The Hawaiian gazette., 1869-05-05
CORRESPONDENTS.

Mr.. EDITOR Some queer reflections have
under the head of 'sinjured innocence"
Up C. advertiser, April "a, y on an article in
the Gazette, in which this sentence occurs
The above writer ssys, Governments can
not be traders"
And then with manifest complacency and
in evident triumph, proceeds 10 demolish
that assertion in his own peculiar style, in
the following passage, equally distinguished
by elegance of diction, logical accuracy, and
nice discrimination:
The lie is given to this assertion every day
and every hour of the existence of the pres
ent Government, for, from its head to the
humblest individual in it, all are more or less
concerned in outside ventures.
Here then we are favored, with perfectly
clear and explicit definition and exposition,
of the meaning which that distinguished
publicist attaches to the term Government"
as habitually used by him in those charac-
teristic Trades against that bugbear, repeated
uSqOe dd nauSedm, to which he seems i'm
PEELED, by an irresistible attraction, to return
week after week He says in effect trium-
phantly, that every member of the Govern
ment, as he imagines it to be constituted,
from the highest to the lowest, is individual
In concerned in "outside ventures" and
therefore, it is clear to his logical intelli-
eence, that the Government" itself, in its
corporate capacity, is thereby proved to be
"traderr' and that the lie is thereby given to
the contrary assertion; and in order to render
his meaning still more clear and unmistaka-
bic, he adds the following, by way of illustra-
ton of his accuracy, which he evidently con-
siders quite conclusive:
Start in any direction, and you find your
self in competition with some individual of
the Government, be it in peddling poi, run
ming a coaster, a rum mill, blacksmith
shop, a printing office, or sugar plantation
Thus under his own hand he makes clear
to demonstration the surprising fact, that
while he has been so earnestly and persist
emily carping at that body, he has all the
time meant only individuals of it, aad by
no means itself as such. 1t is for him to
reconcile as best he can his assumption,
that the acts of individuals, on their oUn
account, and for their oar7a personal benefit
quite apart from their official character, can
be held to be those of the Government in its
corporate capacity; and am mistaken if the
task do not tax all the ingenuity he can
bring to bear on it.
How many individuals may, according to
the eccentric notions of that writer, consti-
tute the greatest object of his antipathy-the
Government" does not seem to be quite
clear even to himself; but from his allusion
to the "humblest individual in it," he evil
IDENTIFY looks upon it as very heterogeneous
mass, composed of somewhat incongruous
materials, seraped together from all classes
of society, and probably including, perhaps,
soldiers and policemen; manifestly installing
officials, of all ranks and grades, under the
Government, for members of tia position
by the by, in which he does not stand quite
alone-for have actually heard it asserted,
and earnestly commended for, by an educated
member of this community, that such is the
case, and that the Government is composed,
not only of His Majesty in Council, but of
that body and every official under it. If
such, be really the idea of the writer in ques-
ton, it ought to be some solace to those,
who compose that body, to discover, that
whilst they supposed that they had been the
sole and special objects of his indignation"
he has really been, all the while, dealing his
blows, quite Unfortunately at compare
lively wide and comprehensive circle.
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