Hawaii Holomua, Volume III, Number 154, 6 February 1893 — Untitled [ARTICLE]

Martiai Law has al la«t been raised alter a poiilinuanee of iwo weeka an<l five days. W hether a glimpse of returnijip reas*>n eame over tne f>i >>ur ruier-. or the faol th*t tue Unit«*d States trooj>s have been at last thought sufficient to guard the peaee, or that by no means could Hawaiiana lie g>>a<led inti» disobeying the eommands of their lineen,' or that the Treasarv was running short of funds to pay the extraordinary eolleelion of volunteers that had been got together, or that the leaal luminaries were divided on what degree of concurrency martial and eivil law could have, or whether the Sunreme Bench would have to have been filled to decide the question, or whatever the rea«on, the unneces«arv and expensive folly has at last been nut an ena to and, let us hope, been relegateil into that oblivion from whieh alone self-frightened moral nyctalopists could ever have drawn it. Xineteen days. With what results? On an average forty or more unfortunate people per night lugged remorselessly down to the Station House to. l>e held for inquisitorial examination by the afiable heade of that office. Three or four guns accidentally fired by the brave troops, fortuuately without hurting any one but their shadows, a general eessatiou of business and pleasure in the town, considerable uneasiness aud mueh irritation caused to hundreds of persons who applied for passes but were refused while others got them, and thousands of dollars of useless expense in fattening up the hungry and unemployed who volunterred for two do!lars a day and three sqnare meals. These, and a lasting suspicion of the wisdom of our rulers. These are the results. The «upposed cause for Martial Law that somebody [name unknown] would in conjunction with somebodv else [also name unknown] rise up and murder, and massacre and put the new appoiutees out of their billets, has not eventuated and never will eventuate, unless such tyrannical anti-anglo-saxon military despotism is kept up, orshallbe brought again into m}uisition to goad peaceful and law-abiding citizene into inquiring by what right or authority these lhings are done. It is however tbanks to the nnited expcstulations of the indet>eudent press whieh only repreeent the universal sentiment of the town, that this obnoxious martial law has been raised, We «incerely hope tnis to be the last time that such a me«sure is used in lhese Isl«nds, and we regret ,that ihe g>>vernment has hesitated 8o long in rescinding its absolutely unnecess*ry *ct. Of conrse the •*Adveniser” will regret the actiou of the government as aome of the *“volunteers” who in private Iife work on the ••Advertiser‘’ st*ff will be deprived of the brief authority whieh tickled their inborn bump of petty officiousness—*nd of tb« <2.00 pr. d*y.

We are under the Lmpression though that tbe main reason for the rtscmding of the act was the point of iaw taien by Mr. A. P. IVter->n in regard to pro<*ess of Civil Court- during martiai law. To decide thi- point won!d naturallv have brought all hands in a muddle. and we very mueh doubt ! that the law library contains any authonties or precedents whieh wou!d have supported the stand taken by the Provisional Goverument. - ‘Pete" is of course very g!ad that he has been saved ihe trouble to hunt up autiior.tie« ia j favor of his p>>int. but he would undoubt«nliy h.°.ve had a mueh easier job of it than the AttorneyGenera!’s departmeut would in fighling the point. Of course ail taxpayers will feel unspeakab!y grateful for being permitted to enter their proper:y, known as the Government Buildiug. onee m >re without asking the permission of some ignorant Portuguese or Dutchman snugly ensconced behind a possibly self-dis-charging guu. It is a matter of congratulation to the Provisional Governmeat that it is wilhng to expose itself to the risks naturally consequent on the permission to the down-town caunibals to enter the sacred preeincts cf the Aiiiolani Hale and attend to their legitimate business without interference. Good-morning ! Herr Oeheime — Militair —Committec —Rath Bolte ! We have looked in vain through the acts aud orders issued by the Provisional Government for anything creatmg a miiitary committee, but we find nothing reiating to such a body. An advertisement calls in the meantime for tenders for some work on the barracks to be handed to Mr. Bolte who seems to have heen appointed commander-in-chief-with-God-knows-what-rank of such eommiilee, so we suppose that it must have jumped spontaneously into existenee. We are informed that the army —both the regulars and volunteers —are now to be uniformed at the expense of the depleted treasury. The uiiilbrm it is stated will be sirailar to that used by the National Guurd of Caiifornia and will undoubtodly be very orna- ; mental t0 the troops, whom we admit ean stand au extreme Iot of improvement in that respect. The “brass-buttons" of the U. S. N. wili have to look sharp when our miscellaneous assortment get into their military splendor or they won’t be iu it with the girls. Fancy all the Commander-in-chiefs with ranks of Colouel, President. Goveruor. or Militair Commitee K;>th parading throngh town in go!d laee and cocked hats or imagine the ole<jmargarine-testing Quartermaster-(.Teneral witb epauletles. sword and prayer-book going to ohurch parade —why Barn«m in his best days would have to take a backseat and Gibson*s n*ral retinue of similar eompo=ition In t he daya of the Kaimiloa will be overshadowed forever and forever. Dryden the English poet wrote over & century ago concerniag the £nglisk militia; “In pe*ce. a ch*rge; in w*r. * we*k defenoe; Stoat onee * momh thev m*rch * blostering b»nd And ever but in tim« ol naed *t h*nd" — He cooId h*rdlj h*ve b*d a prophetic pnrview of the Provi«ioa*l 1 Goverament's miliū* *od regul*rs

