The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1865-12-02
BIRTH.
THE PACIFIC
Commercial Advertiser.
DECEMBER ..

The Government has published, III the laet
number OF its official organ. Il statement Of the
Then.iS affair, which has been the principal topic
OF Conversation Tor the past tlree weeks. The
facts presented by it do not materially alter the
merits OF the clsc, but rather confirm the public
in the belief already current, that the whole
affair IL a disgrace 10 the Cabinet. The carry
ing off o! the girl Maria was evidently not done
with the intention Of violating the laws of the
Kingdom, and, rs she has been returned, no law
has been violated but it was evidently done
under n defiance from n party or parties in au-
thority, that Capt. Hanham didn't dare to take
her OF.
Had the circumstances Of the case been known
at the time the tug was sent out, as fully as they
are now known, we do not believe that the
sanction of the Government would have been
given to what has turned out to be the silliest
and most Lilliputian demonstration of guns,
powder and shot that has ever transpired in this
Kingdom. Capt. Hanham pays the expense of
his part of the sport out of his own pocket, and
were the other to be paid by private purse, no
one would have Il right to complain. But
against the State being called on to pay two
thousand dollars, more or less, we, as taxpayers,
protest.
Not less ridiculous than the expedition after the
THcmis was the arraigning of the girl Maria be-
fore the Police Judge, and the termination of
the suit. Everybody knew who and what she
was; but that she should be a~rraigned for acts
which she had been encouraged in up to a GER
tain date, was very singular. Never were the
words of the Saviour in a similar case more ap-
plicable than in this" Let him that is without
sin cast the first stone" And when the truth
began to come out before his Honor in Court,
and very unwelcome facts began TO be made
public under oath, the whole case was dropped
insfdnteT, the Acknowledgement entering a noHe
proseqn, and the Judge sending the girl home.
Thus terminated the second scene in the farce.
The official account does not tell the whole
story truthfully. 1t does not state that the
Ncttic, armed rs a %gunboat, with guns and SOL
dier5 on board. raised the American flag as n
decoy, NJ Hilo, to deceive the ThemiS and entice
her into that port. BY what right was the
American flag used for the shameful purpose in
Dictated? The account says that if the Nette
had been able 10 run out TO sea, the IhemiS
q. would then have been ut the mercy of the
force under his command" With the Ameri-
can dag flying at the masthead, perhaps she
would. We are not very skilled in international
law, but it looks as if considerable liberty had
been taken with the American flag on the occa-
sion referred to. We condemn the rebel pirates
for hosting the American flag as a decoy when
ever they met an American vessel. Is the he0G
any less in this case?
The organ claims that the channels between
the islands = are within the jurisdiction of this
Government" when any school-boy will tell it
they are not. The Thcnis, at 5 p. NJ of the
10th of November, when the tug came up with
her, lay in 4 direct line between Diamond Head
and Lanai, about fifteen miles from the nearest
land. according to our information, hut accord