The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1872-01-27
Little Hawaii.

The late Edward Everett. renowned more as
an orator than a statesman, though at one time
prominent as both, had occasion during his career
u have some official dealings with the Hawaiian
Government, which he Is said to have loosely
characterized as D. the little pin-bead Government
away out in the Pacific" 1t may however be
somewhat consoling to our pride in this particular
to reflect that, small though we are, we are a
great deal written about abroad, and everything
that is written is sought after and read, and we
may suppose believed, whether it be true or false,
sensible or absurd. Even Mark Twain. among
his stock of lectures, had one on the Sandwich
Islands. in which he doubtless Mortified old ladies
by describing our cannibal practices, and offered
to illustrate his subject, if any one in the audi
ence would lend him a baby. About the fairest
writer who has shed ink upon us and our sur
roundings, was the Rev. DR.. Stone, of San Fran
cisco, who paid us a short visit last summer, and
whose sermon on :. The isles on his return
home was printed in this journal of Sept. Both,
1871. Readers of our paper in the States, from
whom we have heard, were much pleased with
the Reverend Doctors description of Life in
the Tropics, - SO different from another story by
that title, which was a distorted libel-and have
taken pride in passing it around for perusal
among their friends, until the paper is worn out
in the handling.
EAmong others who have lately undertaken to
describe Hawaii Rei and its people in print, is
mr.. II. II. Houghton, who our readers will rec
ollect as United States Consul at Lahaina during
President Lincoln administration. Mr.. Hough-
ton was a veteran newspaper man, and has
returned to his old business at Galena, H., where
he has recently commenced the publication of a
large thirty-six column weekly, with the rather
high-sounding title of the - Spirit of the Press"
In this the ex-Consul has been giving IN a series
of articles entitled 1.-The Sandwich Islands, y a
curious melange of what he saw and heard dur
ing his residence here, spiced with his own de-
ductIons and reflections, some of which are
amusingly incorrect and absurd, while Others are
reasonable and just. We are led to suspect that
sometimes for matters of fact he has set down a
few Of the interesting and romantic tales that a
too credulous stranger will be apt to hear occa-
sionalIy at Lahaina-as well as at other places on
the islands. After enumerating the different OH
Gals of the Government, and giving their nation
%alities, (crediting Dorchester Mass, with being
the birthplace of Governor Dominis y he says
he thinks his readers { will concede, that for SO
small an affair, the Kingdom of Hawaii is a
good deal governed We will conclude with
the following sensible remarks from Mr.. Hough-
toms last article that has come to hand
1t is thought by some, that when the nation dwindies to a
remnant. the sovereignty will pass into the hands OF some
strong nation. We do not believe that this viii be the case.
No nation on earth wants, or will want II. Their very weak
ness is their protection. as certainly as is the weakness OF an
infant child its protection. If the Hawaiian race dies out, or
if they were extinct to-day, the five thousand white men there
would form a g'od government Tomorrow, that Woun DC usi
As fully recognized by other nations as is the present one. All
commercial nations want a safe stopping place there, ana thai
is all they do really want OF these Islands. To effect or con-
firm this. all the great nations of the commercial world would
mite I'm harmony. There IS not enough of them to quarrel
about, and not enough to defend at the cost OF war, one large
nation. contending with another. Come to matters OF fact, a
nation in itself so weak. that il could not defend itself against
the attack Of a single mau-Ofwar, has no protection in itself,
except It's weakness. and this very weakness makes 1t safe
from molestation by other large nations. When, duri' z our
civil war, in imitation Of England, its proclamation was put
forth acknowledging the South as beligerents, the buresque Oh
its kind was complete.