Polynesian., 1844-11-02

ing Of the word, crime, and in reply to his
self-propounded question, gives a dictionary
definition The question was quite unncces-
sury, as it had been fully answered in the
letter of Mr.. Judd, Up. co., But to save our
readers who may wish further to investigate
it, the trouble Of reference to law books,
we quote from unexceptionablc authority,
its technical definition
"Crime means such a breach Of some ex-
listing public law as amounts to felony" A.,
Blk. Commentary, 8.
Felony happens in those for which a
capital punishment either was or is liable to
be inflicted; for those %felonies which are
called clergyable, or to which the benefit of
clergy extends, were anciently punished with
death in lay or unlearned offenders; though
now by the statute law, that punishment is
for the first offence universally RENTED" 4,
BIZ. Com. "a, 95.
"The punishment of a person for felony
list. to lose his life; 2dly. to lose his blood,
as to his ancestry, and so to have neither
heir nor posterity; 3dly. to lose his lands;
and the king shall have gear, day and masie,
to the intent that his wife and children be
cast out of the house, his house pulled down,
and all that he hath for his comfort and de-
light destroyed" 4, Rep, l24.
"a felony by statute incidentally implies,
that the offender shall be subject to the like
attainder and forfeiture as is incident to "a
ielon ut common law" 9, Inst. Al.
Mr.. Browns mode of defining it is admira-
bly, calculated to mislead from the real point
at issue, and we notice a similar ruse in
another part of the letter. The last para
graph of page Al, if read by itself, would
lead one to suppose he was referring to an
elaborate argument in reply to one of his.
Upon examining the document in question,
we find it to be a mere note, stating concise
ly and explicitly, that, if he desired to claim
automatically, the privilege demanded for
Mr.. Hooper, time was necessary to vindicate
the course assumed by the governor of
Oahu, sc.
Mr.. Browns mode Of arguing is "sui gen.
eris." In the letter of Mr.. Judd, we find the
facts and law incontestably proven. Mr..
Judd neither made the one or the other; he
found them in the records of courts, and the
laws and constitution Of the kingdom; the
latter is the offspring of the combined talents
of the most profound minds Of all ages. Mel
Their Mr.. Judd or Mr.. Brown can change a fact,
and if Mr.. Brown disputed the justice of the
laws which had reference to the case, he
should have attacked the principles upon
which they were based, and demonstrated
their falsity. But we find him doing nothing
of the kind. Indeed so far are the arguments
he uses from affecting the real points at
issue, that they stand in the same safe atti-
tude in regard to them, as did a certain cler-
gyman's discourse to his text, between which
the d~isconnection was a matter of so great
notoriety, that one of his parishioners at last
observed to him eff your text should catch
the plague, you need have no fear for your
sermon"
The law and facts are most obviously dis
regarded, and new premises assumed from
which he reasons most verbosely. 1t is in
vain that he is shown that the Hawaiian law
does make a distinction, in the offence in
question; the penalty attached to one species
of "hewa" constituting it a misdemeamor, and
to the other, a crime. Wiley's case was
most PROFESSIONALLY of the former character.
Yet this fact is treated as nothing, and an
erudite dissertation on the word "hewa''
given, which word we should not suppose
that Mr.. Brown need be informed, is applied
to the most trivial accidents of every-day-life,
as we'll as to crimes; so that if it means