The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1893-08-04
Sour Grapes.
EDITOR Bulletin

Mr.. A. S. Hartwell is to the fore
in this mornings Advertiser, with
another of his quack nostrums for
the healing of a supposed public ill.
The supposed i'll consists in the al
legged Excessive glut of criminal ap-
peals in trifing matters" and the
brainy author of the proposed new
decoction declares that "the time of
the Circuit Judges, as we'll as of the
juries ought not to be at the mercy
of the raft of opium smokers, che ia
players, swipes sellers and hoodlum
assault cases, all of whom figure so
largely in the court calendar" Now,
here's richness; to see the leader of
the Hawaiian bar delivering himself
of such twaddle. But the gentle
mans remarks become especially in
teresting when read in connection
with a study of the calendar for the
approaching August term of the
Circuit Court. On that calendar
appear n criminal cases, many of
them concerning offenses such as
he has enumerated, but the new
regulators name appears, as coun-
sci, in only three of them. I leave
it to the reading public to determine
whether the acidity of the fruit had
any influence upon the mind and
comments of its critic. If the "raft
of opium smokers, che ia players,
swipes sellers" ct hoe genus omne, are
SO unappreciative of legal talent and
virtue as not to retain Mr.. Hartwell
in their defense, who shall assert
that they should not be railroaded
into the chaingang by the shortest
practicable route, and with the scan
test possible ceremony7
The ex-Judge refers to these
classes of cases as "tritiing matters" I"
To whom are they "trifing," besides
Mr.. Hartwell and other unretained
attorneys, if any2 1t is little short
of dazzling to contemplate the
! manner, so prompt and cavalier, in
which Mr.. H. would dispose of the
liberties of the defendants in these
''trifing" cases in which he has not
been retained. The celebrity and cer-
tainty with which he would furnish
them with accommodation on the
reef, reminds me of nothing so much
as of the patriotism of Artemus
Word, who was willing to sacrifice
all his wife's relations to suppress
the American Rebellion.
l regard the proposition as often
sive and impudent which suggests a
possible curtailment of the right of
trial by jury. The ex-Judge's half
concealed lament that some of these
defendants are likely to be acquitted
by jury is the reverse of creditable
to a member of the Bar, which frater-
nifty in every land ever has been and
ever should be foremost in the advo-
cacy and defense of the rights and
liberties of the people.
1t is apparent that the Govern
ment (of which Mr.. Hartwell is un-
derstood to be an ardent supporter),
does not deem this "raft" of cases
too "trifing" to prosecute, and to
demand severe penalties. Some OF
the "raft of opium smokers"-(or
alleged sellers of the drug have
been mulct in fines of $500, and si1
months imprisonment, which the
present humane and virtuous Gov,
ernment has thought sufficiently
lenient for a minimum penalty in
such cases. If Mr.. Hartwell is anx
ious to avoid the plethora of "tritling'
cases upon the Calendar, why not
exert his influence with Brother in.
law Smith, who is popularly sup
posed, by virtue of one of his severa
official positions, to be the presiding
genius of public prosecutionss Such
influence might avail to secure /;
wedding out of those cases wherein
the only "trifing" feature is the evi
dence for the prosecution.
AS to the lament that "the time O.
the Circuit Judges \ ought moi
to be at the mercy of the raft o
opium smokers" etc, permit me t.
inquire what are the Circuit judge
and other Court officials there To-
and why are they drawing salaries
from the public purse7
G. w. ASHFORD.