The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1856-08-21

marks was TO De presumed. What they were was our
own busNess. In or3er that the public may judge
whether the article was based on any foundation or
not. or a meref.brication as the Minister charges.
we have procured and publish the following brief re-
port of Nj: lis remarks at the meeting of the Board
of Trustees of the Sailors Home on the 9Th Of August.
We did not publish it in our last paper because we
have not pretended to give a report of any Of these
meetings. We understand that attempts hAye been
made on the part of some government officials 10 at
taeh odium on Mr.. Ii for taking the ~lberty'to divulge
what may have t~ranspired in the Privy Council. But
that MAI aust have a very soft brain who cannot
perceive thlt Mr.. Ii has got as clear a right to say
what he/did, as the government editor, who in his
last iss6e does the same thing, and that, too, without
autllofity from the council for his acts.
MI. Ii stated to the Trustees that not having been
present at the meeting OF the Pri1y Council on the
9th he had called On the Governor to inquire about
the transaction. His Excel'y the Governor stated to
him that the Council hal overturned its decision OF
last year, that so many of the members were absent
that 1t was Of no use TO oppose the measure. That
some opposition was made when they tb0 conversed
III English, and the matter WIS mostly discussed in
English, and the vote was taken in English. A trus-
tee inquired who was meant by 8 they two, and the
reply was Messrs Wyllie and Hopkins. Mr.. Ii said
also, that had Judge Lee, Judge Andrews and himself
been present the vote would not have then been taken,
or the measure SO hastily carried, and he could not
but hope that when they were all assembled, they
would reverse the late decision, rs he considered the
action OF the Council wrong. Nj. Ii in his remarks
conveyed most distinctly the idea that Mr.. Wyllie
was responsible for this measure, and that, the meet
ing on Tuesday was Jrmal, the customary notice
not having been given to the secretary, though he
was present at the Palace on Monday"
There it is in blacl; and white, and to the truth Of
the above report, we appeal to the twelve or thirteen
trustees then present, and who no doubt are willing
to testify TO it. Now read Mr.. Wyllie's third letter
to Us, in which he charges us with having < detained
and caIumniatel KIM Had Mr.. Wyllie made u re-
quest for the grounds on which the editorial was
based, we should have taken pleasure in furnishing
him with it. But instead of pursuing that course,
which would have been the more courteous one, he
thrusts a furious threat into our flce-which we have
deemed and still deem insulting and unworthy of a
Minister of our Government.
Having made no charge against Mr.. Wyllie we
have no retraction to make. We have assumed that
Mr.. Ii, one of our highest judicial officers, made a
correct report of the proceedings Of the Privy Council,
and we merely said that it : warranted us in the be-
lief that Mr.. Wyilie had taken the part III the mat
ter represented in that report, and as yet we have no
evidence that that report was inaccurate. We have
no means of access to the sayings and doings of that
$" August Body and are bound to give full credence
to MI. lis public statement of its proceedings as re-
D0fteU 10 MIN Dy Ills coLNedSUes iii THAT StstteiiiSht Ia
refuted by other and stronger testimony. The public
will Judge whether or not that report bears use out
in the remarks we made and which are now sought to
be distorted into a libellous fabrication on our part.
Malice or ill-will to Mr.. Wyllie, personally, we ut
terly discllim. We have declared it to be one of our
fundamental principles, to be ready at all times to
correct an er.or either OF fact or opinion when salts
fed that we have committed one, and if Mrs Wyllie
~ al l1an crIpf, moot ~ will convince uS and tho
public that the Governors report of the proceeding
of the Privy Council as communicated by Associate
Justice Ii was inaccurate and their statements inn
p~eachable, and that lie (Ir. Wyllie) is not really
responsible for the passage of the Resolution in ques-
tion, we shall haze pie lsure in being the medium of
commune ,ting that fact to the public: though we
csnnot see why Mr.. Wyllie should consider himself
grossly l.belled and take serious unbragc at an i'm
agined charge of procuring the passage of 4 resolu-
ton which he AMI perhaps a majority of the comma
nifty consider just and proper, if passed in a proper
manner.
We confess that this step undertaken by Mr.
Wyllie appears ridiculous not only to us, but to the
public. Is he so nervous and sensitive that his acts
can bear no public criticism ? Does he consider him
self perfect: Or IS ne so vindictiyc as to visit with
the Walls of his wrath all who like Mordecai the Jew
refuse to fill down before him
Bat let not the public be mistaken IN this affair.
Let them reflect on the course now being pursued by
one of lis Ii. Mijesty's Ministers, and ask whether
it is merely this publication that is attackeIs or
whether it is the freedom of the press-the dearest
right of which Il freemln can boast, that is sou sht
to be stranglei at its birth, whether It is the ACT Of
an individual minister or OF the Government, for
which he has assumed the championship. This press
was established to advocate popular rights, it was
established for the benefit of the people. 1t has only
begun to speak Of public men and public reforms.
1t has yet to inquire into the working of our cumber-
some Department of Public instruction, to review
the acts of the Departments of War and Foreign Re
~lations, to look into the Bureau of Public Works
and to investigate the causes why our treasury is
empty and our Kingdom on the verge of bankruptcy,
and how far this is owing to the want of some proper
system of auditing the public accounts.
But if this publication is to be suppressed+f the
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