The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1859-01-20

The recent stringent passport Ia" oi rfance ~os
the source of much diplomatic correspondencebe
tween England and that nation.
The legitimate object of q passport is to enable
. citizen or subject of any nation to travel unmo-
Tested where he pleases throughout the world.
When any other than that object is aimed at. and
it is sought to protect creditors at home or regu-
late the entrance of strangers from abroad, it be-
comes obnoxious, and often oppressive. Itis true
that a passport Law can be devised that may
prove of real benefit to the country, by prevent
ing, in a measure, the Ascending of unprincipled
debtors. But to be of benefit, it must be as sim
pie as possible, and not in the form of a tax. But
is the law now before the Legislature such? Let
us look at it. The section which we published on
the 9th inst. provides that every person coming
into the kingdom must procure a passport from
a Hawaiian Consul abroad, or in case he ar
rives at any port of these islands, must procure
one from the Foreign Office. In other words, If
he lands at Honolulu, Lahaina, Hilo, or any
other port, before he can consider himself privi-
legged to stay on our hospitable () shores, he
must proceed forthwith to the Foreign Office, pre-
sent his compliments to the presiding minister,
have his height and weight obtained, the color of
his eyes and hair described, the length of his
nose anu ears Gaken, duu tAcu nc VIII OO ~
erty to visit the volcano or Rosebank as he
chooses.
2d.-Every person who has been here twO
weeks or longer and wishes to leave, even though
he be an invalid or traveller, must give two weeks
notice of such intention and take out a passport,
for which he is required to pay one dollar. There
are some cases in which the application of such a
law is of benefit. but to apply it to travellers is
evidently going too far.
3d.-The collector who issues a passport lille
gally is to be fined one hundred dollars, and pay
any damages rendered in any suit against him on
the part of creditors of the absentee.
4th.-Every master of a ship who takes away
a person without a passport, is to be fined fifty
dollars for each offense, and be responsible in any
suit the same as the collector.
5th.-The King may order out of the kingdom
any person whom he chooses, at any time or for
any cause.
The above are the main points in the passport
system as it came before the House of Representa-
tives. Although that body has struck out and
amended several of the most Objectionable fea-
lures, we give all the points of the law, as it is
probable that the Upper House may bring them
all up again and pass them, and also to show
WLdt u ~ 10
to embarrass the of travellers Had this
law been promulgated in the Empire of China we
should have considered it as a just retaliation of
the California Chinese passenger act passed by the
legislature to which we alluded a week or two ago.
But the clause which will most astonish our
readers is that in which it is sought to introduce
a despotic law empowering the King to exercise
legally an unconstitutional prerogdtire. That we
NAV not be misunderstood, we will quote the sec
ton as it was struck out from the Code by the
Representatives.
"sec. 4s. 1t shall not be necessary tn grant a passport to
no master Of q vessel shall be held to have incurTed any labT-
ity by having conveyed such person out of His Majesty's ,uris-
We suppose this to have originated with the
Minister of Foreign Relations, under whose de-
partment it came up, and if so, we are not at all
surprised that his Jealous loyalty should have
sought a betrayal of the true interests of the king
dom in the introduction of an unconstitutional
law, granted only to the tyrants OF Europe
and Asia. The Constitution of England declares,
on the authority of Blackstone. that the King of
that nation, whose laws are in many respects the
original Of ours, cannot exercise this privilege
EVERY Engiishman may claim a right to abide in his own
country g" sr : Q long as 81 ? sa p.sAs The k H. indeed @ tb bis royai pre-
roeati.e. NAV issue out his writ ne Great regnam. and prohibit
any Of his subjects from going into foreign parts without a
license.
can send any subject of England out Of the land against his
viii no, not even a criminal For exile and transportation are
Wherever the latter is non-inhic.ed, it is either BY the choice Of
the criminal himself to escape a capital punishment, Q else oy
the express direction Of some modern act of Parliament
Bhackstone's Com, COL i, p l3i-
We are not wanting in loyalty to our Sover-
eign in opposing this enactment, nor would we
seek to curtail his prerogatiyes but we must not
forget in our zeal that there are popular as well
as regal rights. And though we do not believe
that the enlightened and liberal Sovereign with
whom we are now blessed, would ever exercise in
iudiciously such a power, if conferred yet the
fact that the power is susceptible Of abuse should
lead us to be cautious and wary of its introduce
ton. Should the case ever recur when its exer-
else becomes necessary, the act, if just, would be
unanimously sanctioned by every loyal subject,
and the unanimous approval of lis course by his
people is the highest authority that a just Sover-
eign can ask for, and for it he needs no other
law. We trust the section will be thrown out as
unnecessary, unconstitutional, and as savoring of
a despotism which would lower the nation in the
eyes of the world.
The passport system, as it is brought before
the Legislature, is surely obnoxious, and we be
lieve that the entire foreign community would
prefer that the whole be. done away with. and let
creditors look sharper for their claims, than see
this new unjust and oppressive system put into
force. Still. we think that a simple passport
law, without double penalties of fine and debt
responsibility. as the present law has it., can be
devised. which would prove of much benefit. In
order that our readers may examine it, we publish
the law below
OF PASSPORTS.
Sec. e34. Every person who may have resided on these islands
| for more than fourteen days, Wishing to leave the kingdom, shall
cause notice Of his intended departure to be published in the
Government Gazette at least two seeks previous to such de-
parture. and make application to the collector Of the port from
which he intends to sail for . passport and it shall not be law
full, except in cases Of great and sudden emergency, to grant a
| passport to such person unless he shall be satisfied that the
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