Ka Elele Poakolu, Volume I, Number 2, 15 September 1880 — Untitled [ARTICLE]

Itr hab been whi8pered in some quartere and opeDĪy Iāīd rD""ottter8, tdat His Mājē<Fty "Kitig Kalakaua is not sincere in hie dispo8ition towards \ the foreigners residentiji hie Kingdom, that he is jealoue of their influence upon puhlie policy. Since nothing that has transpired since his aseeneion to the Throne ean be Jaid hold of to give co)or to these ineinuations, -recourse is had to thc manifesto issued by him before tli® electiop.of the late Kihg, and a few words from it are quoted, ' wTthou't" "reTērence to the general spirit ot the docum.ent out of whieh they are clipped! • Thc objection madc to the action taken in 1873 by a certain portion of...tbe foreign residents in ilonolulu. by his present ilajesty, especially to the plebiscite, wa8 that it was unconstitutiotjal and revolutionary. Will the most a,rdcnt of our demagogues of to-day*venture to say that it was not so ? lt was not unnatural for a patriotic chief to ^ be apprehensive, that tbere were concealcd reasonrs for the act|vity of thosc who too.k such eztreme intercst (h thc fortunes of one particular caS0idate for th5f Throne: There was no disparagemeDt of foreigners generally in thewarning he to his fellow countrymen to beware of certain busy individuals. lf he suspected their motives fo be evil becnuse lio could not well discovcr what tbey:'real)y were. 110 one ean hlame him, 11' any clique of foreigners, īoe tbey whom they niay,8bould ever succeed in seizing upop the governmeDt of this country, they will certainlv take care to repay themselves wpll for such trouble asf it may cost tbem. Secing liow ansious certain porsons werb to exclude him from the vacant Throne, and seeing tbat they did not hesitate to take unconstitutional and tlioroughly revolutionary measures to aeeomplieh their purpose, Kalakaua spoke his mind on the subject straiglit ont, and yet said nothing whieh is inconsistent. with the.reputation he has always borne as an enlightened friend of foreigners in Hawaii. The right o f criticism whieh Ī6 so loudly claimed at -ttbe present day, and whieh, within limite thāt exclude actual treason is thc right of every subject of the Ilawaiian Crown, ie not surely to he denied to a great Cliief simp)y heeauee he wa.s a ca.ndidate for the 'i'hione w.hen he indulged ip the criticiena8 now so mueh the subject of comment.. One feathre ol tbe recent change of udminiHtration must commend itself to all wlio arexnot blinded by,party or perBonaf Tecling, and one whieh we hope wiJj heeome a precedent. We allude to tbe ahwmeo of the cdimnercial element among Ministers. II it ean be only rccognize() that ;t in not an absolute necee«ity f'or Hin Maj- : l'" to " Beach " for a Ministcr. a prolilie 8ource of diecontent will havb heen romoved. It ie eimply impoeeihle in a «mnll plaee like tbin for any commerciaI umn to liohl a Miniaienal oliiee ānd eueape liuepieion of ucing Iiīh ppuHion and tbo inAuenee it accordfl to him tj>warda thc exten«ion ofhifl own huHineae. It in high timc that our puhlie men phould fltand clear of all eueli inoinhationB. Wholeehme lawe are in for«« in aljnoet evory other oou»try in whieh a Conflti£u- , tional Government OiiaU», prohibiting undor beavy penaUieo al) Miqi®terB and memberfl of tbo ljegialature from boing intore®ted eitber direot)y gr iudireet)y in a»y oontract witb tl>e Cov»rnt ) ' .. * ' ' / 4 V

ment, from holding any o£Bce of emolument, or in 1 any way wbatever profitting by CoverDment bu8ines8. In tbe 'Britisb colonies this wise rule is i extended to overy one wbō holds ttny puhlie' post, wb'ether it be a paid or an bonorary office. "The member ola munieipal Couneil, a hospital --boaTd7 "or a schooi cotū"mittee ls "debāTTed fronrreaping profit from wofk whieh he may in any way have the direction of qx the powcr 4to influence. ; The penalties attacbed to breaches of thcse laws t are always very severe, and are recoyer!ible by ady person wbo clioses to set tlie law in niotu)n. ' We trust it will not be~ long before sipiilar wholef some restraints are put upon our puhlie men in Ilawaii. ln the meantime it is a good Uiing to knoW tbat tbose who "must be, "most open to the '"tcmptation to makē j)ublic business fiirther tbeir own privute affiiirs, are no longer <leemed abj so)utely necessary as 31inisters for the salvation | of the state. ! , , - i A DisrosrnoN has heen shown in sonie quarters to regard an inereasc ol' the Cbinese population of this kingdom ae )ikely to be dangerous politicallv. All available evidence goes to show Uurt j there is no foundation for any such apprehension. 1 _Were there .00.000 Chinese on these islands, the ! native race and the nati;ralized foreigners ofj white races would still be the governing element i in the population. There are reasons for this, an exposition of whieh would be too lengthy for : a newspaper article. But faets whieh are always more c,onvincmg tban reaspns, are at hand tu j support the statement. There are probably as , many adult males now in Hawaii nei of the J Chinesc as ol' the native race, yet of all this j number only about 300 are naturalized subjects of j th« State. 01 these, altbough their political j rights are equal to those of the native born, liow | many ever reeord their votes at an election, or : lift up their voiees oq political subjects ? Of the ! naturalized Chinese at Lahaina, not one recorded liis vote at the last election. So (ar as we are aware, they dispkiy a eomplete indifierence to all questions of domestic policy, or of the foreign reiations of tlie"kingdom. They are even without a tbought or an opinion about that burning question whieh', to a niajority of our politicians, white or Ilawaiian, takes precedence over all matters of Statc policy, viz., who shall be the King's Ministerij ? T!iey are not concerned about the " ins and the outs " — a f(ict whieh. quite settles thc que«tioq as to their interest in tl)Tng8 poli tical . It iH' the same in every country in whieh" they are Hettled ae etrangerfl or as colonietfl. •On oeeaeion when they have becn exaflperated by rcal or f'ancicd grievanccfl, they have proved tur4;u)ent. Of what people^ean anything olfle be flā«l ? But they have nevcr been knowh to or: ganiz<) to ovortbrow a Oovernraent, or to fleizo the reih(i of power, J t may he neocH8ary if our OhineHe population ib mueli irjcreaflod to add in a like rntio to the strength of our intornal poliee. But thifl woiild he neecHHary whatovor tho raoe of the ineomem. apd a great deal morOHO il't)iey were of the lower ordere of-tlio whito race« who aro everywliore found to be infiriito)y more innubordinate and ir)tornperate tban the ('hinone. So )ong iw they are left to purBue thoir avocationn iri peaeo-— flo long m tlioy know that they Uving undcr oqua) lawn, and are )roe frota pppre«flive taxation, and »eo ju»tioe diBpeni«:d to them m to othere wlth an ev»;n hand, they re6ognize t)iat they are )ietter off than in their own couiitry, go about their own- bu»ine«j, and rofrain lrota

