The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1868-02-08

The question of the exped;ency of the annexation
Of these Islands to the United States is as legitimate
a subject for discussion as any other, and no odium
ought to attach to any who openly hold and sustain
such n course.
Now, why am l an annexationist? 1 arrived here
early in the f%ifties, with n strong prejudice against
American missionaries and American officials I felt
that I found here a better Government than l left be-
hind me in California, whittier 1 had gone from my
native country. / became an ardent supporter of the
Hawaiian Government, though in the same quiet way
that | am now an annexationist, not attracting the
attention or ever receiving any favors from the Gov
ernment. or ever holding any Office. learned to re-
gard the chiefs with respect, believed in the courts of
law, and became and still continue very fond of the
native people. In fact, during all my residence
among them, / have never been injured in person or
property by them. have experienced nothing but
kindness, and my tenderest relations and hottest
memories are with the natives of the country.
During the last year of the reign of Kauikeaouli
and the whole reign Of his talented and noble sue
cessor, no more firm believer in Hawaiian institutions
could be found than l. / remember during the reign
Of kamehameha w., the Government organ derided
the Government as n garment which did not ht the
people. and detained against the Constitution as a
rope Of sand, which would fall to pieces at the touch
Of u dictator, and more of this kind, which sounded
very strangely As coming from the Government press;
but L knew the writer as a pleasant inpractlcable
man, aud would not allow my faith in the integrity
Of the courts, mobiles and people as the guardians Of
our constitutional rights, and in the stability Of the
Government, TO be shaken. When His Majesty Kane
hameha ". was gathered to his fathers, l knew, Of
course, that the requirements of the Constitution
with reference to the succession had not been formally
fulfilled, but fully acquiesced in the only proper sue
cession, and right Loyalty hailed the succession of the
Prince who succeeded him to the throne, and who
then accepted il with all its sacred obligations, as well
as the general obligations of any and all rulers.
Now | confess l expected to see some amendments
TO the Constitution proposed, but felt assured that all
would be done in such n way that no rghts would be
violated, and that the Constitutional Government /
had grown 10 respect would be preserved in spite Of
the Z. rope Of sand - theory of the amiable dreamer of
the Poiynesidn. Ny faith was in the King and his
Ministers against whom | had heard suspicious ex-
pressed in which / did not sympathize), and in the
people, in whom l had confidence. L reposed some
confidence, too, in the large and influential class of
foreigners resident in the country, whose property
interests, and whose personal safety were dependent
upon the stability of the Government
When the constitutional convention was called, my
faith was upheld by the rallying of all classes for the
choice Of men pledged to sustain the form of Govern
ment and the rights of all classes. / felt that in some
things the Constitution might he amended with profit,