The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1874-02-28

manship raise Hawaii from the slough of despond
into which, through the errors and the misman-
agement of the past, she has been gradually de-
Ginning, and to lift her, step by step, to the post
of honorable prosperity and thrift to which her
position and resources unquestionabIe entitle her.
The task it will be acknowledged is a severe one,
and its attempted performance implies wisdom
and skill to devise, tact to propose, and untiring
industry and fertility Of resources to carry out.
Important measures must be planned and care
fully weighed, and the arguments for and against
thoroughly scanned, in order to meet the objections
Of critics, who We all know by experience, are
more plentiful than fair in our small community.
Let us venture generously in advance to credit the
the new Ministry with the possession Of all the
peculiar and varied qualifications thus indicated
as necessary in the discharge of their duties so as
to meet the requirements of the situation and the
just expectations of the country.
so long as the Government continues to own
the types and presses with which the Gazette is
/ printed, so long probably will that journal con-
tinue to be a quasi government organ. The at
tempt has been made quite frequently both by
the late administration and by the Gazette itself,
to shake off that character, which by the nature
Of things seems to adhere to it, and the charge
was even made editOrially in an amusing fit of i'll
humor, that the ADVERTISER was the . official"
organ Of the Government. That was however SO
far-fetched an idea that 1t was not even recognized
as a joke. \ leading article in this weeks issue
of the Gazette, under the prominent and suggest
i've heading s. Policy of the Administration, - has
attracted attention, the more particularly from
Shy o-aus-cRsvsol ySyiy which tb, written oas,,naS.
so that, while the editor of that independent
Journal > is undoubtedly responsible for the arti-
Gle, its tone and manner authorize us to accept it
as agreeing with the views OF the new CABINET, II
not inspired from that source. And indeed, no
particular harm would result were the word
90 official - affixed to the article in question, SO far
as the administration would be thereby committed
to any really definite line of policy. 1t may be
characterized as a not very artistically executed
but diffusely worded specimen of non-committal
talk; and as such we will briefly review it, pre-
missing that we find nothing in it to seriously
condemn.
At the outset, we are led to expect a revelation,
which however we read ON to the end of the col
umn without finding; although it is quite true,
as stated, that . the public, both native and for
eign, will be anxious to lemn, first, whether the
OdDlnCL nave any ~ lOihOS anu hCALf hudb
that policy is to be-" The first intimation of
ministerial : policy -" is in regard to the rioters of
the 18th inst, and we are assured that it is con-
sidered best that the law in their cases should
take its course. We should certainly feel alarm
for possible consequences were the idea seriously
entertained ''of an immediate exercise of Royal
cIemency' for these men, misguided though they
were; and the declaration of intention to adhere
to the principle set forth in the somewhat hack
neyed 9 Fiat %justitia, - &c. is satisfactory. What
follows Immediately after this quotation is very
fair reading; though the thoughts will not strike
one as new, including the quotation from Shak-
Spare who, it is sad to think, died without ever
knowing anything about these Islands. But in
this Paragraph occurs the only allusion, and a
very slight one at that, which the quasi govern
ment organ uigns to make to the subject OF the
recent appointments to the Bench of the Supreme
Court. "The Constitution with a large @ of
the Bench" Of the highest tribunal Of the land
certainly deserves more consideration than can be
bestowed in three lines OF stilted . fine writing
The once much vexed sGIect of Pearl HarbUr
is deemed worthy of a paragr,ph Of five lines, in
which trembling patriots are treasured by the an
nouncement that the present Cabinet are as one
man agreed that "no cessiOn of territory will
ever be proposed by them on any ground or pre-
tence whatever" We breathe frecr-but after
all, why attempt to resuscitate a self-evidently
"dead duck
The subject OF a Reciprocity Treaty with the
United States, in f~ruitless cndeavors to obtain
which it is said we have wasted much time, is
treated philosophically, and we are given the very
sound advice to q in the future attend to the de-
velopment of our productions and our m
on a selEreliant and independent basis" But
one cannot fail to admire the facility with which
this writer passes from grave to gay, for the con-
Guiding portion of the paragraph of which the
foregoing is a part, speaks Of the next o~yertures
for a treaty of reciprocity coming from America,
ANXIOUS to make us a present of halfa million per
annum-which of course is intended as 4 side
splitting joke. And is not reciprocity also "a
dead duck
"WelLconsidered and rigorous sanitary meas
ures for the whole group will be brought for
ward in the next Legislature. We heartily con-
cur in the desirableness of such measures, but
suggest that there is a possibility Of our attempt
ing too much and 50 failing almost wholly; espe-
cially in view of the style and probable tone of
the Assembly with which Ministers will have to
deal.
The next paragraph, though awkwardly con-
structed and consequently somewhat involved,
amounts to this The business community may
rest assured, from the fact that one of the promi-