https://hmha.missionhouses.org/files/original/1b693867f005969d64d1e645e710d83d.pdf 1c2622ae678d250952281f6c498a76f7 PDF Text Text - U N P U B L I S H E D - "Minutes of General Meetings of the Mission” 1. May 16 - June 20, 1825, [Honolulu] 2. Sept. 23 - Oct. 20, 1826,[Kailua] 3 . Apr. 23 - May 3, 1828, [Honolulu] Copied from Original found in Archives, Hawaiian Board. Nov. 1909. �Honolulu M a y 16th 1825. Minutes of a General Meeting Several brethr en fro m the windward stations b e ing prov­ identially together at Honolulu it was thought desirable that their convention should be improved for the purposes of a General Meeting. Accordingly, having assembled on Monday evening May 16 1825 at the Mission house, present Rev. Messrs. Bingham, Stewart & Bishop, Messrs. Ely, Loomis & Chamberlain and Dr. B1sfcchely, they proceeded to organize the mee t i n g by choosing a Moder ator & Scribe. Ballots having been taken the choice was declared as follows Rev. H. Bingham, Moderator Levi Chamberlain, Scribe. The Moderator having taken the chair the meeting proceeded to the appointment of a committee of arrangements consisting of Messrs. C. S. Stewart, A. Bishop & Levi Chamberlain. The evening being nearly spent adjourned to tomorrow 2 o’ ck P. M. Tuesday May 17. Tuesday May 17. Being assembled according to adjournment the Committee of arrangements proposed the following question for consideration. "Is uniformity in the Hawaiian language expedient? and what are the best means it." of securing Upon this q uestion the following order was taken. Resolved 1st. That it is expedient in transferring words 8c prop e r names f r o m other languages to the Hawaiian to preserve their identity as far as the genius of the language �p. 11 [1825] will admit. Resolved 2nd. That a committee of three be appointed to correspond w i t h the different members of the Mission as to the expediency of establishing an uniformity in the orthog­ raphy of the Hawaiian language, and to submit to this meeting for their consideration propositions embracing the diffi­ culties now felt in spelling the language. For this com­ mittee made choice of Messrs. H. Bin g h a m C. S. Stewart Levi Chamberlain Adjourned to 2 o'ck tomorrow, Wednesday afternoon. Wednesday May 18th. Met according to adjournment, and u p o n the inquiry as to the expediency of p u b l i s h i n g a Scripture tract and C a t e c h i s m it was Resolved that a Scripture tract be published as soon as p r a c t i c a b l e , The resolve being unanimously accepted it was Voted that Brother B i n g h a m be requested to prepare one for the press. Resolved further that C a techism also be prepared end p u blished as soon as practicable. Adjourned to Thursday 19 9 o'ck A. M. Thursday May 19. Having assembled according to adjournment the subject of preparing a C a t echism was introduced and the following resolutions adopted. �[1825] P« 12 1st. Re s o l v e d that the Improved doctrinal Tahitian Ca techism be considered the basis of the one now to be prepared. 2. Re s o l v e d that a committee of three be appointed to prepare the Cat e c h i s m for the press. The Rev. Mr, Bingham Mr. Bishop & Mr. Loomis were first chosen and afterward Mr. Ely was added to their number. The subject of educating h e athen children, in the families of the mission, h a v i n g excited a good deal of interest among our number, It was ponsld;^iped of sufficient importance to receive the attention of the meeting; and accordingly the following resolution was introduced and accepted* R e s o l v e d that a Committee of three be appointed to report upo n the expediency of receiving and educating h e a t h e n children in the different families of the m i s s i o n in compliance wit h the wishes and appropriations of benevolent Individuals in America. Made choice for this Committee of the Rev. Messrs. Bingham, Stewart & Bishop. Adjourned to tomorrow m o rnlgg 9 o ’ck. Fr iday May 20th. Met according to adjournment, and the m e etin g h a v i n g been opened with prayer by Mr. Ely, the subject of inducting members into the church was proposed, and the following resolution was adopted. �r [1825] P. 13 Resolved that a Committee be appointed to Investi­ gate the subject, and report on the method, of Inducting Into the church converts to Christianity. Voted that this Committee consist of three persons, and made choice of the Messrs. Bingham, Thurston & Richards. [p.6] Upon the question, w h ich night is it most expedient and proper to keep in connexion wi t h the sabbath — Sabbath or Saturday night? no vote was taken, but it seemed to be the general opinion of the brethren, that Sabbath evening should be regarded as ho l y time, &, that in their instruction to the natives they should