Polynesian., 1844-11-02

lished legal and diplomatic forms and prln
ciples of laws, it is not surprising that III
should latter himself, that his, 81 contend
and 81 consider" are arguments, immovea
bic as the firm rock, and that he should ex
pect to deceive others by them, as easil,
as he deceives himself. He is thu
lead into the novel attitude Of undertaken!
to interpret the Hawaiian constitution TO
the king and his ministers. A foreign min
lister is bound to take the laws and customs
of the land as he finds them. A nation in
terprets its own constitutional forms, AM
rightly or wrongly, so that they do not in
fringe the laws of nations, it is its own affair
What would a foreign minister at Washing
ton be told, were he to undertake to say I,
the Secretary of state, "ln what part of thu
constitution do you find the right, sir, to d.
this or that ? If a nation in%fringes its owl
constitution (Which we are very far from ad
hitting it to be the case in this instance, o.
gives it a rigid or loose construction, it is en-
tirely an affair within itself, and no other ma
ton has a right even to enquire, "why d,
you thus or so." We find the expression
jury empannelled," in two instances ap
lied to the jurymen drawn for the sccont
trial of Wiley. No jury was empannelled
if one had been, the members would hav,
received their fees. Whether the trial O
Wiley was a farce" will be seen by al
examination of the evidence before the Infe
rior judges. That of Jenkins also, befor,
the same court, is worthy of note, especially
as his affidavit is much relied upon by Mr.
Brown. His sentence was confirmed by
foreign jury, on appeal. The trials before
the police courts in the United States, arr
conducted with quite as much brevity, an,
as little attention to form. Indeed, the pref
erence in these respects may be given t
our Inferior courts, and we know Of no in
stance in an appeal, in which their judgmen
has not been confirmed by foreign j~uries,
fact which speaks favorably for their justice
MIR. Brown, in his letter Of l4th. Februa
ry, protests "against any injury that ma,
accrue through it, (the third Article of La
haina,) to the interests of any of the citizen.
of the United States" and Immediately afe1
claims the same. What claim the priv
lege of doing an injury to his %countrymen
We should think such a privilege would b,
more honored in the breach than the obser
vance.
This part Of his correspondence merit.
more particular attention. 1t will be seer
that he has very conclusively shown the thir,
Article of Lahaina, to be derogatory to tn,
dignity of an independent nation, and PERM
cious in its results, from the power it place.
in the hands Of foreign c%onsuls to pack juries
destructive of justice and dangerous to tn
rights and liberties of His Majesty's subjects
lie finds it to be n fragrant political immor
atty, and very properly expresses his disap
probation thereat. If he had stopped her
it would have been well; creditabIe to him
self and his government. But, after provin,
it an injury and an immortality, he demand
for his government the privilege of being
participant in both, thus making them a par
ty to the acknowledged wrong. Will tn
government at Washington, which the EN-
peror of Russia characteristics as Undue,
with generous, good faith" and the citi
zens of the United States, the ever constan
and warm friends of the Hawaiians, thanl
Mr.. Brown for making them a "particep
crimlnls' in a wrong upon a nation, to,
weak to assert its rights by force Of arms
Humanity forbid ! Neither will Great Brit