The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1875-01-30

the missionary, and civilization, II has receied until
now, when it is a comparatively simple problem as
to the exact period when both Of them will become
extinct. 1t is also a further fact that these two great
influences have not merely the effect to destroy saw
age peoples. but also 10 degrade them. The people
ruled over by Kalakaua are no, merely disappearing
with a frigh,ful rapidly. but they have acquired
innumerable deadly vices which were unknown TO
them in their primitive state. II is true that they
once ate their prisoners; bat they now eat enormous
quantities Of opium and drink whisky to an unlimit-
ed extent-a change in diet which. however much q
gain 50 far as prisoners are concerned, is certainly n
disastrous one with reference to the people them
selves. Female chastity has also degenerated until
there is scarcely such a thing known among the
average native population
Accepting as an ascertained fact that the
decrease of population in this Kingdom is due to
the missionary and his teachings, the Chicago
philosopher asserts that" Experience would seem
to demonstrate that Christianity and civilization,
or either, are fatal to certain races The use
Of the qualifying word {" seem, - is wise in this
connection, for a better knowledge of the facts,
and a little closer reasoning as to cause and effect,
would satisfy the writer that, in the language Of
Bret Harte-
Things are not what they SEEM"
Warming up to the work, possibly by the
promptings Of the interviewed, he says that Chris
tianity and civilization not only destroy but also
degrade savage peoples. Our natives have acquir-
ed innumerable deadly vices not known to them
before the coming of the missionary they eat
opium enormously, drink unlimited whisky, and
female chastity is a thing scarcely known by the
average native. What a dismal tale the " mem
Der of the stat" must have told probably with
out once thinking OF the adage, that It's a
dirty LiId that fouls its own nest" We have
always rested under the delusion that the practice
of using opium among the Hawaiians was due
to the advent of :" the gentleman from China"
and the whisky appetite to the example of the
50 proud (anti-missionary) Caucasian, and in
spite of decided remonstrance on the part of the
missionary, and of the native law-maker as well.
But before answering at greater length to the
general charge of 90 innumerable vices we are
constrained, in self-defense, to ask for a bill of
particulars which, when produced, we will en-
deayor to answer.
The writer protests, in advance, against a
separate consideration of the nHuences-Christi-
anity and civilizatIon-that have worked snch
dire destruction to the Hawaiian race, or, IN fact,
any savage race, for he says Christians are
g strenuous in insisting that civilization is a pro-
duct of Christianity, and nothing else. Hence,
from the missionary point of view, the two must
stand, or fall, together in examining their infu-
ence upon native races"
1t is pleasant to find that the snapper to this
lash which the Chicago writer has laid so unmer-
eifully upon the back of the missionary, removes,
rather than fixes the sting. For after all, it
appears that the missionary could not have res
trained himself from the evil which he has accom-
plished in these islands. He could not help
himself. He was only an instrument in the hands
of Evolution, the god of the so-ealled scientists.
We quote from the Times:
"From the point Of view occupied by the scien-
fist, the gradual destruction Of the aboriginal races
is a matter Of right and of necessity. As one species
Of fora or fauna has from time to time been sup
planted by another, so in the case of man. The
evolution OF the human race involves no end of de-
structive agencies whereby there may be room for
progressive improvements. The fttest survive
applies to Indians and native Asiatics as much as to
trees and the lower animals. That Christianity is a
main element in this work of destruction is no fault
Of its own any more than the fault is in the gun
which is employed in a homicide. 1t is the instru-
form this work for the excellent reason that it is best
adapted to that end-precisely for the same reason
that the tiger uses its teeth, in place of his tail, for
killing its prey
Thus it would appear that we must bid good
bye to the poor Hawaiian. 1t is useless for him
to shout I" Hooulu Lahui." He can't ulu,''
for Evolution and its Chicago prophet have so
decreed.