The Hawaiian gazette., 1896-08-11
J. M. Alexander Gives Facts to
San Francisco Examiner.
WHAT CATHOLICS HAVE DONE.
Upon Protestant Clergymen.
Usurpation Their Text-Were Not
Expelled From Hawaiian Islands.
The Professionals Missionary Work.

To'the Editor of The Examiner-Sir:
Permit me through the columns of your
paper TO give a brief reply, which will
be my only one, to Father Yorke's four
long diatribes against the Protestant
missionaries of Hawaii.
Father Yorke has generally lodged |
the questions at issue between us. The /
occasion of my former article, to which
he replies, was his charge that Protes-
tant missionaries expelled Roman Ca
tholic priests from Hawaii. Instead
of fairly discussing this matter he has
gathered the testimonials of transient
uniformed visitors at Hawaii, some of
them enemies of missions, or liberti-
mes, or infidels, to show that the mis-
| sionaries did not good TO the natives,
that they spoke against the Roman
Catholic religion, that their teachings
influenced the action of the Govern
ment, and that it was believed that in
some instances they actually directed
the action of the Government. When
ne has quoted from Jarves' history he
has garbled what Jarves wrote or quot
ed what refutes himself.
The charge that the missionaries did
no good is a singular one for Roman
Catholic to make. Father Yorke has
we'll said: "By their fruits we shall
know them" Compare the results of
Roman Catholic missions with those of
Protestant missions in the Pacific. In
the PHILIPPINE Islands Roman Catholic
priests labored continuously since the
year 1865, and the natives there are
~, e ho toI Cd d1t
} In Nukuhiva, of the Marquesan group,
Roman Catholics have had exclusive
Jurisdiction for over forty years, and it
is there the common remark that the
natives would kill and eat a man to-
morrow if the French police should be
withdrawn"
Compare with these results the re-
suits of Protestant missions in the Ha-
waiian, Hervey, Tongan, Fiji and New
: Hebrides islands, l would ask where
: in all the world during the last 200
years Roman Catholic priests, by their
sole unaided efforts, have raised sin
gle pagan people to genuine Christian
civilization?
AS to the charge that missionaries
: spoke to the Hawaiian against the Ro-
) man Catholic religion | reply that Pro
: testant preachers have always and
t everywhere felt free to speak against
that religion, that they should do so
: and doubtless ever will do so while that
,, religion retains its paganism.
2 AS to the charge that the teachings
/ of the missionaries influenced the Gov
Y eminent | reply that they indeed did
so and also improved the whole state
l of the people, causing purer morality
. more honest trade and happier social
relations, and thus it came to pass that
! where there had before been barbarian
e RIGHTEOUSNESS and savage tyranny a
l well-ordered civil government was es-
4 tablished to the great grief of plOtters
for papal usurpation.
In contrast with Father Yorke's quo
tations from irresponsible. uninformed
travellers we have the statements of the
standard histories of Hawaii. which
4 have quoted showing that the Hawaiian
Government acted independently of the
missionaries, and even against theiI
D advice, in expelling the priests, and
8 that the chief reasons for the expulsion
e of the priests were their efforts to over
t throw the Hawaiian Government and
i the introduction of idolatrous ceremon-
e war with idolaters. were reasonable
e Mr., Jarves tells US that the Hawaiian
4 rulers exhibited remarkable forbear-
: lance in merely expelling the priests
t when by their former methods they
: would have inflicted upon them severe
punishment for intriguing to usurp the
: civil government.
t 1t is amusing to read Father Yorke's
. allegations about the expulsion of Ro-
man Catholic priests by Protestants
, when we consider how Roman Catho-
, lies have prosecuted Professionals in the
J Pacific islands So recently as the
! year 1886 Roman Catholics deported
the Protestant missionary, Doane, from
Ponape of Micronesia and introduced
Roman Catholic priests into that isl
and to this time they have not per
mitted any Protestant missionary tC
: return thither, although by more thar
forty years of labor the Protestant mis-
sionaries lifted the people of that isl
: and from barbarism to Christian civil
5 ilzation. Even now Roman Catholics
are prosecuting missionaries of the
: London Missionary Society in the 10y
! atty islands, imprisoning some and de-
porting others.
l might greatly prolong this article
by telling of the intrigues by Roman
E Catholic priests for the subjugation OF
the Society islands and other groups OF
the Pacific The dark history of the
atrocities of these priests in the islands
5 of t. Z ocean show what they would dc
in our United States if they had the
power. The Hawaiian Queen, Kaahu-
manu-, clearly perceived their character
when she expelled them for introducing
religious rites that were similar to her
former idolatry and plotting to de-
throne herself.
j. NJ. ALEXANDER.