Nuhou, Volume II, Number 10, 15 August 1873 — IS IT WORTH WHILE [ARTICLE]

IS IT WORTH WHILE

To. fry to save a vace—a peeullai' and distinctive type of humanity—weak and inferior tliough it may be } or is it hetter, that a dominant race, alongside of it should preyail and iill the land with a uniform standard of intelligence and power ? We feel that the variety whieh has heen created should he preserved, and that it is no more desirahle to have all of humanity "uniform and superior than it? "is that all of the animal kingdom shoitld be lions, We preserve the fools and xhe cowards of our superior stock, and for greater reason would we preserve the whole of a race deemed inferior. The variety in the human family, whieh white, hrown, and hlaek present are needed, but this variety, and the reciprocation of henefits whieh it ensures ? may be destroyed by a.n excess of self-assertion on the part of the superior race. The Guanches of the Canaiies, and the Caribs of Cuba, have utterly pa3sed away, even as Hawaiians are likely to disappear forever; on account *of the too eager pursuit of weakh, and unscrupu!ous efforts to promote the a |>rosperity of the eouritry. / Yet, it woukl deeply interest the wise and rhe, thougiitful of mankind, if the Guanches and Caribs still lived: and so will they be |nterested if the Hescendants of Wakea, the peeple organized into a poliiieal State by Kamehameha, shall conquer disease, and after a time, multiply } ānd preserve tiie organization of a Polynesian State. What an interest is felt in Persia, heeause her Chief is a successor df Darius, and history clates from early Bible days. The world will regret if the car of progress should destroy all.this, will regret if the mere selfish pursuit of material progress should lead to neglect, (leeline, and final extinction of this interesting family of Polynesia.

Now may not such a raeeas the Hawaiian takc par( in the real progres& of the wor!d, and still live on and multiply ? Their eongeners or brown itien like them in Java, the in- Gelebes, and even in Wallis Island, live alongside of the European, and have done >o lor long years, and still prosper a:nd multiply; beeause in all those eountries, the standard of life that suits our race isnot imposed upon another, and a distinetive race. if certain raees am the children of humanity, then there i$ greater reason that the fathers or chiefs of humanity shoukl foster them to live, And as children cannot live up to a parental -tandard, whkh woukl cause themtobeoverfed,overworkedand over strained in somo way, and so die; so we shouid have diflerent standards of iiie for our parental and infantiie races of mankind; and it is for the good sense and wisdom of the parental or superior raee to preserve these standanls best calculated to all the varieties of humaniiy» Onr statesmaiisliip should embrace a poficy

that aids and chcrishes thr« weak, well asj one |that advanees the strong, The glory ofj our |strength should he that we cherisli the weak: and that tliey live and iricreasc iiij of our parental foresight andj provision. We should save the weak fronij themselves. īsolation, and a freedom» that has degenerated into all manner of self abase, and hurtful slotli are destroying this| race. The scrofuloas taint the result of; their long isolation, predisposes them to all, the,.new diseases. The}' are no doubt. ina| desperate way; but as the skillful and bold physician ean sometimes save a case by a transfusion of blood; so ean this efTete and dying stock be saved by a stream of new blood from somc foreign, yet liQalthy kindred source. This has never been tried. Nothing indeed has ever been tried beyond the regulation of the c-ountry in acc*ordance with a foreign policv. whieh derived not the slightest inspiration from the »genius of the race, or the actual conditioils of the ,country. Men have organized, this country aml this people, just as they woukl have organized a township or state made up out of their own race out west in Amei'iea. Tliere has not been a man with that philosophic insight, like a Clive, a Koen, a Kaffles, a Legaspi, or a Galvan, who though European and - strong, cotlld organize wise]y, as they did, the races under their inlluenee in accordance \vith the genius of Asia. Have we had anyone who studied the genius of Polynesia? Has not rather this poor weak country and race, had imposed upon it the standard of.life that belonged to another race whieh like the bed of Procustes, required themtobe injuriously shortened or stretched in order to fit its dimensions ? If thev are alwavs to be stretched 011 the Procustoan eoueli of our civilization, we may not hope for any salvation for them for this world. But if in maintaining thcir independence, resolve to exercise our diplomacy in'seeking new sources of vitality, aud to regulate the life of the land in accordance with the genius of its race, \ve may aeeomplish a result, t!iat will satisfy the best friends of Jiumanity in al! parts of the world, and also promote that material progress whieh a reasonab!e ambition may desire. All. civilized government would sympathize with us in our endeavor to maintain the indepeudenee of the Arc!iipelago, aud to save and increase the race that are boni of the soil. We woukl fihd plenty of help iu pursuiug such a course; whereas our presont boggiug, ceding attitude, will only mako us despised. We could build up a flourislnng littlo state in the Pacific, whose weakness like Sau Maiino woukl be its protectiou; and y'et it eouKl serve all the needs of eouuueiee iuproviding an cntrepot for all nations in the racific. AIl! this is entirely consistent with the mvserva-| tion ol the autonomy of this kingdom, and: the i>erpetiuUion of thjs race: atid forsucūa! it is wonh wlule to try. ! i