The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1891-02-19

As has well been said by the Supreme
Court "there can be no dual govern.
ment." The Cabinet are the Govern
ment, that portion of it which has re-
sponsibility and power, while the Sow
ereign. except as above stated, represents
only the ornamental and sentimental
features OF Government.
Whether this is the wisest system
am not now discussing.
If, then, this is the situation, all the
reasons urged why there should be a
change of Cabinet fall to the ground.
Sd. The CLAIM THAT THE DEATH OF THE |
| SOVEREIGN THEREBY TERMINATES THE |
TERM OF OFFICE OF THE MINISTERS IS UN- !
| SOUND on IT'S OWN MERITS, IRRESPECTIVE |
! OF THE CONSTITUTION AND LAWS QUOTED. |
Ii this claim is correct, the instant the
breath left the body of the King, the
authority of the Ministers ceased. From
| that time on they were interlopers, tres
passers. They had no more authority to
act than any other citizen. All their
subsequent acts are void. All drafts
drawn; all commissions signed; all con-
tracts made; all pay rolls approved; all
| indictments, every act OF whatsoever ma
ture done by any Minister since the death
of the King Is absolutely null, void and
illegal. In other words, there is and has
been no Government in this country
since the 10Th day of January last.
Ii the claim is correct, that the com
missions of the Ministers, signed by
the late King. are good only go long as
he lives, then logically, all other COM
missions signed by him expire with him,
and are void.
There is no Minister Resident at
Washington; no Marshal; no Postmas-
ter-General; no Collector of Customs;
no Board of Health; no Board of Educa-
ton; no Board of immigration, and no
Judges of the Supreme or I ircuit Courts,
and every act performed by any of these
!, officials or bodies is illegal null and void:
This ruinous state of affairs is claimed
to exist without the claimants being able
, to point to a single precedent, ccnstitu-
: tional provision or statute In support
, thereof, and without showing any bene-
fit to be derived if their view is adopted.
They simply depend upon Influences,
7 while any view causing such disastrous
/ results should be supported by the most
2 direct and unequivocal law. The Minis
: ters are in possession, and the burden OF
proof is upon those who claim that they
are illegally there, to prove their propo-
sitiOn.
POINTS AGAINST THE CLAIM.
Against the claim are the following
points:
I ~ The Constitution plainly points
= out how the Cabinet can be removed.
= This excludes every other method oil
= removing them The death of the King
|, is not by the Constitution made cause
!, for their removal; therefore, it is not a
cause of removal.
This case is analogous in principle to
| Tho CONSTITUTIONS AruQuHrnapt Question
y before the Legislature last year, in
:, which abundant authority, including de-
cisions OF the United States Courts, was
J, cited, that, where the Constitution pro-
vides method for its amendment, this
. excludes every other legal method Of
= amendment.
(2.) 1t is a maxim OF MenarchicaI
Government that 1.-The King never
dies" This is another form of state
ment that the Sovereignty Of the State
= is continuous, and the change OF the per
e sonnet OF the Sovereign does not change
= the Sovereignty. The meaning and OBJ
ject of the maxim and Of the principle
4. are to cover the exact situation nov
/; under discusson-
r. 1t means that there shall be no hiatus
> no season of chaos to be produced by thu
II inevitable death of the Sovereign; bu
~ =, that everything else shall remain thu
=, same, although the person Of the Sover
~ eign changes.
-, The present cause affords less grount
=, y than does the ordinary one of a chang
:, OF the person of the Sovereign, becaus
- the same section in the Constitution
y which named Kalakaua as King, names
- Liliuokalani as his successor, so that il
~ a double sense the Sovereignty is IN
~ changed. In addition to the continuit.
IA of the theoretical, ideal, Sovereignty
the actual persons to carry out the Soy
;. ereignty then created We're thereby fixed
~ viz: Kalakaua and Liliuokalani, tn
nc one for life, and upon his death the con
No No tinuation of the same Sovereignty in tn
NJ latter.
-; In other words they both derived thei
~ authority from the same source, at tn
nv same time, for the same purpose, an
" are parts of one whole.
-, The legal acts of either of the person
oh constituting that whole are not his c
" her individual acts, but the acts of tn
indivisible, Interchangeable Sovereignty {
no which they are but the visible represer
IS tatives.
- Another illustration OF the same prir
~ ciple is that the Government is in tn
81 nature OF a corporation. The Constitt
- ~ ton and laws of the Government al
", represented by the charter and bylaw
of the corporation.
~. Where a corporation manager or pres
IS dent dies or retires from office, that fa(
does not cancel the authority of an
~ other officer, nor does it avoid any a,
=, Heretofore legally performed by hin
,nt The corporation exists, and all its obi
cations and the legal acts of its officer
II. continue to exist, even though all il
10 officers and all its stockholders shoul
~ die at once.
i. 1t is a poor commentary on huma
49, wisdom If that which is the commone:
- kind of common sense in ordinary bus
- ness corporations, cannot be applied
- the far weightier and more importar
"a corporation in which we are all stool
ON holders, and which controls not only on
property, but our lives and liberties.
,.o 49, The claims made are inconsisten
be In one breath 1t is said that the death {
T, the King cancelled the commissions
o. the Cabinet; and in the next that the
81. ought to resign
Either the Ministers are Ministers {
MO they are not Ministers. There can b
,w no halfway position.
80 If they are not Ministers, then the
az cannot resign that which they do NJ
e. hold
20, 90. Ii this claim is abandoned, and it
~, admitted that they are still legally Mil
~ listers, then they are Ministers solely al