meddling witb puhlie afiāirs. We may. therefore, dismiss from amongst the objections". to (Jhinese immigration tbe idea tbat it will prove a di8turbiDg elemenl in the politicat' afiāirs of the kingdom. Tbe other objections to it undoubtedly remain in ioree ; and if t'heybe overridden f'or thr mctrretrt by fhe urgtmt- r-equ}Tcnienl£...aI..tlie employers ot )abor, must not be lost sight of either now or in the luturev Care roust be takeo by efiicieDt regulātions to mitigate these as niueh as possible. 'l'he most important ot ehem is the diffieulty arisingf'rom thedisproportion of thesexes of-the immigrants. If this e?il ean, by any means, be mitigatcd. snch meana, sbou!d be employed prom.ptlv, an<J without relaxation. . • _ 1t is i ih.k to diseuss constitutional questions iiere \vithout taking into account the fact that there are two raees to bedealt with. The Hawaiian raee of Asiatieoi'igin has no sympatby of ideas w.ith men of Anglo-8axon descent beyond what it has acquired during the existence ?q|"a Oonstitutioual Oovernment here. Such arfibstitution is . īn this" Kingdom but a creature of yesterday. But a <reneration ago we had nn absolute mon•p ° iireliy tēmpered only by the traditions and customs ol" a quasi-feudal state ot societ.y. A people eannot be educated in one or many generations to appreeiate the methods of (Iovernment whieh in one form or another have been heirloonis ol the Anglo-Saxon race and its descendants for more than a thousand years. There are ābout one thousand of thē^āt-ter race here and fifty times as maDy of the former. It is very shallow work to diecuss poli tical problems from the standpoint of the minority and utterly to ignore r;J the sentiments the inherited ways and ideas, of the vast majority of the populaiion. Wk i.earn tbat the Government have īn eon- - templation the appointment of the Rev. H. Bingham as lnspector to tbe Department'of Immigratiqn. The duties attached to the .Inspectorship,'' : will be tlie investigation of the condition of im- . .: migrant laborers, and particularly to that of the South Sea Islandērs. ' The Rev. Mr. Binghan> haa eueh apeeial qualifications for this office aequired during his loDg mi8sionary labors amongsfc the : l8landers, that we cannot but congratulate the Government both upon the wisdom of their" JfiIft!QtijQll-niid-mQn „theix.gao(Lfortune in--seeuring-— so able and 8uitable an Inspector. Atthe'sam^ time we have to express "our unfeigned pleasure in'being able to make eueh a eommunication in regard to one who hae devoted his whole life to" | the welfare of hie follow men, and whose zeal and earne8tnes8 in his eeKohoeon vocation, have earnc<l for,him the 8incore respect of all who know < him. 03P 'l 'lie tnetnbcrB of tho Roman OatholicGhurcb are. with tho aHHinlunee of their 'mnoienl friendH, organizing a concert whieh, from.all we hear, prornineH l,o be a groat treat, for t,lio puhlie of HorHdulq. Their immediato ohjeot in to raiBO fundH for tho ontttbli8limont, of a Hohool for tho eliihlion of KngliHh-flpouicing p«rHonH. nnd for thono of tho riativo rueo who dofliro to acquire an l<)ng)iHh 1 oducation, 'I'lio fir«t r«hoareal <or the concort ib fixod for noxt Tuoi«lay ovoning, apd tbo corieorf, ltrielf wlil.. tako plaeo in about u. fortnight frorn thin dato, M. Rorgor han contiented to lead the conoerl, * and ono <>f it» foature« will; we bo)ievq, he iiome operafic neleoUon», be (jong by himtte)f and u . few eo«djutori>. ' i 1