The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1900-12-19
CLERICAL MISTAKE.

The Rev w. X. Azbill made some
very serious charges at the meeting of
the Protective League monday after
noon. These charges involved the con-
demnation of a Judge of the Circuit
court and prominent members of the
bar. The charges moreover reflected
upon the grand jury,
The Star yesterday published inter-
views with Judge Edings, an appointee
of President Mckinley who tried the
case. Judge Edings showed that the
trial lasted for two days, and that the
men were defended by George A. Davis
a lawyer of eminence at the bar and of
the very strictest integrity in his de-
Tense work for his clients. Yet the
Rev. Azbill has charged these gentle
men with what amounts to a serious
crime or what is it's equivalent a NAL
feasance of office.
AS we are starting cut upon cases Of
this kind, apparently from the Rev, w,
X. Azbilrs statement, it may be we'll
for those who make charges such as
the reverend gentlemen has put forth,
to be sure of their ground before they
publicly denounce the wrong doings of
others. To make charges is easy. To
prove them is quite different kind of
thing. Haman ingenuity and fore sight
has understood this for some thousands
of years, and has punished those who
make false charges variously, accord
ing to the state of civilization. In some
civilizations they pulled out the falsei-
fiar H., ~,
through that organ. Then they took to
cutting off ears and putting the gentle
men in pillory where dead cats, rotten
fruit and ancient eggs became an Incl
dent, and it is said an unpleasant one.
Later still we have the money payment
for this kind of talk. Courts awarded
damages for such attacks, if anyone
cares to go before the courts to show
the wrong that has been done. AS a
rule few care to go to the trouble, be-
cause the results do not pay for the
expense and wrong.
Mr.. AzbilIs attack upon the Federal
Courts of the United States are utter
ly unjustified. The evidence is clear.
but Mr.. Azbilrs published statement
may go far, and the correction may also
go as far but it is unlikely that both
will go together The result is that a
statement which is on the face of it
wrong and which the bulk of laymen
and professional men know must be
wrong, Will be knocked about from one
religious, or quasi religious paper to
another, giving a wrong impression. de-
grading one of the most honorable pro-
fession in the world. and striving to
show that in spite of the fact that we
have been annexed to the United States
our judges, lawyers and jurors are ur
tit to occupy the positions they ea n
hold.
1t is time to call a halt upon such un.
founded charges. To make sweeping
charges as has been already SAID in
this article is easy. The pres mt writer
remembers very well many years ago
the charge being made in this city that
there was no chaste woman in it. And
that charge was brought by preacher,
parson or clergyman, whatever he was
pleased to be called. 1t was a lie. but
1t was one of those insidious lies which
went crawling like a snake from San
Francisco to Valparaiso and even far
Their. No man has any right to make
sweeping assertions of this kind. No
people have suffered more from such
Villanious assertions than the residents
of these islands, both native and
foreign.
AS the chastity question has fallen
into the back ground. the justice ques-
ton appears to loom forward 1t is
presumably hard for unframed minds to
sift evidence. The legal mind can do
1t and put up a good fight when it is
sure the person is in the wrong and
will acknowledge it as soon as the fight
it over. The newspaper mind equally
values evidence and on account of its
legal penalties is doubly careful in
weighing everything that comes before
it. But the ecclesiastical mind in many
cases, by no means ALL sees only one
side of the argument. 1t is looking for
sin and wrong doing and it finds it,
and when it is like the Rev. w. K.
Azbill, or the Mahdi or the Mad Null
lah of the Chitral or half a dozen
cranks on the mainland, it let's it's voice
be heard. Some times that voice brings
ruin and desolation. 1t is fortunate if it
only brings laughter. The Rev. w. K.
Azbill has much to learn.