Ka Leo o ka Lahui, Volume II, Number 296, 7 October 1891 — Page 4

KA LEO O KA LAHUI.

"E Mau ke Ea o ka Aina i ka Pono."

 

KA LEO O KA LAHUI.

John E. Bush.

Luna Hooponopono a me Puuku

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 7, 1891.

 

An Apology.

            Owing to the necessity of attending Court, to satisfy the desire of those who have felt aggrieved at something said in KA LEO, we were unable to give the usual amount of reading matter for the English page of our paper. Now that a decision has be given exhonerating us from any malicious intention to hurt anyone's character, we hope to be allowed a little respite, and continue our labors for the public good, and that the Crown Prosecutor will show his seal in some other direction, and made it convenient to proceed with libel suits other than ours, and some of the more important opium cases now on appeal before the Supreme Court, which stood over fom the last Court Term.

 

SAD, IF TRUE!

            If we hear correctly, it is a sad state of affairs, for the sovereign and people, that the Premier has had to submit to talk State matters to her Majesty in the presence of an inferior official, but evidently more in the confidence and trust of the Queen than the Premier. It is further said that after the subject had been laid before the Executive, by her chief adviser, she turned to the "power behind Richelieu," for his opinion. No necessity, no necessity, was the only advice given by the trusted confidential adviser, upon which her Majesty blandly and graciously replied to the Premier, that she would take the matter under advisement. This position, if true, between the Executive and her constitutional adviser cannot be very pleasant to the Cabinet. It shows a mistrust on the part of the Sovereign in her Ministers, in which we think she has good reasons for feeling so. But it seems to us inadvisable to go to the extreme of having an in@rior officer present at a state council. It is humiliating, and equivalent to a hint to the Cabinet to vacate their seats. Such a step is, however, deplorable at the present time, as we are about to enter upon a new election in a few months hence. We give the information and make our remarks thereupon, because, we believe our informant was earnest in what he stated as to the meeting.

 

The National League.

            An interesting meeting took place on Tuesday 22 inst, at the International Hall. The International Rifle association met there in council and after transaction of some business the association adjourned for the purpose of forming a political organizationi under the name and style National League.

            After some explanatory remarks by Mr. Huntsman setting forth that the League was to orgainze under the auspices of the Central Executive Committee for the purpose of discussing the political and social questions involed in the coming campaign, etc., the constitution under which to organize was read, adopted and the following officers elected: Hon. R. W. Wilcox Pesident, E. H. F. Wolter Vice President Col. von Werthern Secretary Chas Klemme Treasurer, and Chas Bushins, Sergeant at arms. Sixty-five new members signed the roll. The platform issued by the Central Executive Committee was read section by section, discussed and adopted without a dissenting voice. Interesting speeches were made by Messrs. Huntsman, von Werthern Klemme Stuhlmann Scrimgeour and others.

            On Tuesday 29, another meeting was held at the same place with a large attendance. There was a lively discussion by the members concerning the principles of government etc. and twenty new members signed the roll. There League meets every Tuesday evening at 7:30 and is open to all, and every workingman should join.

 

Three Critics Criticised.

            A "Laymen," writes in the P. C. Advertiser, under the heading "Two Critics Criticised," in which he criticises Brothers Hammond and Burgess in a friendly way. Mr. Layman, we presume, after forty years of attendance upon public worship, is of the laity of some Christian Church. But strange to say he shows by his writings, that after forty years of Christian profession, a wonderful lack of the very first principles of a Christian, viz: faith, unplicit, undoubting faith in the Word of God as given by inspiration through holy men of old.

            This doubt has been due either to the inability of those whom he has listened to in the last forty years to explain the genuineness of the Holy Scripture to his satisfaction or to his own doubting disposition or want of faith. "Layman" is only an example of nine-tenths of professing Christians, who have become doubters through the preaching of the doctrines men. "In vain ye do worship me, preaching for doctrines the commandments of men." There are two requisites necessary in writings which claim to command belief from the world, i. e., 1. genuineness and 2. integrity, that they are the works and the unaltered writings of the persons whose names they bear.

            ITS GENUINENESS. External Evidence. "The Jews, to whom these books were entrusted, have been in all ages unanimous in their testimony that the Pentateuch was written by Moses; the Psalms by David, and those whose names are are affixed to them; the Proverbs by Solomon; and that others were the work of those whose names they bear; and, with equal unanimity, testify to the authority of those books whose writers names are lost. They are all accredited by successive generations, till we come to the mention of them in the "Prologue" to Ecclesiasticus, the treatise of Josephus against Apion, and the writings of the New Testament There are also frequently quoted by one another as authoritative and genuine; and the Pentateuch, Psalms, and Prophets, as well as the historical books, are so quoted by our Lord Himself. They were all admitted to be genuine by successive councils of the Christian Church.

