The Hawaiian gazette., 1871-07-12

| History OF THE SANDWICH ISLANDS MISSION B,
RuFUs ANDERSON. D. D., Ill. D.. late Foreiq1
Secretary Of the Board Boston: Congrega
tiOnal Publishing Society. 8vO PIP. 4Os.
More than six hundred works have been pub
lished in various languages which relate ent rely
or in part to the Hawaiian Islands, and Of thi:
long catalogue considerable proportion consists
OF historical works. The present volume. in
spite of the implication of its title, covers no
unfamiliar ground. Nor is The Sandwich
Islands Missions" distinctive name Four re-
ligous missions have been sent to these Islands
Roman Catholic, Reformed Catholic. Mormon
and the Congregational Mission, of which DR..
Anderson's volume treats, the most prominent
and seccessful Of the four. The works of Stewart.
Ellls Dbble, Tracy, Bingham, Cheever, Alexan-
der, Simpson, Staley. Hopkins. Remy, and Jar
YES leave DR.. Anderson comparatively little to
say respecting the facts Of Hawaiian history.
The work of Mr.. Jarves. who brought to its
preparation the same patient study and skill that
he has since shown IN making his collection Of
Italian pictures, records not only the general
history of this interesting group. but gives an
excellent account of the particular mission in
question to the year 1912.
Yet there was fair field for Dr. Andersons s
book. The later years of the mission had not
been officially chroniced the causes of its sue
cess had not ben satisfactorily discussed. As
the principal officer. in influence if not by title
of the Missionary Board which had sent it out,
as having access to abundant historical material
and having recently visited the mission ITSELF it
was to be expected that his book might possess
substantial value. We should learn from it
something Of the agencies which transformed this
nation, which. within The period Of a single gen
GRAFTON. gave the arts of reading and writing to
an entire people, and taught them to clothe
themselves, to respect industry and order, to ac-
cept Christianity, and to value temperance and
chastity. How has it come TO pass that the Ha-
wailans who were idoaturs until the year 1920,
now send missionaries of their own race to teach
Christianity in Micronesia and the Marquesas
Islands? Why do the Hawaiian churches con-
tribute to charitable objects more abundantly,
not merely in proportion to their means, but
even in proportion 10 the number of their men,
bers, than the churches of the United States
Why has the ".harvest been so abundant here,
while elsewhere the spiritual fields that the same
Board has attempted TO cultivate are compara-
lively bare (?
For answers to questions like these we shall in
vain search the present volume. 1t abOunds,
indeed, with equally frequent mention of divine
guidance and of the d" Prudential Committee )"
we hear much of providentiaI condolences
and calls :" while the hand of Providence"
itself appears on every other page. But of any
thoughtful estimate Of the changes wrought in
the Hawaiian Islands. there is not a trace in DR..
Andersons book. Its authors theory may be
briefly stated thus Providence favored the civ
ilization of the Huwaans but Providence must
work through human means: those means existed
in the Missionary Board. acting through the
councils Of its " Prudential Committee" DIR.
Anderson fairly divides the credit between Prov
idence and the Prudential Committee" be-
tween Heaven and Pemberton Square.
This theory may bear the mild reagents of
theological test, but not the stronger acid of
candid inquiry. Why did the Hawaiian mission
succeed, when others under the same manage
ment failedH Why did the employment of hun
iIeds of able and Jealous laborers the expendi- /
ture Of hundreds Of millions of dollars in Asia
and Africa, produce so little result? If Provi-
1ence' and the " Prudential Committee" con-
verted the Hawaiians, why did they fail to con-
vert the Zulus and the Chinese?
In the case of the Hawaiian Islands. there was
peculiar reaction of civilization upon barbarism. |
The temper of their people was less ferocious.
their intelligence was greater than that of most
of the POlynesan groups All the islands were
united under single native government. Agri,
,ulturnl industry was more developed than in
other groups; for the islands lie close upon the
edge of the Northern Temperate Zone. Placed
more nearly than the warmer southern groups to
he great tracks of Pacific commerce and much
more nearly than any other to the American
coast, (they are but 22OO miles from San Fran
,isco,) they early came under the influence of
oreigners. During an entire generation before
he first missionaries arrived among them. the
aawaiiaus had been exposed to almost constant
contact with traders and travellers from the civil
zed world. 1t may be questioned. indeed.
whether this contact did no, harm the natives
more than it benefited them. Foreigners i'm
ported their vices as well as their fabrics: their
diseases spread quite as rapidly as their ideas
md it may be said that for fifty years the Ha-
Vaiians were less civilized than syphzed by
oreign intercourse.
Yet the foreigners exerted an influence which
prepared the way for missions. Their liberty
made the natives skeptical in regard to their
dolls; the sailor scorned the taboo and laughed
t the authority of Pele the great goddess of
be volcano. The independent foreigner was
nvied by the natives, the people wearied Of
riestly oppression, the national system of re-
gion tottered, and upon the death Of the first
lamehameha. in 1919, fell The successor of
bat King abolished the taboo and the worship
{ idols. All these causes conspired in favor Of
be missionaries, who arr ed in Hawaii not
lonth too soon nor a month too late. They
,und nation that had been for eleven months
-ithout religion. and that began 10 tire Of
Diritual anarchy; nation doubIy favored by its