Hawaii Holomua, Volume II, Number 37, 13 February 1894 Edition 02 — The Grand Inquisition. [ARTICLE]

The Grand Inquisition.

The Advertiser seems to approve of Mr. W. O. Smith's conduct in re Theo H. Davies. We must compliment the morning organette on its liberal views. We thought that its editor had imbibed some liberal ideas while studying in Germany but it was perhaps in Russia that he was. The learned AttorneyGeneral according to the Advertiser was justified in sending for Mr. Davies in the peremptory manner used by him and also justified in publishing the result of his inquisition. The manner in which Mr. Smith saw fit to present the interview to the public can be seen from the tone used in the Star which used Mr. Smith’s information under the scare-heading. "Theo H. Davies on the rack.’' It is safe to say that if Mr. Davies had had the slightest notion of the purpose of AttorneyGeneral Smith’s invitation he would not have gone near him and what would the learned Attorney have done then? We know of nothing in the laws of this country —not even those remarkable products of P. G. brains— which gives an Attorney-General power to send for people, question them and otherwise annoy them. If Attorney-General Smith suspected Mr. Davies of treason it was his duty to arrest him in a proper manner and then take his chances for a damage suit but simply to assume the role of grand inquisitor will hardly be approved or allowed by the liberty-loving people in the country.—If the Attorn-ey-GeneraI desired to read a certain newspaper fake to Mr. Davies he should have acted like a gentleman and called on Mr. Davies. This gentleman is so well known for his politeness and courtesy that we have no doubt that he would have listened patiently to Mr. Smith’s complaints and actually refrained from giving him the kicking which his unparalleled stupidity so fully entitled him to. The use which Mr. Smith made of the interview through his mouth piece the Star is only another instance of that lack of tact and common decency for which he has been noted since the day he ordered a British subject mal treated and abused at the Police Station.