The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1896-02-29
REV. s. L. BISHOP WRITES.
PUTS FORTH WHAT HE CALLS THE
"MIssIoNARy" sIOE.
A Longtime Opponent of opium License
The Reasons Given for
Fighting II.

puDllC luNltdtlOl lOi SAplSoSiOhSi
will state the mental attitude Of
myself and friends belonging to the
Missionary" party upon the ques-
ton of licensing the sale of opium,
which is now before the Senate.
Although we differ with you
upon that question, l
have gladly recognized the fact
that you seem to be i'll sympathy
with our general desire and aim to
seek the moral and spiritual eleva-
ton of the people, and especially Of
the native Hawaiians.
Speaking for myself, l became an
earnest opponent of opium licensing
some twenty-five years ago.
when that system was practiced
for the same reasons now
assigned for it. The experiment
then proved disastrously fatal to
the native people. Their peculiar
ly indulgent temperament made
them easy and rapid victims to all
excessive indulgence in the fascin
ating drug. l personally knew
three leading natives of great in
telligence and general good char
acter residing in Lahaina who then
fell victims to the drug in two or
three years use. Since then l have
been ardently hostile to any relax
alton of our present prohibitory
system.
Our present system does efficient
ly prohibit. Natives can only get
the drug with great difficulty. The
use of it is extremely rare among
them, although during periods of
its license, increasingly common,
and rapidly extending. 1t does not
appear that it is used to
any extent by the other races re-
siding here, except the Chinese,
who became addicted to it before
their arrival. That the present
market is very limited, seems clear
from the fact that prices are report
ed as so easily declining, upon any
considerable secret Importation
The fact that the possession of the
drug assures conviction, is ire
nendous check upon the secret dis
semination of the vice, especially
among natives. License it, and
this check is annihilated, beyond
the reach Of any possible precau-
tionary provisions.
l now wish to point out that it
was the attitude of the Queen
upon this opium question,
which had leading influence
in arraying us of the missionary
set, so unitedly in support
of h,r overthrow. We had always
been especially loyal to the native
monarchy. We should have stood
by it until it fell by its own de-
crepitude, had it not become mail
ifest that Liliuokalani was definite
ly following her predecessor in his
alliance with the lower elements Of
society for the support and promo
ton of changes which were newt
ably destructive to the native
people. 1t became clear beyond
doubt that the Queen was herself a
chief promoter of the opium and
lottery bills. When she signed
them and put in Cabinet of their
supporters, we were in dispair.
When the Queen committed
her last fatal act of breaking
down the Constitution, we well
coined the event as an opening
in the murky pail which
seemed to have settled over the
country, because it called into acti-
witty forces that would be removal
ing and reconstructing. Had she
not already have destroyed oui
. loyalty to herself by her preverse
and determined alliance with the
forces of evil, it is very certain thai
her final revolutionary act would
t not of itself wholly detached us from
: her. / think that even then con
: siderable proportion of us would
have sought to reestablish the shat
tered throne.
1t was the opium and lottery act!
which destroyed the monarchy
Those were the two salient mani
festations of a general moral deca.
in the queens disposition, and O
her retrogression into allianc
with the whole dark as
ISOLATION of heather ant
vicious elements which had been 81
II fast regaining ascendency amonl
the Hawaiian people and Fastening
their decay. 1t is the memory c
that deplorable situation that ell
hances our hostility to opium licen
sing. We have become the ardent
= bitter, lifelong enemies of that pol
e icy.
7. That this evil policy should b
e now revived is to us deep scandt
and shame. Some of US may hav
been over urgent and vehement i
our outcry against this thing. BIZ
consider how our sentiment wa
= formed, and how it is insepa- abb
4 from our antagonism to the NOR
archy. All in us that is earne'
=, and regardful towards the nativ
- Hawaiians, for whom our fathel
W and we have worked, rises up
d deepest protest against this attemp
" ed renewal of the evil.
Very cordially yours,
n S. T.. BISHOP.