The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1860-10-11

iAAs INK 'r'i lbI-r-Wli pei o t--4rl bul 10 u-HI
a duel. We quote again
IL Is perhaps TO the caution I have exercised in re-
gard 10 communications that | am indebted for my
escape from all personal collisions. Ihave never been
called upon to 20 through the form Of considering
myself hcrsewhlpPe1- As for an accidental rencOntre
"On the street. - or a pFe-arrauged meeting in the
dank grass aud the swapping OF pistols by the ''dawn's
early light / never contemplated it. The worst
that ever happened 10 me was 10 be haunted by n man
carrying a heavy walking stick, almost q club. Ny
then foreman who weighed about three times as much
a. | did, and thought he smoked the thing, asked
me If IN case Of any assistance being required | would
give him the preference, but nothing came Of it.
What l now desire j. 10 place it upon record that up
u the last day Of September, 1860, when | ceased 10
have charge Of n paper, the dIsHo Is between editors,
Or between an editor and a furious outside party, was
unknown III Honolulu, al least for fifteen years past.
Perhaps the late editor, in narrating the
" worst that ever happened to him, has forgot
ten a circumstance which occurred some years
ago. We had always been under The impression
that he had fought u duel, but on inquiry, are
glad to find ourselves mistaken, and to correct an
erroneous impression which we, and others no
doubt, had received, Will state that what passed
was simply a challenge by one Christie. and one or
both parties Were put under bonds to keep the
peace. This occurred away back in 1916, long
before the present stringent laws on d~uelling
were enacted.
The late editor next goes on to invoke the
furies on the AdrertiSer and journalism in gene
raj. He says:
l am particular On this point, the rather that |
think ! see before US the Inauguration of a new era.
If the swelling dissatisfaction with which the town
now rises, like dough working when the yeast is
strong, should be induced by new indiscretions on
the part Of the Pacific Commercial .7drertiSer TO
roll over the measure that now contains il, let those
look out who publish in print what they dare not say
to a mans face or to the face of one of his friends.
My word for IT, these personalities if continued for
another six months will introduce q -ew system of
arrangement between him who is responsible for the
insult and him whose reputation as a man Of spirit
will second his feelings as one who has been stuck in
that modern pilory-the pages of a venal gazette.
The law stops short at libel, but between libel and de-
cent language there comes q sort of toreshore or de-
batable ground. lying between high and low water
marks-those vino travel it should endeavor 10 bear
in mind that they may be trespassing on good humor
and overstepping the bounds of ordinary patience, or
contempt, even whilst they fatter themselves that
they are safe.
1t is true there is Il % swelling dissatisfaction
now rising in the town. 1t needs not the voice
of a seer to proclaim that, from some cause or
other, the public indignation is now rising, and
" like dough working when the yeast is strong
will not subside until important and radical
changes are made. The editor can see no cause
for this . swelling dissatisfaction but the week
ly issue of the Commercial, while the public, from
a broader standpoint, see in the publication ofa
government political journal and in the admins
tration of a most unpopular ministry, the real
causes, which, if allowed to continue, Twill
introduce a new system of arrangement Never,
during the political history of the past ten years,
has such dissatisfaction existed. and never did
such we'll grounded causes for it exist.
What he has to say about : libel, - the
modern rillory,' &c, after all that has appear
Cd in the columns of the P0lynesian of late, is
very pretty talk for one retiring from the editorial
chair, but had it been enunciated in, and prac-
ticed from the beginning of his term of office, it
would have appeared with far more grace. 80
one can be more sensitive to the prophecies of
journalism than the publisher of this paper, and
no paper has ever been more cautious TO avoid
indiscreet illusions 10 private citizens thar this.
Dut with ptb&c funoticnaIies the case il different.
We frequently, nay continually, have occasion to
ON the acts and conduct of public
officers. \ man who solicits and accepts office,
does so with the understanding that in his official
he is amenable to the public, and that if his
conduct is unsatisfactory or blameable. he must
expect criticism and even public apprehension.
Last week allusion was made in this paper to the .
report of the existence on this island of small pox, =
Or rather varioloid, which was promulgated some
weeks since in the official organ, after full inspec- d
by an appointed physician of the Board Of
Health. We took occasion, after due inquiry, to n
notice the blunder which had thus been made, t
md correct the error into which the public had =
led. The error was an important one,
which, from whatever cause it originated, ought Il
lot to be overlooked, for besides being the cause b
{ annoyance and great uneasiness to natives and
who in some instances were driven to
Unnecessary expenses to ward off the expected
1t would be an interesting inquiry to T
earn how much money was spent in purchasing VI
isinfecting agents, or how many barrels of Ep- CT
1m salts changed hands on the strength of the m
1t may have been one cause why several
lerchantmen expected from San Francisco, have Sc
one by (as they probably have) without stop al
ing, fearing that contagion existed here, and we in
know that small pox is dreaded on board ship III
than the cholera ashore. We do not say DC
lat this report has been the cause of any injury 81
our port and trade, but that it may possibly Oil
ave been.
The originating of an ungrounded report of p,
~ contagion is a serious matter. 1t is only a al
time since that we noticed a prosecution la
yainst 4 newspaper in one of the Western States W:
T asserting that the small pox existed in the tn
ty where the paper was published. The editor tn
ID made the assertion, and an examination was We
ade on the part of the health board, and other cit
who after finding that a case did not
sent a deputation to the editor. requesting col
correction of the report which had been started. me
1t instead of correcting it, the editor re-asserted mi
and the consequence was Il prosecution on the 10
TT of the health board and the hotel keepers, are
business had been thus seriously damaged. VI ~
e instance this simply to show that the prOmul- '
ton of 4 public report of contagion is u serious
if not a libel on the public and in correct ba,
: it as we did, we were only doing the service mo
pected of us by the public. to