The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1897-04-02
A LECTURE ON HAWAII.

a lecture upon Hawaii before the
members of the Y. NJ. C. A. at South
port, Lancashire, England. The lee
ture is very fair one. The strong
bias Mr.. Davies has is carefully kept
within bounds, and he has stated the
facts about Hawaii at the present time
in an almost strictly impartial way,
although here and there one can see
the cloven hoof of desire in his own
direction.
The sketch Mr.. Davies gives of Luna
lilo is not pleasant one, and he in
dulges in fling at his old contempor-
aries of that time. He says that Luna
lilo's mind was divided between the
American missionary party and the
British navy, and adds that at was
stronger" Lunalilo, during his short
reign, had really no opportunity to
show what he was. Had he lived he
would have proved fairly satisfac-
tory Monarch, but he would never
have been a keen supporter of the
American missionary party.
To Kalakaua's reign Mr.. Davies de-
votes considerable space. The revolu
tion of 1887 is, of course, touched up
on and is stated to have been "a great
gain to the cause of freedom and good
government" This, from Mr.. Davies,
is great praise, seeing he was utterly
opposed to the movement.
But when Mr.. Davies comes to speak
of the present condition of affairs he
is not quite so fair as he is when
speaking of the past. He certainly
loses himself when he says "the revo-
lutionists were made up of all sorts
and conditions of men, planters, mer
chants, shop keepers, mechanics, adj
venturers, loafers, professional men
and clerks" The graduated scale
which Mr.. Davies uses must be thor
oughly satisfactory to the professional
men and the clerks. Evidently, in his
mind, the professional man is to be
counted below the "adventurer" and
the "loafer," and as for the clerk who
has to chronicle the thousands that
are spent out of this country, why he
is the last in the list, not as good as
an "adventurer," and somewhat lower
than u 'loafer."
When one comes to sift the lecture
down, one sees what its main object is.
1t is to exploit the advantage of hav-
ing Kaiulani for Queen. That is the
task the lecturer has set himself to
carry out. He tried it in 1898, when
he hastily swept over the Atlantic and
presented his ward to Mrs. Cleveland,
getting all the sympathy he could
from woman who knew no more
about the real conditions here than
she knew of any method to square the
circle.
The cause of Monarchy in Hawaii
is dead, as it is dead in every country
where it is once knocked on the head.
The world does not move backwards.
The idea of the divine right of Kings
or Queens is an absolute absurdity to
men of thought. Divinity becomes a
very poor class of stuff when you see
it walking round with slippers down
at the heel and begging for small
loan. That awe of sovereign which
one often hears spoken of, is disgust
ing, just as the awe for a man of title
is. \ human being is to be admired
because of its own qualities, not be-
cause of the accident of birth. The
clerk, whom the writer under review
puts beneath the ''adventurer" and
the ''loafer," may be a better man
than the Monarch on his throne, or
the Baron with his hounds at his
heels. But this awe of place and pow
er is inherent in large portion of the
selves of the traditions of the past,
and so they as willingly bow down be-
fore dusky Monarch as their ances-
tors bowed down before the blue-eyed
chief of earls Saxon times. Why
should one bow down? The whole
tendency of the world is to make the
individual feel his force as a distinct
entity and know that it is as good as
any other entity. Monarchs are no
better than their fellow men and the
most recent development of the Mon
arch, the man who commands thou
sands of men in mercantile affairs.
stands in the same position. He has
had luck, that is ALL, Men who are in
dependent in their modes of thought
do not propose to bow to lick