The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1863-11-26
Correspondence Of the p. C. Advertiser



Nh. EDITOR During the past week quite a little
stir was created about town among loyal Americans,
by the following order. which | was permitted TO see
Hospital the bearer, Samuel Wilkins, a distressed American
citizen, and a discharged wounded soldier of the United States
army. ". ". FOLLETr SYSGE,
Honolulu, November 20th. 1858"
Thinking il to be a little singular that . . q dis
tressed american citizen, and u discharged pound-
ed soldier Of the United States army" should be-
come a charity patient of II. B. ". Commissioner
and Consul General, I took the pains to make a few
inquiries about town in no pleasant mood, and with
no very exalted opinion of the American Consul,
who. | heard, had refused him admittance to the U.
S. Hospital. and will give you the substance of my
discoveries: In the first place | found that the sea-
man referred to tcas not an American citizen; and in
the next place, that he had no claim upon any other
than II. Is. ". Commissioner and Consul General,
and perhaps none upon him. The facts are briefly
these: wilkins was born in Philadelphia, enlisted
and was in the battle of Cedar Mountain, was
wounded, and has n discharge from the army in due
form, but not on account Of his wound, but a consti-
tutional disease of the heart. He afterwards ship
ped Oh board the English w~haleship Robert T0lcnS
in New Bedford, has been one season North, and is
ashore here without a discharge, and is in fact still
a seaman belonging to an English ship. The United
States law covering the case of distressed seamen,
provides for all seamen discharged from vessels under
the UNIFIED States flag only, with a view to discour-
age the shipping Of Americans under a foreign flag,
and encourage the seamen of other nationalities, to
ship in American vessels in preference. The English
law, as | understand it has been interpreted the past
week, provides only for English seamen. native or
naturalized.
The wording of the order and subsequent facts
,.l l- 49,. :.-..;.u
to cast a slur upon the American people. and exhibits
a feeling which is much to be regretted, and, as all
will allow, not calculated to soothe the already irri-
tated feelings of loyal Americans towards the Mother
Country. That Americans do care for their own and
once in a while lend a helping hand to others, is pro-
we'd by their contributions to the Lancashire fund
here, and the voyage of the George GrisoOid from
New York, two instances among many. Pardon me,
if while upon this subject l quote some remarks of
the Hon. Edward Everett, which | consider quite
pertinent. In a lecture originally delivered before
the Mercantile Library Association in Boston, aud
repeated before the New York Historical Society, OH
the first of June, 1858, he said:
II am not indifferent. to the increase of the public burdens,
but the time has been when L have felt a little proud of the
vast sums paid in the United States for the relief of poor i'm
migrants from Europe. 1t Isl an annual sum l have no doubt
equal TO the interest on the foreign debt of the States which
have repudiated their obligations. When 1 was in London, a
ties of England telling me they had in their house of correction
an american seaman Cor a person who pretended to b) who
from their accounts seemed to lie both pauper and rogue.
They were DESTROYS OF being rid of him, and kindly offered to
place him at my disposal. Although he did not bid fair to be
"A very valuable acquisition, 1 wrote back that he might be
sent to London, where. if he was a sailor, he could be shipped
nv the American Consul to the United States. if not, to be dis
posed of in some other way l veutured to add the suggestion,
that if Her Majesty's Munster at Washington we're applied to
in a simnar manner by the overseers OF the poor, and wardens
of the prisons in the United States, he would be pretty busily
occupied
q. But / really felt pleased at a time, when my own little State
titute British subjects annually, to be able to relieve the British
Empire, on which the sun never sets, of the only American
pauper quartered upon it,"
doubt not but that the American Minister Resi-
dent at this court will be pleased to make some
arrangement to relieve the representative of that
mighty Empire, "upon which the sun never SETS
of the only American which it has ever been his mis-
fortune to be burdened with. while at the same time
the latter may not be cognizant of the fact that five
subjects of Her Britannia Majesty are or were lately
inmates of the U. s. Hospital; besides Portuguese,
Germans, Hawaiians and North American Indians
for all of whom the American Government provides,
in sickness and distress, so long as they sail under
its flag. Not two weeks ago the American Consul
subject, who when asked on his dying bed to what
nation he belon ged, answered with an emphasis and
tone that showed the pride he took in his country,
- am an ancient Briton." The only law known
here, is that the flag imparts nationality to every
seaman sailing under it; and no American-born citi-
lection or aid of the American Government, so long
UNION JACK.