The Liberal, Volume I, Number 39, 25 January 1893 — THE MONARCHY. [ARTICLE]

THE MONARCHY.

We come to bury him During a recent murder trial in Hilo, a medical expert was on the stand testifying to the appearance, etc., of a body which he had exhumed for examination, six days after death and burial. Being asked what was its appearance at that time, he replied, with some hesitation,, and determined for the time to be on the safe side, - "well, it appeared to be, ah, to be, - dead." After viewing the remains of the late Hawaiian Monarchy, (which, by the way, hasn't this writing been "under ground" about the same length of time as the cadaver above referred to at the time of its the medico's examination thereof,) THE LIBERAL is constrained to affirm that the monarchy appears to be dead. We do not propose to hold an autopsy upon the body of the defunct institution, nor to volunteer any except the most general and non-expert opinions as to the cause of it demise. Inasmuch as all the scientific definitions of the divers causes of death may be grouped and expressed in the phrase "died for the want of breath," -so the certificate of death in the case of the late monarchy might not in appropriately read- "died from lack of the vitality essential to carry it through a crisis, -of its own creation," or, in more specific, though hardly less accurate language, the demise of the Monarchy may be attributed to SUICIDE. A Provisional Government has succeeded to the estate of the late suicide, without administration or other legal proceedings, but by virtue of its own force, and the necessities of the occasion, There was nothing else to be done, unless to acquiesce in the attempt of the late Queen to annul, of Her own motion the existing, and promulgate a new, (or an old and discarded) constitution. It was and is impossible to admit the right of her late Majesty to impose upon the country any constitution, however beneficent. If she could be permitted of her own will to promulgated a good constitution, what would prevent her from sending an early and very bad successor to replace the first, and metitorious instrument? It must be patent to the dullest observer that the late Queen, no more than the meanest of her recent subjects, was entitled to assume the high propagative of sweeping away the fundamental law of the land at a stroke of the pen, and substituting for it another, of her own creation or choice. If such right existed on the 11th day of January, in the present year grace, it has similarly existed in every Hawaiian Sovereign on each day, since the birth of constitutional government upon this soil. If one such instrument could be so imposed upon us, an unlimited number could in like manner be thrust upon our suffering country, until, to suit the price of some sovereign literarily inclined, we should be washing down a new constitution with our coffee each morning. The bare statement of such a proposition carries its own reputation upon its face. The attempt to promulgate a new constitution was revolutionary in itself and had to be met by strong measures. Those measures were taken, in spite of the royal assurance that the one in was suffering remorse, (inflicted by the fact of defeat and the dread of disaster) for her wrong headed action. The Monarchy has been abolished, the Monarch deposed, and a temporary government, springing from the spontaneous action of a considerable section of the community, has assumed, and now exercises control of the public affairs. This Government is how the only one in existance, and must be supported and obeyed as such. It will be respected in proportion as it shall display the moderation and breadth of view which the delicate condition of affairs calls for.