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

MR. EDITOR One would think that the editor of
the Government Organ, with q salary of two thou
sand dollars a year, would consider it his duty to
defend his brother officers, if innocent, against the
ISLANDERS of his own correspondents and others, in
stead of defending the Nell Gwynn theories of
European religion and morals as set forth in the
London and Westminster Repiew.
The f" distended bladder correspondent in the
last Polunesian, signing himself " We, the People
of England - charges certain officers of government
with dereliction of duty, in drawing the list of jurors
for the last term of the Supreme Court, because of
their " moral sentiment proclivities.
It is not your business to defend the officers in question.
Another person is paid for doing that yet L am not so unchar-
table as to believe them guilty, upon the mere ipse dirit of
the "bladder" man aforesaid. However, if they are guilty, as
the Government Organ tacitly admits, L demand a general out
turning at once of all the criminal parties concerned. The
"distended bladder" correspondent further thinks that the
chances of his being hung" if tried by the list of regular
jurors, are against him I will not dispute, that, knowing his
own antecedents, he is a much better judge in that matter than
/. The British Consul, who does not lack penetration, and who
very naturally sympathised with his distressed countrymen,
arrived at the same conclusion as the g bladder" man, in his
different principles, sentiment and feeling.' Hence all this
Indignation and random shooting about what may, in the sequel,
prove to be something or nothing, according as to whether the
" bladder" man is up for murder or not.
1 shall not censure the English Consul for throwing the third
Article of the French treaty over a countryman, to protect his
rights, upon so frivolous a pretence as in the Joe Booth dance
house case. If that third Article is really valid, then every
foreign Consul here has the same right to shelter their respective
countrymen from justice; an invaluable right, truly, and, as a
foreigner, 1 ought not to quarrel with it. That belongs to the
duties of the editor of the Government Organ, who {" writes
for the nation and not for a clique " However, just for the fun
of it, let US tread a little upon his toes, and look for a moment at
that third Article of the French treaty, and see what it amounts
We find that the Article was negotiated between France and
this kingdom under the an-persuasive influence of the
guns of the Artemise figate, commando by Captain c..
Laplace, on the 18th of July, 1889. That it was afterwards
transferred to the treaty negotiated with France on the 26th of
March, 1916, under protest again, by the sovereign authority
of this weak kingdom. That it has, ever since, been protested,
against by the authorities of these Islands, and in one instance
to the extent of a thousand printed pages, quartO, at an expense
of about two thousand dollars to the taxpayers of this country.
That, on the 18th of March, 1851, notice was regularly given by
this Government (s they had a right to do) to that of France
that the obnoxious Article be at an end, and that subsequent
notice was given on the 31st of July following, to the same effect
1t will be seen by the above historical sketch that a principle is
all along involved in negotiating the notorious third Article Of
the French treaty, which all Pubicists on international law or
municipal law deem nugatory to every and all contracts
wherever it is Incorporated that is coercion. The treaty was
first exacted under coercion, and, to secure its fnlfnment on the
part of this kingdom, twenty thousand dollars was demanded
which sum was made up by the moral sentiment clique" here
to save a remnant of the sovereign prerogative, and was takeI
away by Capt. Laplace, as a pledge. These facts are undenia
bic; and, now that this Government will admit that the treaty
in question is a " rear treaty and ought to be needed, is down
right hunkeyism-whether the fault be diplomatic, editorial OF
otherwise NJ one will envy the honors acquired by the head
of our foreign affairs in conceding away a principle so vital tc
an independent sovereignty, and, what is worse, serve (as in the
case Of the hanging of the "bladder" gentleman aforesaid) t
defeat the ends of justice. After the Z" Thousand pages quarto'
defence of the Kings prerogative, and his own disinterestednes.
in the matter, I am at a loss to conceive the Minister'S motive
in making the concession, unless he contemplated the possibility
of a turn in the wheel of destiny, and that he might need, some
day or other, the intervention of the same treaty in his own be
half. would invite, in a friendly way, of course, the gentleman
who plays on the Government Organ, to heed well his motto, t.
"wrte for the nation and not for aclque," and that he suddenly
cease the attempt to poputarise here the Nell Gwynn theories o
the London and Westminster ReUietO, and look more faith
fully to the nations interest, lest his Majesty, some surly, rainy
morning, should make the awkward discovery between meum
and tut1p. A TAXPAYER, But NOT ONE OF that JURY.