Art. III. 1. Polynesian Researches, during a Residence of nearly Six Years in the South Sea Islands; including Descriptions of the Natural History and Scenery of the Islands; with Remarks on the History, Mythology, Traditions, Government, Arts, Manners, and Customs of the Inhabitants. By William Ellis, Missionary to the Society and Sandwich Islands, and Author of the "Tour of Hawaii." 2 vols. 8vo. pp. xvi, 1112. Plates. Price 17. 8s. London, 1829.

2. The History of the South Sea Mission applied to the_Instruction and Encouragement of the Church. A Discourse. By William Orme, Foreign Secretary to the London Missionary Society. 8vo. pp. 48. London. 1829.

OTAHEITE has lost its dances, its songs, its voluptuous manners. The females of the new Cythera, whose beauty was perhaps too highly extolled by Bougainville, are now become, under their bread-fruit and their elegant palm-trees, puritans who attend preaching, read the Scriptures with Me'thodist missionaries, hold religious controversies from morning 'till night, and atone by a profound ennui for the too great gayety of their mothers. Bibles and ascetic works are printed at Otaheite'.* Such are the terms in which the imaginative Author of the "Beauties of Christianity" adverts to a fact, which it has become useless to deny, but which philosophical rhapsodists find it difficult to understand. Does not M. Chateaubriand regret the sombre change which has passed upon the 'Queen of the Pacific'? The Eleusinian orgies of the arreoy, the Parisian 'gayety' of these voluptuous Cythereans, the elegant mythology of these susceptible Islanders, which peopled all nature with sylphs, gnomes, and genii,—all have disappeared before the intolerant, ascetic spirit of that same faith which, ages ago, wrought such merciless desolation among the costly fanes and sculptured altars of classic idolatry, putting to flight 'the religion of the loves and the luxuries.' And as the puritanism of the first Christians was insipid and offensive to the Plinies and Tacituses of that age, so, must the exhibition of Christianity in its naked force and purity, appear repulsive to the philosophic infidels and poetical rhapsodists of the present day. The fact is, that, in the transition from darkness to light, from ignorance to knowledge, from vice to purity, there is nothing to excite and gratify the imagination. On the contrary, the imagination is the loser by the change which sweeps away its illusions. Idolatry is the natural religion of the imagination, with all its attendant impurities; and long after it has been banished as a creed, it may retain its hold upon the sympathies

* Travels in America and Italy. Vol. I.

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of men who have not faith, and are therefore worshippers of the work of their own minds. This more subtile idolatry is not less really opposed to the genius and true moral beauty of Christianity, than the palpable fooleries of Greece and India. It may veil itself under a Christian creed, but must ever be the antagonist of the religion of Christ.

But we should perhaps wrong M. Chateaubriand, were we to infer from the equivocal expressions we have cited, that he seriously regrets the revolution that has banished infanticide, lasciviousness, theft, and abominable idolatries from these Islands; notwithstanding that it has been effected by Methodist missionaries, and that the simple rites of Protestantism are little congenial to his taste. There are, at least, many persons in our own country, who would unhesitatingly admit, that the reformation of manners that has been effected among a barbarous nation, is to be viewed with satisfaction; that the Missionaries are to be commended for their useful and philanthropic labour's; and yet, this cold approbation may be far enough from a cordial interest in the cause of Christianity, or a correct appreciation of the means and agency by which this signal triumph of the word of God has been achieved. And such persons would be likely enough to speak of what has taken place in the South Sea Islands in much the same manner as M. Chateaubriand, bating the Frenchman's flippancy, with a view to save their own credit with the philosophic and polite by the tacit disclaimer of puritanism.

There are some persons again, we have reason to apprehend, within the precincts of the religious world, whose satisfaction at the work which God has wrought, has been not a little repressed by the spirit of party; some whose constitutional incredulity has rendered them indisposed to yield full credence to events so far beyond the little circle of their experience; and not a few whose excessive distaste for what they may deem highcoloured statements, has led them to make this a plea for a supine inattention to substantial facts. In all these cases, however, it may require self-examination, whether a lurking spirit of infidelity has not a criminal influence upon the decisions of the understanding.

