The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-11-29

| ing FORCES ana events Which were more
paramount" than Mr.. Blount.
| We thus obtained the key to the Pa
cific Ocean. OF the beauty of the is
| lands 1 shall speak later. In view of
| the mighty events now Transporting in
the Orient and the building of the Pan
| anna Canal. leading, as believe they
Will, to commercial changes and revo-
| lutfons almost too grand to horoscope
or anticipate with any regard to de-
tail, but which will leave US the ac-
knowledged power dominating the Pa
cific between China, Japan, the Philip
pines and United States of America, it
appears that our statesmen have either
been very fortunate or almost president.
In any event. they are entitled to great
credit and so are the officers and sup
porters of the provisional government
who stood so manfully and bravely to
their guns in this trying episode and
whose wisdom. integrity and justice
have been so fully vindicated.
In reading the history of these events
an American trembles to see how near
" We came, in several instances, to
losing these islands and seeing them go
to another power which, by right of
sovereignty here, would have been en-
titled to the lions share of the Pacific
trade.
THE NATIVES.
Are the. people here contented? To
answer this question a brief description
of them is essential. When 1 say 'speo-
pie" L mean the natives, for, while
they are but one-third of the population
they are obviously entitled to first con-
sideration. My views have been as
abruptly revolutionized regarding them
as in the matter of the equities of Cap
tain Cooks death I had been taught
(perhaps by the same books in which I
had read of Cook that the natives were
savages; cannibals indeed. Nothing
could have been more untrue. The mis-
sionaries found no such inha bitants.
On the contrary they found a gentle.
affectiona.te, loyal and law-abiding
race, probably the best of any of the
primitive races; better than the ancient
Gaul, Saxon or Briton from whom
most Americans descended, and as good
as the Teutonic hordes who overran the
Latin countries. There is no compari-
son between them and the aborigines
of North America.
They are more like the Aztecs of
Mexico. If one doubts their forceful-
ness or courage. let him read the wars
of King Kamehameha /, fought but lit
tie over 100 years ago, as well as the
rest of the history of the islands. They
have chosen to be peaceful people
but have been as terrible as the Jap
anese when driven to war. The pres
ent generation has had the advantage
of compulsory common school educa-
ton and has less illiteracy than may
be found in almost any of cur United
States.
At the time of the discovery by Cap
tain Cook they were practically free
from the ordinary vices of men save
(measured by the Christian standard)
in sexuaIrelations and evenin that mat
ter I find no fair account or evidence
that their relations have been indecent
or that they were paraded in public,
but simply that the marriage relation
was and is regarded differently, and,
like the Japanese, they have evolved
from a different stock and stem than
we and with different customs. Gus
toms and marriage laws differ in all
countries and in most of our own states.
That there is more Inconsistency among
them from their standpoint than
among Christians from theirs, l find