The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1888-03-29
THURSDAY, MARCH 30, 1888.
ATTACKING THE CONSTITUTION.

10 OllS vi
the strange and painful features Of
the present political situation, that
those who have the management of
public affairs have not been at all
scrupulous about overriding the
plain intent of the new Constitution.
But their partisan supporters are
very puuctillous about the propriety
of the publication of any criticisms
on the construction OF that Consti-.
tuition, in newspaper, whose re-
ported proprietors have certain
Useevett eeuUnoi1tiUs. ri;tuts are uelu
up in holy horror at such "attacks
on the integrity of the Constitu-
ton" Other people, outside of
the strife of partisan politics, believe
that everyone ought to hang his
head in shame, who has engaged in
the deliberate and futile attempt to
set aside the expressed purpose pur-
pose of solemn compact. For the
Constitution is, in effect, care
fully drawn contract between H. M.
Kalakaua, and those now holdidg
the reins of government. OF what
ever powers or prerogatives he was
rifled IN the demands made upon
him last June, the King knows, the
Ministers know, the Judges know, as
a matter of fact, that this veto power
was given him. He was expressly
told that he had the veto power, in
dependent of his Ministers, and this
was explicitly understood. No one
has had the effrontery or baseness
to deny that .tact, or any other such
facts well known to many parties
in connection with the preparation
and signing of the Constitution.
Does history record any similar
instance of perversion of truth, or
travesty of justice, such as we have
witnessed in this community in the
attempt by forced construction of
the constitutional compact to evade
the delivery of what had been
solemnly and distinctly promised !?
The Constitution has been treated
as if it were last will and testa-
ment, the parties to which are all
dead and gone, the lawyers who
drew 1t, the man who signed it, the
witnesses who verified it. The
Supreme Court even called sort of
coroner's jury to sit on Article 48,
pronounced dead, though alive and
operative, too lively in fact. Men
learned in the law, shutting their
eyes to all matters of fact, proceed
ed gravely to deliver their opinion
on the constitutional question pro-
pounded to them. They came to
the sage conclusion that somehow
in the darkness Article 49 had been
overlaid by Article 78, and was to
all intents and purposes, so far as
the Kings independent action was
concerned, dead. But against such
consenting legal authority, and such
persistent disputing of reliable tes-
timony, we have to set the fact of
active vitality. The king knows
what power was given him by the
high contracting parties last June.
He has done what he was told he
could do, and done it, as might have
been expected, in a foolish way,
hurtful to himself and to the com
munity.
Why not acknowledge the facts
as they are? Why say nothing
about the facts in regard to the
framing of the Constitution? Why
attempt to evade its provisions, and
retrieve blunder, by a forced
technical construction of those pro-
in defiance of factS that are
well known in this community, that
ought to be acknowledged, that can