The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1859-06-09
THE PACIFIC
Commercial Advertiser.
JUNE 9.

Ar length the Ministers begin to see and con.
fess the faults and ambiguity of the French
Treaty. Their eyes begin to open and discern a
dark cloud rising slowly and threatening to en-
pail the fair escutcheon of Hawaii. In the last
Polynesian. we have an article, evidently emana-
ting from one of His Majesty's Ministers, in
which the writer "kicks at the pricks'' which
now begin to appear in the treaty. But it is of
no use. The Ministers knew what it was before
it was ratified just as well as now. They advoca-
ted it, aye they fought for it, like tigers over their
death-struggling victim, and vowed it the
only hope of this nation. The louder we
sounded the tocsin of alarm, the longer were
their speeches in its favor, and the holder their
panegyrics.
The writer alluded to in the government organ,
takes as his text, the following significant sem
tence ip the letter of the French Commissioner,
the whole of which will be found in another
column
1.-The interests Of France and England in the Hawaiian archi-
ner Of which can alone explain the Act of 4th September, 1855 "
4. e.: the I" I'D referendum 6rtieie."l
The writer asks, are these French interests, of
which the Hawaiian government would seem to
have been f~orgetful, of a political, commercial,
religious, or social character? And he under
takes to answer them all in the negative, i.e.: that
France las no interests here but such as she holds
in common W. England.
Is this the position of the M.s:-.-,, now tnat
the treaty is ratified? Why, pray, did they not
take that position before? The whole the French
Treaty, from beginning to end, is based on the
assumption that "the interests of France and
England in the Hawaiian archipelago are of a
different nature Every article, from first to
last, is based on no other ground. The veriest
tyro in logic could not overlook this feature of
the treaty. Why, let us ask, was the duty on
liquor reduced? Was It not for the undenied
object of favoring French brandy or French inter-
est and French commerce? Why has the French
language beca PLACED by the treaty on a par with
the English, but for the sole reason that the
French and English interests are of a I" different
nature?" Why have peculiar privileges been
granted to Frenchmen in the On! article, and to
French commerce in the 9th and 18th articles.
For no other earthly reason but because French
and English interests here are of a {" different ma
ture." Why are the French Consuls clothed by
sections IL, 20, and % with powers not granted
to nor claimed in any other treaty, unless it be
because French and English interests are of a
different nature?
IL is idle for the Ministers now TO commence
whining and lamenting over the deed which their
own stubborn folly has executed, or to seek to
salve over the wounds which they have made. 1t
is with i'll grace that they rise to declare nov
that French and English interests here are iden-
teal. Under this French treaty, they are as OPP
posite as black and white, whether it regards
I" political, commercial, religious or social mat
tiers, and no one can read that document atten-
lively without being of this opinion.
One thing, which may escape the eve of the
casual reader of this posthumous confession of
the government in the Polynesian, is what is said
in regard to the French language. Our readers
will bear in mind hat we warmly opposed this .
concession, before the ratification of the treaty,
as partial, and as being unjust to other nations,
or if claimed by other nations, on the ground of
parity, of injustice TO the Hawaiian nation. But
see what the Ministers now say, after the ratifea-
ton
"There is but one social interest that we ever
heard mooted, and which unfortunately seems to have
a place in the French Treaty, and whose
appearance there is palpable evidence either of an
misconstruction of the plainest facts, or
o persistent intention to override those ficts;-an in
tention, of which we are far from accusing the French
Government. That interest is the admission of the
French language to be used in every case in which
in the English language may be admit
ted" The numbers here that speak French, as COM |
pared with those who speak English, do not, at a
very moderate computation, exceed the proportion of
one to eighty, If not one to one hundred. In COM
merce, in shipping, in letters, in arts, in manufac-
lures and agriculture. from Niihau to Hawaii. the
language has its representatives and is strik-
ing its roots through the half caste stratum deep into
the aboriginal soil. Our geographical position be- |
tween California on one side, and Hongkong and
and Australia on the other, indicate plain !
ly the natural sources Of immigration into this coun-
try and what language will meet our wants of inter-
course with these immigrants Even those who arrive |
from countries. otheT than English-speaking ones, |
invariably acquire it rs soon as possible, if they knew
ir not before, and to their children it becomes a
mother tongue Even without the very precarious
government assistance Of English tuition, that Ian
guagc IS spreading through the native population by
by intercourse, by service. 1t is the Lam
guage OF the Court, the Bench, the various executive
bureaus; 1T is the language Of the exchange and Of
whether the operators be Of French or Ger
man or English origin; it is the social language Of
every educated person, at the fire-side party or the
public saloons"
France requires the same usage for her lan~uaee
= the English language is receiving; bat Francef r-
gets or ignores the net that the usage. which the |
English languages receives, is the result of pure nece-
nty and mot Of choice; and that it has Won its present
position IN the absence Of treaty stipulations 70 pro
II, and IN spite Of systematic codness from The