It is now fifteen years', remarks Mr. Orme, since the extraordinary change took place which is the subject of the following discourse. A sufficient length of time has therefore elapsed to ascertain its nature and probable continuance. The first accounts of it were received by many with the suspicion that they were either untrue or greatly exaggerated; or it was hinted, that the change was very superficial in its nature, and not likely to be permanent in its duration. It was apprehended that the missionaries had been too easily impressed with the unexpected reception of their doctrine by some of the savages,

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among whom they had so long laboured, not only without success, but, as was supposed, almost without hope; and that they gladly availed themselves of the first indications of improvement, to reward the labours and encourage the expectations of those by whom they had been

sent out.

'On the principles of human nature, it would not have been extraordinary, had something of this kind occurred. What we eagerly desire, we are easily persuaded to believe; and that which strongly impresses ourselves, we are in some danger of colouring to others. Time and the progress of events have shewn, however, that the missionaries in the South Sea Islands were not betrayed into this mistake. At first, they under-stated, rather than over-stated, what God had done by them; and nothing has ever occurred to diminish the confidence to which their simple and unvarnished statements are entitled.

To have preached or printed such a discourse as that which is here presented to the public, at an early period in the history of this remarkable mission, would have been unsuitable, because premature. But the time has now come, when an opinion may safely be pronounced on the topics to which I have ventured to advert. I ought also to say, the time is come when an opinion and a testimony are called for.

I have reason to believe, that an impression is abroad in this country, that the work of God in the islands is retrograding; that there is a danger of the natives returning back to their former vices and idolatries; and that the sanguine expectations of the Church, respecting the progress of the Gospel in those regions, are not likely to be realized. To counteract this impression, was a leading object in preaching, and is now of printing this discourse. There is no just foundation for such an impression." pp. iii, iv.

Mr. Orme's vigorous and succinct sketch, by placing the subject in its true light, forms a most suitable introduction to Mr. Ellis's volumes, and will, we trust, contribute to promote their circulation. The case is strikingly put in the opening paragraphs.

Had the Royal Society of London, some thirty or forty years ago, resolved to make a grand effort to propagate the principles of philosophy, and to ascertain the power of those principles to promote civilization and science in a savage country;-had they subscribed largely themselves, and induced the friends of philosophy in England and Europe, generally, to aid them by their benevolent contributions to carry forward the scheme;-had they selected as the theatre of their experiment, some barbarous island, far removed from the knowledge and influence of European arts and manners, whose inhabitants occupied almost the lowest point in the scale of humanity-degraded in their habits, wretched in their circumstances, and ferocious in their dispositions;-had they formed a nicely constructed scheme of philosophical principles and means for the melioration and improvement of these miserable outcasts, and resolved to leave no measure untried which might be likely to elevate their minds, and work on their moral and social faculties ;-had they, to carry this plan into execution, in

vited the sons of science, the ardent admirers of philosophy, to come forward and venture themselves as the instruments of this splendid experiment, and to give practical proof that the love of wisdom, and the zeal to propagate it, may be combined together;-had they succeeded in finding a band of youthful adventurers, fired with the love of their species, and the ambition of human glory, prepared to follow some hoary veteran to the field of action, and ready to venture all hazards, either to conquer the difficulties of their undertaking, or to leave their bones as the evidences of their stern and unyielding determination; had they fitted out a vessel of discovery, to convey this corps of scientific philanthropists to those distant shores, on which they were destined to erect their apparatus, and to publish their principles to the wild and untutored children of the desert ;-had they filled her with a precious cargo of books, to teach the principles of science, of instruments to illustrate their nature, and innumerable articles of craft and man's device, to exhibit the superiority of the arts and sciences of civilized society, to all that the barbarous people were acquainted with:-would not the eyes of all England, and of all Europe, have been fixed on such an enterprise? Loud and long would have been the praises of the wise and benevolent framer of the scheme; and mightily would the merits of his youthful associates have been celebrated. The vessel would have been launched amidst the plaudits of surrounding multitudes; and, as she left her native shores, with her banners streaming in the gale, she would have been followed by the warmest wishes, and the fondest hopes, of an admiring and approving country.

