BRITON'S IN THE SOUTH SEAS

Samoa Times and South Sea Gazette, Volume 4, Issue 177, 18 December 1880, Page 2

BRITON'S IN THE SOUTH SEAS

[Si/'liiri/ .Vail, October 1(1.] Tin' touch <f a v-iiu-ilioi! hand and the s.uni.i (.'' a voice thill i.s still may he foil ami heard by those who read the moving apnea] fi <>m the islands of the South Seas which we publish in another :,ait of this I issue. The account of the pass to which | aii unreasoning hnmanitariauism has brought allhiis anion- the islands ~f Polynesia is described as \f hy a voice from the dead. The writer, a captain of a vessel trading among those groups, and only the -tlier day cruelly slaughtered while pursuing his peaceful avocations, seems !■' protest against his own impending fate. There is something pathetic in the thought, that the unfortunate shipmaster's .allegations inspecting the msoheeii avaled for Britons nave received overwhelming endorsement from hi- own • passes without some terrible loss, l„,th in life ami property, to the English traders " The first endorsement was his own - terrible, loss." When a man lias proved so line a prophet in one particular, it must he fair Lo attach some, credit to his remarks on contingent themes. Nothing is more strik m.' in the letter In which we' have referred Mian the contrast, drawn between the perils to which all British subjects are exposed in the South Seas ami the security enjoyed be sulijrcts of Germany. The causes to" which these ilitl'erouees of i clition are Inferred by I he murdered writer are probable anil consistent, and have, indeed, been alleged by independent observers writing from other parts of the vast Polynesian archipelago From every direction protests against the system of utter supineness i which has been allowed to paralyze the i hands of practical justice have been com- ' ing, a"! which has made the name of i Brilon an invitation to outrage in the I ideas of savage barbarians. "It makes i an Englishman blush," remarks the sea- f faring man who will blush no more, " to < hear the estimation in which the natives | hold thai navy which he has been neens- t tomed to believe the first in the world." l What sort of estimation that is may bo I« readily learned from the recorded son- < timents of the " big-fellow king," ( Hailey, who could boa.it that ho had ' eaten eleven men belonging to the lis- 'I paranza. a British schooner which he t had treacherously seized. Hailey, Intel, t [ ligeut monarch, had the history of his c own times nt his finger's, owls, and had fi extracted its moral. . 110 is brimful of I wise sws, fairly founded on modern in- 1 eidents A neighbouring prince had 1r taken two sclloonci'H, the Treasury Islanders J had taken three whalers, the Florida'] natives had seized two Vessels, ami so on. 1 0 Hailey had the list hy heart and at heart, I V None of these native heroes had suffered for their feats; why should ku fear ? Ho ' 1) had heard the renown of the British navy ci and the manner of their prowess—tiring tl big guns, making awful noises, hut only 0 harming cucnanut trees ami smashing in- si spnsato rocks, or knocking down u hut or pi

r, two. For " Hailoy, big-fellow king it such an adversary had no terrors. Bi II such " big-follow king " as Hailey, kno i- bow to make distinctions. There e another navy which they havo learned i 0 respect, although to Englishmen of :; generation back its very name won't ,1 have seemed an anachronism. Tl i German navy, nay the very fierma l, name, is a spoil of power; and the ol f boast, " Civis Hoinanus siim,"onco aj propriatod to Britons wherever the - might be. has in Polynesia been tram 1 furred to Teutons. This thing has goii s too far. The influence of the Jeliab *' tribe has transgressed the bounds of th ' merely ridiculous, and has become a< ' lively prejudicial to the nation, liot j rioboolagha, taking advantage of th , spurious sentiinentaiisin of its sympathi , sers, has learned to regard Euglishine i everywhere as less importaiit than it • own inclinations. So long as well-mean • tug persons with a perverted bcnevolene 1 could see no duty near their own door ' anil feel no emotion stirred by the mist \ ries of English "Joes "in the alleys few paces from their places of meotin;. ' their proceeding might excite a Hash o satire or provoke an occasional lash o I wrath. Hut, when encouraged by iiiiinu • nity from serious indignation, they exer i a perniciousN influence to impose thei visionary and ridiculous system upon th British Executive in savage places, am ' become responsible for a plan of regula tion which operates as an incentive hj murders of their more active and enter prising fellow-countrymen, the time ha come whon their foolish counsels shouh bo thrust aside, and dealings with bur barons people be conducted upon tin only effectual phi M—the strong hand tempered by mercy and justice, but no paralyzed by a parody of both.