The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1889-05-14
A HAWAIIAN CONTRIBUTION TO CEN
TENNIAL LITERATURE.

10 large NUMBER Oh SeQbI6n6Q
prominent in various walks of life.
political, literary, educational, and
official, inviting them to contribute
to It's columns such articles as they
might consider appropriate to the
occasion. In its issue of April 25th
the Independent publishes replies
received from between forty and
fifty of the persons thus addressed
embracing prominent names on both
sides of the Atlantic. The Hawaiian
Minister at Washington writes as
follows:
HAWAIIAN LEGATION, }
WASHINGTON, D. c., April 4th, 1889.
To THE EDITOR OF THE INDEPENDENT
Your kind invitation to me to write
for The INDEPENDENT Centen NAL
number something on the life and
character of George Washington,
sent me to the libraries open to me,
only to find that the works one would
want to consult for such a purpose.
were already in use by the many
who are writing for the centennial
occasion; and this confirmed me in
the impression that could not hope
to add anything which would be
novel and interesting in regard to
that great figure in American history
whose proportions grow with the
lapse of years.
Had l attempted a formal paper
its purpose would have been to show
how, few years since on coming to
America to reside, and having nv
attention drawn to the papers,
personal and public accounts, etc, of
General Washington, now at the
State Department, the impression
grew upon me that no historical
character of modern times had suf
fered so much at the hands of in
judlcious eulOgists as that of George
Washington.
A luminous and diserubodied
figure, painted with all the acces
series of superhuman virtues, hazy,
indefinite personality, soaring above
the reach of temptation and leading
his country TO glory in the manner
of the hero of Wagnerian opera or
a spectacular drama, has been held
up to the view of the present gener-
alton, bringing despair instead of
hope and inspiration to the youth
who, finding themselves touched
with the infrmities of humanity and
not superior to it's temptations, feel
the hOpelessness of the great ex-
ample set before them.
This figure has hidden somewhat
from the world the truthful portrait
of the strong, virile, manly and some
what impetuous youth allied by his
occupations and associations with
aristocratic Tories, touched by the
faults of his time, yet growing with
the demands of his day steadily,
naturally, by the exercise of faculties
and virtues perfectly consonant with
q strong human nature, governed by
self-respect and strong sense of
duty, into the great leader of the
Revolution.
To my mind the character whose
growth revealed itself in his private
papers, his accounts, and then in his
state papers, was a much more pleas
ing and helpful one than the ideal
and somewhat namby-pamby figure
drawn to cater to the popular taste
for the superhuman and incompre-
Out of this tendency there seems
to me to have come another danger,
and perhaps injustice to Washing
ton, namely, that of investing some
of his written opinions with tesla
weight, sanctity and author
lty more far-reaching and cOmpre-
hensive than he himself ever dreamed |
Of-giving them also literalness of !
without regard to the |
spirit which inspired them, and ap-
plying them unfairly to changed |
conditions.
1t would be as unjust to Washing !
toms fame to apply his opinions be
fore 1850, to the situation and events
IF 1776 as to apply literally his ex-
pressed opinions and advice upon
he affairs OF his day, to the pro
Olems of American craftsmanship of
o-day; especially when it is attempt
I'd to show that he would have
avored an isolation in international
Itfairs amounting to the self-efface
nent of a nation holding so large a
,lace in the world and the worlds
.ffairs as the United States of the
present day.
Washington's whole life shows
,rowth and development of char
cter and appreciation of public af-
airs and of the dignity and growth
f the United States Government;
nd who can doubt but that the man
7ho always claimed for himself and
is country the full measure of re-
pect and consideration to which
hey were entitled, would have claim
d for the greater America of to-day
IS proportionate measure of in
uence and dignity in the worlds
OunselS?
America l think would gain much
from the picture of Washington
lere were taken away the halo and
loudly accessories with which a
zeal has invested tiff it
ere taken out of the Virgin Mary |
ategory, and if there We're allowed !
, appear the figure Of the strong,
lrnest, high-minded gentleman,
allant officer, prudent general, sa-
acious statesman and wise Presi-
ent to be an inspiration to a world
intensely human beings.
This impression has grown uDOD !