Nuhou, Volume I, Number 21, 24 March 1874 — The History of the Hawaiian Islands [ARTICLE]

The History of the Hawaiian Islands

ls not yet wtitten, or at least in sueh partial and irtiperfect mahner, that the seeker after truth gets no correet view of the actual eoadition of things in this archipelago from what has been written. The statements of newspapers supposed to represent the chief | interests of the coiintry are not to be trusted,! not becāuse they utter falsehoods, but be- , cause they suppress so mueh, so that the re-' port they preseht of an affair is seldom whal! the public understānd it to have actually been, ] īn fact it is expec'ting too -m'ueh' o'f.a ; j6urnal] estabiished as a business, thaf it should be | a strict exponent bf the truth, all the truth,! and nothing but the truth. ft must consider th» interests of business advertisers, and goverriment officials from whom it expects patronage, ahd this is so mueh the case that you cannot trust tq the correctness of any account of public events whieh appMrs in a {I respectable " journaL Now a paper like the Nuhou Hawaiī ean afford to tell the truth, as it is run by a proprietor for the sake of speaking his mind. whieh is not influenced in the slightest degree by any business or official patronage. Therefbre thē Kutiou or rather its editor may be depended upoii for wrūing a true history of att that is important in relation to these islands, and their inhabitants. He is engaged upon this history, and he will treat pnnces and people all alike without any false gloss or injurious statement. He will endeavor to analyze the results of foreign and native ihtercourse*sn all its social, religious, politica[ and ind\Mrial bearings with a perfectly candid and unprejudiced spirit. He belongs to no party or creed, and ean have no war against any ; so that his history may be accepted as that df an indēpendent looker on who will observe the truth, and strip off every disguise (

A divded powER is dangerous to the of a country. Authority should be singlej fchould be resolute, and should not try to eke 01U an existence by compromises and cbncessions. We are led to make these reflections by observii>g' the large popular demoustrations of hookupu, or ancient ceremony of land tribute and acknowledgement of sovereignty tendered to Queen The Gaze(test&tes that 011 Tuesday lafct, u crowds of them ,(natives) took gifts to Queen Dowāgef Emma and H V R; H, Charles Kanaina, at Haimoeipo, the fesidence of the late King Lunalilo/* The mere fact of the ofiering of gifts of the fruits of the earth to chiefs is quMe eominon among* Hawaiians, and such offering is often tendered to diflerent chiefs of different grades of rank in nat\ve estimation : but a formal presentat!oir of tnbute or hookupu by hundreds of in procession, as recently unto Her Maje§ty is an acknow]edgement df subject fealty that should not be ōveftooked by Ministers, who are itvduty bound, pledged to support the honor T dignity, and the M>~ authority of the lawAi! Euler of the realm. But it will be diffieult for the īuen. who have been rhosen fo fill offices of state, not on account of fitnefes, or any fevor bf the Soveign, but in order to quiet a faction, to take any steps to suppress unseemly demonstrations of that faction to whioh they belonged, even ol* though action may devogate from the honor and d!gnity of the Sovereigu whom fhey are ch*osen # to advisi' ; aiul thus thcre t an appenrance in the land of a donble a divided power,