The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1890-08-26

Square. The question Is an import
ant one, as bearing upon the
significance Of the petition. From
the information that l have been
able TO gather, il does not appear
that the movement is in any sense
Il representative one; it certainly
does not represent the foreign ele
ment, nor is there any evidence
that it represents the aboriginal
H..waiiaGs as class, The petition
does not state very clearly why Il
new Constitution is considered TO
be essential or what particular new
features it should contain. II does
not say that the rights and privil-
ages of the ballot box, gwen by the
Constitution OF Kamehameha V.
and its amendments have been
taken away, which is historically
inaccurate, TO speak mildly, for the
facts are that the Constitution OF
Kamehameha III. gave TO native
and to naturalized subjects aud TO
denizens free ballot for repreSen
tatives; by the Constitution of
kamehameha V. this voting privil-
eye was somewhat narrowed, being
made conditional upon the posses
sion Of Il certain amount of property
or the receipt OF certain money
income and the knowledge of read
ing and writing; ten years later,
an amendment left out the property
qualification; the present Constitu-
ton left the ballot for representa-
tives where it found 1t as TO Ha-
waiians and extended the privilege
TO foreigners of certain nationali-
ties. In addition TO this, the voting
privilege for representatives, this
Constitution created 8 new voting
privilege, which did not exist be-
fore, for the election of mobiles. and
this was made dependent upon a
property qualification; so that the
present Constitution. instead of
taking away the rights and privil-
eyes of the ballot box, as the petit
ton states, has confirmed the old
privileges and given new ones in
addition thereto. This disposes of
the only specific charge made by
the petition against the present
Constitution, except that it was
forced upon the King, which is
true. but does not seem TO have 4
bearing upon It's suitability. The
petition also hints at objections
which it does not specify, and
charges L with &" obstructlng all
manner of work and promotion of
peace in the land as well as perfect
personal safety hitherto enjoyed, "
etc, and complains that = Your
Majesty's subjects cannot bear with
patience its troubles under the
present Constitution. and IN order
10 wipe out these difficulties and TO
set at ease the minds of your sub
iects, therefore, be it resolved, etc.
1t would seem TO have been worth
while in pressing for q change so
important, and so pregnant with
such vast possible consequences for
good or for evil TO the present and
the future of the nation, to have
specified in some detail the troubles
and difficulties referred TO, and TO
have set forth how and in what way
"all manner of work and promotion
of peace in the land, as we'll as per-
feet personal safety" has been OBJ
structed by the present Constitution.
But His Majesty and the Legislature
are left to guess what these general
statements mean or to put them
down to mere rhetorical flourish.
The reform movement is on trial
before the country, and whatever
may be our objections to it, or our
prejudices against 1t, we are bound
to award it fair and just criticism.
This attitude is entirely absent from
the attack upon it in which the
petition to His Majesty may be re-
garded as leading feature. As has
been shown the main charge against
the Constitution, as set forth in the
petition, is based upon misstate-
ment of fact, and there is no other
charge which is specific enough for
d body which considers things up
on their merits, TO take hold of
This absence of intelligent and
ineligible statement in the docu-
ment, together with the nonrepre-
sentative character of the move
ment, makes it difficult to avoid the
conclusion that the whole thing is
the fruit, mainly, of the strenuous
efforts of few reactionary pollti-
clans who have given direction to
the feeling of political unrest which
has for some time existed among
HawaIians, and more especially
among those living IN Honolulu.
Its objects, so far as they can be
ascertained, are similar TO those of
the discretionary movement of
last year. The King is in full SYM
n1rhv- nth The ap+arpriaa oc m