The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1873-11-22

the King ordered his Minister Of Foreign Affairs TO
notify the American Minister that ne was ready l"
negotiate q treaty on that basis, and the Minister N
formed his Government by the mail Of July It'll that
the King had offered TO DO so.
In regard 10 this matter, His Majesty has expressed
the wish that his subjects suspend their Judgment
until q reply shall be received from the American
Government, as TO whether it is willing 70 treat with
him on this basis.
measure to which the Kings Government
has committed itself, and has given official notice not
only 10 the American Government, but through ue
papers 10 the people.
measure adopted by his permission and
order. and from which this Government cannot with
draw with due respect 10 him, or the Government TO
which he has made advances--tSept 81
Now If the Ministers were honest and sincere
in the views expressed and the policy avowed by
them in the north Of July last, (regarding the
beneficial effect Of which, if put fairly in ezecu-
ton, they now declare that they have not changed
their minds) what very grave and potential cir
cumstance, what impending emergency, let US
ask, has since arisen to warrant this unseemly
haste in abruptly abandoning a measure hat had
been adopted only after such long and careful
elaboration? The artless answer, (Which must
make 4 profound impression when it reaches the
State Department At Washington is to the effect
that His Maiesty's advisers hariag become satis-
yea lldL the lItdlN NOuiu - AtNtifI tNt NGHAN'"A
required by the Constitution, have considered It
proper 10 withdraw the proposition. That is all,
and it means this That the Ministers acknowl-
edge having initiated Il measure and made a
formal proposition 10 the United States Govern
ment without taking into account what was or
might be the general feeling or sentiment of the
native people thereon. although it had been freely
discussed among them in public for ut least four
months previously that they have Just discovered
the state of that feeling to be averse to the meas
ure, whereat they are so alarmed and demented
that they really dare not wait to see if the treaty
(f, perchance, one were negotiated) would or
would not be ratified by n Legislature not yet
elected, and which is to meet six months hence
but they guess it would not and that therefore
- to save time and labor CHATS ally they will
make no endeavor TO change and correct that
erroneous general feeling against Il measure
which they once q" confidently believed, that
when fairly considered, and we'll understood,
would commend itself favorably to the public
Judgment and of the beneficial effects of
which they are still satisfied . but they will now
proceed to deliberately falsify their pledges to
the country and to offer q grave indignity to a
$500 1890 oN-@NO A'NAN01 N"' -NN@'' 'h|A-
portfolios and So 900 a year
Look at these Ministerial - dissolving views F"
in any light we may, we can discern no evidence
of either pluck, dignity, tact or management.
They perfunctorily inform the public that, after
all these acrobatic feats, they still retain the un-
diminished confidence of His AIajesty: be this as
it may, they have most assuredly forfeited what
ever confidence their fellow-citizens may have re-
posed in them as public officials. Carefulness and
circumspeetion in large degree-the traits of very
conservative men-have been heretofore attributed
to the present members of His Majesty Cabinet,
but in the present instance they appear to have
entirely ''lOst their heads, and committed Il
blunder in craftsmanship that the veriest tyro
would have avoided.
At the conclusion Of the dispatch to the Amer
lean Minister Resident announcing this grand
crawfsh manouvre, the Ministry, in 4 few spirit
less words, announce the important fact they
still entertain the opinion that a special Treaty
of Reciprocity, of 4 similar character to that of
May Dist, 1867, would prove to be mutually adj
vantageous to the United States and the Hawaiian
Kingdom But little reflection will suggest the
reason for this very brief allusion to the bare pos
sibility of any further negotiation on the subject
of Reciprocity.
Suppose that the next mail from the East shall
bring the announcement that the Cabinet of Pres
ident Grant declines to negotiate on the basis of
the proposed c%ession; the position Of the Ministry
in having needlessly ''taken n hasty plate of
SOUP will be sufficiently ridiculous. But if, on
the contrary, we should receive the intelligence
that they had accepted the proposition, and that
4 special Commissioner was on his way hither for
the purpose of negotiating the Treaty, the Minis
;erial position would not, to put it mildly, be one
to be coveted by n person fond of q quiet life.
In our issue of September 18th, Immediately
following the wretched episode of the 'war of
the barracks, - we recommended the Ministry to
resign their positions, which they had shown
themselves so incapable of properly filling. Had
they then adopted our suggestion, they would
have been saved the humiliating disgrace and rid
icule which they have now brought upon them
selves.