Saturday press. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1880-1885, 1880-09-25
The Coming of the Ho Chung.

Inc coming OF Jnc no CnunR.
From the San Francisco Weekly Bulletin of Sept list
The first Chinese steamer has Just en-
tered this port. She is a small craft,
British built, and one of more than thirty
steamers, most of them larger, owned by a
Chinese company. 1t appears that her
presence in these waters is due in some
measure to the efforts of one Celso G..
Moreno, a restless Italian adventurer, who
appears and disappears in various parts of
the world, and whose only capital consists
in unlimited energy and an audacity which
amounts almost to genius. No doubt the
Chinese merchants are ready for the ex-
pertinent. The Ito Chung went first to
Honolulu with Moreno on board. The
most extraordinary fact is, that during the
| short stay of the steamer at the Islands,
Moreno contrived to influence the King to
such an extent that he dismissed his Cabi-
net, appointing new one, with Moreno,
the foreign adventurer, in the place of
Minister Kapena, a native, who had served
long and faithfully in that capacity. Min
lister Wilder. of the Interior, was also re-
moved. This revolution astonished the
people, who have a healthy way of ex-
pressing public opinion. Moreno held
Office for four days, when the pressure of
public sentiment became too strong. the
Indignation of the people becoming more
fervent every day. 1t is difficult to ascer-
tain Just the kind of reasoning on the part
of the King that led to these extraordinary
changes, or whether there was any reason
at all in the premises. The mere change
of Cabinet Ministers would not in itself be
a strange circumstance But the appoint
ment of an adventurer to the Office of Min
lister of Foreign Affairs, one not heretofore
identified with the interests of the King
dom, of whom little was known, and that
little had failed of making favorable i'm
preston upon the publc.-that transaction
was too much for this Hawaians.
1t is evident that from the first, the
King had expected great things from the
inception of the new line of China steam
ers, with which Moreno had managed in
some way to become identified. Honolulu
would be port of call. The line could not
be made profitable unless, in addition to
the coolies landed on the Islands, the
greater part of the business was transferred
from American steamships to the China
line All this the King and his advisers
must have foreseen, if they foresaw any
thing. Yet in the face of these facts the
King promptly takes Moreno into his con-
fidence and gives him the most important
place in his Cabinet. That appears to have
been the reward which Moreno received
for promoting a Chinese line Of steamers to
cripple American commerce with the ISL
ands. Moreno reigned for four days. What
State papers he originated in this brief
time does not appear. We have been fur
nished such an account from his pen of
affairs at the Islands as it is deemed wholly
iueApedient to publish, because it is, to a
considerable extent, an effort to punish
the ex-Minister's enemies and to reward
his friends.
Moreno, it appears, not only succeeded
in obtaining small subsidy from the Ha-
waiian Government for the Chinese line Of
steamers, but was successful also in pro-
noting the opium scheme, of which men,
ton was made some days ago in this jour-
nal. 1t was proposed by Chinese capitalists
to transfer the manufacture of opium from
Hongkong to the Hawaiian Islands, chiefly
because the subsidy demanded at the for
mer place was too large, the sum of $780,
600 being the fixed price. Through Mo-
reno's influence concession was obtained
from the Hawaiian Government for the
manufacture of opium, the royalty being
$4,000 year. 1t is to he noted that no
such business can be carried on anywhere
in Chinese territory. But the island of
Hongkong being British territory, that
business has been prosecuted there with
great zeal and at an immense profit for
many years. The transfer of the manu-
facture to these islands, SO near to the
Pacific Coast, would have been brilliant
speculation. The amount which Moreno
would have gained does not appear. But
! the difference in the subsidy price was
/ S280,000. Here again the pressure of
public sentiment was SO great that the
King finally refused to sign the bill, al
though there is good reason to think that
he favored it up to the time it encountered
the strong and determined opposition of
the public. 1t would appear that in both
these transactions Moreno was the agent
Of Chinese capitalists, and that for these
efforts the King rewarded him by bestow.
ing on him one of the most important
offices in the Kingdom. The favor of the
King shown to the China line of steain-
ships is the more extraordinary, since it HAS
been known for some time that Chinese
Immigration to the Islands has been tail.
ure in an industrial point of view. The
Islands have now more Chinese than any
other foreign element, and the tendency
would DO, if Chinese steamers were to land
coolies without restriction, TO oyerrun the
Islands with this population at 10 distant
day. This immigration being SO unsa tbs.
factory, planters and others have cast about
for other laborers, and have sent to the
Society Islands tor them. Yet here is a
Government premium--a small one, it is
true-oHersd for Chinese line of steam.
ers, when the most profitable item Of the
business would be- the transportation oil
coolies to and from these Islands!
The recent expression of popular opin.
ion at the Islands is adverse to any subsi.
dies to China line of steamers, to Chinese
immigration other than in a very limited
way, aud to Moreno's concession for on
opium factory, and not least, to his holdi ne
any position like that Of Cabinet Minister
in the Hawaiian Government. The latter
declares that he was nataralized citizer
Vt the sUnited States. 1t follows tina,
having taken the oath of allegiance to tn,