The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1864-05-21
The Ministry and the Constitution.

If the alarm and distrus. excited in the public
mind during the past week is not a sufficient evil
dence of an entire want of confidence in the cabinet,
the vote, by acclamation, of such want of conf
'ience, is a sure indication that the present advisers
of His Majesty are not the men to longer hold office
with the appreciation of the people. The high-handed
attempt ito Proride cGyS and means TO carry on
she Government in some other way than that pro-
vided by our Constitution and laws, is well ventilated
BY q" One OF the People," in the last ADVERTISER;
and the sudden withdrawal of the clause by the min
listers. shows that they had developed their purposes
too soon, and that an indignant public sentiment
would not stand such an attempt to subvert its rights,
and the lOng-enjoyed peace of the land.
And now We have the conceited and fippant twad-
die of c. c. H..-one of the very men whom the peo-
pie ask the King to dismiss from his counsels,-
trying to explain away the real purposes of himself
and bis co-advisers! Is the dislike of the leading
member of the cabinet for the last twelve years to
the present Constitution so easily appeased, that a
few simple amendments not affecting the rights of the
people, will satisfy him /? Who believes it? He has
too openly and too pers;stently expressed his views,
that the people had TO much pocer, to justify such q
conclusion.
The fact is, the public. native and foreign, have 30
little confidence in the Ministry. that C.. C. HIS expla-
hntlOuS oAS Sdo - oHa hHS SOaiA hOS
more damage its cause in any other way. than by
making him its exponent. The people do not accept
him and his colleagues as " the guardians of the
public weal.' Quite the contrary.
Does C. c. II. suppose that the convention to as
semble in July will have the power to |" adopt an
improved Constitution that will be a constitutional
one, without submitting it to the Legislature, and if
passed by them. to the people at large? Such would
seem to be his opinion, in which 1 do not coincide.
Another reason why the people have lost confidence
in the cabinet is. that the proposed upsetting of the
Constitution has been secretly Matched up by them,
and has not been submitted To-, nor approved by the
PriUy Council. What is q Privy Council for? Is
it merely a pendant. to show off at a reception I? If
the persons called to that position are not to be con-
suited when such an important subject is to be con-
sidered as the digging up of the foundation upon
which our whole civil and religious rights are based.
it is a farce to have such q body. Are the cabinet
~incumbents afraid of the Privy Council? If so, the
public are afraid of them, Art. "a, Constitution.
Another reason is, that the public are of opinion
that the cabinet,-and particularly its senior mem
ber,-is responsible for our imperfect constitutional
organization of the Government, since the death OF
his late Majesty. And they are responsible for the
imperfect legal titles that may have been given, and
the litigation that may follow from otherwise legal
acts, but which are not believed to be legal, because
the King has never sworn to the Constitution of the
land. Art. "a, Constitution.
The language of the Constitution, "The King,
after approving this Constitution doubtless was ne
cessary for the then relgnlng sovereign, as the Con
stitution had not then been adopted, or gone into
operation. But in reference to any subsequent sove
reign, after the Constitution had once gone into
operation, the words, latter approving this Consti
tuition. - evidently have no reference. "The Kine
shall take the following oath" is doubtless just as
necessary to give legal effect to his official acts, as
Every member of the House of Representative
shall take the following oath, - to give their acts
legal character. If this is correct,-and that such
was the opinion of His late Majesty, is certain, from
his acts. OF what legal force is a Royal Patent
signed by His Majesty vho has never been indicted
into office by the requisite constitutional formality
For this reticence, the public holds the cabinet re
sponsible. ANOTHER OF THE PEOPLE.