            INTERNAL EVIDENCE. (1) The Nationality of the writers. "They all (with the possible exceptions of the authors of Job and Esther) profess to be Jews of Palestine, a people peculiarly separated from the rest of mankind by religion, by unique customs, and by physical position. These peculiarties are implicitly maintained throughout the whole books, which show no evidence of contact with the literature of any other countries except those in which the writers profess to have been in temporary exile

            (2) "The Language, except in Daniel and Ezra, is uniformly Hebrew, which ceased to be a living speech soon after the Babylonish Captivity. Some parts of Daniel and also of Ezra are written in Hebrew, others in the form of Aramaic which is transitional, and presents various points of difference from the later Chaldee. This curious phenomenon finds its explanation in the residence of Daniel and Ezra at Babylon, and their relation to Babylonian and Persian rulers who successively held sway over that city and the surrounding countries.

            (3) Circumstantiality. The records contain histories, frequent genealogies, and biographies, all of which are capable of more or less verification from other records, but no material discrepancy has been proved.

            (4) The Undesigned Coincidencss (see Blunt's work in this subject) are numerous and deserve attention. Then, again, the physical allusions are exclusively applicable to Palestine, whose geographical and geological conformation is uuparalleled; while the flora and fauna, as gathered from the work itself, have been proved by modern explorers to correspond exactly with the phenomena of that country.

            ITS INTEGRITY. The scrupulous care taken by Ezra, and those who followed him, to preserve the text of the Old Testament, after its Canon was completed, is sufficiently evident from the zealous accuracy with which the discrepancies in the text of various copies have been preserved. This is perhaps most conspicuous in certain Psalms, of which two distinct MSS. are extant, containing in some instances as many as sixty variations in the text of the two copies. The ancient Hebrew, in which it was written, was, after the Captivity, superseded by the Aramaic (a mixture of Chaldee with Hebrew). For a time the former was retained as the sacred, while the latter was the vernacular, language; but, before the Christian era, almost all the Scriptures were translated into Aramaic. In the time of Ezra, it is evident that an Aramaic version followed the reading of the Hebrew original in the synagogues (Neb. viii. 8). These Aramaic interpretations, called "Targums," are valuable, as affording proofs of the correct readings of ancient MSS. of the Old Testament, and also of the precise meaning of obscure words.

            Of these Targums ten have come down to us, giving between them a complete interpre@ation of the whole of the books, except Ezra and Nehemiah. The Targum to Daniel is not fully known. The earliest are those of Jonathan (on the Prophets) and Onkelos (on the Pentateuch); the former is a paraphrase, the latter a literal translation, word for word, from the Hebrew; the former was written shortly before the Christian era, while Onkelos was contemporary with Christ, and a pupil of Gamaliel.

            The Hebrew MSS. consist of the Synagogue Rolls, and copies for private reading. The former are the most important, and were written, as Josephus tells us, on fine skins (some of which, found in the Crimea, and therefore possibly belonging to the Jews of the Dispersion, are still preserved in the Imperial Library at St. Petersburg). The care with which they were transcribed is evident from the rules laid down in the Talmud. One scribe copied the consonants, another inserted the vowel-points and accents in a fainter ink, a third revised the copy, and a fourth wrote in the Masorah. These rolls consisted of, (1) the Pentateuch (or Law); (2) Megilloth ("rolls"); and (3) the Haphataroth ("dismissals"). Is is from these and the Greek translatione, made by the Alexandrian Jews, compared together, that a correct copy of the Scriptures must be derived, and the English Authorised Version was formed from the best recensions known at the time of its preparation."

            (To be Continued).

 

ON DIT.

            That the degeneracy of the Hawaiian race was demonstrated at Court the other, when a fellow after swearing to tell the truth, on being asked if he knew of certain things happening lately, replied in a sort of hangdog manner, that he knew knothing, not even his master's brother-in-law. A suit for perjury would be apt to awaken the knavish instincts of such characters and show their unfitness for places of trust.

 

Platform of Principle

OF THE

HAWAIIAN NATIONAL LIBERAL PARTY.

PRINCIPLE OF GOVERNMENT AND CONSTITUTION.

            1. We deem that all Government should be founded on the principles of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity; we hold that all men are born free and equal before the law and are endowed with inalienable rights to life, to liberty, to propertp, to the pursuit of happiness and to self-protection against arbitrary concentration of power, irresponsible wealth, and unfair competition. We believe that just government exists only by the consent of the People, and that, when it beeomes necessary for the public welfare, they may abolish existing forms and establish more advantageous and equitable system; and, as the present Constitution of the Hawaiian Kingdom never has had the approval of the People, but was establisded by the intimidation and fraud for the benefit of a certain class, therefore we favor the adoption of a new and more liberal Constitution, to truly secure a Government of the People, by the People and for the People.

