An Examination of Charges against the American Missionaries at the Sandwich Islands, as alleged in the Voyage of the ship Blonde, and in the London Quarterly Review. Cambridge: Hilliard, Metcalf, & Co. pp. 67, 8vo.

WHEN the Frigate Blonde returned from the Sandwich Islands, after conveying to the natives the remains of their king and queen who had died in England, it naturally occurred to the wakeful mind of a London bookseller, that a profitable work might be wrought up from the incidents of a voyage under the conduct of Lord Byron, whose grandfather had been distinguished for his discoveries in the Pacific, and whose predecessor had immortalized the name, by the splendor of his genius, and his recent fall in the service of Greece. The journals of the Chaplain and of some of the under officers were therefore obtained; and a Mrs. Graham, a sort of literary redacteur, or intellectual mechanic, was charged with the office of preparing a regular narrative from these materials. Mr. Stewart, the American Missionary, being then in England, was applied to by this lady on the subject. He frankly told her that much of her information was incorrect; that the younger officers especially, being unacquainted with the language, had misconceived many things of serious importance. This, however, was of little moment. She was making a book to sell, and a spice of the marvellous was well suited to her design. A little abuse, too, of Missionaries and of Missionary efforts was adapted, she well knew, to please the public taste; and the admonitions which she had received from Mr. Stewart, had no tendency to conciliate the lady's favor. In due time, therefore, a splendid quarto was ushered into the world full of frivolous details, of

half-information about subjects which she did not comprehend, and of erroneous statements respecting the conduct and designs of the Missionaries. The thing would have died, as such things always die, without doing the least harm, had not a writer in the London Quarterly Review sought to give currency to these calumnies, with new ones of his own, through the medium of that widely extended work. Under these circumstances, Mr. Stewart thought proper, some months since, to state the subject in its true light, in the In the Boston Daily Advertiser. pamphlet before us, which was originally, in part, an article in the North American Review for January 1828, the discussion is resumed, and the character of the Missionaries vindicated in the most triumphant man

The account of the religion of the islanders, which is presented in the Voyage,' is totally unsupported by evidence, and directly against the testimony of Mr. Ellis and the other missionaries. It is just such an account, as might with equal propriety be inserted in any other book of travels among a heathen people; and, in almost all cases, it would be directly opposed to facts. But let us look at one of these passages.

'The belief of a Supreme Being, the author of all nature, and the peculiar protector and father of the human race, was the foundation of their creed, in common with that of all the tribes of men, who have begun to think of more than the supply of their physical wants.' p. 10.

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They deified the operations of nature, and placed between man and the Supreme Creator, a race of intermediate and generally benevolent beings, to support and comfort them.', Ibid.

Now it will appear, on a very slight examination, that the creed here mon

In an account which Mr. Ellis gave of the religion of the South Sea Islands (which is literally applicable to the Sandwich Islands, and which is taken from a statement prepared by him with much care while in this country,) he

says;

·

The only controlling principle in their religion was fear. Their gods were confessedly evil, revengeful, cruel. No amiable trait of character was attributed to them. Consequently, they were never loved. And the system of religion resembled the gods. It possessed no amiable characteristics. It sanctioned every crime, and even required the practice of very many. Its rites were bloody. The king was chief priest. Hence the requisitions of religion were seconded by the civil power. One of the principal requisitions was human sacrifices, which was frequently made.'

The only motives to religious worship, seem to have been a hope of averting the malevolent influence of evil deities, or of directing that malevolence upon enemies, in time of war, or of keeping the common people in a state of servility to the chiefs. The thought of support, or comfort, to be derived from these odious beings, or of moral accountability to a superior power, or of moral principle as applicable to the conduct of either gods or men, much less of a pure, spiritual essence, gov

erning the world and pervading all things,-never entered the mind of a Sandwich Islander, till he derived it from European and American visiters. The ascription of sublime and enlarged thoughts of the Deity to the Polynesian tribes, is as mere a fabrication, as it would be to pretend that they were acquainted with the astronomical discov eries of Newton or Laplace. It is doubtful whether any of their deities were of a higher character than that of deceased kings and giants. Polyphemus and Enceladus would come up to their standard; and probably Hercules, certainly Neptune, would greatly transcend it.

The

One great source of error, with writers on this subject, is, that they almost uniformly assume, that heathen nations are now, or have generally been, in a rising state. Thus it is said, in the tion of the Polynesian creed was held passage above quoted, that the foundaby the natives, in common with all the tribes of men, who have begun to think of more than the supply of their physical wants.' It is here taken for granted, that men gradually rise to juster views of the Deity, without the aid of revelation, by the operation of their own minds. We ask for the proof of this doctrine. All Scripture is against it. Much history is against it. present state of the heathen world is against it. We have yet to learn, that there has been a single instance, upon the face of the earth, of an ignorant and heathen people making advances in the knowledge of God, unless they derived aid from some extraneous source. If there is such an instance, let it be produced, and let the matter be thoroughly investigated. On the tion are innumerable. They can be other hand, the instances of deteriorafound in every period of authentic history. The Indians of our own continent are very striking examples. It can be proved from their languages alone, that they are descended from a highly cultivated race of men. they have been sinking lower and lower, till, in regard to any theory of morals and religion, most of the tribes have sunk to the very bottom. Far from employing their minds upon such subjects, they never think of them at all. They are in a state of perfect moral darkness, so that, when asked the plainest questions, they reply without

But

the least concern, We do not know; our fathers never told us; we never think about it. pp. 15-17.

