The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1859-02-24

that the government editor IN his wua
stick n little nearer to the truth.
About on . par with the above 10 the para
graph which follows it:
.Anerpe.diss 90 - sahibss "a s.a.g e 49,, 2.
~, 9, sas 49, 4ss |. :saas s,@ si = s~s..ssssss -
my "a s.Ps,ns,sss 1s:y:s..s -
Tie government Journal overlooks the nes o.
ie unwilling 70 acknowledge that the balance
lon hand'' 10 found in the TREASURY IN part through
the good oGces IF shis Journal in opposing the ex-
trayagance and waste of the Secretary at War,
who was squandering, when this Journal was e.
tablished. at the rate of $4,000, and demanding
no less than $50, 900 per annum to meet his war
like ideas. Look now at the statistics published
on our last page and zee the difference. threads
SO Department of War, $l2, 698''-hcwing an
expenditure at the rate of about SIS 900 q year
against about SAC, 900 in 1855, and showing fur
ther, most satisfactorily, that the service can be
done for about Sl5, 1000, for which three times
the amount was demanded. This is merely one
item in which the influence of this journal for
good has been felt in the public finances, and
. bearing these things in mind, - the Polynesian
: : must feel terribly small if it ever Acknowledges
the TRUTH thing we have ceased to expect from
a journal whose only object appears to be to per-
vert the truth at the public expense.
But we come now to a more serious point in
the false statements of the ministerial organ. 1t
says of the Commercial:
IT has tried hard enough to break down the credit Of the
government; Il virui<nt sbase and misrepresentation could do
The above, whether written at the instance of
either of the Ministers or only on the responsible
ity of an irresponsible editor of the government
journal, we pronounce 10 be an unqualified false
hood, and that the person who wrote it knew it
to be such when he penned it. And we further
defy either of His Majesty's Ministers (for they
alone are responsible for the above statement) to
produce one paragraph or one line in which this
paper has sought to " break down the credit of
this government That we have sought to cor
rect the errors and follies of Ministers-that we
have f~earlessly pointed out the results that would
follow s1ch a course as we condemned, we freely
acknowledge. And the public wish no better
evidence that our course in seeking retrenchment
in public expenditures, and particularly in con-
demning the extravaganza of the Secretary at
War, has been attended with good results, than
the fact now made apparent to them that there
is a cash balance of S31 .65S 10 remaining in the
public treasury. The assertion that this journal
has sought " to break down the credit of the gov
ernment,' - We repeat, is a most unqualified false
hood.
A journal or a journalist may become so blinded
to every sense of honor or truth as to forget even
the ordinary rules of propriety, as the ministerial
organ has in this case. But how it can have the
impotence to stand up before the community and
utter the self-righteous boast 50 never doubt a
statement sre have vouched for" in one para
graph, and an unqualified falsehood in another,
can only be accounted for by supposing that there
is a mysterious power impaired to those who feed
at the public crib, binding them to all sense of
self respect. The services of such a Journal will
no doubt be always deemed indispensable to sup
port the Ministry. which encourages such attacks;
and we VIII wager an old hat that some post Of
profit will always be found open to reward such
mercenary services
As we said at the commencement Of this arti-
Gle, we seldom notice the attacks made on us by
the government organ, as the publication is very
little read or noticed anywhere, out of the Office
in which it is printed. But when it becomes so
brazened in its devotion to the Ministry, and al
lows its zeal to carry it 50 far as to utter absolute
falsehoods in an article on the affairs of the Fl
nance Department, (but which we trust was is
sued without the knowledge of the head of that
Department. though we are not fully satisfied
on this point,) common decency and self-respect
demand that we notice them. however reluctant
we may be to do it. "1here is a point be
yond which forbearance is a crime" If our re-
marks have been severe, our readers will bear Us
out, that the occasion demands severity. When
the government editor, paid from the public
funds, descends to the bar-room to pick up his
epithets, and makes his unwarranted attacks and
abuse in street slang, though We may not return
him in his own coin, yet we stand ready to repel
his bigotry and insult, backed, as it only IS,
by the patronage of the Ministry and the public
treas ury.
The Mani Tux RepOPts.