The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1873-09-27
THE PACIFIC
Commercial AOOtrtisrr.
SATURDAY. SEPT. p

say. 10 annexation. and that would be sure 10 br
followed by disaster and extinction, and We are
left TO infer this result from the treatment which
the Hawaiian would receive from Americans. l.,
too, have heard II said, that the natives have got
and are getting the idea that their lands would
be taken from them and they reduced To- Il state
Of slavery or semi-slayery If annexation to the
United States should ever take place. Now cho-
eUeT Intentionally gives such impressions as these
10 the natives / regard as 4 slanderer of the Gov
eminent and people Of the United States. and
such things are said 10 prejudice the Hawaiians
against them, for they are not true. The United
States bought the Floridas of Spain, Louisiana of
France, and Alaska of the Russians. They con-
quered California, Arizona, New Mexico and
other territory from the Mexicans, and took the
city Of Mexico because the Mexicans ill-treated
Americans and trespassed upon their property
which they had lawfully acquired in the Mexican
country. How did they treat the purchased and
conquered countries? They did not treat them
rs colonies or conquered provinces, but took them
in at once as n part Of the United States, and they
choose their own officers and legislatures and make
their own laws for their own INTERNAL govern
ment. imposing their own taxes upon themselves
for schools and other purposes. They are Just
equal to and have all the rights and privileges of
citizens of the United States, and just SO would it
be with these islands if they were annexed to the
United States by the will of the people,-and
without the will of the people the United States
would not take them as n gift. They would not
take ST. Domingo because they did not believe the
majority Of the people wished it, and they would
not buy St. Thomas even when the rulers of both
countries had agreed upon it, and all but seven
Il think Of the people of st. Thomas voted for
it, and these countries lie nearer, and would be
more valuable To the United States than these ISL
ands.
The United States more than any government
acts from the Will of the people. 1t has no sub
jects. all are citizens and equals, they make their
own laws for their own government, and were
these islands annexed by the wish of the people,
all would be citizens, not one foot of land belong
ing to n Hawaiian citizen would be taken unless
he chose To sell it, and every right of every man
would be protected by all of the power of the
United States. All foreigners have been treated
kindly by this people, and there is nothing TO be
feared from the United States, as long as its citi-
zens are Justly treated in their persons and prop
erty, which they have lawfully obtained whilst
dwelling quietly in the country and obeying the
laws. But they will not allow their citizens to be
abused in their persons or wronged in their prop
erty If they can help it, and these slanderous rep
RESERVATIONS about the United States and it's citl-
zens, by whomsOever they may be made, are cal
culated to excite preiudices leading to just such
treatment.
Americans have lived among this people for fifty
years, and the people know them well; their acts
have spoken for themselves. They have not made
demands upon the government which could not be
met, and called their government and men-oE-wa
to their aid to enforce them, nor will they do so,
unless unjustly treated. Such talk about the
United States as leads the natives to say in their
gatherings British good, Americans bad is
calculated to do evil, and excite 4 prejudice in the
native mind tending to unlawful and aggressive
acts, which all men shOuld by word and deed try
to avoid and avert.
The United States government and its citizens
have always felt kindly towards the Hawaiians,
which feeling has been often manifested by deeds,
and they never have had any good reason, nor have
they now, to distrust their kindness nor to speak
of them unkind or insulting words, or do unkind
deeds. If they get reciprocity it will be because
they still feel kindly, for they will have to tax,
and pay themselves, all that they give in the
treaty To Hawaiians more than they receive from
them.
As to the treatment Of the Indians, the United
States has treated them like children. Some of
them have become civilized and Christianized, but
the most of them are still savage. The lands
which were theirs have been bought by the gov
eminent. and paid for, and the government has
formed treaties with them and given to them on
their own reserved lands, clothes and food and az
r%lcultural implements and machinery, and tried
TO teach them the arts of civilized life. They
have sometimes suffered wrong ut the hands of
uniaithful agents, and done wrong in return.
The government would punish all the wrong doors.
whether Indians or others, as far as the wrong
doing could be proved, but the greatest cause of
evil has been where those who loved money better
than they did the Indians, have sold them strong
drink contrary to the wishes Of the government.
aud out Of these brawls and wars have risen which
have been disastrous to both the citizens and the
Indians.
In some cases where no such disturbing mfu-
ences have entered, like those of Pennsylvania
and Nantucket, all has been harmony, and al
though the Indians have died out, yet no one has
attributed it to the English ~colonists who bought
their lands and settled amongst them, or the citi-
zens of the United States which these colonistS
became after the American Revolution.
1t is worth mentioning that the English colo
nists, about thirty in number, bought the lands
of Nantucket some 200 years ago, and paid for
them, allowing the Indians TO remain, and giving
them all the land they wanted to cultivate, and
they were from : 10 LOO in number. They
lived in harmony, the Indians gradually dimin-
ishing, till the last one died in 1854, aged 50
years. Yet the colonists ana citizens were no
more responsible for the gradual dying of the
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