The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1901-05-03

trs psiafe fram which Manr prince
haf nai al the approach ~ tte ffliff ~
trIiuaH The fptpttn1 doctor does NOT
8erv thst Do appropriated and cold ~
ftr VaIuHNits toiOnrinH 10 the NouRul
p,irrp whose house he occupied but
ufrts Ha an excuse that this same prince
had been active w the persecution ~ the
tulsslon people, and IN the destruction of
their property. and ne adds
'rhe question inny he asked a. 20 the
right or prcpricty ~ the missionary sell.
lng on the stun which he found IN the
place he took ~ residence. At the
close Of the Siege missionaries In com
mon with an other foreigners In rsking
had to hasten and gather In what Rraln
they could from various sources for their
own and their peoples consumption. AZ
they had no money with which 20 pur-
chase clothing and other necessities fot
themselves and their people 4, was sug-
restod bv the United states Minister
MIR Congcr, that the missionaries sell
the stun found on the promises they oc-
cupicd. II would seem but the
mlldcst form OF punishment that tho
clothing and curios found In his Uho
Mongol princc's) premises should be sold
for the benefit OF those who had survived
his murdsrous attacks"
And he goes on:
''Ir there Is anything wrong In ,.is
should be pleased to have our critics
point II out. Furthermore, If proper
indemnity f. paid by the Chinese Govern
mcnt for the support during those few
months of the people who had been rem
dered homeless by the Boxers the sum Of
money received for the sale of his goods
could be returned to this Mongol prince"
Questioned as to the morality OF this
avowed lootlng, this taking possession of
other peoples houses and property on
the plea that there was nowhere else for
him to go, and no other way of support
ing himself the Rev. DR.. Ament advanc-
ed this general proposition:
II there was any moral obliquity in
looking toward those places as their
rightful abodes, we fail to discern 1t and
ask our critics to point out how we could
have done differently in times of such
special stress and necessity. While be-
lieving that right is always right and
wrong is always wrong, yet there are
many actions that are relatively so.
While one year ago 1t would have been
moral wrong to walk into these prem
ises and take our abode there, we con-
tend that we were fully justified in what
we have done under the circumstances
above described"
In several other parts of his interview
the Rev Dr.Ament admits the fact of the
looting of abandoned houses by mission
aries, and the sale of the looted articles
for the account of their unlawful pos
SCISSORS. The deeds he narrates can be
justified on the military ground of Civ
ing off the enemy's country" They can
he justified again on the theory that per-
mlts the despoiling of the Egyptians. FL
nally, they seem to come under the Rev.
DIR. Ament's maxim that while right is
always right and wrong is always wrong,
yet there are many actions lnat are rela-
lively so'' But it is doubtful if these
same deeds of plumber and conversion
into cash, no matter on what ground eX-
cused, will stand the searching light of
the language of one of the command
ments conveyed to Moses on Sinai, and
by the Rev. DR.. Ament probably taught
to his Chinese converts as one of their
very earliest lessons in Christianity.