The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1866-01-20
THE PACIFIC
Commercial Advertiser.
SATURDAY. January 20.

-FREs -rrfEAGE~ ma, possibly bee suitable for
some nations bat experience has proved that Il
viii NOT Do for all. In the Juited States. ~ the
present moment. the question as % whether tie
recently eu-iavrd pOpul4ce 81 the Southern states
shall b. allowed the elective franchise. l. one OF
graveS- among the many grave questions now IN
der discussion there. Who are the men that shall
have q voice in making the laws Of a nation
Most decidedly those who have an interest in the
. country landed or q property inrerest-aEd
not every Tom. Dick and Harry who. subject
% the beck and call Of any wouId-Je demagoEUe.
s is ready 20 shout for the highest bidder. and vote
repeatedly under different names. such was no.
tCrIDU-iy the practice under the Old Constitution
. Of these Islands. which some are now trying 10 de-
leld. Under tie present Constitution a property
qualification is required for voters. and thus the
Tabb.e ! excluded. IN spite Of opposing infG-
eucr-. the more Intelligent of the people ara be-
ginning 70 understand that be who has a stake in
the cOuHtTy-hds a family. an occupation and 4
hOmestead-has more right 10 be represented in
the councils u the nation than a common loater.
who doe not own a penny. and to whom = change
OF laws viii be but q uitling matter.
The above is from the last number Of the
Government index, and is 4 fair sample of the
speciJus pleading to which crown lawyers re-
sort when seeking to defend obnoxious meas
sures. Their argument-if it can be called
such-amounts to this the slaves of the South,
who have been all their lives in bondage, and
are unable to read or write. are unfit 10 exercise
the franchise privilege, or at least their fitness
is q grave question of policy. Because these
ignorant slaves, who have been taught nothing
but the law Of submission 70 their masters,
are not at once admitted 10 the ballot-bOx, on
their being proclaimed freemen, therefore our
present Constitution Is all right, and therefore
Hawaiians are unfit to be trusted with the
ballot.
Now what are the facts? Is there any sim
ilarity in the condition of the Hawaiians and
of the American slaves? Not the least. Every
man, woman and child in this Kingdom have
been taught from infancy to read and write,
and, with the thorough system Of education
inculcated, they have also learned, as far as
practicable, the relation Of subjects to their
rulers. They understand these duties probably
better than any other people in like circum-
stances. The condition Of the American slave,
with 4 few exceptions, is the very reverse, and
bears no relation 10 that Of the Hawaiian nor
can the example Of the slave be brought up
with any p~ropriety TO justify the restriction,
or virtual abrOgatiOn, Of the right of suffrage
in our Constitution.
But the example of the slave, advanced by
the ministers, does form one of the most power
full arguments in favor of universal suffrage
among Hawaiians. They argue that the slaves
are unfit to vote because they are ignorant,
and might be at the beck of demagogues
therefore the IIawaiians must be unft-thus
placing the latter, as we hold they are placed
by our Constitution, IN The position Of Slqres.
And this, as we stated in i former reference to
this subject. is the actual condition of the
larger part of the Hawaiians to-day-they
occupy, so far as political rights are involved,
~, ,I.co g 10 Ar,-r;,,o H., So C-,-j,,.,
with this difference, that they are taxed and
deprived Of their right to vote, while the slave
or freedman is neither taxed nor votes.
We hold that a state of freedom-such as a
% freeman " enjoys-is the natural or normal
condition of man-of all men, black or ,chife;
and the d~epriving a man Of any Of the rights
of q freeman, except for crime, Is ROBBERY,
as open and undisguised robbery as the tax
ing Of his purse from him. Power and
force only can deprive a man of his purse,
and these alone deprive him of his franchise.
1t is no palliation Of this robbery because
the power Of the nobility has for ages made
slaves OF Europeans and Asiatics, and deprived
them Of their suffrage. Because Georgia or
any other American State robs an educated
and Industrious slave or black man of his
rights, and fJrbids him 70 vote when he can
read and write, while it permits ignorant
white men to vote, who cannot read OF write,
and who have Mt the brains of 4 iackass-
IS no reason why Hawaii should do the same.
SelEinterest, power, and prejudice against color
are the only justification advanced by Georgia
for the preparation Of such robbery Of human
But the spirit Of equality and justice,
is spreading over the world, and which
caused Russia u cmancipate her twenty
millions Cf serfs, America her four millions Of
slaves, and make freemen of them all, and
Is destined 10 extend the franchise to
England's laboring classes, Will tolerate wrong
md injustice no longer and the day Is not
distant when every educated black man in
America will have the privilege Of voting.
The Hawaiian Constitution, under which we
live, Is 4 public wrong-a violation of the
eternal laws of right and justice, and no apol-
2gies of necessity or policy can justify. it or make
{ otherwise. 1t is 10 Hawaii what the . : blue
avs" were 70 COnnecticut-the work of pOlit-
al fanaticism. 1t i a wrong, inasmuch as
I tramples on the poor man. because he IS a
man, and deprives him of a right which
intended him to enjoy - the right Of a
reeman-the right TO participate in saying
Who shall make his laws and who shall decree
what taxes he must pay, irrespective Of
whether he be poor or rich. Oh, shame on
he humanity and civilization of the nineteenth
CENTURY. if the Hawaiian Constitution is an illus
ration of it shame on the pseudo philanthropy