The Liberal, Volume I, Number 41, 1 February 1893 — THE SAME OLD STORY. [ARTICLE]

THE SAME OLD STORY.

The continued and persistent silence of the Provisional Government's journalistic organ, the Advertiser, as to our future form of government, is susceptible, we fancy of only one meaning. It means that there is a determination to maintain the veil of secrecy as to the program concerning our future condition, and especially, to keep dark, regarding the errand of the commission sent to Washington. It is the most arrant insolence on the part of those who are guilty of it, to charge that an inquiring spirit is, per se, a hostile spirit, - that one who asks for such information regarding our national concerns as the government should furnish unsolicited, is "sowing dissention," and endeavoringto break the unanimity of the Government's support. - It is undeniable, we assert, that appearances, from the inception of the P.G. to the present, point strongly to the conclusion that no intention exists of taking the people into the official confidence. Why is this? Why should it be? upon what new tangled theory of government is the P.G. proceeding, in thus not only ignoring, but in effort, repudiating, the right of the people to be informed concerning their governmental affairs? Is it by such a course that they expect or even hope to gain adherents, or even to retain those they already possess? In what particular does such a system excel any of the Eastern despotism? Is not the machinery of the muchabused Russian government more open to inspection than that now being operated in our little sardine box? Do the gentlemen of the Provisional Government remember the scriptual reason, why men love darkness better than light? Do they wish to be placed in that scriptural category? If not, why in the name of reason, do they not respond to the popular demand for more light upon the pathway they are pursuing? Why, indeed? No question that has ever arisen in this country, nor any that ever will arise here has been or could be of more vital concern to the people than that relating to our future form of government. Of course the supporters of the P.G. admit, at least in theory, that the people of every land have an inherent right to a voice in the disposition of their liberties and in the adoption of the forms of government under which they shall live. There can be no possible difference THE LIBERAL and the government upon this point, as we assume. The question follows, however, how far, and in what manner such rights may be reasonably suspended under conditions of tension such as now exist in the political affairs of Hawaii? The further question is suggested, what would be the program of the P.G. as to the ratification or adoption of any compact that may be negotiated at Washington, without at least submitting it to a , or election by the people? No one more

sincerely than THE LIBERAL recognizes the of the of the situation by which the P.G. is confronted. But the honest and only correct plan of action is to take the people into their confidence. The P.G. has no ground for assuming that the people are hostile to the new order of things. THE LIBERAL believers that a policy of conciliation and education is the only rational one to be pursued by the P.G. at the present juncture. Show by your attitude gentlemen, that you intend no violence to popular rights, - that you are determined upon a course in which the people at large are interested and by which the people will be benefited. Confidence, begets confidence, while distrust breeds not only a responding distrust but fear and hatred as well. If the government were well advised in this matter, they would, in our opinion, inaugerate a "campaign of education" in which the people, not only of the metropolis, but the rural districts also, would be diligently instructed in the rudiments of goverment under the flag toward which we are rapidly drifting. How else can the people have confidence that the proposal measures of annexation are for their best interests, or that their rights will be protected thereunder? In speaking of the proposed measures of annexation, we would respectfully again remind the P.G. that the people know nothing of their charter, beyond the vague description thereof in the Proclamation. How can people be expected to approve a course of whose nature they are kept in ignorance?