Suppose this interesting vessel to reach the far distant shore, and to succeed in safely landing her valuable cargo; that the associated philosophers are permitted to commence their operations, and to begin to unfold their design; that the natives, after the first emotions of astonishment and wonder have subsided, begin to be very jealous, and very troublesome; that they harass the benevolent strangers with ten thousand silly and impertinent questions; that they prove themselves to be incorrigibly idle, and abominably vicious; that they steal the goods of their visiters, burn their books, destroy their instruments, and threaten to take their lives. Suppose that the United Association begin to differ among themselves about the probable success of their labours; and that some, wearied with the folly and ingratitude of the savages, and tired of spending life in the prosecution of such an undertaking, at last abandon it, and return with a most discouraging account of the disasters which have occurred, and with confident prognostications of the certain failure which is to follow. The tone of the public mind, in regard to the enterprise, would in all probability undergo a considerable change; and many would perhaps be loud in condemning that which they had formerly warmly espoused, or endeavour to fix the blame of the discomfiture on the want of wisdom in the projectors, or the want of skill and perseverance in the adventurers.

'Some, however, still remain behind, ashamed, or unwilling to abandon their post. They toil incessantly, during many a long year, without much appearance of success, till at last the strength of prejudice, and the power of habit, begin to give way. The young receive

what the old reject-the principles of truth triumph over those of error-knowledge gains ground-civilization advances-the arts begin to be cultivated, and a new state of society appears out of the chaos which had so long existed: the reward of the philosopher who planned, and of the youth who enterprised to execute the plan, comes at last.

Conceive the return of some of these men, after the snows of age have covered those faces which, beaming with the ardour of youth and of glory, had left their native shores. They return to tell of their exploits, and to exhibit the brilliant results of their experiment. They bring with them natives initiated in science and philosophy; they lay before the learned Society which sent them forth, specimens of the new language, the framework of which they have constructed; the initiatory books which they have printed in this strange dialect; and proofs of the writing and ciphering, and various knowledge of those who have attended their schools. They enrich its museum with numerous specimens, not of the old condition of the island only, but of its new. They produce the stone hatchet, and the feathered cloak, and the poisoned arrow; they produce also the first rude form of the plough, and the loom, and the telescope; the first sketch of a nation's laws, and the first steps of its advancement in the acknowledgment of the rights of person and of property.

Suppose for a moment that such an attempt had been made, and that such a measure of success had followed the attempt, I ask what would have been the sensation produced by it? All Europe would have resounded with the praises of these distinguished individuals, and celebrated the triumphs of philosophy. Kings and senates would have done them homage; learned societies would have emulated each other in heaping honours upon them; the multitude would have followed their steps with hosannas; their names would have been added to the illustrious roll of their country's heroes and benefactors, and have gone down to posterity crowned with immortal glory.

Though this, we doubt not, would have been the result, it is needless to say that philosophy, with all its boasted benevolence and wisdom, has never made such an effort. Its sons have gone to the ends of the earth, to observe the transit of Venus, to botanize its deserts, to trace the course of its rivers, and to measure the altitude of its mountains. But to tame its savage inhabitants, to nurture their poor and bewildered intellects, to reclaim and correct their vicious propensities, to civilize or even humanize them, philosophers have universally agreed to be no part of their business or concern. Such an attempt, however, has been made by the men of a higher philosophy, and under the influence of principles which the philosophy of this world can never teach. It has succeeded too; and the men who have made the experiment, have returned with the fruits of their hard-earned labour, and have sent us the spoils and triumphs of their enterprise. Did the world hail our attempt at its commencement, or cheer us amidst our discouragements, or proclaim its admiration of our success? No. It derided our fanaticism; it gloried in our distresses; and it heard with coldness, or received with scepticism the accounts of our success.'

pp. 7-12.