The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1894-05-15
NATURALIZATION.

plete, clothes the alien with all the
and subjects him to all
the burdens and duties of a native
born subject Among civilized ma
tons the right is constituted upon
the performance of certain pre-
requisite conditions laid down by |
the country of adoption, and in
wolves the remuneration, by the
naturalized person, Of his native
allegiance. -
Rome never naturalized citizen. |
The title Girls RomanuS was ac-
quired in but one way and could
never be put off or removed, and ii
was a saying that a Roman citizen
might be deprived Of his life, but
that he could not be deprived Of his
citizenship.
Hawaii has gone to the opposite
extreme and is the only civilized
State under the sun that has given
aliens the privileges of citizenship
without its obligations. But the
time seems to have come when, for
the common good and for the
security of the Government, all
those residents who have a real
interest and a genuine affection for
the country should assume the full
responsibility of citizenship i'll the
new republic.
The most important of the func-
tons of a citizen is the exercise of
the franchise-the voting privi-
lege True, this is a right con-
ferred by the State upon whom it
pleases, but it would seem that i'll
principle this mark of confidence
should not be placed beyond the
limit of such persons as look to the
Government as their own.
1t is we'll understood that the
Japanese Government claims for
its subjects residing here the same
privileges conferred upon the sub
jects of any other alien power and
yet at the same time even the Jap
anese Government seeks equity
rather than the exercise of the
franchise by the japanese of Ha-
wall. The pressure is brought on
a principle rather than to secure
the grant of any particular privi-
lege or privileges to its people re-
siding here, To require naturaliza-
ton as a prerequisite to voting
does not seem to us to be an unfair
condition. Surely the body of
noble men by whom and in whose
interests the Provisional Govern
ment was inaugurated out Of the
throes of revolution have too much |
at stake and too much interest in
this movement, to which they have
put their hands to Withhold from a
step which requires nothing but
the exercise of little more per-
sonal courage.
Under the saving protection of
the Monroe doctrine no resident or
property owner need fear any
injury from any foreign power, and
under the guarantee of civil order,
practically extended by the pres
ence of the armed forces of the
United States in our waters, there
can be no fear from internal dis
of sufficient magnitude
to cause any one to desire to retain
the merely formal protection of any
foreign power. We well under
stand that this is an appeal which
will evoke the innate patriotism of
foreign-born residents of Hawaii
and involves a step which must (
not be taken without the most
serious consideration.
We note by the announcement ,
in this mornings Adoeyhser that the
japanese Government has made one
more stride and has thrown its
country open to Hawaiian subjects,
privilege possessed by no other
alien in Japan. By this diplomatic t
stroke that Government has put
tself in a far more favorable posi-
ion to insist upon its former claim,
md this action will have a ten
lency to force the delegates to the p
constitutional Convention to either &
onier the suffrage upon the Japan :,
sc or to limit it absolutely to citi- .
ems.
The policy of this paper has been D
rom its foundation, and is still, al
for Hawaii, unity and "
for Hawaiians, and in the :
interest of these principles we shall
ontinue to remind the delegates to \
he Convention of their responsible
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