John Quincy Adams, then chairman of the Committee of Foreign Affairs of the House, made a report to Congress in which he spoke of this achievement as follows: "It is a subject of cheering contemplation to the friends of human improvement and virtue that, by the mild and gentle influence of Christian charity, dispensed by humble missionaries of the gospel unarmed with secular power within the last quarter of a century, the people of this group of islands have been converted from the lowest abasement of idolatry to the blessings of the Christian gospel; united under one balanced government; rallied to the fold of civilization by a written language and constitution providing security for the rights of persons, property, and mind, and invested with all the elements of right and power which can entitle them to be acknowledged by their brethren of the human race as a separate and independent community."[1]
The islands were visited in 1860 by the well-known American, Richard H. Dana, who, after spending some time in investigating the work of the missionaries, on his return to the United States published an article upon the subject. From his high standing as a lawyer, and from the fact that he was not a member of the denomination which wrought this great transformation in the population, his statement carries great weight. The following extract is taken from his article: "It is no small thing to say of the missionaries of the American Board that in less than forty years they have taught this whole people to read and to write, to cipher and to
- ↑ H. Report No. 93, 27th Cong. 3d Sess.
