The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1875-12-11
PREACHED IN FOR ST. CHURCH, NOI. 25. 1875,
By Rev. -. q. Damon.


custom hallowed by the most precious ancestral
and historic memories Of two hundred and fifty
years. most heartily we can respond to the sentI-
ment expressed in President Grants proclama-
ton 'sAmid the rich and free enjoyment Of all
our advantages, we should not forget the source
from whence they are derived, and the extent of
our obligations to the Father Of all Mercies. We
have full reason to renew our thanks to Almighty
God for fayOrs bestowed upon us during the past
year We do not forget that one year ago
efforts were being put forth to secure a treaty of
reciprocity, and that His Majesty was about
starting upon his visit to the land Of our fathers.
Among the blessings which we are now called
upon to recognize are the happy return of the
King and the almost certain assurance that here
after our Island Kingdom will be brought into
more intimate and closer commercial alliance
with the great North American Republic. Out
Of this closer alliance in commerce ii is fondly
hoped and expected great and incalculable bless
Ings will ultimately flow. No longer are our isl
ands to remain isolated but must necessarily be
drawn into intimate union with not only Amer
ica, but the world. As a recent writer remarks,
. Every day the world grows more international.
There are now no foreign lands" The unity Of
the human race is becoming more and more an
accepted fact in reality, if not an acknowledged
fact IN philosophy.
While the blessings of the past year are quite
Sufficient to call forth our warmest expressions
Of thanksgiving, yet we cannot if we would
Confne our thoughts to a record of the mercies of
a single year. The very atmosphere is freighted
with centennial memories; our current literature
Is saturated with centennial discussions. The
people are alive with preparations for what they
are pleased to style the Great Centennial. Not
only are the American people interested and
awake, but every civilized nation on earth is pre-
pairing to send forward its full quota of contribu-
tions. The year of Our Lord 1876 as well as the
year l776, is destined to mark an era in the his
tory Of not only America, but the wide world.
The busy hum Of preparation comes murmuring
IN every breeze that 6weepS the ocean or is
HOated over the land. 1t is a matter of rejoicing
that our little kingdom IS preparing to Join IN
the grand celebration. Surely if there is a spot
territorially foreign to America which ought to
join in this gathering of the nations, it is the
Kingdom of Hawaii. One century ago our isl
ands were literally terra incOgnitd 10 the civilized
world. just one hundred years ago in the sum-
mer OF 1775, Cook returned from his second voy-
age of discovery around the world. Preparations
were soon made for his third and last voyage,
when our islands were to be discovered and the
celebrated navigator was to find his last resting
place in Kealakekua Bay.
AS the stirring events of l775 are thus natu-
rally introduced and made signally prominent,
i PROPOSE, IN ORDER TO AWAKEN IN OUR MINDS EMO
TIoss OF THANKSGIVING on THIS OCCASION, TO NO
TICE NOT THE EVENTS OF 1875, But THOSE or l775.
Let us for a few moments forget that the world
has been advancing for the last century, and en-
deavor to look out upon the world as it appeared
70 those living IN England and America in l775.
As America was then colonial territory, it is nat
ural for US to look away to the mother country
and Europe. Americans in those days had a
warm affection for the land of their fathers,
which has by no means died out amid all the
conflicts of a century of war, diplomacy, negotia-
ton and arbitration.
When the struggle between England and her
colonies commenced, history records the fact that
the colonists were cast aloof with many hard mis-
giyiDgs. 1t was England-George III and his
ministry with Lord North at the head, which
forced independence upon the thirteen colonies.
Oh, how hard Franklin strove to effect a recon-
Citation during the six years spent in Europe
from 1910 to 1775i Writes Bancroft, "Ameri-
can statesmen had struggled to avoid a separation
which neither the indefatigable zeal Of Samuel
Adams, nor the elOquence of John Adams, nor
the sympathetic spirit of jefferson could have
brought about. The king was the author of
American independence (Vol. s, Pr. l74-5.)
Almost every political principle commended for
by the American colOnists has since been acknowl-
edged as sound and conceded by the mother country
10 her other colonists. Vessels of war and trans
ports conveyed thousands o fsoldiers to dragon the
colonists into submission-and mercenary Hes
sian soldiers were forced from their homes in
Germany to fight on American soil.
ENGLAND, 1875.
Let Us glance at the condition of England. Who
were some Of the prominent characters then alive
In England, and whose names have been handed
down on the page of history to our day? First
and foremost stood the king, George III. He
bad been fifteen years upon the throne. Burke,
the great orator. statesman and friend of the
colonies, was at the zenith of his powers, being
lust fOrty-fve wears of age. DIR. johnson was an
old man of seyenty-six he had employed his pen to
defame the colonists. His great dictionary had
not been published. Pitt, the younger, son OF
the Great in 1915, was a youth Of
sixteen, studying hard at Cambridge University.
Wherefore was a youth of the same age with
PITT. but q thoughtless and gay young man, who
had not as vet come under the influence of the
writings Of Doddridge, and had given no indica-
tions Of possessing those grand powers Of mind,
character and heart, which place him at the head
of that noble band Of retOrmers who freed the
British Empire and America of slaves. Howard,
the philanthropist, was then high sheriff of the
County OF Bedford. having under his charge the
very prison where Bunyan wrote his immortal
work, and where but recently the Duke OF Bed
ford has erected Il statue 10 the prince OF Dream
ers. Burns was also a youth of the same age
with Pitt and Wilberlorce, assisting his father TO
cultivate the soil of Ayrshire, and while abroad
IN the fields coquetting with a bonnie lass.
The tones of her voice. he once said 10 Sir
Walter Scott. made nv heart strings thrill like
an -Eolian harp Scott, by the way, was then
a child of five years old. Hannah More was at
the head of her female seminary in Bristol, labor
ing with her sisters to elevate the standard OF
female education in England. She then gave the
cause an impulse, which it has not yet lost.
Lovers of female education n Europe and Amer
lea and the world, can hardly appreciate their
obligations 10 Hannah More and her sisters.
The founders of Vassar, South Hadley, Mills
Seminary, and other institutions of a kin
dred character and high standing are under
lasting obligations to Hannah More. Whitfield,
the prince of pulpit orators in 1875, had been
dead i've years. Thirteen times had he crossed
the Atlantic, and as he had labored so earnestly
IN both the old and new world, 1t was fitting that
as he was born in Old England, he should find
his grayean New England. Whitfield was dead,
but not Nesley-although seventy-two years of
age, yeshad sixteen more years of arduous labor
IN store for bis Master. What a life was Wes-
Lewis and what an influence he exerted upon the
Sworld, and it is yearly increasing! No prime
minister of England ever displayed greater ad-