The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-05-22

Ju0ge IN calling the jury, and the in
| timation that the court was trying to
BATTLE the efforts of the executive to
bring offenders to the bar of justice.
AS regards the Legislature, he said, it
appeared that, after frittering away it's
session, it had come to it's senses at
| the eleventh hour, and asked for time
| in which to do the work that it was
| intended it should do. The petition to
| the Governor resulted. In refusing the
| request the Governor was not called
| upon to give any reason for his refu-
sal to allow the extra session. Mr..
| Fitch then read the messages of the
| Governor and commented on them at
some length, continuing in part:
| What was your honor to do? Here
was charge not inconsiderately made,
but coming from a gentleman who had
| been at one time on the supreme
bench, trained lawyer, a man accus-
toned to weigh his utterances. From
such a man we have such expressions,
and next morning we find in one of the
leading and influential papers, an edi-
torial commenting on these charges,
| and saying that this Will furnish a
subject for the investigation of the
| next Grand Jury.
| Il insist, your honor, that you did
not transcend your duties in calling
this Grand Jury; that, instead, you
performed them. Could you anticipate,
| ture that the very men who made these
| public statements would refuse to teS-
tify? You were right to call this
| Grand Jury and to tell its members
| that there was no one too low, no one
| too high to be called in the investiga-
ton of these subjects. The Grand Jury
could not punish for refusal to answer,
nor purge of the contempt. This court,
alone, could do that, and today only
you have something of which you
| could take notice.
! And what do they say? They take
refuge behind the claim of privilege.
The contention is that the Governor
| and the ex-Superintendent of Public
| Works shall be the sole judges of what
| he shall tell the Grand Jury concern
ing these charges. The claim is made
| that disclosure would mean defeat of
think of these things before making
| the statements. This is like hunting
ducks with a brass band, and when
another hunter comes along with a
gun, to tell him that he must not fire
that gun for fear he will scare the
! ducks away They say that your hon
or is drying up the sources of informa-
| ton by calling this Grand Jury. Why,
/ if they had this knowledge, did not
| they keep still until they had the
proofs Would it not be a fair assump-
! ton that those who refuse to testify
either are shielding the offenders, or
that there is no information, and they
are hiding behind the claim of privi-
| lege."
| Commenting on the Pennsylvania
case which was quoted by the Attor-
ney General, Mr.. Fitch said that it was
a case where there would have been an
| inquiry into the actions or the Gov
ernor and his subordinates, and not as
to information at their disposal. That
| there was a practical state of war in
/ the State at that time, and for the
| Governor to respond to the summons
would have deprived the army of its
| leader. AS to the Burr case, he said
that there had never been an over
ruling of that position as taken by
Chief Justice Marshall, and that the is
| sue as to what would be done in the
event of the refusal of the President
| to testify, was never raised for the
reason that the President saw the posi-
tfon and gave the letter to his Attor-
| ney General, and thus aided justice.
| There is here no parallel TO the Hart
| ranft case. he said, for While there
| was a state of war in Pennsylvania,
| with the Governor at the front while
the guns We're booming, here the Gov
ernor was at the front. but there was
no popping unless it was of corks at
| the bungalow.
How did the Secretary of the Ter
ritory get to be Acting Governor
was the question with which Mr.. Fitch
began his strong attack upon the posi-
ton of the de facto official. He could
| find nothing in the Organic Act. he
| said, which would make the position
for the Secretary under the present
| circumstances. Sanford 3. Dole was
| the Governor. He was not dead; he
had not resigned; he had not been re-
moved that any one knew of; he was
not absent from the Territory. In fact,
he was at summer resort or some
other pleasant place a few hours ride
from the city. The ground he said.
on which the position of the acting
Governor rests is that of disability.
The question was asked If the Cover
nor had lost his mind, and definitions
| OF disability were given to show that
| in no other way could there be any
grounds for the assumption of author
| ity on the part of the Secretary. Abb
sence from the seat OF Government
| does not constitute disability, for. the
| attorney said, Roosevelt is not now
acting President of the United States
owing to the western trip of President
| Mckinley. Reference was made to
similar conditions when President Gar
| field was Ill for so long without the
capacity to utter a sentence, and yet
Vice President Arthur did not endeav-
or to usurp his functions, and during
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