The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1895-04-10

reputable representative in Hawaii
The only points upon which MIR.
Coan wishes to correct my statements
are two: ~ the division of the land;
~ the rapid decrease of population.
As to the division of the land, l said
that the missionaries meant no harm,
but had made the usual blunder of the
English race, in forcing upon new
countries the English land system,
which is about the worst in the world.
Mr.. Coan fully proves this. Like
most Anglo Americans, he cannot
comprehend the community OF title to
land, which is the form of ownership
natural to Indians, and to all races in
an early stage of development. Be
cause no Hawaiian held land in sever
atty he thinks that none of them held
any at all. The missionaries thought
so too. And whereas the land of Ha-
wall, before their well meant inter-
ference, belonged to all the people,
subject only to the maintenance OF
the king and chiefs, they advised the
king to take one third as his own pro-
perty, to give one third to the small
number of chiefs and government OIL
GERS, and to leave only one-thlrd to
the great mass of the people. Mr..
COan says that every peasant received
title for some land; but he does not
say for how much. He does not say
that they even got the e-third pro-
posed for them. 1 have never found
any claim made that they did get it.
Nobody has yet asserted that they did.
But, if they did, it is certain that they
soon lost it; and what / said. as Mr..
Coan shows, was that by 1870 the
native masses had lost all but 200
acres. This is not denied Mr.. COan
says that they lost their land by
"fair and legitimate purchase" We
all know what such transactions mean
between shrewd white men and ignor-
ant, confiding, quarter-civilized tribes.
The Indians know we'll enough how
little chance they have to keep any
land In severGlty, and they wisely re-
fuse to accept any such titles, except
under coercion. Many of my we'll
meaning clerical friends are now try
ing to force such titles upon all In
dams. 1t would be more charitable to
drown the poor Indians at once. 1t is
as cruel as it would be to clothe chill
dren six years old with full power to
sell all their property.
No matter how "fairly" they &C
Quired it, the fact remains that, at the |
end of missionary government, and as
its direct result, the missionaries sons,
nephews, and American associates
have got the title to three-quarters of
all the land that once belonged to the |
Hawaiian masses.
As to the introduction of leprosy !
and disease, explicitly acquitted the
missionaries and their sons from re-
sponsibility, except negatively, for |
failure to exclude these evils, while |
having supreme power. | spoke OF
these things as part of the mass of |
evidence showing the failure of mis- |
siOnary government to secure the |
most commonplace results of good and |
efficient administration. And [ re- |
ferred to these, in connection with |
other evil conditions of the islands, |
because these general conditions are |
DANGEROUSLY put forward by the agents
of the missionary. sugar" govern
ment as conclusive reasons why the
SONS of the missionaries are justified
in stealing the government, as they |
have appropriated the land of the Ha-
waiian people.
I have never questioned and never
doubted the piety, sincerity, and I'M
selfish zeal of the early missionaries.
as I understand, has the
Evening Post. But "nOblesse oblige."
A noble character, a pious zeal, carry
with them great obligations. The
children of such men are held to SINH
lar standards. And the utter failure
or there missions, not merely en-
fessed, but insisted upon, with clamor,
and fOul-mOuthed vindic-
tiveness, by the Sous and their repre-
If true, is all the more la
and discouraging to every
real friend of missions, because of the
goodness and earnestness of the
fathers.
/ am a friend of the missionary
cause. l shall not now, or at any
time, give any further proof of this
han TO say that do not fear COMPARE
son, in this respect, with any of my
critics, other than missionaries them
selves. But the best service which |
my true friend of missions can render
ust now is to put such condemnation
lpon the abuse of power, obtained
through missionary influence, as shall
make such crimes impossible here
Ifter. THOMAS @. SHEARMAN.
New York, March Is.