The Independent. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1895-1905, 1896-08-07
Continued from LIST Page


der to accentuate this necessity let
us read few more authorities aud
try to discover what manner of men
the preachers we're
w. S. w. Ruschenberger, M. D.,
an American, writes in his voyage
Round the World" (Chapter XIII,
page 464);
The friends of the missionaries
have drawn over-wrought pictures
of the prosperity and prospects OF
the islands. Though we are all
ready to accord our praise to the
pleasing fctions OF novelist, we
expect rigid accuracy from the pen
of the divine, and are not disposed
to allow him to ,envelop facts in the
glowing language of poetic fancy.
The missionaries stationed at the
Sandwich Islands, as a class, are
inferior to all those whom it has
been our fortune to meet at other
stations during the cruise. Many
of them are far behind the age in
which they live, deficient in general
knowledge, and deal damnation in a
peculiar slang to all whose opinions
and course of life differ from their
own. This is no sketch of fancy,
and we can only lament there is no
power to shield the pulpit from the
vulgar spoutings of unlettered ig-
norance. L have no doubt the
Board OF Foreign Missions send
abroad the best they have at com
mand.
Yet it was at this very time that
these truthful missionaries wrote to
those who paid them: "The strength
of religious principle among the
people, and their preparation to act
from their own convictions of duty,
are more manifested than ever"
In 1S43 we have the evidence of
Sir Edward Belcher to the moral
makeup Of the missionaries:
Is it not strange, with all the in
fluence the American missionaries
are said to have over the King, that
it is not properly exerted to improve
his moral character? To compass
any object having for it's end injury
to the interests of their own mer-
chants they are keenly awake. X
Yet they permit the pattern, by
which all law acquires moral force
and energy, to commit sins and in
constituencies, not only without con.
troll, but without expressing their
opinion in that manly form which
| they pretend their mission so i'm
peratively demands of them. 4 y
Perhaps the greatest excuses are
committed within the missionary
circle.
G. S. Stewart, himself an Ameri-
can missionary, tells us of Liholiho
that he was most faithful in attend
ing church five times on Sunday,
though he was drunk four or five
days in the week. In 1850 Mr.. Ber-
thold Seeman, after noticing that
the majority of the Kings Council
were missionaries, adds that their
royal pupil permitted himself sail
kinds of unholy and immoral prac-
tees"
In 1854 an English gentleman,
Robert ELVES, Esq, describes a voy-
age he took with the king:
Strict teetotalism was observed on
board, everything being under the
command of DIR. Judd, who was
formerly one of the missionaries, but
now held the more lucrative Office
of Minister of Finance. Wishing to
take some spirits, 1 obtained glass
of water and walked down into the
cabin, hut there was DIR. Judd, not
being a good sailor, lying on his
berth. "Do you smoke, DR.. JuddW
said l to begin the conversation.
"No, sir; do not smoke" answered
he, "but / chew a good deal" This
| did not require to be told, as he
lay in his berth all day chewing to-
bacco and splitting into calabash
by his side. L thought that if he
cheNed I might drink, so l filed my
glass OF rum and water. (Tour
Around the World, CHI. xiii, p, 1861
Another of these missionaries, one
Richards, who had commenced life
as an "itinerant vender," was sent to
London and Paris as Minister
Dlan;Dofant;aruD IF tba Zinc %