Equally erroneous is the Quarterly Reviewer's account of the character of the natives. He represents them as a simple-minded people;' meaning undoubtedly that they are honest, frank, and confiding in their intercourse with others. Now this is directly contradicted by the testimony of those who have known them best, and is opposed to universal experience as to the character of savage nations.

Distrust and treachery are among the vices of almost all savages. For their distrust, however, they are not so much to be blamed; because it is the result of their painful experience. This universal want of confidence is perhaps their greatest source of torment; and it is the great evil with which missionaries have to contend, for a series of years, at the commencement of every mission. So much have savages usually seen, both among themselves and their visitors, of treachery, fraud, and villainy, that they do not believe it possible, that any man should be actuated by other than selfish and sinister views. They utterly discredit professions of disinterested friendship; though they do not always tell you so to your face. They know nothing, either from what passes within their own bosoms,or from what takes place within the range of their observation, which would make them think that missionaries should leave their homes, and reside in a foreign land, merely for the sake of doing good. But when they have looked on for a few years, and have witnessed the coincidence between professions and conduct; when they have seen missionaries labor patiently for the benefit of froward and heedless strangers; and when they exprience the salutary influence of such labors; it is not uncommon that they yield a confidence unlimited, in the same proportion as it had been pertinaciously withheld. The Reviewer, in the case before us, seeing this confidence reposed in the American missionaries, and not knowing how laboriously, and against how many obstacles it had been won, supposed it

was to be accounted for by looking at the simple-mindedness of the natives.

When the first missionaries arrived, in the spring of 1820, the mass of the people were in a state of ignorance, degradation, and misery, greater than always resided in a Christian councan be imagined by any one who has try. There is no doubt, that they

were much more wretched than when the islands were discovered by Captain Cook. Two most frightful causes of calamity had been introduced by foreigners; namely, a loathsome disease, and the use of distilled spirits; and had been in such a state of aggravaboth these causes, with many others,

tion, as to threaten the islands with absolute depopulation. It is believed, on good grounds, that the number of inhabitants had diminished one half, in little more than forty years; and that the downward course was never more rapid than at the time here alluded to. The common people were poor in the extreme, almost utterly destitute of clothing, living in hovels, with the loose straw on which they slept, and their matted hair, filled with vermin. To raise up such a people, from their degradation, did the missionaries devote their lives.

But the moral condition of the islands cannot be more forcibly represented by any one fact, than by the notorious practice of celebrating the death of a high chief by Bacchanalian and Eleusinian orgies; or, in plainer language, by an unbounded license, extended through several days, for every individual to do what he pleased. One would think that now was the time for a kind-hearted people to show their kindness; and for an inoffensive people to do no harm; for here was no constraint of any kind. The theory of the custom, or what may be called the fiction of the law, was, that the grief of the people was so excessive, that they knew not what they did, and therefore they could not be held responsible for their conduct. In accordance with this fiction, immediately on the death of a chief being announced, a most ungovernable wailing ensued; all the people of both sexes crying, screaming, shrieking, and expressing their sorrow by most vehement gesticulations, and working themselves up to a most extravagant frenzy. They tore out their hair, beat their breasts, knocked out

place.

pp. 28, 29.

The first charge against the Missionaries, is, that when Lord Byron had his first public interview with the chiefs," Mr. Bingham, who loses no opportunity of mingling in every business, proposed prayers." If he had done so on an occasion so affec

ting to the nation as that of receiving for interment, the remains of their king and queen, it would surely have been a pardonable offence. But the fact is, that prayer was not proposed by Mr. Bingham, but by Karaimoku, the Regent of the Islands.

