The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1870-07-30
MAKAwAo. Maui. July Nth. 1870

To The Editor of the Pacific Commercial Advertiser.
DEAR SIR In your issue of Saturday. July 9th,
1 see that you have inserted a quotation from q
communication of mine, addressed to the editor of
the Hawaiian Gazette. This quotation is correctly
made, I believe and had you also quoted the para
graphs read before the Legislature several weeks
before, instead of making me say what 1 did not say,
you would have saved me from supposing you to
have had the coolie on the brain, and probably from
other remarks in my communication. So had you
allowed the readers of your issue of the 9th instant,
to see for themselves what 1 said through the Gazette,
of July 9th, of Mr.. Kapihe, you would hardly have
presumed to tell them as you in your paper of July
9th, that | took e" occasion to publicly reprehend the
representative Of Makawao, Mr.. Kapihe, for not
voting on the bill, to repeal the penal contract law
I deny ever having publicly reprehended Mr.. Kapihe
for not voting. AS he was not present when the vote
was taken, 1 knew, of course, that he could not have
voted either for or against the law, and as l saw
nothing from him in the shape of an argument,
either pro or con, l know not to this day how he
stood on the question. I" Hhy he was ABSENT I
remarked, e" do not know and 1 added, 81 hope
he can explain himself to the satisfaction of his con-
stituents." Does this look like seeing a missionary
holding this patriotic and noble Hawaiian up to pub
lie scorn for acting the part of a conscientious
Christian? can act you add which should bring a
blush to the cheek of every American To Mr..
Kapihe, 1 sustain the relation of a friend and pastor.
l never asked him for a pledge that he would, if
elcCI6u, ueItuu II LdDOA SyotSh- hpc Nv Qu
nor did he give me such a pledge, and had he
voted with those who desired a change of the Eiw, 1
should not have reprehended him much less, held
him up TO public scorn. L ask as a matter of simple
Justice that you allow me to make this correction of
your version of my remarks concerning Mr.. Kapihe,
a version derogatory to my character as a Christian
minister, or even as a man of common decepcy. |
think it my duty to give you this privilege, before
seeking through another channel to dlsabuse myself
before the public.
This, however, is not all-would it were. But on
concluding what you have to say of ny treatment of
Mr.. Kapihe, you add, ct what depths will poor
humanity stoop for filthy lucre.' Well, friend
Whitney, that's a sumner, but a blow aimed at my
Christian and ministerial reputation which may
rebound to him who gave it. That you mean all
that you say in that paragraph l gather from the
anecdote which you say you published not long since,
and which you add 60 may afford a clue to the causes
that distort our friends vision" No one can or
will mistake your object in the application you make
of this anecdote. 1t is that have sunk to a low
depth for filthy lucre. Depths for filthy lucre! You
say with an exclamation point that is, l take it,
marvellous that so it should be l trust that you are
not the only one that marvels on making so distress
ing O discovery. For let me ask, have L after more
than 40 years residence on these islands as a minis
ter of Christ and a missionary of the cross just won
this unenviable character? Do my fellow laborers
and fellow citizens believe this record of mef In
1929, the year after my arrival, 1 left my wife with
a babe, sixteen days old, and taking my life in my
hand, performed an agency among the Indian tribes
on the northwest coast. Did 1 do this, think you,
Tor QitlY IuCre In lCtOs dnu OnHaIu l. dcleu as
the agent of Kamehameha LII, in selling the district
of Makawao, collected the money which 1 RENTED
to His Majesty. Did rumor whisper that a single
dollar found its way into my pocket, or did 1 grow
rich by this agency ! S7d acres of land, the KingS
unsolicited, gave me for my services This was all /
received, and more than 1 asked. Did the love of
filthy lucre crop out in my agency for the King
For years / acted as School Treasurer of this district.
and many thousands of dollars passed through my
hands. Did a single hapaumi - stick to my
fingers, while thus receiving and distributing moneys
for sustaining schools? Did / seem Influenced by
the love of Sc filthy lucre,' when in 1913, after hav-
ing labored fifteen years, merely for my food and
clothing, 1 left what had been my home, and with
wife and children drawn in a hand cart, came to
and took up my residence among q poor
people IS q self supporting minister of Christ? And
where I have since labored eking out a support by
the labors of my hands? Please ~enlighten me on
what you regard as evidence of my love of filthy
My first thought on reading the paragraph
in which You so confidently accuse me of what would
disgrace me in the eyes of every Christian commu-
nifty on earth, was, that you supposed me to be a
paid writer for the press|i e, for the Pacific, the
Christian Mirror, the Home Guardian, and per-
haps, the Hawaiian Gazette. If you thus suppose,
| even assure you that l have not received q dollar
FROG, the proprietors or editors of those papers, nor
have / expected or asked a remuneration, though for
some of these, and many other periodicals, 1 have
written during many years. Doth this look like
being influenced by the love of filthy lucre? Some
one, however, suggested that my love of filthy lucre, |