1894.]

CHILDISH LEGISLATION.

319

resorted to. Gifts of land were voluntary, or the land was purchased, and, coming into the possession of provident and industrious whites, has been held by them up to the present time. Putting aside all prejudice, it must be frankly admitted that the Hawaiian is inherently averse to work. He is improvident, and has a passion for gambling — a passion, however, that seems to be one of the characteristics of human depravity all the world over. He is apparently devoid of forethought, and deficient in judgment to an astonishing degree. It has been these two last traits, with his improvidence, that have made him unfit to exercise authority or to administer public affairs with any of the ability requisite in leadership.

Some of the proceedings of native legislatures are an indication of what might be called the childishness of the people as a race. One was, to give an example, that there should be an Act promulgating the statement that leprosy did not exist, and another was to repeal the Act which provides for the necessary segregation of the lepers on Molokai. Among those who are wealthy and educated a lavish extravagance in living seems to be the rule. They reside in beautiful, luxuriously furnished houses, surrounded by extensive gardens; they entertain like princes; their children are sent to Europe to be educated. With their dark Oriental beauty and native languor they have acquired a Parisian polish, which is in

striking contrast to American nervousness and angularity. It is said by those whose word cannot be doubted that many of even the intelligent retain under the surface the ancient faith of their ancestors. They consult their kuhunas, their native physicians, in preference to English or American medical men. I heard of a case of this sort which had occurred only recently. A child had been sent to the Hospital with a dislocated hip, which had been encased in a plaster cast. She was progressing favourably, when the parents became dissatisfied, and finally, notwithstanding the protests of the Hospital authorities, insisted on removing her and placing her under the care of a native doctor. The cast was taken off, and the child will be lame for life. What has been done for Hawaiians by Hawaiians is traceable, always, to foreign influence in the Government. There are now throughout the islands millions of dollars worth of highly improved property, a perfected system of public instruction, and a civilisation almost ideal in its character. It has been charged that it is puritanical, hard, and narrowan easy accusation, always upon the tongue of the demagogue, and of those who confound liberty with licence. The only real question involved, when all the charges of clamouring factions are sifted and their demands are analysed, is: Shall what now exists society, wealth, comfort, in which even the poorest shares be dissipated by hands incapable

1894.]

CONCLUSION.

321

of administering law and order; or shall it be transferred to those who created it, and who, in saving their own, must save with it that which yet remains to the natives?

This is the sum and the substance of the whole situation; and if America is not ready and willing to assume the responsibility, England may be induced to accept it, and, before her, Japan, who has already upon Hawaiian soil a representation of over twenty-five thousand souls. No matter what the outcome may be, the Hawaiian is a fading race, with remnants of heathen customs still hampering it, confronted by the stronger and the newer, trained in government and refined, or at any rate strengthened, by civilisation. It is one of those crises which come to individuals and nations alike, when destiny leaves little choice to the actor in the drama, and events move on irresistibly through that transition which evolves, at last, higher and better conditions. It is the apparent triumph of the strong over the weak; it is, in reality, the natural dissolution of that which has served its time. It seems a hard and pitiless doctrine, but it is the unvarying law of nature and of history.

INDEX.