The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1895-04-17

to show that in the mind of all intel
Hgent travellers the success of the mis-
sion had been unprecedented. Every
history of the islands which has beer
written may be claimed as unquali
fiedly sustaining this statement.
In 1870 the American Board judged
that the time had come to withdraw
from financial care for their mission
at the islands. Up to this time little
or no landed property had come into
| the hands of the missionaries them
selves. The land upon which their
houses had been erected had been
| given by the Hawaiian Government
to the American Board. When the
board ceased its work in the islands
this property was, with the consent oi
the Hawaiian Government, trans
ferred to the missionaries then living
in the dwellings. From this time on
they were obliged to take care of
themselves. Most of them continued
| their pastoral work. Some of them
| turned to the business to which they
| had been early educated in the United
| States and sought to gain their liveli-
hood in trade. The records of the
land transfers at the islands may be
searched in vain for what could be
considered a questionable transaction
Hawaiians to the Americans. In the
early days the Hawaiian did not pos.
sess even sufficient quantity of soil to
claim land enough to dig his grave.
1t is only under the reign of Kameha-
meha III, properly and honorably
called "the good" that the land was
divided so that the common native
had any rights which were respected
either by the king or chiefs. From
and after the great division of land
the native possessed his little tract in
fee simple and had the same power of
dispOsing of it that any man has in
this country. Sometimes it was used
to good advantage. Too often it was
sold for a mess of pottage. The Ha-
Waiian, when he came into possession
of property and saw the toll demanded,
was ready to sell his land for consid-
GRAFTON to any purchaser. In this way
almost the entire quantity of land for
merly cultivated by natives in the
(kalo) has passed into the hands of the
Chinaman, not the missionary.
During my visit to the islands last
summer / was informed by two of the
most prominent planters mission
aries sons) that when they began
their work it was without capital and
with their own hands, and by hard
work that they earned their living on
plantations. Later by their prudence,
industry and integrity they were
offered the sale of plantation lands on
%6Ieh nf ffefaF f fh 10Th fBa BougEstt uEsttaRrfth u fthst2 &c
true of the larger majority of mission
ary children. The statement that the
congregational Church of Honolulu
last year expended in the neighbor-
hood of $4,000 for missionary work
among the Hawaiians, Chinese, Jap
anese, Portuguese and the islands of
Micronesia certainly should be &C
cepted as an indication of the gener-
GUS spirit which actuates the sons of
pioneers. The reigns of kamehameha
III and " were periods of prosperity.
The nation seemed to have reached
it's highest point so far as education
and regular habits and manners of
life and religious influences are con-
cerned. With the advent of kala-
kaua came a great change. He died
in 1891. His sister, LiliuOkalani, came
to the throne in 1892.
Mr.. Shearman said that before the
missionaries gained control of the ISL
ands leprosy was unknown. The mis-
sionaries are no more responsible for
it than are the COngregatiOnalists OF
New York for what may have been
imported through that port. The
American missionaries were the first
to appoint a clergyman of the Hawai-
ians to minister to the unfortunate
lepers upon the leper island. 1t Is
mistake to credit the earlier efforts at
evangelizing these poor people to the
influence of the Catholic father. This
work had been established years be- |
fore, and was visited once or twice |
each year by the missionary who was
the nearest resident. Further, some |
of the principal buildings at the leper |
settlement today were erected by the |
same class of missionaries sons, So |
called, and the most generous cOntrl- |
buttons to the support of these poor
segregated people come from the very |
children of these American mission |
aries resident upon the islands today. |
The one man, an American mission |
ary, who has visited the island more |
than anyone else, whose |
intercourse with those afflicted with |
this dread disease, and whose visits at |
the hospital in Honolulu have been |
the most frequent, is the gentleman /
to whom Mr.. Shearman alluded with |
is a man who stood among our fore |
most pastors in a New England city, |
who has resided in the islands for |
eighteen years, and who has the con- |
fidence of the whole community in |
which he lives.
1t is clear that Mr.. Shearman is
either very poorly informed about the
work of the American missionaries in
the Hawaiian Islands, or has entirely
missed it's meaning and outcome. The
facts of history are all against him;
the deliberate judgment of the Chris,
tian world and of all well-informed
man ia aOainGt him Some DOWerful
influence must have been acting upon
him, thus to blind his vision and per
vert his judgment.