INDEPENDENCE OF THE COUNTRY.

            2. Out of consideration for the inherent rights and present opinions of the native population, we dersire to retain the independence of the Country and defend its autonomy, under a liberal and popular from of government; but our Treaties with Foreign Powers, and especially with the United States of America, should be revised, so as to better meet present necessities and to obtain more equitable advantages in exchange of those granted by us.

JUDICIARY REFORMS

            3. Our Judiciary system and Code of Procedure must be submitted to a thorough revision, so as to secure a cheap and prompt administration of justice, free of all sectarian or patisan spirit, and to render the Judges more directly responsible to the People; and we are in favor of a more liberal interpretation of Constitutional guarantees of the freedom of speech and of the press.

TAXATION

            4. A more just and perfect system of Taxation must be inaugurated, to abolish the present inequalities, by which the property of the poor is excessively taxed, while much of the rich man's good@ are under-valued for the assessment or entirely escape taxation; we shall therefore demand the passage of laws that will more effectually subject the property of corporations and rich citizens to their just proportion of public burdens, while granting more liberal exemptions to the poor; and as a @ of discouraging the locking up of larges tracts of uncultivated lands, a differential tax should be levied in addition to the usual assessment on valuation which should be in proportion to the fertility of the soil. We shall also favor the establishment of a graduated income-tax, and thus expect to obtain ample funds for conducting the government and attending to all necessary public improvements without any further calls on the masses.

MONOPOLIES

            5. We shall use our efforts to obtain laws by which all favoritism in the government and all monopolies, trusts and privileges to special classes shall be rendered impossible, by full, definite and mandatory statutes.

PUBLIC SERVANTS.

            6. Better laws should regulate the Civil Service. The principle of the election of officers of the government by the people should be established, and no man should be allowed to hold more than one office of profit, whilst salaries should be adaquate compensation for the sarvices rendered. All excessive salaries should be reduced and all sinecures or superfluous offices abolished.

PROTECTION TO HOME INDUSTRIES

            7. We are in favor of encouraging all home agriculture and industries, andall our native products, like rice, coffee, wool, tobacco, etc. should be protected and fostered by proper tariff regulation; and also it must be the duty of the Government, in its contracts and other operations, to give preference to national products over imported ones.

LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT

            8. We desire a more liberal policy towards the different Islands of the Kingdom, outside of Oahu; they should receive a fairer proportion of the public moneys for the development of their resources and the satisfactirn of their wants. In fact, the principle of local Self-government should be extended, whereby giving localities may choose the most important of their local executive officers, and levy taxes for the purpose local improvements of a public nature.

PROTECTION TO THE LABOURING CLASSES

            9. We shall endorse all measures tending to improve the condition of the working classes, and consequently, without injuring any vested rights, we will advocate laws to prevent all further importation or employment of contract-labor of any kind, upon conditions which will bring it into a ruinous and degrading competition with free Hawaiian or white labor. We shall also, in the interest of the better protection of the poor, ask for more liberal exemptions of their property from forced sale on execution, and from seizure in bankruptcy proceedings.

SMALL FARMING AND HOMESTEADS.

            10. The wealthy fraction of our population have hitherto prevented the development of an independent class of citizens; the public lands have been acquired and have been tied up in a few hands or parcelled to suit favorites, and small farmers and planters have been driven out by corporations or combinations of capitalists; but as small farming is conducive to the stability of the State, it should pe encouraged by a new and more liberal Homestead act, by which the ownership of small tracts of land and the settlement thereon of families of our present population,—and especially of the native Hawaiians who have been left almost homeless in there country,—should be rendered possible. To that end, the Government and Crown lands, (in so far as can be done without invading vested rights) should be devoted as soon as possible to homesteads, and conferred upon bona-fide settlers free of taxes for a limited period.

            It should be the further aim of government to, at once, so far improve the means of transportation,—local, national and international,—as to provide, in all the districts, cheap means of conveying the product of the soil to market.

ELECTORAL RIGHT.

            11. We hold that upright and honest manhood, and not the possession of wealth, arbitrarily fixed, should consti- the right to vote for nobles as well as representatives, and no more power should be accorded to the ballot of the rich man than to the ballot of the poor man. The discrimination in favor of wealth now made in our Constitution is contrary to all the eternal principles of right and justice, and must be abolished. To this end, we will favor a leveling of the present distinction of wealth and classes which blemish our laws with respect of the right to vote for nobles, thereby restoring to the native Hawaiians privileges which pertain to them in their own country, and of which they have been unjustly deprived.

INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS

            12. We favor the expenditure of sufficient sums to secure a number of needed public improvements on Oahu and other Islands: school, railroads and harbors and wharves, public light, and also a thorough system of resevoirs and water-works, not only for Honolulu, but through-out the other Islands.