The Hawaiian gazette., 1879-12-03
WEDNESDAY. DEC 3. 1879
Thanksgiving Day in Honolulu.


citizens generally on Thursday, the 27ih nit,
In Honolulu. A large eoncourse of people,
Principally Americans, attended the Fort Street
Church at the appointed hour, II o'clock a. N
The religious exercises were opened in the
usual manner by the Rev. Mr. Prear, pastor Of
the Fort Street Church, who made an eloquent
appropriate and impressive prayer, in which
he returned thanks to the Allwise God of the
Universe, for His tender mercies vouehsafed
to his children, and especially to the people Of
the United States. The Rev. DR.. Damon then
I delivered 4 sermon replete with sound wis
dom and scholastic research, in style that
was both mastery and convincing. He com
menced by asserting as a truth, that commerce
is all important to the prosperity of nation,
then gave a concise history Of commerce from
ancient to modern times. His next position
was that commercial intercourse to be properly
carried on between nations must be reciprocal
to be fair, and in consonance with divine
truth, and that position be illustrated by ci-
ting examples from the history of nations. He
took the broad ground that both nations and
individuals were bound to reciprocate, that is,
when favor is granted by one nation TO an
other in the way of commercial intercourse,
that act required corresponding reciprocity,
without which there would be departure
from the golden rule, of doing unto others as
we would they should do unto US. At this
point in the reverend gentleman's argument,
We could not help thinking Of Mr.. Channing's
celebrated rhyning dispatch to the British
Plenipotentiary to the Netherlands years ago,
when he said;
.'In matters Of commerce the fault Of the Dutch.
Is in giving too little snd asking too much"
which laconically expresses the idea exactly
Dr. Damon then gave a very interesting his
tory Of the Reciprocity Treaty between the
United States and the Hawaiian Kingdom, and
then glided into history of the Opium War
between England and China, and its conse-
quences. He then gave an account of the
Burlingame Treaty between China and the
United States, and its consequences, citing in
that connection the high compliment paid to
Mr. Burlingame, by the then Premier of Eng
land, on the occasion of the visit of Mr.. B. TO
Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain.
He next took up the question of Chinese
emigration, which he handled in manner SO
convincing that the most obtuse intellect might
understand. The reverend gentleman took the
broad Catholic ground, that all people of every
nationality had the right to emigrate to any
other country from the place of their birth,
and no people had the right to prevent them.
To illustrate which he cited the case of the
Chinese themselves who undertook few years
ago TO drive the English from China by force
Of arms as Northern devils, in which they
signally failed, and the result was the estab-
lishment Of the English colony of Hongkong,
with concessions of lands, barbors for com
mercial purposes, and other advantages, which
were all the fruits Of commercial reciprocity
treaty between China and England. He then
discussed the question Of Chinese emigration
still farther, in reference to the position as
sumed toward the Chinese in the British Aus
trzIiau colonies, and on the Pacific slope of the
United States. He spoke of the Chinese as
patient, peaceable, Industrious peoples, who
never interfered with the politics or internal
affairs of any country they went to, and con-
trasted them, very properly, with the restless
sgitators. such as the sand lot orators of Cali
fornia, who raised the hue and cry that "the
Chinese must 60" and just here we take oc-
casion 10 say, that DR.. Damon did himself
honor in his manly utterances on this branch
Of his subject, for he plainly told his audience
that those who think they can drive the Chi
nese out of any country by brute force viii
find themselves mistaken, and the sooner they
learn that truth the better. Such is but an
imperfect outline of Dr. Damon's excellent
discourse, which We wish every man and wo-
man in this Kingdom could have heard as we
did. By the way, We trust Dr. Damon will
publish his sermon on Thanksgiving Day, so
that not only the people of these islands can
read it, but that it may be read by the people
Of the United States also. The Chinese prob
lem is but poorly understood by the mass of
the people anywhere, and it is just such ut
terances as Dr. Damon's that will enlighten the
ignorant, and drive prejudice to the wall on
this question. DR.. Damon deserves the thanks
Of every good man, for the bold and manly
stand he has taken upon q question in which
Is involved so much of interest politically,
morally and religiously.
For the past two years the GAZETTE has
labored to present the same views of the Chi
nese problem as those advanced by DR.. Da-
mon, to the people OF these islands, from a
deep conviction of right, and with sincere
desire to inculcate proper understanding of
/ the question at issue. We rejoice, therefore,
TO find that our views are sustained by man
/ Of the learning, experience and christian char
acter Of DR.. Damon, who has evidently given
the subject his most mature thought and pa
tient investigation.
Recent Elections I'm the United
!