The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1857-01-29

ing to their operations as protectors of the peace and
well being of the people, we would not hold up the
duty of asserting these claims; but the alacrity and
zeal manifested. especially by the Minister of Foreign
Relations, in this matter, convinces Us that if the
demand is made there can be no valid reason why it
can be denied.
Till now, we had supposed that there was q COM
munity of feeling among the foreign residents in the
kingdom, and that the protested fellowship existing
between Frenchmen, Englishmen, Germans and
Americans was mutual, Notwithstanding each had
formed themselves into clubs or associations for their
benefit. But when a writer in the PolyaesiGn, with
a semi-oficial bearing and air. comes forward and
impugns the Judiciary and officers of the country
with being partizan, and asserts that the American
residents of Honolulu are a clique in whose hands it
is unsafe to trust his cause, whent the Government lends
its official paper to create and engender national jeal-
ousy and i~ll-feeling among its foreign residents, it is
time for those who have not been so favored to stand
up and assert that they hare rights too. The time
has come when others beside Englishmen and French
men can and must claim, In self defense, this priv
lege of being tried by a jury Of their own country
men. A''privilege'' it is, and we are sure that every
lover of his countrymen would prefer that, should
any be so unfortunate as to be tried in court, he
should be tried and judged by such men as his Con-
sui would select. Those who have tried it find very
little risk, since the Consul, knowing beforehand
who is the party accused, and the merits of the case,
is bound in honor to select his %jurymen accord
ingly, and defendants stand a much better chance
when judged by such a jury of escaping the
penalty of the law. All party and national feeling
is thus banished from the jury room as q
band of brothers the jury retire to consult upon
the real merits of the case, throwing aside all
points of law and determining upon what would be
just towards an unfortunate and perhaps erring
brother, without the admission of those prejudices SO
often unfortunately existing towards people of another
nation and without q liability of being annoyed, in
terfered with or outvoted by any outsiders who are
liable to be drawn from the promiscuous jury list
heretofore employed.
If an Englishman or Frenchman is unsafe in any
other hands but his own clique, pray tell us what
safety there is for an American or q German? Oh
course they would never dictate to their Commissioner
or Consul whom he shall select as jurymen, much less
would they prevent him from naming now and then
a British or French subject, if he was q person of the
right stamp, provided the future example of the
British or French Commissioner, in selecting natives
of other countries in any instance should justify such
a course. Let every resident foreigner, whether Of
the United States, or Germany, or Denmark, when
about to be tired, demand from the commissioner or
Consul his just rights, let him call on his Representa-
tive to name the jury, a jury of his peers, upon the
broad principle that his rights are equal to all the
world. Let him PROTEST, and if need be let his ma
TONS representative &c protest. against the trial going
on in any other way, and if he is backed up by his
fellow citizens as stoutly as lie should be, he will gain
his case.
The correspondent before quoted, directly charges
certain officers of this Government with maladminis-
tration in the choice of jurymen for the Supreme
Court
"Seriously, the proportion of individuals well known to hold
peculiar views on such a question as this dance-house one, Wds
altogether larger than could possibly occur through any
system of chance"
The above charge against the officers of the court
is made with the implied acquiescence of the Editor
of the government organ. 1t may be true or it may
not in the instance alluded to. How under heaven
does the Hawaiian Government expect that confidence
is to be reposed in its Judiciary when such charges
are openly made in its official organ. We are aware
that a larger proportion of Americans appear, much
to their own discomfort, on the jury list of each term.
but we had always supposed that the nationality o.
these jury lists bore about the same proportion as the
nationality of our foreign population. 1t is vel
known that the Americans constitute about three.
ffths of the foreign residents of these islands. TIL
jury lists for the past nine months show about thu
same proportion, viz.
JuJvf form Of In