The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1870-01-15

the condition of the island is best described by a
writer in 4 British periodical
"The island when he (Sir ]. 2. Grant) landed was
in a state of chronic insolvency, the revenue being
always short of the outlay by from e2O,oO0 to too'-
900. or say one sixth, and the debt increasing every
year, till it amounted to rather more than TWO years
income. . . . Here was an island colony, with
a chronic deficit, gradually declining In prosperity,
and inhabited by races so hostile that a bloody mot
seemed to the higher caste to presage massacre, anu
was avenged by the slaughter OF some huhureus vi
the population"
This was the condition of affairs after some SIX
or seven years of coolie immigration. The plan
ters still Rugged the delusion that free labor could
not be profitable. The writer whom we have
quoted saws: There are many who believe that
great crimes against society, in the case of nations
as in that of individuals, are followed by certain
punishment and, to such the impoverished con-
dition of the Jamaica planters OF the present
day ''-equally applicable seven years later
- will seem but a natural consequence OF a long
reign Of ayarice and cruelty, OF extravaganza ana
OPPRESSION - The close student of history can call
to mind Vulnerable instances to prove that OPP
pressors, whether individuals or nations, have been
brought, sooner or later, to Judgment anu punish
ment. The most notable instance of recent date
is furnished in the case of the Southern United
States, STYLED the Southern Confederacy, whose
cornerstone was the institution of slavery. The
coolie system, which provides under contracts,
that the laborer shall serve particular persons
that admits of the assignment of the contract and
necessarily of the laborer, is contrary to the prin-
ciples of Christianity and of enlightened Govern
ment. John Stuart Mill says Of the contracts
Al such obligations are a form of compulsory
labor, that is, of slavery"
The administration of Sir j. P. Grant in ia
maica has brought about wonderful changes. The
writer in a British periodical, before quoted says:
90 The revenue and expenditure of the colony have
been brought to an equilibrium the change
being wrought in less than five years, ''and is due
mainly, if not entirely, to confidence in the Gov
ernment which, again, has arisen entirely from
its new attitude as an impartial authority, regard
ing all Her Majesty's subjects alike. Sir j. =.
Grant would have failed had he not carried with
him the -rst grand maxim of Indian administra-
ton, the keynote of all successful Government
of mixed races, that the spirit of caste shall no.
enter into legislation"
The cool.e code, and penal enactment for the
enforcement, only, Of contracts to labor, must be
erased from our %stututes. Our immigration
schemes must aim at colonization, and great care
must be taken in the selection of immigrants.
"Truth, we are told, will prevail, and freedom. we
know is truth. However, people may differ on ques-
tons Of political liberty, into which inequalities of
birth, race, position, and intelligence are permitted
to enter, modern civilization has recognized and rati-
fled the inalienable right of men to the wages of their
industry, to the happiness they have toiled for, and
TO the independence they have earned. Here is the
true field of equality, where rank, or race, or intel
lect has no chartered precedence. From the day
when this great principle was admitted throughout
the British West Indies their true prosperity may be
dated. For freedom knows no favoritism her hon.
ors are not crowded upon a privileged class, her aid
is not limited to a particular Interest,"
This is the language of Mr.. Sewell in his resume,
and which has a significance here.