The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1859-06-23
THE PACIFIC
Commercial Advertiser.


THUR kAI, JUNE Is.
AMONG the a~mendments to the Constitution
which are now before the people, having receives
the sanction of the late Legislature, is one of con
siderable Importance, and to which the attention
of the public, and particularly of the natives
ought to be called, for if carried into effect, i
must make a change. in tie formation o
the Lower House.
Section " of the Constitution is proposed t.
be amended by the addition of a few words only
but sery important ones, and calculated to worl
a great change in the complexion of the House O
Representatives. The section sets forth what sor
of persons shall be eligible as Representatives o.
the people, as follows
SECTION II. No person shall be eligible for a
representative Of the people, who is insane, or an
idiot, or who shall at any time have been convicted
of any Infamous crime, nor unless he be a male sub.
ject or denizen of this kingdom, who shall have ar
rived at the full age of twenty-five years, who shall
understand accounts, and who shall have resided in
the kingdom for Mt least one year Immediately pre-
ceding his election"
The proposed amendment comes in, we believe,
after the words, swho shall understand accounts; p
and reads in substance as follows g ,oho shall
o,cn u~nincumbered real estate to the value of one
thousand dollars, or who shall be in the receipt
~ All ilnudt lnlOAiC ~ tiC uutOuLitO VI ~ ftOU-
sand dollars" Here we have the old English
property qualification of measuring a mans capac-
iy as a legislator by his pounds, shillings and
pence, or by the equally sensible plan of count
ing the number of acres he WINS. Such a sys-
tenn might, and perhaps does work t~olerably well
in some old countries, whose governmental sys-
TENS have become corroded by the lapse of ages,
and where to say a man is wealthy or a large
landholder is tantamount to saying that he is re-
spectable-or we should say, respected but to
introduce the system here, at this late day, after
having got along SO well without any property
qualification for representatives, seems rather a
step retrograde towards the dark ages. Where
is our large and influential class of landed gentry,
men Of education and leisare,-from among
whom to choose our legislators? Our principal
landholders are few in number, and are already,
almost to a man. members of the Upper House,
while among the great mass of the people not one
in five hundred owns a thousand dollars worth of
real estate, unincumbered As to the other quail
~ifcation, that of having an income of one thou
sand per annum, it would be still more difficult
to find a native Hawaiian who would thus be
eligible to election for representative,-at all
events, such would be the case in the districts re-
mote from Honolulu.
The practical working of this new amendment
will be simply to exclude the mattress of the coun-
try, almost in a body. frog. the House of
Reprc-cltati,es to debar them from. having any
share in making the laws under which they are
to live; to make the Hawaiian a cypher in his
own country and to place at once the entire
governmental machinery of the kingdom-execu-
tive, legislative and iudicial-under the exclusive
rule of the foreign born subjects of His Majesty.
Several years ago, when the subject of annexa-
ton was on the tapis here, the argument was
strongly urged that if annexation took place it
would result disastrously to the Hawaiian race ;
that it would be crowded TO the wal, and utterly
overshadowed by the incoming Caucasian breed.
But it seems that Ito use a homely but common
saying) " there are more ways than one to kill a
cat''-so we have no occasion to look abroad for
the means by which, very quietly and expedi-
tiously, we may mesmerise the Hawaiian people
rulers and all-into a political slumber, from
which we can wake them at our convenien Cor
never. We will not accuse His Majesty's Minis
tiers of scheming 80 to alter the constitutional
laws that a change in the government may be
brought about, should circumstances ever favor
it, without the consent or even the knowledge of
the people. Oh, no, We are told by their organ
that nothing but loyalty flows in their veins.
But had zoe proposed a measure that may yet, if
carried out, result in robbing the sovereign of his
realm and making the Hawaiians a race of slaves,
we should have been accused of high treason by
this same ministerial organ.
As a government measure-for the sugges-
ton coming from the King to the Legislature for
the initiation of these amendments to the Consti-
tuition, it cannot be considered as other than
emanating from His Majesty's constitutional adj
visers-this proposition sounds rather strangely.
Especially when wo remember how sedulously
these same Ministers attempted to wheedle us into
swallowing their bad brandy and whisky on the
plea of our self-respect-that we were able to
take care of ourselves-that we had been long
enough in leading strings, and that it was high
time we stood up and convinced the world that
we were capable of self government in all respects.
Who would have thought that while thus endeav-
oring to pull the wool over our eyes, they were
even then concocting a scheme which, if not
treason, may render the ballot box a humbug and
the House of Representatives a ministerial puppet
which would place us in a position that
would henceforth render unnecessary the expend-
iturc of nolis saponis, (vulgarly, soft soap.)
If the Hawaiians are incapable of Judging what
the capacity of a representative, then
they are not fit to enjoy the right of suffrage.
p-Aai~ Uurupnwr~m~u-