reported application for
English Missionaries, and asserts that there ex-
lists no evidence that any such application was
ever formally made. He says Il may be mis-
taken but in the absence of all evidence of any
application of the King for teachers from Eng
land, and in the free Of the stipulations in an act
SO important as the public formal cession of their
country, guarding their religion as well as gov
eminent from all interference, | find it difficult
to conceive, without evidence, that any appHca-
fiOn TOR teachers rcGs erer made by the King, or
any promise giren by Vancouver" This, until
some evidence is Produced to the contrary, set
ties that point condusively.
The first formal movement to obtain an Epis-
copal service was m the spring of 1858, when
the late King circulated among the foreign resi-
dents in Honolulu Il subscription paper, guar
anteeing a support to a clergyman of this de-
nomination. This subscription purported To be
- to procure am annuity for an ordained clergy-
man of the Episcopal denOmRHation - to settle
over an Episcopal Church in Honolulu. The
effort was SO far successful that an application
was made for such IA clergyman. Regarding
this application, Mr.. Ellis says:
Early in the year 1850. | received two letters.
dated respectively on the 18th of February and the
18th of March OF tlat year. The former of these
was from DR.. Armstrong, President of the Board
oil Pubic instruction IN the sandwich Islands, stat
ing that there were at Honolulu a number of per
sons and a few families. either members OF the
Episcopal Church. or partial thereto. who had long
desired the services of an EpiScopalian minister To
= break to them the bread of life = that the King
of Hawaii had directed his Minister for Foreign
Affairs to authorize Manly Hopkins. Esq. his
Charge d'Affairrs in London. to guarantee to a
AANN' So - iNA Va AAN lF1N'NA SANaNu All
annual salary of one thousand dollars. and had
offered. besides. ground for the site of a church.
DIR. Armstrong also stated that he applied TO me at
the request of several EpiscOFalians. who wished
TO secure as their minister =" man of Evangelical
sentiments. respectable talents. and most exem-
plary Christian life mentioning a clergyman who
had been ~Ommend To them. and whom they
would cordially welcome. at the same time commu-
nicatIng his address. and pointing out the steps
which he wished m TO take.
ID Armstrong stated that he applied TO me be
cause | had resided in the Islands. had been assoc
ciated with the mssionaries there. and knew the
people and the Kind of man most likely to do
good there.
- The second letter was from the late r. c. Wyl-
lie. Esq the Kings Minister for Foreign Affairs.
and TO whom | had been known in the Sandwich
Islands. He states that DIR. Armstrong; letter.
which he enclosed, was on the subject Of the estab-
lishment IN that capital of an Episcopal Church
that the Ming and Queen preferred that form of
worship. and the King believed that an Episcopal
by many british and American families. would op-
crate benehcially in narrowing the broad antagOn-
Ism existing between the Calvinistic and Catholic
creeds, and promoting b~rotherly feeling between
the clergy of both. He added that by the orders
OF the Hing he had written to Mr.. Manly Hopkins,
who would communicate 10 mt what further in
l might desire PIP. y and Is.
Mr.. Ellis then takes up, one after another, the
various arguments advanced in favor of the
Mission sent ont here. lie shows most
conclusively that tie bulk of the population has
been gathered into the pastoral care of the
and French Missions, and that a very
small part (about one-siXth) are supposed to be
unconnected with either denomination. In Eng