recommend the observance of Sabbath in preference to Saturday evening, but that in their own practice, they refrain as mu c h as possible from secular employments on Saturday evening. Adjournment to Monday morning at 9 o'ck. Monday May 23. Met in the afternoon various avocations preventing our assembling in the morning. The Committee to w h o m was referred the subject of edu­ cating h e a then children in the families of the Missionaries p r esented the following report whi c h was read and accepted. The Committee to w h o m was referred the subject [p.7] of educating h e a then children in the families of the missionaries beg leave to submit the following report. During the first years of the operations of the Mission about twenty children were received and instructed in the mi s sion families. The expenses of which, were, for the most part defrayed by the liberal contributions of foreigners at �[1825] p. 14 the islands, and b y the special patronage of King Taurauarii, H u ring his residence at Tauai his own native island* [ A few of that number have since bee n employed as useful teachers, some have died, some deserted, some have been dismissed for insubordination, and one remains who first received the name of Kenry Martyn, and was p l a c e d on the foundation of a Society of young ladies at Nantucket, but has since by their m request been called Abner Morse. No native female child remained long under the Missionary roof, or gave evidence of bfeing benefltted, materially, more than others who merely attended school: except, perhaps, Delia, who became the wife of Hopu. During the three last years of the operations of the Mission, there have been on an average about 15 boys, and occasionally, 2 or 3 girls conneoted w i t h the Mission fam­ ilies, rendering assistance, and receiving the rudiments of a Christian education; but in a very few instances has there be e n sufficient encouragement of their steady perseverance, to place them on the funds contributed by particular indi­ viduals or societies, for children to bear the names which the donors have designated. [sic] During the existance of the Mission, partial provision A has been made in America for about 35 children, to be supported and educated in the families of this Mission; and although this m e t h o d of benefitting the heathen is in many cases admirably suited to promote the design of Christian Missions; and although it m a y be desirable that the experi­ ment should be more fully tried at the Sandwich Islands; and �[1825] p. 15 that any member who should choose to pursue It, should be at liberty to appropriate to that object such donations as have been, or ma y be particularly designated for it; yet the Committee cannot, in the present state of the nation, recom­ mend, to any considerable extent, the m e thod of prosecuting the wor k of the Mission: but they w o uld propose that the efforts of both male and female members of the Mission to enlighten the nation, should, in general, p r o ceed on a much larger scale, involving less comparative expense than the pla n of boarding schools. O n these points the Mission are supported by the general sentiments of the missionaries in the South sea Islands, and by the deliberate advice of Messrs. Tyreman, Bennet & Ellis. In coming to this conclusion the committee have been influenced p a rticularly by the following considerations. 1. The very great expense which boarding schools In this country w o uld Involve, compared w i t h that of Ceylon, and compared with the expense of the common schools in this nation. 2. The unwillingness of the children, in general, to submit to the restraints of a civilized Christian family long enough to complete their education, so as to answer the reasonable expectations of their benefactos. 3. The superior claims of many chiefs to m i s sionary atten­ tion, and of other promising adults, who could not be em­ braced in a boarding school, and who ought hevertheless to be well instructed w i t h a view to their aid In the work of the mission as teachers. �[1825] 4, P. 16 The great demand of the whole n a tion for more widely diffused instructions, and the more publicly extensive preaching of the Gospel. 