EFFECTS OF POMARe’s CLEMENCY. 157 
held as in fetters of iron. It is impossible to con¬ 
template the mighty deliverance thus effected, 
without exclaiming, “ What hath God wrought!” 
and desiring, with regard to other parts of the 
world, the arrival of that promised and auspicious 
era, when “ the gods that have not made the 
heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from 
the earth, and from under these heavens,”* “ and 
the idols he shall utterly abolish.”! 
The total overthrow of idolatry, splendid and 
important as it appeared, was but the beginning of 
the amazing work that has since advanced pro¬ 
gressively in those islands. It resembled the dis¬ 
mantling of some dark and gloomy fortress, or the 
razing to its very foundation of some horrid prison 
of despotism and cruelty, with the materials of 
which, when cut and polished and adorned, a fair 
and noble structure was, on its very ruins, to be 
erected, rising in grandeur, symmetry, and beauty, 
to the honour of its proprietor, and the admiration 
of every beholder. The work was but commenced, 
and the abolition of idolatry was but one of the 
great preliminaries in those designs of mercy which 
were daily unfolded, with increasing interest and 
importance, in their influence on the destiny of the 
people. 
The conduct of the victors, on the memorable 
12th of November, had an astonishing effect on 
the minds of the vanquished, who had sought shel¬ 
ter in the mountains. Under cover of the darkness 
of night, they sent spies from the retreats to their 
habitations, and to the places of security in which 
they had left their aged and helpless relatives, 
their children, and their wives. These found 
all remaining as they had been left on the morn- 
* Jer. x. 11. t Isa. ii. 18. 
