The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1882-07-15
THE PACIFIC
Commercial AOOcrtl5tr


THERE is an article in the Argonaut Of
June oath about the Sandwich Islands
which bears the impress of the mind, of
the common topics of discussion, of our
late Acknowledgement VIM. y. Armstrong
in every line. Scores of people taking the
article in hand exclaim on reading the first
lines THAT is Nevins Armstrong" He
was known as the intimate acquaintance of
Mr.. Pixly, the editor of the ~Argondut-he
boosted of his intimacy. When be went
away from the Islands, dismissed from
office, disappointed in his hopes of the polit-
ical management of this little Kingdom,
about whose many "problems" he was
constantly talking) he departed breath
ing, threatnings" against the King and
the people that had found him out, and had
done with him. Here in this Argonaut ar
ticle we have the first expression of his
wrathful feelings. An inspiration derived
from his disappointment and loss of temper
is manifest throughout the article. This is
the same Armstrong who, starting on u
tour with the King round the world, gushed
about their mutual schoolboy associations :;
who gushed in the same strain at various
points along the extended royal tour; who
when he returned here gushed again with
assurances that he had "inherited a love-
for the Hawaiian race. Yet at the same
time he was writing home notes which sub
%sequently appeared in his brothers paper
the Southern Workman of Hampton, Viz
ginia, in which were to be found such state
ments as that half the adult kanakas are
lepers and other equally veraciOus assertions
along with insinuations more damnatory
still. Founding upon all this, and led away
by it, and by his own j%aundiced views, his
brother the editor was led to say that this
Kingdom was a "travesty of Government
that the United States must intervene, and
that property holders in Hawaii "whO paid
all the taxes" must organize in antagO-
nism to the native Government. This ill.,
deed was the late acknowledgements con
slant refrain behind King Kalakaua's back
in Honolulu, and with the same sort OF
thing he now inspires articles written il
the remote editorial den of the ArgOndut
This man was a mistake, and appreciated
as such shortly after he had taken office
here. He was a failure as Il lawyer, al
utter failure as an administrator, and wa:
too weak even to be loyal to the oath he haC
taken of allegiance to the King and the
Constitution. Who among those who knew
Mr.. Armstrong here, and that reads the re
marks in the ArgOndut about the ~attritiol
with other people" the contrast set up b,
tween Queen Victoria and our King, an,
other phrases of this Argonaut article will
not recognize in every expression the ma
who while holding office under King Kala
kaua, was intriguing for a change of Min
istry, sacrificing that of which he forme'
part. One of his chief accusations agains
political antagonists was the awakening o
"antagonism of race )" but surely in tn
Argondut article which has been sen
throughout the Islands, and has been trans
lated and read by thousands of Hawaiians
he has developed an antagonism, no
against race certainly, but against the part
who approve his ideas, the party of foreig
assumption and proposed annexation, whic
will have an enduring political effect i
these Islands, the very reverse of his hop
and purpose.