The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1886-07-06


show you another side of the picture. Here again
history throws glamour over the past, and the
facts are always roSecolored. We think of all the
| peope-except few tories-as devoted patriots,
| Inspired and animated only by love OF country
What are the facts?
John Adams writing in 17T6, says: +" The spirit
| of venality is the most alarming enemy America
has 10 oppose. Ii is rapacious and Unsuitable as
the grave Avarice will ruin America If she Is ever
ruined. l am ashamed of the age live int
Washington, in 1775, writing on the state Of the
county said Such dearth of public spirit, such
want of virtue, such stock obbery, such fertility
| in low arts to obtain advantage of one kind or
| another, l never saw before, and l pray Gods
mercy may never again.
And again, in 17S2, Washington wrote Henry
Laurens: The spirit of freedom which at the
commencement of this contest would have gladly
sacrificed everything TO the attainment Of Its OBJ
| iect, has long since subsidized, and every selfish
passion has taken its place. 1t is not the public,
| but selfish interests which now influence men"
At the close of the Revolutionary war Hamilton
wrote: =" We may, indeed, with propriety, be said
to have reached almost the last stage of national
humiliation :"
| Can it lie possible that Adams, and Washington
! and Hamilton we're writing about these good old
days. when men were so honest and patriotic
Understand mel say no word, and allow no
man unrebuked to say a word against the brave,
noble patriots of 1T76. The men of Lexington and
| Concord, aRd Valley Forge were grand men. This
| world never saw men who loved liberty and
! country more, or who sacrificed more for what
they believed 10 be right.
| But there Is dark background to the history
I of the Revolution. The hated Tory was in every
| settlement. Treason was in every colony. Arnold
| sold himself for gold, and tried to deliver West
Point and New York into the hands of the enemy.
| DR.. Benjamin Church, Surgeon General of the
Army, was detected carrying on reasonable cor.
reSpondence. General Lee schemed and planned
| to supplant Washington. On that gloomy day,
when the little army of Washington was marching
on Trenton, General Gates, Adiutant- General of
/ the Army, was riding post-haste for Philadelphia
] bt- snHp -, har Woshsnotor,
| seeded. There organized effort to crush
| Washington, and it had the sympathy and support
| of such men as General Putnam and Samuel
| Adams. 1t failed only because of fortunate VIC
| tories won by Washington in the field.
We love to think of the men of I6 as willing to
make any sacrifice for country. The mass of them
| were. But there were others who traded ON their
| cOuntrys woes.
! In l7T5 General Greene complained of systematic
swindling on the part of army contractors barrels
| of provisions were only half-full. One lot of
| alleged beef proved to be horse-meat.
| An American force marching on Quebec, via
the kennebec river we're furnished boat $50 leaky,
that their provision was spoiled and the boats had
| TO be abandoned.
When the war closed, the soldiers were not
| paid. Had 1t not been for the influence of Wash
| lngton, they would have forced payment at the
| point of the b2yonet. Many of the officers and
| soldiers, who had fought bravely, went home
with the Jail staring them in the face, and some
of them unable to pay their debts, saw the inside
| of the jail And when at last they were paid, it
was III rags, called money, but so worthless that
| they became a synonym of worthlessness: Not
! worth continental" meant utterly worthless.
| The patriotism and love of country, which In
1861 sent our brave boys to the field by the half
millionaire wealth of the North SO freely laid on
| tbs altar of the country:-the popular gratitude
! anu enthusiasm for the returned soldiers-these
are pleasing contrast with the dark days at the
I close of the struggle of 1776-and show conclu-
! sITely that IN love of country these are good
| days" STILL
Bnt the political venality, and the stealing: 1
/ am not blind to the peril from these causes which
! beset America to-day. But it is no new peril.
In colonial times it was the duty of the Governors
| and their councils,to grant land patents. 1t was
( the custom for these officials to demand and re-
csIve slices of the land ere patents could be OBJ
/ tanned. Governor Wentworth of New Hampshire
! was the champion land-grabber, having lands
given him in nearly every township in the State !
And he generously gave 5OO-acre slice to Dart
| mouth College as a site for its building
Nobody raised any hue and cry about it, for the
! good reason that iobbery was so common nobody
| thought of protestings.
] We have iobbery still in American poIitics-ths
/ uOres the pity. But this Is the hopeful thing
| about 1t TO me: The public conscience is now so
keen and sensitive that 1t brushes ine1oraby every
| known lobber.
| Do you remember the Credit Mobilier scandal /?
Livery public man IN whose hand, stock was found
was sent into exile, politically dead General
/ Williams, Grants Attorney General, paid for
! horse and carriage out of public funds-and he
I rode In il TO his political burial.
| 0enerai 0elAilap IraQed In army SuttlerShlp, he
| fell like Lucfer from his high position. The
suspicion that he had traded his position as a
law maker, was what defeated Blaine of Maine for
/ the Presidency IN the last election.
/ Never before was the conscience of America so
| quick, keen, memorable, nowi Jobberry and
yenallty still exists In America, but the people
! have said 1t: -Jobbery and Yenality must gor'
III. and now, very briefly: Morally these days
| are Americas best dayS-far superior to those
good old days of 1776.n The decade Immediately
following the revolutionary war was, morally the
most dismal period America has ever seen. Party
! spirit was intensely bitter Even Washington was
/ traduced and yillifed. The moral standard was
| fearfully low. Dueling was common. Profanity,
now banished TO bar-rooms, was heard in drawing
rooms, and everywhere. Gambling and lotteries
were universal; indeed Congress tried to raise
money toward the war debt by lottery. Drunk
| eRness tearfully prevalent. Total abstinence
was unknown. Ministers drank, and deacons and
! elders ran dIstillerieS and kept bar-rooms. Do
any of you Americans hail from NeEburypOrt?
Well when the stamp act ferment was at its height
your ancestors held meeting at Wolfe's tavern;
out of the little hamlet only about 100 persons as
/ sembled. But the landlords bill for punch was
$35. And as punch WIS very cheap then, that
gave about one gallon to each patriot. Evidently
that was spirited meeting. Or perhaps they
thought the BEST way to keep their spirits up
/ 10 pour spirits down.
Slavery with its train of evils prevailed in all
the colonies; Massachusetts became the first free
| State IN 1850. Mobs wore common: public Dun
/ ishments we're brutal. The stocks, the whipping
/ post and the pillory stood in every town.
Grsely says of this period from I7S0-1SO0: ''The
moral condition fearful. Profanity and
and scofing infdelity had become fashionable,
even IN high quarters. Yenaiity and corruption
I IN office was widespread.
We think of orr forefathers and mothers, as liF-
ing In very simple and primitive style, in sharp
contrast with our latter day extravaganza. II Is
tr7e IN s1ule resuscts but not tFue in others In