The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1864-05-14

phNS ~ % iCH al tIic udNS OF MS lie. Tn
amend and re-amend, is eventually to make the
instrument like this same suit of clothes. length
ened, pieced and patched, and finally the whole
instrument becomes amendment, not any portion
OF the original being visible, bearing more the
appearance of make-shift than of skill or
thrift, so that it takes n man of no little
to know what the true state of the
law may be; and it often causes no little deba 70
even among the learned as to what il is. 4 man
Pounds his views or bases his action on what he
believes to be the LAWS able to quote page and
line tor it-when up jumps some one and points
out one amendment after another.
thus 1t Is In older communities than this, that
the Constitutional law and the whole Statutes of
States have been frequently revised; nor has the
project to perform this very necessary work ever
been the cause Of serious alarm to the most con-
sentative or timid, or to any one who is not an
alarmist by profession. The shelves of every law
library are furnished with sRevised Statutes "
of different States, which are re-enactments of the
entire law of those Commonwealths and nearly
if not quite all the States of the American Union,
not absolutely new, have committed their Consti-
tutiOns for revision more than once to conven-
tions of the people, which in those States is the
10y BO"Sh - "hASAA ASeii bLCJ nave
been enabled, by wise foresight, to avoid incon-
veniences and perhaps eventual disturbances that
would necessarily follow a want of adaptation of
the law 20 the necessities of the State, or an I'M
Willingness to remedy errors or oversights incl
dental to all human works. Indeed the State of
California, which adopted her first Constitution
only two years or Whereabouts before ours was
adopted, has recently revised it in a convention of
her people.
Now, unless we assume that our law-givers
were endowed with more than human foresight
and wisdom, we cannot escape the ordinary neces-
stiles, and may with p~ropriety borrow light from
the experience of other peoples, nor because we
may have got along heretofore pretty well, though
seeing faults which may become serious, and feel
ing inconvenience, not great in themselves at
present, though likely to become so, wait till
those faults and inconvenience may have brought
disaster before attempting to remedy them. The
duty of the Guardians of the Public Veal is to see
any difficulties, if they exist, and suggest rene
dies-to foresee contingencies, and to provide
against them.
1t is in the spirit of the foregoing thoughts
that His Majesty's Proclamation has been issued.
He is DESTROYS of referring back the Constitution
to the parties that made ito the constituting
power-to meet the delegates of the people, freely
elected, and the Mobiles, on equal terms, in a
frank and confidential manner-to talk with them
face to face, and to see whether any changes
should be made In the f~undamenta laws of the
Kingdom for the common good-believing that He
has no interest distinct from the interests of all
His people-nay, believing most earnestly that
His smallest interest is dependent on their we'll
Io;.- o-J bo;,- eura that He ,ubOla bo,pipacs
is wrapped in theirs. In this Convention, if the
people accept His invitation, they will be repre-
sented by ttcenty-seren delegates. being thus, if
they choose to band together, an overwhelming
majority, inasmuch as the number of the Mobiles
will not be increased, so that no changes can be
adopted without their consent. There is no con-
cealed thought in this Proclamation-it means
just what it says, and no more. There is no de-
sire nor intention to seek to lay any new burdens
on the people. or to disturb the well established
order of tbings-no craving for power, no thought
of proposing anything not in the interest of the
people. If the delegates shall meet the King in
the spirit of confidence in which He will meet
them, good will certainly be educed; but if, on
the contrary, they choose to meet Him In the
spirit of distrust and obstinate, unreasonable oppo-
sition, though no good will come of the Conven-
ton, most certainly no harm will result from it.
The King, by public proclamation, thus recog-
nizes the fact that His people have rights which
He intends to respect and seeks to cause them
to value-that Government is 4 social compact, OF
which He is the Head-and that that compact
has for its only end and aim the common good,
and not the : : good of any one man or class of
men, He invites the people to listen to him
with the same respect that he will listen to them
or their delegates, and requires nothing more.
If such is the tenor and intent of the Proclama-
ton, Mr.. Editor, L think you will admit a more
liberal measure, or more liberal views, could not
be entertained by any person. If the Convention
is willing to adopt an improved Constitution, 1t
is well : if not, the Constitution stands as it is.
Yours, &C., G. { Ill.