or he wou'.d pr >bablv h»ve made it run a- folIow-: ln oeaee. * ch*rse: f r in?*nc tear. * weak 'ieienee. Stoat unoe * m.jnth for p*y a K'iaiee- I ;n_’ r«n.l Wh'i ever rai«e ihoaeh n •; :a :im« oi nee*i aan >yir.i; uan.l. Abraham Lineoln [whom no doubt the \dvertiser cli»jue when they reati tfci.- wi!l promptly declare n>>t to have ?f»>ken Amenean .sentiment] formerly the ioved Pre-ident and now the honored martjrpfth< Onited S*:it -. n ( ' «a;d **.< ’ mu-i share t .e privil -ge» i of governmet,t who a" -: i i i>earing its burdens." Now the -ui - porters ot the change t.iu>*. impale themselves on ei’her \ horn of the di!emiua. They muee i either take all the burdens of government on their own ?houlders, it they are going to enclose the j whole privilege8 of goveroment in . their own ring. and ieaveeverv one else go scot free « f la.w- and «Uie? or they must admitevery one paying taxes. of whatever uationality. to an equal voice in the conducting of affairs. Whichever way they prefer to eommil suicide is immaterlal to us as we will sail right along just as usual. \Ve hear very litt!e lately aboat the hnaneial status of ihe government. The “Advertiser” is remarkably silent ui that questiou now though a while ago it was proclaiming the country bankrupt about onee a day. Thurston and Company used to speak in the same strain in the Legislature, but /° a change seems to have eome over lheir dreams. What has happened whieh has ini{>roved the present condition and immediate proepects of the treasury ? While large and new expenses are l>eing incurred by the government we hear nothing about large and new sotirces of revenue. How is the government going to meet its original and increased expenses except bv a new taxation, and does the government for one moment suppose that the country will submit to taxation without having the slightest voice in the governing of affairs? If the annexation scheme fails. as we are firmly convinced that 5t will, as long as the Nat.on is unwilling to endorse it —we will financially be exactly where we were-when the bankruptcy cry was tbe order of the day plus ihe extraordinary expenses of the present. fa>'tor in thefinances of lhis country is Coionel Spreckela. He has not bten beard from yet. It wae all right some years ago for our loeal planters and capitalisls to sneer at andtreat with contempt the power of Mr. Spreckels. but there ean be no denial now that he has got them all, from H. P. Baldwin down. under his thumb, and that he ean dictate to them pretty mueh as he sees fit iu financial matters. The eolonel is anown for his etrong likes and dislikes and among the last we believe thaī the “d missionaries" in thi» country holds a leading plaoe. The Colonel has several good reasons to kiek at his treatment by the present reginie. and we feel pretty confidect that his kicking will be vigorous and hit home. The government owes him money mnd plenty of it too. That money is due and over due. It is true enough tbat be holds a Iarge amooot of governments bonds as aecority, but a forved «ale of thew

wou!d certaialy i -.i-troū- * the oountry. Cer:ain busiavs-» connected w;:h Haka..-. i Plantai tion. and the 'vernraer.t ha- n : ! turneil out *y to the Sprcckel8 interest an.i the pros{>ext; are wheu he arrives here that he will turn up as a very at.grv man a;i-i *;>■.. ::■••?>■ w;.. — • • . ‘ LU8 1 and the qoestioa now government pay him? m The -at on t:.e >u;ceme Eeneh • hieii Wame vacaut on Mr. f>ole - r.*s gnation ha- i. : heeii fi!led y- t :-nd we presume that our temp- • orary government will hes;tate m ' appointing anew judge u:itil a i>eri ioanent f<>rm o: government is e?tabiished. Wh:.tever !.'r;u that v.’ill be it wiU nn>ioui>tedlv not be ; I t : ie present repime. an<l we -hal. lje pleased to see Mr. D.>le re?ume his o!d office on the l>‘noh when his present office is ai>andontd. The Advertiser’s **tourist" betrayed him*elf in the last few iines of his falsiried - ree>l by hi- Iiberal use of what “we wouM gain by the changes a.ul how it wouhl afi’ect “us." It’s rather hard on the editor that the I’. G. won’t let him print his inflammatory articles in the By Authoritv eohimn at so mueh per ineh. {>er in?ertion. and he daren’t i>ut them in the editor-v : _ '( ial eolumn for lVar the same P. G. i would have him up under the sedition laws for bringmg them into “hatred and contempt." Poor lioy! but sucb is life. It is re{K>rted that the RoadBoard and the Board of ater- | Commissioners will meei to-day and try to arrive at some arrangment by whieh eaeh Board will l>e ob!iged to keep withln its proper sphere and uot get road> and water niixed up in so sad a degree as was the case Iast night when uobody knew whieh was whieh. The “Advertiser” wants us to believe in the go<xl intentions and gigantic wisdom of tfae P. G. without looking into or heanng from the >tar Chamber in whieh the government’s busines- i- transacted. 1 We prefer the method ofMr. S. Roth of convincing oeople. and recommeud a simiiar method to the government. The gentleman meHtioned is offering sorae waterproof goods for whi.;h he probably thmks that there ought to be a market now. Not asking the public to take his word that the cloth is water-proof he has made a aquarium out of a pieee of it filled it with water in whieh ha!f a dozen go!d-fish are swimming—without the cloth even eetting damp. No room for doubt there even for the most sceptical Thomas. Provisīonal Gentlemen trot out your aquarium and let us have a look at vour gool faith fish and may trust vou in spite of all.