Polynesian. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu], Hawaii) 1844-1864, 1854-05-20
HONOLULU, H. l., MAY 20. 1854.
Che polpnesian.
REPORT
OE THE
SECRETARY OF FWAR AND OF FTHENA

SECRETARY OFWAR AND OF THE NAVY
1t has pleased the King, under the Act of I6tl
june 1858, to confer the duties of His Secretar
of War and of the Navy upon me- but without an
additional pay for my services as SUCH In render
ing you an account of the affairs of the Department
| OF War during the past year, and up to the pres
/ ent date, my first and most agreeable duty is (,
acknowledge that, whatever my labors NAV hay,
been, they have been rendered much less burden
some than they otherwise would have been bv tn,
order and system introduced by His ROYAL High
ness Prince Liholho, Commander in Chef
| With the view of establishing that order ant
and system, and of facilitating the discharge of m,
duty, under the Act regulating the disbursement
of money appropriated for the military, approved
by the King on the I'd Nov. last, His ROYAL High
ness established Form in which the military ac
counts should be kept, and the rule that, befor,
presentation for payment, they should be examined
by the Adj. General, whose duty it was to certify
to their eXactness.
append copy of the notice to the public res
pecting that rule. With one or two exceptions o.
persons erring through ignorance. it was respect
ed by all and produced much good.
His Royal Highness next directed his attention
to the material of war--or the material of military
defence, as | would rather say, our case. | ap-
pend, marked No. =, copy of the report of com
mittee which ne appointed to enquire into that im-
portant matter; and | respectfully call your atten-
ton to the recommendations with which the re-
port concludes.
To remedy the want of gunpowder, none being
prOcurable here, His royal Highness requested me
to order supply from San Francisco which OBJ
tained through Messrs. Goodwin g. Co. In the
meanwhile some was procured from the U. S. ship
Portsmouth, through the kindness of the Capt which
was replaced with thanks to that gallant and cour-
teous officer.
While endeavoring to collect sufficient materi-
al, His Royal Highness took measures to improve
the uniform of the troops, to have them regu-
larly trained and to organize company of artillery
and another of Cavalry. In these measures he
was thwarted by the prevalence of small pox
among the men, and the narrow means within
which his operations had to be confined.
In Dec. HIS Royal Highness had delicate
question of discipline to settle among some of his
officers which in the absence of Military Code,
gave him much trouble and veXatiOn.
Reports of intended insurrection, with view to
organic changes in the Constitution of the King
dom, had reached the Government through many
sources the Kings ministers did not feel IT con-
sistent with their duty to neglect the repeated
warnings given to them after comforting with the
Prince on the matter, they cOncurred with him
that an increase of the military force was indis-
pensable to the safety of the Kings authority
and even to that of the money in his cxchequer,
and His Royal Highness addressed to me the
note of 9th March, with Schedules a & B, and
the estimate of the expense of a small addition
to the military force OF which | annex copy
marked No. 3.
The emergency was considered so serious and
so immediate, and the duty of neglecting no pre-
cautions to the safety of the state, and the
protection of life and property was held to be so
paramount that the Kings Ministers did not hesl-
tate to approve of addition of five thousand dol
lars, supplemental to the scanty appropriation of
fourteen thousand dollars made by the Legislature
of 1853. Acts of rebellion denounced as combln-
ed to take effect and that by sudden surprise are
not the same as overt acts of rebellion; but i'll the
view of the Kings Ministers, the former impose
as strong an obligation to prevent them as the lat
ter to suppress them. In fact, to their minds the
former obligations are so much stronger, morally
speaking. than the latter, as to accomplish the
same end of peace, without the destruction of life
and property Is preferable to accomplishing II by
an application Of military force to the degree and
with the severity that open resistance might render
necessary involving risks unavoidable both to life
and property, and afterwards the lnlction of those
harsh punishmeDts and penalties with which the
laws of all countries visit crimes coming under the
head of treason to the State.
But YOU will best understand the views Of the
Kings government by considering the following
heSOlQJOn, pdSScu dl SdOtilcl NOuhCIl vi tic tlh
March,
sResnlved, That in consequence of alarming re-
ports through different credtabe sources, convey
ed to the King and the members of his government,
the undersigned believe the Kings authority TO be
IN danger and the emergency contemplated IN the
10th Article of the New Constitution and the 4th
section of the appropriation bill arrived. There
FORE the undersigned feel 1t their duty to recon-
mend to the King in Priyy Council, to authorize
the Minister of Finance to hold of the amount now
in he treasury, the sum of five thousand dollars
(s5OOO) at the disposal of the Department of War
until the legislature make a new appropriation /;
but under the express condition that the Secretary
of War is 10 account particularly for the expendi
ture thereof to the Minister of Finance, that he
NAV account to the leglsla- Ire."
(SgEed,) LIHoLIHo,
KEoNI ANA,
E. Ii. ALLEN, u
X. ARMSTRONG.
R.C. WYLLIE.
The above recommendatory Resolution having
been land before the King and Council on the 9th
March, it has pleased them to pass the Resolution,
of which the following is a copy
"REsoLvED, That IN conformity with the recon-
mendation of the Kings Cabinet, and for the pre-
servation of the Kings authority of law and order,
the Minister of Finance is hereby authorized to
hold at the disposal of the Secretary at War the
snm of S5. 600, out of the funds now in the Trea-