The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1885-07-10

I niuon ,iTiters proceed to bring to your
! notice VIII t these articles suoSta ntia .
| contain, placing much greater SIFeoS, No, IUl
| the purposes OF this trial upon LnosS az, ta
sions which were essentially personal. anu
which atf-onted the self-respect', thS
nnrity. the domestic feelings, the manhooo
of Claus SpreckeIs ana ms SONS; ou La I'm
thos which were intended to lnJure MN
in his business. The distinction Is well
recognized.
Mans heart is a st.ong thing. and
GodlIke in the gasp of pain
That wrings mortality;
But tear one chord anec'-on
q Aud his high will doth wither like reed
MANY of the articles are in the editorial
columns. several are leaders, and ali the
articles in the local columns are prefaced
by headings which are displayed
FLAMING AND INSULTING,
Generally involving accusations OF per
sonal dishonesty and fraud If not OF crime.
Now the earliest article in point of date Is
that of October IL, 1881, to be found at
pages 747 to Isl Of The testimony headed
Medeivas de Ascension at H1lo. A Start
ling Story of very Effective Practical
Slavery in the Sandwich Islands" These
are the headings which, in themselves,
and apart from the body Of the article. as
sociatei Mr.. Spreckels with the horrible
narrative of Antonio MedeiVas de Ascen-
sion, afterward proved and admitted TO be
false by the Chronicle itself; but those
portions of which that were general in
their nature and did not apply &c Ascen-
sion individually were repeatedly re-
affirmed and coupled with Mr.. Spreckels
when the Chronicle positively knew that
they were without foundation. After
citing that, under the contract of which
Mr. Spreckels had no knowledge, and on
account of the excessive humidity at Hilo.'
where he had no plantation, 1t would have
taken Ascension ian average actual lie
time to work out the debt incurred for
his transportation from he Azores to
Honolulu, the Chronicle adds, . Sir Claus
Spreck els had the game in his own hands;
in fact he had HilO and the game" Then
Slaves, follows heartrending description
of the smallness of the wages and OF
the ratiOns, and OF the "execrable and
nauseating" quality Of the latter; and
odorous comparison between Hawaiian
slavery and the peculiar institutions"
that once existed in that State and the
cooiie system which originated IN China:
and description of the mighty frame of
Ascension shrinking from The weight of
POO pounds to little more than lOOpounds.
The dying young man Is then repre-
scented, under the Subheading At Deaths
Door" as obtaining pass and coming to
San Francisco. where it taxed the skill of
able physicians slowly to recall him to life
by the aid of "muriattc acid; pepsln and
cinchuna bark" The article winds up
with touching account Of the success
which this poverty stricken and starved
immigrant had in arranging for the
the Azores to San Francisco in
stead of Hilo, and all this time. gen
tIemen, Claus Spreckels, like Jeshurum.
WAVED FAT AND Kicked"
: I'd was able to pay hundreds of dollars
for champagne at single bout at one of
the clu bhOuSeS.
This article was not personal and was
not Iibelous-Of course.
Now we have an editorial in which the
Chronicle draws its characteristic deduc-
TONS from the article of the previous day,
and attributes the emaCiated condition of
Ascension Ito the tyrannical treatment OF
C!au Spreckels, who had never before
heard of him, and who was then or imme-
diately afteTward at home and accessible.
The original misstatements are repeated
AMI Ascension pictureSquely outlined as
a huge mummy, a skeleton" which, of
course, resemble each other in state OF
iecrepitude.
Claus Spreckels may indulge in riotous
living here, although his appearance and
his life would indicate the opposite but
the fare of his Hawaiian slaves is villain |
ous and homeopathic" The Azorean ard !
he Cuban laborers are now added to the |
previous illustrations of the methods of |
Hawaiian planters in preparing subjects |
FOR san Francisco surgeons; and the |
Chronicle, which has been friendly to the |
continuance OF the treaty whenever it had |
0een threatened with abrOgation, finally |
invites ii Congr sslonal investigation.
IN the issue OF October Is, 1881 (pages 726 |
~ ~ 81 the record. occurs an editorial !
und II the heading of Hawaii HideoUs |
Slave System" which refers to the article |
OF the previous Friday morning and ad |
viscS people to read 1t. 1t speaks of the |
hackers and promoters" of the sl.ve sys- |
tenn Of Hawaii, who are said to have |
adopted for it the speciOus name of con-
disadvantage ously with every other |
form OF slavery that has existed |
This article asserts that the old form of |
African slavery abolished by the British !
Parliament and by the United States was |
humanity incarnate in C mparison 10 |
tnis Hawalian system. 1t describes the |
alleged method in which the whites, Chi |
nese and p Jor islanders are lured from |
their homes, driven from the ships cat |
tie ARE driven to the shambleS at Butch, T. |
town" and inClos d in pen-l suppose as |
immigrants are at Castle Garden and as all |
persons are at oakland Point until they |
cun be numbered and sent to their owner" |
says the article, who is
STYLED A CONTRACTOR"
Arc reduced to submission when they re- |
Yo.t by the revolver or at the cannon's |
mouth. are starved at all times. and are |
brought back by force when they run |
away. ana Will soon become the prey of the |
-infiihUle scent and the tige' nature OF |
the bi lOdhOund."
iii; Chl'Onicie must have been describing |
Itself about that time. land all the hon |
o.s.' says the article, such as knighthood |
and social recognition among nobility, and |
in the circle II The barbaric are sho wered |
upon he IN Sler5 of inhumanity who en-
Z. sc III the traffic. Of cOur g Claus Spreek-
els, sir lau- >preckelS in numerous places |
Identified oy name one of the prOmot-
ers OF this system is not meant to be one !
OF these monsters of inhumanity." OF |
course the article - is not personal and is
not libelUus.
Observe. gentlemen. that in the article !
III reality IN liter OF law it ia imma eriai |
whether these wholesale accusati ms 50 |
Vilely expressed are true or false, because |
what we are dealing with is the mat e. |
published in the Chronicle, tho excl ing
causes which operated upon the defend
ants mind.
Observe, in the second place, that even
II the accusations are true or had me
semblance of truth as respects other per-
sons. that would be no justification or
paIllatlon for their application to Claus
Spreckels, " no is to be affected solely BY
his own conduct and by that of others,
whom he could not control.
But observe, third, that Mr.. Spreckels
has absolutely and fully disproved these
charges and shown them to be AS untrue
as he article OF November 16, 1884, which |
was almost confessedly fictitious-a report |
brilliant lmaginations which subserve the |
purposes of the Chronicle.
And observe, lastly. on this head. that
after the card of Claus Spreckels of Octo-
Der q, 1881 which the Chronicle published |
and the truthfulness of which it was tenn
porarIIy forced to recognize, with the full
knowledge OF the facts, willfully and ma
hclously. through its own admissions,
again and again it connected Claus Spreck-
els with q system of which he was both as
ignorant and as innocent as his Honor
OCiSil VI any juror ln0 DOAs
The only place in all America where it is
NOT PERSONAL AND NOT LIBELoUs
To call man a "slave hunter" "a pirate"
and " monster of inhumanity" is in the |
0f11ce OF the San Francisco Chronicle. |
This card of Claus Spreckels. to which + |
have referred, was published in the Chr0al-
tcte october Y, 1881, in which he covered |
every scrap OF assumed fact that the |
newspaper had printed in relation to Am |
tonic de Medievas de Ascension, and |
showed that the laws of Hawaii rendered |
IMP ,sslbIe the highly-colored picture of |