Saturday press. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1880-1885, 1883-06-30
SATURDAY PRESS
SATURDAY. JUNE 20, 1888
THE BEGfNyryG or THE EyD

THE BEGfNNTNG or THE END.
King Kalakaua delivered a speech at the
Hawaiian Hotel on the evening of January aI,
1885, in which he used the following langu
age; recognize. cheerfully the
fact that Hawaii, as one of the family Of
nations, must be governed in accordance with
the ideas which control constitutional govern
mcnts" This contrition (mihi) of the king
was in consonancc with the promises Of good
behavior he had Just made. The lazy long
suffering of the business community had at
last arisen and forced the abandonment of
Moreno. The frightened monarch, hiding like
Robespierre in a cellar, was protected by for.
egn bravery from the violence of an outraged
people. In his apparent gratitude he promised
better behavior. What was the value of that
promisc1 The subsequent appointment of a
minister but boss of the ministry. The king
went abroad. The pomp and pride and cir
cumstance and luxury and license of foreign
courts added fuel to the flames Of his vanity
Before he sailed away he avowed his belief in
the spirit Of constitutional government. When
he returned he had eyes and ears for nothing
better than its letter. Under the cloak of
established law he appointed to the highest
Office in his gift the man Of all men least fit to
lead in anything anywhere. Notwithstand-
ing his evil prowcss, he has failed in every
thing. He has made egotism fine art and
selhshness an exact science. Yet he has failed
in both. He has failed as holy saint and re-
pentant sinner, rs business man and agricul-
turist, as shepherd and fellow, as professor
and pupil, as orator and editor, as romancist
and tractmian, as diplomat and publicist, as
prophet and premier. All, but he is premier
yet Aye, but how hollow the bauble--his
bubbling conceit still chases How gaunt and
gray and grim his rayless face Not even the
perennial fountain of his egotism may coax one
flower to bloom there. Dislked, distrusted,
avoided by his peers, hated by the intelligent
among the natives he has deluded writing
under the contempt of the best men and truest
women of the kingdom. He mumbles with
his feeble lips the Sodom's apple he dare moi
taste, and shivcrs in the heavy harness he dar,
not dof.
"To dare and again to dare, and always to
dare" said the brawny Danton. 1t is an
excellen, text for llawaiians to-day. We
mean ny Hawaiians all who have an in,eres,
in this commonwealth, by inheritance, by pur-
chase, by labor, by superior business judgment,
The man who honestly holds real estate, or
mercantile stock, or business position, oil
professional place, has a right to demand
security in his land, property, place or pro
iession. But security in all or in any of these
conditions can he secured only by good gov,
ernment. Good government may fall as fai
below perfection as average human conduct
does. Ideal good government will be the
first born Of the millennium. Reasonable
men do not expect it now. Yet, that is nc
reason for fatuous content in government, dis.
tinctly bad, merely because il might he worse,
1t ought to be enough for earnest and honest
lIawaiians, that the king refuses to oust hi.
crminally incompetent advisers, that the
palace yard and the royal yachtsroom have
been turned into hula houses and public tar
rooms; and that, as consequence, the public
income is being squandered and public moral:
debauched.
And what OF the king who dshonors his
state and station by his virtual Endorsement ol
this branded outcastl He came back from a
tour through the capitals Of the highes, modern
enlightenment and essayed to revive in his owr
land the yilest immoralities of the paganisu
from which his country had emerged, Bes,ial
and worse than bestial, were the orgies OF Ha'
waiian life before the modern civilization OF The
"white invader" came To these shores, and
battled against heavy odds to give the islanders
the free manhood OF God-iearing intelligence,
The coronation hulas, authorized, approved
applauded by Kalakaua, were crimes against
the very life of the social fabric. Vice in ,hs
slums, in the hidden places, in the dehs o
everywhere, is bad and only bad, but when
vice ilaun,s ils shameless front under the wall,
time the heavy hand OF the moral Law fell on
the shoulders OF the chief offenders. These
chief offenders are David kalakaua, King o
Hawaii by the peoples will, now on probation
and Walter Murray Gibson, boss OF the king
eabine. in spite VI the peoples will The
heavy hand OF the moral law has not yet fallen.
Yet canno, the King see through the hole in
the millsioneP Win he NJ, repen, in time to
save at least the semblance OF the power he
and his uniaishfal servant have jeopardizedp
There is an Arabian proverb, tha, Il three