Nuhou, Volume I, Number 1, 25 February 1873 — What Do We Want? [ARTICLE]

What Do We Want?

lt it» eaid tiiat wc ivant rclicf. v Thāfe the klanele arc alnii>tjt baokrupfc; j,hat there is nofc uaoney enough īn thc Trcasurj, nor likely to bc, to carrj on fche £overDiiQent e much longcr;—thafc sugar is deciiniug, and costing rnorc than is gofc for it; that Jabor is ecarce, and whafc there is of it r rather domoralizcd; that money is still scarcer ; thi>t confidcnce is all gone; thafc we are on the higli rond to a general financial smash up;—and thatof cpurBc something must be donc. ►Some bay wo must fcry reciprocifcy again, and oflcr iiWa harbor fbr a naval t?tation as a bonus; or scnd our King and a PrincesB or two as lobby agcnts tu c:ijolc the Ameiiean Scnate, and then. if all this fails to try annexation. it is true thafc Ewa harl)or.niay cost two millions of dollars to make it available, and the Lord kiiows how mueh it may cost to buy up the surrounding lands ; and U ia also tr«c that we don't know that tbcUnited JStateB would acccpt us, if ie was poesible and proper to «urrendcr the political eovercignfcy of th(vcountry. Still, for all that, something must bc donc. ()tjicrs say, lct us work harder and eeonomiee, atid eoine down to a fish and-poibasis; andlctthe planfcers and brokers break and be—blcssed. The. i«lands will stand ; the kanakas, at lea6t somc of thcru, will Jive; and so the Hawaiian Kingdom ean continuc to wave—but then this is no longcr an old tiinc chicftancy made up of kahilis and calabashes, and a, littlfi. fuss and fcathers ; but a civilizcd monarchy that nccds a civil list with a privy purse, a salaried Cabinet, a paid diplomacy, a st*jpendiary magistracy and a subsidized anny with a gcneraliBsinio, four Coloncla and an Adjutant General: Now you cannot havc all this on a fish and poi basis, thercfore something niust be done. A fcw s:iy, that thc llotcl has ruincd us; but thcrc it Btfui<ls, thc chicf ornamcnfc of the town, and thc only thing thafc savcs its credit in the mind of tj.c enlightened etranger seeking a eomforta]>lc honio. With its gay and sparklingparlor and weil appointcd dining hall—it is the >only thing fchafc-siives thc city from everlasting dullness; so tliat we īuust lookout for somc other gricvance bcsidcs tlic 1 lotcl. No, the anti-Ilotel cry won't eave us, or turn any one out now, and thcrefore something imist be done. There is a gcneral fcrmenfc on the " Bcach that is ccrtain. Everybody has got a political panaeea, A >iranger woukl ihink we were etill in a iuild state of anarchy, and trying to organizc a governnicnt. iie woukl hcār a variety of plans suggcstcd, and hear of the views of Mr. Tangent and Mr. Borcuin,and of committces of quidnuncs, native and ibrcign, proposing, advising and suggcsting—what a inonaieh or a ministry should do, sb thafc the conclusion he would eome to would be, perhapsi, what we wanted most was an active, energetic, initiativc, self-rcliant, and aggressivc ministcrial heaeL