The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1869-04-17

y system Oi Common schools the great mass 81
whose pupils was connected with the Missionary
Protestant interest.
To do this g1odly work, and watch over these
lambs ofthe Protestant flock, we have Board c1OI-
posed almost entirely Of CaihOics-'. Reioyz1.d
and uHr,forHled-0H for,igaers Jut oHe' More
over they were well known the hcartic-t hatcrs
Of the Evangelical interest - found. II WIS no
secret that they were selected 10 do tine somewhat
formidable work Of putting this hated religious
party under the ban. The programme had been
set forth months in advance Accordingly he
great pTepoHd,rafiEg L,a'y If Era'.g,ioal Protest
ants had Ho sufficient representatives, an the Board.
They were ruthlcs-ly put under foot.
And fittingly 70 crown this high handed out
rage against all right. Yea. against all dcccncy,
We have one who had been quite generally held
70 be n Jesuit IN disguise. and whose crOwuiug
excellence lay in his thorough hostility to Mis-
sionary nduencc-Sslcctcd ~ the executive officer
of this remarkably constituted Board. Nor,
with this formidable array Of forces to back him.
is it IN any sense marvellous that this gentleman
should have coveted and somewhat sanguincly
expected the additional honor Of becoming his
Photographer Of the - Dc-liuc and Fall of Evan
gclical Professionalism on thc-c Islands
After teiiousiy long procr-s Of incubation,
then came forth from the new Board an entirely
new corps Of local school agents and tre.Isurcrs to
supcrscdc those who had been. previously, in
large measure Of the Missionary faith; and the
striking thing in the new agents WIS the relation
they bore To good morals and religion. With
rare exceptions, they were grossly immoral men,
and where Of tOlerable reputation for morals, the
redeeming trait was found in undisguised hos
tlity To the Missionaries and TO the religion they
preached. The rule was no moderate-mindcd
man should hold the Office Of local agent and to
this the exceptions few and for special rcsi-
sons
With such an organization perfected. no pro-
phetic ken was needed to anticipate its future
action. The Superintendent Generals first official
tour alias onslaught upon Missionary Protestant
ism and upon the schools 1t had given 10 the na-
ton. in it, dire poverty, came off, preparatory 10
his anticipated e. History Of it, Decline and Fall
IL was characteristIc-a gross assault upon the
rights Of parents, an outrage upon the rights of
conscience, and a stigma, too, upon ;L.. p"tty
dcspotisIn Of the Government, Of which he was
the fitting and willing toJl-a stigma, the odium
of which will not speedily be wiped away. The
Superintendent General told us ne had only made
Il beginning. The crushing blow-the coup de
grqce-was TO be dealt TO the obnoxious Mission
ary influence subsequently. But 70 this day the
gentleman has never carried out his projected
plan and Missionary Professionalism still survives.
If the truth must be told, the gentleman and
his employers found certain obstacles to the
cutIon Of their destructive scheme. upon which
they seem not TO have calculated with sufficient
accuracy Of detail. Evidently they hId not fully
gauscd the iiea that there are some things more
dficult or accomplishment than tie overthrow Of
Constitutions - some things which even the
Powers that b. no matter how fitting and
Efficient their agents, cannot effect. One Of these
things not 80 readily accomplished is the eradea-
ton or truth in It, largest aeecptatipu from tine
hearts and lives of people among whom 1t has
once found home. To destroy e. Missionary
influence ~ such, might have been quite
feasible Undertaking. But TO eradicate the power
of Gods truth was found 70 be quite another
matter.
But although the Board failed to effect all it
had apparently expected Co. there wa- one other
result accomplished by their peculiar style of
warfare. t. the full credit Of which tI.ey lave an
uudisputed claim. by the patronage Of immoral
men a. leaders Of the children and youth OF the
Islands. they aided very essentially in sIccdily
flooding the land with that general distiIlation
and use Of intoxicating liquor, and also with the
di-graceful practice Of oIcn eJncubiuagc which
sgually marks the present administration. and
which to this day sends it, foul stencil 10 Heaven
from every part Of the land.
Under such influences it surprised nobody that
the public schools away from thc centres Of p1pu-
rfua
n name was left, and thus would have remained
a mere name had there not come to the Board
sober second thought, grudually doubtless, but
nevertheless sufficiently well defined. in accord
aucc with which they appear To have abandoned
the prepOsteryus idea Of building up system Of
virtuous and healthful public education upon
basis and by an agency Of immOraiity, which
cared not n straw for the welfare of
Hawaiian youth. and 20 have turned again 10 the
much maligned Missionary element for aid in
their work. The proposed new school law Of the
late legislature. which did not however become
law. was a step in the right direction, and the
Of the oil elected religious influences
and agencies i another step, and together they
Indicate that the public schools are in the way Of
possible salvation. Yet. with no desire 10 handy
,rord-, when things possibly are getting into a
better shape, it cannot be disguised that there i
an involuntary opening Of the eyes when We read
that these Missionaries and Missionary scious
are - TeYt,.sfsd 10 feaei thar PTIHaPes fo thar
fullest erfeHfT'' That surely does not read very
much ike the intolerance Of l-tj. when We're
told that a few vcrscs of the New Testament might
be read til a book 20 -uIer-cie it could be pre-
pared but not one syllable OF exh)rtation L, n
virtuous life, BY way Of application, ON pain Of
instant dismissal from office. Di-mi--ion from
Office, too, wa- the penalty Of &c a single word
from the teacher TO the pupil. cxhortius him 70
attend sabbath school Dr Church. even though
pupils AMI teachers were without exception Mi--
-ionary Prote-tants Wei DO we remember how,