The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1898-03-08

IN ms amendment u llle NOllSlluuuioli
Yesterday afternoon and made a set
Grafton in its behalf. The article in
question reads
ARTICLE 101.
Oath of Office, Electors, Legislators
and Jurors.
No person shall be eligible to be an
Officer, Senator or Representative un-
der the Republic. or an Elector of SEN
ators or Representatives or Juror,
until he shall have taken and Subscrib-
ed the following oath or affirmation,
viz: | do Solemnly swear tor atfirm)
in the presence of Almighty God, that
/ will support the Constitution, Laws
and Government of the Republic of
Hawaii; and will not, either directly
or indirectly, encourage or assist in
the restoration or establishment of
Monarchical form of Government in
the Hawaiian Islands.
What Representative Loebenstein
wishes to do is to strike out the lines
Immediately following the words
'Laws and Government of the Repub-
lie of Hawaii" that is:
And will not, either directly or in
directly, encourage or assist in the re-
storation or establishment of a Mon
archical form of Government in the
Hawaiian Islands.
Representative Loebenstein backed
up the proposal with much rhetoric,
and told the House he was not talking
TO it, but to the American people,
though why some member did not call
him down and say that if he was not
talking to the House he should not oc-
cupy the floor, but had better hire IL
hall in San Francisco and do his talk
ing there, does not appear clear. Prob
ably the members wanted to show
courtesy to the member from Hilo.
The subject undoubtedly merits
careful attention. The Constitution
was passed at time when it was nee
essary to protect the infant Republic.
In periods of danger strong measures
have to be taken. The wheat has to
be winnowed from the chatf, and there
was no way of winnowing the true
supporters of the Republic from those
WHO were not III 1aNOr OF II, Dut tnlS.
The danger to the young Republic lay
in return to monarchy. Is that dan
ger over? Until we have annexation
it will be a never ending menace, and
until that event comes about, or that
cause has been completely lost, the ar
ticle which is meant for the prote,--
ton OF the Republic, must remain In
tact in the organic law of this coun-
try.
If we look back into history we will
see that people often protected them
selves in this way, and years and even
centuries may pass before the protec-
tive laws were abrogated. During the
time of the Georges an oath against
the pretender was eXacted. 1t was
even crime to drink his health, and
many were the methods by which the
Jacobites both in song and toast tried
to evade the penalties which would DE
be inflicted There was also at one
time said to be danger to the body
polite in England from the Roman
Catholic party. Whether that danger
was real, or whether it was grossly
exaggerated does not have anything
to do with the argument. The major
ity in Parliament thought it real and
passed the test act, which excluded
Roman Catholics from active political
life for considerably over one hundred
years.
If we look at the French Revolution
there were acts enough to protect the
people from the Aristocrats, many of
them frightfully harsh. And if we
pause for a moment to think of events
in our own day, we find that the Or
leans Princes, who were willing TO
serve the Republic in its armies and
were known to be gallant soldiers,
were refused that privilege, and ban
ished from France for the supposed
protection of the Republic. The Dec
laratiOn of Independence clearly put
the position of those who were against
monarchy, and the oath of naturaliza-
ton in the United States is also clear
enough upon the point.
What we have to consider is the
present condition of affairs and not
any ideal condition of affairs; it is the
practical and not the theoretical that
we must deal with.
There may have been no reason af-
ter the AS to enforce the laws against
nevertheless. For years there was no
reason to enforce the test act, but it
was enforced. The Parliament of the
country was long time convinced
that there was no necessity for it be-
fore it was repealed.
With us here the measure has been
one of safety. The time for keeping