The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-08-05
MOVING TO DISBAR THE AT
TORNEY- GENERAL.

This case, which will be celebrated
in our Jurisprudence, has been de-
cided by the Supreme Court, as the
majority of lawyers knew it would be,
by dismissal of the case. The state
ment of the case carried with it the
conviction that Mr.. Cooper was, as At
torney General, doing an official duty
and he could be reached only by i'm
parchment as the Constitution pro-
vides. There may be we'll grounded
suspicion that the motion for disbar-
ment was made by the complainant,
with knowledge that the motion would
DE denied, but that it would give him
an opportunity to hold up Mr.. Cooper
TO the 1Scorn of Mankind" or of "get-
ting even" with him, by public denun-
citation before a court.
The complainant had, as a govern
ment prosecutor, been restricted by Mr..
Cooper, his superior officer, in arrang
ing the machinery of trial before the
Police Court but there had been no
interference in the substance of the
trial and the prisoner was promptly
convicted and justice was done. The
complainant felt that the social air
had been polluted by the offensive
smell of an abstract wrong" which
Mr.. Cooper had left exposed like dead
dog on the highway. 1t was even
worse. He felt that Mr. Cooper had
committed an act which was, in effect
of Of
several Palladiums of Liberty; that
Mr.. Cooper had kicked, knocked down,
defaced and rubbed in the dirt and
dragged through a horse pond, this
particular Palladium. 1t became,
therefore, in his opinion solemn duty
as "a lawyer and citizen, to fill Mr..
Cooper's soul with anguish at his own
misdeeds, and hold him up forever and
day to the fiercest scOrn of such pOr-
lions of mankind, including tourists
and penal contract laborers, as con-
stitute the bone and sinew of the COM
munity. He desired to hang up Mr..
Cooper as a warming to the Attorney
Generals who may succeed him, just as
the body of Capt. Kidd was hung in
chains on the banks of the Thames,
as a warning against piracy.
The complainant, with the assistance
of able counsel, has discharged his
duty. The Scorn of Mankind was cor
dially invited to fix his fierce gaze upon
the Attorney-General, during a public
trial of the case. and the court was
asked to gibbet high the hardened
wretch who had raised the mischief
with one of the precious Palladiums.
But the Supreme Court says it has
NO constitutional power to prevent Or
punish the Attorney-GeneraPs ravages
among the rights of the people; that
the high court of Impeachment alone
can reach him. The court says that
it is not quite clear what the COM
plainant was driving ait, in the pro-
ceedings because it is SO apparent that
Mr. Cooper was acting as Attorney
General, and his official conduct cannot
be reviewed by the court.
When the court so decides, it makes
it uphill work to invoke the fierce gaze
of the Scorn of Mankind Mr.. Cooper
places over the flashing eyes of Scorn,
the goggles of the verdict which the
court has given him. and the perpleX-
ed laymen lose the fun of seeing some
one roasted.
The proceedings arose out of neg
Iect of duty by the Attorney-General
Tt is the unwritten law that superior
officers shall protect and defend their
inferior officers while they are dis
charging their duties. But TINS should
not he done without discrimination. In
this case. the Finance or the Law De-
partment should have carefully eX-
amined the evidence upon which the
tax collector was charged with assault.
If it clearly showed that the collector
was guilty, the Departments, both
Finance and Law, should nave refused
tn assist him. If the evidence disclos-
ed a doubt about his guilt, he was en-
titled to be defended by his superior
officer. because no subordinate Will be
efficient and faithful when he is told
that if in the discharge of his duty, ne
is attacked, he must take care or hlm-
self at his own cost. In the larger
municipal governments of the Main
land. it is the common practice for
each department to employ its own
counsel. so that while one department
is prosecuting, another department OF
the same government is defending.
This is one of the queer conditions
that exist in a world OF imperfect
creatures. Perhaps the complainant IN
this case has done good service IN
showing how very imperfect we are
The President, however, can remove
the Acknowledgement and if he has not
behaved properly, why not send the pa
pers to Washington, and submit them