This was stated in the journal of the missionaries, written at the time, and since published in this country, and has lately been confirmed to us verbally, by one of them who was present. Soon after the formal introduction of Lord Byron, the delivery of the presents, and the reception of them with suitable acknowledgments, Karaimoku turn ed to Lord Byron, and, in a very respectful and dignified manner, expressed himself in words, which were interpreted nearly as follows: "Would it not be well to unite in a prayer of thanksgiving to Jehovah, that he has inclined the king of England to show favor to us poor people, in sending to us the remains of our king and queen, and that he has preserved you safely during the voyage, and brought you to our islands?" To this proposal, which was made spontaneously, and without any consultation with the missionaries, Lord Byron readily assented. Karaimoku then requested Mr. Bingham to offer the prayer, which was a matter of course, as he was the only missionary present who had long been in the habit of speaking the native language; and, indeed, the only ordained mission

A disposition to accuse and misrepresent on such a subject, must arise from a settled hostility to the Missionary cause in the Sandwich Islands. Such an hostility, our readers are aware, has existed for the last three years, on the part of many who visit those Islands for the purpose of traffic. The causes may be reduced to three heads. First, The natives becoming civilized and intelligent under the instructions of the Missionaries, are no longer an easy prey to every sharper who may wish to deceive and over-reach them. under their influence, to enforce the Secondly, Laws have been enacted observance of the seventh commandment. And we blush to record, says the writer whose work is before us, that individuals, who call themselves gentlemen, and who went from a Christian land,-men who know veTy well the miseries which lewdness has inflicted upon these islanders, and how impossible it is to raise them to a state of comfort or civilization, while .vices of this class are unrestrained, should yet be held in such slavery to their brutal passions, as to be willing, for the gratification of these passions, to consign the natives, through all succeeding ages, to poverty, disease, and hopeless debasement. There have been sea captains and others, who have given their decided influence to the cause of morality and good order, and who have honorably distinguished theinselves in this manner; but we are sorry to add, that these must be considered in the light of exceptions; and it grieves us still more to say, that there have not been wanting instances of the perversion of official station to embarrass the chiefs, in their efforts to promote morality among their people; and that the direct and known tendency of this perversion of influence was to make

the reign of vice and crime perpetual and universal. It is safe to affirm, that three quarters of the opposition, which has raged so furiously at the islands, has arisen from the fear that the missionaries would exert such an influence, as to prevent the illicit intercourse of foreigners with the women. p. 30.

Thirdly, The remaining cause of opposition is a jealousy of the Missionaries as Americans, which is felt by many English captains, and has given rise to the misrepresentations of the "Voyage," and of the London Quarterly. In this jealousy, however, we are happy to say, Lord Byron has no share. On the contrary, he has uniformly given the most honorable support to the Missionaries, and has publicly testified, before the British nation, to the benefits conferred by their exertions, on the Sandwich Islands.

When stripped of verbiage, this all amounts to the single charge, that on a expressed his opinion, that prayer was a certain occasion, one of these missionaries fitter employment for Saturday evening, than an attendance upon an exhibition of the magic lantern; and the inferences are, that the missionaries impose an intolerable strictness upon the people; that they interfere in political measures; that they domineer over the chiefs; that they have acquired a threatening influence over the conscience; that, through this influence, they aim at the government of the isl ands; and that, to crown the whole, they are destitute of common sense. Now we insist, in the name of justice, that this whole string of inferences be stricken out of the indictment. Not one of them folry should think an established religious lows from the mere fact, that a missionaservice a better preparation for the Sabbath, than attending an exhibition of phantasmagoria.

mission, that Mr. Bingham expressed the We have gone thus far upon the adopinion imputed to him; but we now deny the fact altogether.

The circumstances were briefly these. While Boki and his party were on their passage from England, they were amu

There was one point, however, on which Lord Byron appears justly to have felt some uneasiness, and this was the tone, manner, and line of conduct of the American missionaries, particularly one of the name of Bingham. The influence which this man had acquired over the simple natives, and his uncalled for interference in petty concerns wholly unconnected with his mission, were but too manifest on several occasions, but never more openly nor more offensively, than when Boki, one Saturday evening, expressed a wish to entertain his countrymen with an exhibition of phantasmagoria. The young king and his sister, with many of the chiefs and people, had assembled to see the show, when, behold! a message was received from this Bingham, "that on so near an approach of the Sabbath, prayer was a fitter employment!" and such was the ascendency which this man had gained, that "the two poor children were carried off in tears, and many of the chiefs and people followed to the missionary meeting." pp. 33, 34.

The following are the remarks of the writer before us. VOL. II.-No. IV.

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tern; and Boki, apprehending that these wonders would be exhausted, begged that the show might proceed no further; and that some part of it might be preserved for the gratification of his friends at the islands. One Saturday morning, when Kaahumanu, a female of high rank, and now principal regent, was breakfasting on board the Blonde, the magic lantern was mentioned, and the inquiry made, when she would like to see the exhibition. She replied, this evening; either not reflecting what day of the week it was, or not adverting to the regularly appointed religious services, to which some of the chiefs had recently begun to attend, on Saturday evening. Not long after, that is, some time in the forenoon, Lord Byron met with Mr. Stewart, and informed him of the appointment; to which Mr. Stewart made no objection, saying, that he presumed the chiefs would be highly gratified. Not considering the intimation of Lord Byron in the light of an invitation, he did not mention the fact to the other missionaries. What is more remarkable, Kaahumanu did not mention the appointment to any of the chiefs. This omission was probably the result of mere inattention or forgetfulness.

Toward evening the chiefs began to assemble for their religious service, which had been established and was conducted