The herald., 1893-02-19
THE OFFICIAL CITY PAPER
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1898.
A PECULIAR PROTEST.


Mr.. F. s. Pratt, the Hawaiian consul
general at San Francisco, has interposed
q protest to the United States senate
against ratifying that portion of the an
nexation treaty which transfers to the
u ed States absolute fee and owner
ship of all the public, government and
crown lands.
This protest may form very curious
and interesting episode in the historical
event which is now transpiring between
the United States and Hawaii. Whilst
we do not think that the point which
Mr.. Pratt makes is valid one, yet it
will cause the lawyers of the senate to
embellish our political literature with
learned disquisitions upon the crude
Jurisprudence of the Kanaka islands
when the Kamehamehas were bringing
them, in their own primitive way, out of
barbarism into touch with the ciyiliza-
tion of the west.
The wife of Mr.. Pratt is direct des-
cendant from Kamehameha the Third.
4hlb PAihCO bhW W1th PAOPhCbiO Oy thhO
unless his successors identified them
selves with the progress Of the age and
conformed to all the requirements of
modern civilized society, the kingdom
would fall a prey to the first naval
power that wanted to seize it. He
therefore encouraged education by his
powerful patronage and his vast means.
He seconded the missionaries in estab-
lishing educational institutions in all
the islands, and sent his two sons
abroad to be trained in the first schools
of the world. The eldest OF these SONS
succeeded his father; but his reign was
Of short duration. Lunalilo, the brother,
assembled the throne as Ksmehameha
the Fifth. His policy was always tine
tured with prejudice against the Ameri-
cans and corresponding friendship for
the English.
How much of his anti-Americaniem
may be ascribed to an incident in his
travels through the United States it is
impossible to say. He and his brother,
accompanied by old DR.. Judd, were CO.
ing down the Mississippi on one of the
crack steamers of that day. The captain
was u rough, brutal character, and had
all the prejudices about negroes and the
divine institution which existed among
his class in the south in those days. If
there was anything less respectable thar
q "nigger" it was an abolitionist. Wher
he came to the dinner table and found
the two princes filling the seats of honor
he brutally cried out to the purser to
know why he had permitted those two
niggers to sit at his table. The pursel
whispered in his ear that they were not
"niggers," but Sandwich Island princes
on their travels. The brute did not care
q blank what their rank was. They
were blanked niggers, and no blanked
Niger could come to his table. The
princes were naturally greatly mortified
and retired to their staterooms. 1t may
be believed that they lost no time il
shaking the dust of the United States
from their shoes; nor is it astonishing
that the incident rancored in theil
hearts and that the people of this coun
try had to share in the prejudice which
this brutal captain had implanted il
their breasts against all Americans.
When Kamehameha the Third wa
called to the throne he was, by virtue o
his descent from the great conqueror o
{. Oahu and all the islands, Kamehameh,
the First, the owner of all the lands il
his kingdom. These he divided up ant
conveyed to the state. to public institu
tions and to the people in allotmenta
and placed what is known as thecrowi
lands apart for the support of the dig
nifty of the crown. Mr.. Pratt claims tina
these lands were held in trust for tina
purpose, and that aH soon as the monarch,
was abolished the trust ceased and tn
lands reverted, ipso facto, to the heirs @
Kamehameha the Third, of whom hi
wife Is one.
If Kamehameha the Third had been
private individual, and he had convey O.
the lands in trust for a specific purpose
and that purpose had been set aside o
ceased to exist, perhaps then his legs
heirs might be entitled to their revel
sion. But the king was in fact the gov
ernment, and he set the crown land
aside for the support of the king, or tn
government. II the United States tax
the kings place, as they will when tn
islands are annexed, the government
that is established by them will be tn
successor to the king, and all the pos
sessions and rights which the crown ha
held under the former governmental
ally and legally revert to the new govern