The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1897-02-23
A SELF ELECTED CHAMBERLAIN


er-which is he? He appears under
both titles in the columns of the Amer
lean Press-and it really is very diff
cult to classify him. The Captain"
belongs to the sea and the Colonel
belongs to the land. What can be done
but to class him with that gallant
corps known as the horse marines,
which are neither fish, flesh, fowl or
good red herring" according to the
proverb. Well, Colonel or Captain"
Palmer is making himself very busy
over the Have ian Royalist cause in
the States. He really is not worth
consideration, because whatever he
does or says can have no influence up
on the logic of events. The Royalist
cause is lost in Hawaii every bit as
much as the Imperialist and Royalist
cause is lost in France. And the party
who believed in both these causes in
France had far more backing and good
cause for it than the last elected Mon
archs of Hawaii. 4 he hands of the
clock of time do not go backward and
the restoration of the pseudomon-
archy here is as impossible as the real
monarchy in France.
What was the Monarchy here? Mere
ly a tolerated system of government,
because it suited several powers to
have the Islands kept Independent for
their own ends. During the period of
the Monarchy who were the real rul-
ers? By no means the Hawaiians.
The Government was either conducted
by AngloSaXons entirely, or with an
occasional dummy Hawaiian set up
and the work done by the Anglo Sax
ons behind him. This is truth, not
fiction.
Turning to hexander's history,
which gives a list of all Cabinet OF.
fcers who have ever held office, it viii
be found that from 1912 to 1854, there
was only one person of Hawaiian blood
employed in the Cabinet, and that was
the part-Hawaian John Young the
second. In the reign of Kamehameha
~ John Young the second continued
in the Cabinet, and Lot Kamehaniehs
was a member, that is, Lot succeeded
John Young on his death in 1857. Dur
ing the reign of Kamehameha V,
which lasted from 1868 to 1872, NJ.
single Hawaiian had a seat in the Cab
met. Lunalilo's Cabinet, during is
brief reign, was composed entirely If
foreigners. Thus during period of
thirty-two years there were Only two
people of Hawaiian blood VINO had
anything to do with the executive go,-
eminent of the country.
With the reign of Kalakaua, which
marked the commencement of the de-
cadence of royalty here, we find a
number of IIawaiians, but in nearly II
cases they were purely figure heads.
j. NJ. Kapena and NJ. Kuaea, who sue
cessively filled the position of Minister
of Finance, were really dummies They
could neither outline a financial policy
nor carry it out when outlined. The
writer knows that one of them, when
he signed the silver certificates,
thought that each time he signed he
created so much money for ,ne Ha-
waiian Government. In those days the
Government wac carried on practically
by the premier and the two otnc. "ur-
eigners in the Cabinet.
The fact is Julius Palmer is exploit
ing himself, he is probably just weak
headed enough to think that his silly
yaporings have some weight. There
are such men in the world. lie does
not understand his subject, put the
less man knows about a thing the
more likely is his opinion to be set.
That he is the laughing stock of the
Press in the East is evident from the
paragraphs published about him, and
that it is very unfortunate for the en-
Queen to have fallen into his hands is
also very clear. No one can take
Julius Palmer very seriously; it is
only when he perverts facts and be-
comes abusive of far superior men
than himself that it becomes necessary
to correct his misstatements. He can
do very little harm and causes a quiet
smile to ripple around over his vaga-
ries as self-elected Chamberlain to the
eX-Queen. 1t is not dgnifed posi-
ton for either. .,,.-