5. The exposure of our own offspring to the influence of the undesirable habits of native children to be trained up with them. The Committee wou l d therefore recommend, thet the benevolent individuals & societies who have ha d it in their hearts to do go o d in this way, and who with great kindness and w a r m solicitude have presented, and may wish to present their offerings to the L o r d for this particular purpose, be, made early acquainted wit h the present views of the mission on the subject; and w i t h the special thanks of the mission for their liberality, be, with a very few exceptions, re­ spectfully requested to transfer or direct their charity to the general support of this mission, or to the general objects or to any particular object embraced by the Board. Adjour ned to 2 o'clock tomorrow P. M. Tuesday May 24th. Met according to adjournment and the m e e tin g having been opened wit h prayer b y the Scribe the following resolution was p r esented and accepted. Re s o l v e d that in view of the importance of preparing a competent number of school masters, and assistant teachers among the people, promising youths shall be selected, at the different stations, and regularly educated in schools and classes for that purpose, so far as it shall be found p r a c ­ ticable by actual experiment. Upon the question "Is it expedient to retain the �[1825] p. 17 station at Waiakea with only the present means the Mission possess of mainta ining it, the following resolution was adopted. Resolved that the Mission decidedly approve of the maintenance of the station at Waiakea at least till Mr. Goodrich shall feel it desirable to leave it for a season. Adjourned to Thursday at 2 o ’elk P. M. Thursday May 26. Met according to adjournment. The m e eting having been opened with prayer by Mr. B i n g ­ h a m the following resolution was read and adopted. R e solved that in view of the information fro m the corresponding Secretary respecting the embarrassed state of the funds of the Board we will renew our engagement to practice the strictest economy in the use of our means of support; that we will study to diminish the expenses of the Mission, by inventing and adopting new methods of economy in the management of our affairs, and by scrupulously refraining fro m incurring the least item of expense to the Board not necessary for our health and usefulness; and that we will, moreover, endeavor to cherish in ourselves the feelings of more entire dependance on God for the daily supply of our wants; and while we look to our patrons and friends in America, for the continued means of imparting the knowledge of salvation to the perishing h e a then around, we will endeavor, gratefully and habitually, to praise the Author of every mercy for his past ki n d and providential care over all the members, and all the plans and objects �[1825] d . 18 of the Mission. Adjourned. Monday June 20th. Met to attend to unfinished business, present Messrs. Binghaip, Bishop & Ely, Dr. Blatchely, Mr. Loomis & Levi Chamberlain. The Committee appointed to correspond wi t h the different members of the M i s sion respecting the expediency of an uniformity in the orthography of the Hawaiian language sub­ m i t t e d the following view of the subject which was approved. The Committee appointed to correspond with the different members of the Mission respecting the expediency of an u n iformity in the orthography of the Hawaiian language beg leave to submit the following propositions embracing as they conceive the difficulties n o w felt in spelling the language* An alphabet waa adopted more than three years ago; which was intended to include all the letters necessary to express the different sounds in the language, and no more. It has been found h o w e v e r fro m careful attention, that b & d, though they are u s e d by a few natives in a certain class of words, may always wi t h strict propriety be supplied by others, w h ich better represent the sound most frequently h eard in the pronunciation of those words. v Sc w are use d interchangably. K Sc t, 1 & r, Some individuals use the k in the same w o r d in which t is more uniformly employed by the others. The same difference exists in reference to^other four letters. In order to effect an uniformity either the k or the t, the 1 or the r, the v or the w must be excluded from the �[1825] p. 19 Hawaiian Alphabet, or the orthography of each word in the language, in w h ich any one of these letters occurs, must be settled by discussion. The propositions which the Committee wish to submit to the brethren for their consideration and upon w h ich they request their decision after they shall have duly weighed the difficulties of the subject are the following. 1st. Shall b and d be retained in the Hawaiian Alphabet, or shall they be regarded as foreign letters, and be only us e d in spelling foreign words? 2. Shall k be excluded or shall t, or shall both be retained? 3. Shall 1 be excluded or shall r, or shall both be retained? 