The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1880-10-09

WHEN men accuse others of corruption
mismanagement and almost fraud" 1t Is
their duty to themselves and to the public
that they should make known the facts on
which they rely to justify their libel. We
say nothing of their duty to the persons at
tackled, because we do not expect to find
any sense of that in men who mistake
their petty personal spite against indiyi-
duals who have trodden on their toes for
the glow of patriotic fire. But On the part
of the public we call upon them to substan-
tate the charges we have quoted by the
production of the facts on which they rely
If there are any. The noise which the
same men nave made about the contract
between the Government and the Proprie-
tor of this journal and especially the ex-
treme indignation at the sensible move of
the late Minister of the Interior in the
direction Of obtaining experienced super
vision of all purchases made for the Gov
eminent demonstrate most clearly how
right we were in saying that at the bottom
of all the recent agitation against His
Majesty and the Ministers he had selected
was the fear that the expenditure of Gov
eminent money might be turned away
from the channels through which it has
been wont to flow. We reply to them
unhesitatingly that the late Ministry have
been guilty neither of corruption nor of
Encouragement and that it is simply an
untruth to state as their enemies nave done
that they cave to their successors "Fi-
nances in disorder, jobbing rampant, for
eign powers insulted, and the whole ma
chinery of Government out of gear" Not
q single fact has been brought forward in
support of either the first or the last of
these accusations, and we assume that they
are only intended as rhetorical exhibitions
Of spleen. They are however calculated to
alarm the public mind, and we therefore
challenge their sponsors to prove them;
giving them in the mean time an indig-
n denial We are not at a loss to sur
mise the circumstances on which the
charges of jobbery and of insulting foreign
powers are based, n we also give indig-
nant denial to these accusations. If to buy
necessary articles from friends of the ad-
mistration rather than from its enemies be
jobbery, then through the whole course of
Hawaiian public business runs the stain of
jobbery for Hawaiian Ministers have al
ways taken good care of their friends.
Jobbing however has another definition
and we defy the enemies of tho late Min
listers to put their fingers on a single trans
action of theirs which has not been honest
and straight forward, and fit to bear the
light Of day. AS to the alleged insult to
foreign powers, we have dealt with that
subject at some length already and can on
ly repeat. here that we look upon the ener-
getic protest made by His Majesty's
late Ministers against the action of the
representatives of certain powers as a
most fortunate thing. True, the King has
consented to withdraw his objection to the
continued presence here of these gentle
men, the more readily no doubt because of
the personal liking he and all who know
them entertain towards these gentlemen,
but o the less will the first ex-.
preston of Indignation, already conveyed
to the Governments concerned, evoke very
necessary enquiry, which is sure to be fol-
lowed by words of advice and warning to
their representatives. The heat of per-
sonal feeling may AVE been very great
in Honolulu and may be accepted as an ex-
cuse for the course taken by these gentle
men but it will not affect the thermometer
at the Capitol or in Downing Street.