Ka Leo o ka Lahui, Volume II, Number 210, 8 June 1891 — THOSE AGITATORS. [ARTICLE]

THOSE AGITATORS.

"0f thc ah«ulvte international i ignts of States, one of the most <*ssential and important, and that whieh is at the foundation of all the rest, is the right of self preservation. It is not only a right with Tespect to other States, but a duty with respect to its own members, and the most i?olemn and important whieh tbe State owes to them. This right necessarily involves all other incidental rights whieh are cssential as means to give eflects to the principal ends." The above citation is one of the tenets of international law and is singulariy applieahle to iho present state of affairs in Hawaii nei. where there is threatened agitation and revolt. We have had two revolutions in suecession, and that is enough for the present deeade at least. Without discussing the merits or errors of what have gone before, the Leo asgerts that gxists atjthe no cause for revolution, and the government of the day must use a strong hand in suppressing any attempt at revolt against the constitutional government. For the past week the city has been in the state of alarm over the rumors that some followers of the reform party eontemplated a movement to secure the Queen's abdication in favor of ihe United States, or ef an independent Republic, and that possi* bly force might be used to secure ,this end. That such plots xiave not materliaized as yet, is proba31y because the conspirators have realized that their following would !>e slim. and that the Queen's friends, the Hawaiian and the mechanics generally are on the qui rire and ready to oppoae such a movement. That these rumors, >o universally current here, must ha*>e had some foundation is pretty <sertaia, and it would be hard for many of our citizen not to believe that meetings have been held to discuss the eeheme by some of the old missionary reform party. It is also bplieved that aeaeie of the men who are working np this agitation, are acting as the secret agents of Mr. Biaine at Washington, who ;icknowledged in the last u $ F. Examiner" that he now intends to have a u morps decisive policy" regardiug these islands. More credo?";e giyv!i io this lattcr idea from the fact that it is remembered that when B!aine was Becretarv of State under Garfield, he had a secret agent here in the shape of a man nam<«l W. O. Murphy, who ati<'tiiplcd agitat'ons, the purport of whieh were exposed by his own braugart couceit. At all events it ig belief that at the present timc, there are plota and intriB;ues agcing here, —whether instigated at Washington or not—that are hostile to the Queen, the Hawaiian peoph and Hawaiian imlependence. Under these circumBtances it is the duty of f he governuient to

bring all its forces and powers into play, and if it is discovered that these treasonable plots do exist, the rights and duties of ffelf-prfeser-vation deniand that the leaders therecf be seized anddeported from the country: there is no plaee here •4br agitators and traitors, and the peaee and tranquility of t'ne eountry rcqiiire that all such shou!d be far rcmovcd from the scene of their nefarious schemes, whether they be Hawaiian subjects or foreigners. • The precedents for such action are numerous in all parts of the world, civihzed or barbarous, and deportation or banishment, is recognzied as a convenient and legitimate method of ridding a eountry of troublesome mdividuals. We are not aware that any overt act lias as yet been committed, but the Leo, —and we epeak for a largo constituency-—demands of the government the seizure and deportation of every agitator, at the first sign of anv warlike demonstration. The government owes it to the people to take this stand fcr the defence of its autonomy und the preservation ®f peaee in the kingdom. Because ambitious men and there satellites are out of office. this constitutes no cause for revolution: Whatever differences of political opinion there may be ean all be settled at the ballot box. It has a!so been said that certain polilieal meu, by their agents, approached Lieut. Kaaha of the Ho yal Guard to try to induce him to as'siBt in turning over the arms and ammunitiou from the barracks. This is a highly treasonable a<jtion, in whieh the authors may have simply acted, as they always have done, as tools of their more eunning associates nevertheless w-e also demand of the govenrment that the fact be properly investigated and correct that its authors be held to account for their treasonable eonduct; and also bAnished if they are found to be traitors to the Queen and her government.

If also it be true that the present agitation is inspired from \Vashington the Lko informs Mr. Blaine tnat he is proceeding in the very best way to defeat his own purposes and to alienate the feelings of the Hawaiians against any Ameriean allianee. Mr. Blaine must be poorly informed as to the politieal status here if he believes that tiae j revolution party ©f 1887, contempt-1 uously known as the religio-hypo-cretics-politic-reform-party are representative of the people, and any thing that he might attempt through that party or any of its representatives. would surely be defeated at the polls } and we doubt if the- political status of thi§ kingdom ean or will be altered without; :i plebigcite of the people. The party in favor of annexation may reprosent a certain cligarehy of sugar planters and church bigots, but ii is politieally dead a buried, and ean no niore win the §>üb)ic tconfidence. There has been and is a growing sentiment among the people at large, and Hawaiians especialiy for a morp. complete eommercial and politi«al union with the United Stat<s, some of the more radicul jeven advocating t that inthe distant future wes hou!d seek admission as a State of the Unionj but any such movement will surely fail, unless it is advocatod «ti d lod by men who are repri'sentative of the nation and of vhe people and luive the public

confidence. The,- prcsent agitators are not auoh men.