4* Shall v be excluded or shall w, or shall b o t h be retained? In the opinion of this Committee all the sounds in the Hawaiian alphabet except perhaps b & d are in good use nor do they think that the language can be fully represented without them, though it may possibly be found expedient to reject one class of the interchangable letters. Very few however, if any of the natives, seem to dis­ tinguish the difference b e tween the sound of k & t, 1 & r, or v 3c w. Many words at present, in w h ich r occurs, are, b y many, uniformly p r onounced as if w r itten wit h 1; and the same is true wit h respect to the k and t, & the v & w. It seems h i ghly desirable that a m e thod of spelling should be adopted, that shall remove the difficulties now felt, �p. 20 [1825] at least, so far as the writing of the language is concerned. The inconvenience attending the present method of spelling is obvious, fie is felt by every member of the Mission. Honoruru m a y be w r i tten four different ways, and is con­ stantly written two ways. Kaavaroa ma y be written eight, and is actually written three. Kealakekua may be written sixteen, and is uniformly wtitten three or four, and every word in the language, in whi c h letters occur that are used interchangably, may, by permutation, be written nearly as many different ways as the square of the whole number of Interchangable letters in the word. The difficulty hence arising does not terminate w i t h the limits of the Sendwich Islands. Communications are forwarded to America with this difference mark e d u p o n them; and the Boa r d in their p u b l i ­ cations have adopted a method of spelling w i dely different f ro m any of those now in use by the missionaries. An u niformity on the part of the Mission might possibly have a tendency to produce on the part of the Board the adoption of our method. There are indeed objections to settling the orthography by casting out of the Alphabet any one of the letters which have been inserted, though it is difficult to conceive how an uni formity amongst ourselves can be effected without it. T Tabu & lido which afford an instance of the use of b & d are T&bt' becanne. a in very common use or good acceptance^of the best English Dictionaries. R is exclusively used at the Society Islands & New Zeland [sic], b and d are bot h in use there. The books published by the Missionaries of the South sea Islands / n . �p. 21 [1825] will doubtless be Introduced into these islands; and the similarity of the languages of the different tribes inhab­ iting the isles of the vast Pacific will occasion a circu­ lation of the books p u b lished at each of the groups among the rest. It is therefore not only desirable that there should be an uniformity among the Missionaries of the Sand­ wich Islands but among all the Missionaries throughout all the group of isles in which the Polynesian language Is spoken. In settling the orthography of this language then these considerations should not be overlooked. Several books have been p u b lished by the M i ssion which include all the letters In question, & the natives are in constant practice of using them all in their various corres­ pondence wi t h one another, and with the Missionaries; and they would not easily be brought off fr o m the habit, or soon reconciled to the disuse of any of them. Many words, proper names & phrases spelt with b o t h the classes of letters have been transmitted In various communication both to England and America, and have been or m a y be made public; among w h i c h m a y be men t i o n e d the Journal of the Tour of Hawaii containing the names of all the important places on that island and many interesting expression of the natives in their own language, all written according to Mr. E l l i s ’ meth o d of spelling the language. It will soon be necessary to p u blish a new edition of the hymns, a revision of which must take place if a different orthography is adopted. Of these one half at least was furnished by Mr. Ellis and retains his spelling. Finally �[1625] p. 22 Mr. Ellis whose opinion u p o n this subject we regard as entitled to p a r ticular deference would not be in favor of discarding any of the letters n o w in use, unless possibly it might be b & d. A n d should he return, w o u l d probably print books independent of us; & therefore noit conform to our m e t h o d of spelling, should we fix up o n one at varience with his own. The Committee have endeavored to state some of the inconveniencies of the present meth o d of irregular spelling, and to represent some of the difficulties which see m to stand in the way of an uniformity. These propositions & considerations are respectfully submitted. H. Bingham, Moderator Levi Chamberlain Secy. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Sandwich Islands Mission Meeting Minutes Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Sandwich Islands Mission Meeting Minutes - 1825 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1825