420 



LADRONE ISLANDS. 



[1830. 



variously stated, from eleven to sixteen ; and the names of the princi- 

 pal ones are Guam, Saypan, Tinian, and Rota. 



These islands were discovered in the year 1521, by Magellan, who 

 called them Islas de Ladrones (Islands of Thieves), because the na- 

 tives stole every thing made of iron which they could lay their hands 

 on. Towards the close of the seventeenth century, however, they re- 

 ceived the name of Mariana or Marianne Islands, from the Queen of 

 Spain, Mary Ann, of Austria, mother of Charles II., at whose expense 

 missionaries were sent over thither, to propagate the Christian faith. 

 At that period these islands were very populous ; but Spanish oppres- 

 sion has since almost annihilated the whole race ; so that, with the ex- 

 ception of Guam, every island of the group has become desolate. 



Few nations have had it in their power to do so much good to the 

 cause of philanthropy and religion as Spain ; but from a mistaken 

 policy in the exercise of this power, none have done so much mischief. 

 The propagation of any religious creed by force of arms is the climax 

 of despotism; so monstrous in itself, and so utterly at variance with 

 the benign precepts of the Gospel, that did not the melancholy facts 

 stare us full in the face from the page of history, we could scarcely 

 believe that it was ever attempted by a Christian nation. It is this 

 mistaken policy of Spain and Portugal that has enslaved or depopu- 

 lated some of the fairest portions of the globe. The Ladrone Islands 

 are melancholy evidences of the truth of this assertion. 



On this subject I wish to be correctly understood. The reader must 

 certainly be aware by this time that I am a strong advocate for the 

 prosecution of missionary labours ; for I have experienced the bene- 

 ficial results of their exertions. But I wish to see those labours so ap- 

 plied as to produce the greatest possible amount of good deducible 

 from the extent of means employed. The arts of civilization should 

 always be taught first ; they are the best and the only proper pioneers 

 to the doctrines of Christianity. The great Founder and Head of the 

 Christian religion said to Nicodemus, then about becoming a proselyte, 

 " If I have told you of earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall 

 ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things V How can the natives of 

 a newly discovered island in the Pacific be persuaded that the Creator 

 of the universe has given his creatures a code of written laws, unless 

 they are first made to comprehend what writing is, what law is, and 

 what a code is ? When the most ignorant savages once become con- 

 vinced that a missionary can teach them to be more happy in this 

 world, they will place the greater confidence in what he says of happi- 

 ness and misery in the world to come. If they are not first induced 

 to love a brother whom they have seen, how can they be taught to love 

 God, whom they have not seen ? 



A missionary should go armed — not with military weapons, nor with 

 faith alone — but with a judicious and ample collection of mechanical 

 tools and agricultural implements. With these he should commence 

 his labours of love and usefulness. His early communications to the 

 society who sends him on the mission should not contain an account 

 of the number of new converts who had professed the Christian faith* 

 and received the outward washing of water, but they should contain 



