Hawaii Holomua, Volume I, Number 48, 13 November 1893 — WHAT RESTORATION MEANS. [ARTICLE]

WHAT RESTORATION MEANS.

There has been a deal too nnieh loose t:ilk and loose writing as to the resnlts to be expected from a restoration to power of the Constitutional Government of Hawaii, whose fnuotions were snspended in Junuary last throngb the hostile interference of L nited States naval forces, acting the command of John L. Steveus, Araerican Minister to the Hawaiian Goveruraent. In order to iiudefstand what a restoration of that government wouhl imply, it 5s only necessarv to know what were its constitutional powers at the time of its enforced sospension. There is no especial laek of information upon thispoint. All whoareatall informed concerning the Hawaiiau Coustitntion know that the governmenjt is administered by the Cabinet, wko are responsible alone to the Legislature. The lattor l>ody being one-half '‘popular,” in its composition, that is. one-half of its members being elected by an open, —while the remaining half are elected by a restricted franchise inclnding a combined propertv aml ineome qualification—it follows that the property interests of tbe country are exceptionally well represented in the body whieh coutrol absolotely the course of legislation, while it also possess es the power to retire a Ministry at will. There wouhl seem. to the unprejndiced observer. nothing very terrible in the prospect of a return from our present conditioas of a ‘‘government of discretion"—aud indiscretion —(ehiefly the latter) to Constttutional forms and, guaranties such as previouslv prevailed. — But the gentlemeu who are now administering nur atfairs for their own benefits. and those of their sisters. their coosins, their aunts and raore remote appendages of the delectable faraily comj)act, profess the nttermost horror at what they most disingen- ( ously term “the iestoration of the Qaeen.” That phrase is a grossly exaggerated representations of fntnre conditions. If tbe Queen sball return to Her plaee, it will be merely as an

incident of the restoration of the constitution. and a return to eonstitutional government, —<.>f an escape from the humiliation, ignomiuv and peril of government by a gang of polilieal pretenders and raountebauks, thrust upon us by American bayonets aud gatlings, at the iii'ianoe of the hoarv Pharisee from Maine. The Sovereign of Hawaii iaccorded no real powei bv our coustitutiou. She may reign. bnt not rule. There eoukl be no raore pointed illnstration of this truth than the dat failnre of the most illadvised atteinpt of the Queen to raodify existing forms. by the substitution of a new constitntion for the oxistiug one. on Jannary 14th last. In that instance, consent to the scheme of revolntion was withheld by the Cabinet. the real depositaries of the political power, henee the failure of the project. For' that act of aggression the Qneen has few apologists. and deserves none, —but we protest agaiust the visitation upon the Hawaiian people at large of the wrath whieh is. perhaps justly felt becanse of tlie Qneen’s unanthorized attempt at the subversion of the constitntion. The most that ean be nrged against the so called “restoration of the Queen” is. that it will implv a relapse into the long discarded rut of irresponsible rnle. But even that argument is characteristicallv pharisaical on the part of the group of shady scheraers who advance it; for a ten months’ expoiienee cf their chosen and saintly forms of alleged govern ment raost adeqnatelv proves that nothiug less “responsible” in character eonhl. by any sane man, be expected even from eomlitions, thepreventinn of whieh they urge is au excnse for their existenee. If the phenominalh* good and pnre and patriotic gentlemen who are so soricitions for onr salvation from ‘ irresponsible rule” wonhl but pnt their theory into practice for an hour, the end of that hour wouhl fiud our hallowed P. G. restored into its original elements. But no one who knows them ever suspected the “partv of high pretensions,” who are now, by the grace of Hawaiian patience, superadded to international ontrage, bolding down the oiHeial salaries, of nieaning anvthing they say in the liue of pure and popular governraent. M hen they tbought the Monarchv was dead, o • they ransacked the dietionaries for terras of opproprium -nd insnlt to bnrl attbeQueen, froro their snpposed iinpregnable p >s:tion of safetv behind okl Stevens skirts But now, that they are forced, by the grim -logic of events. to acknowledge the probabi!itv of Her Maj< stv ’s return to Her plaee at the head of the government, they are alreadv intrigoing for Her panlon and Her favor, and sending emissaries to arrange a “eompromise” witb leading loyalists. by whieh the latter shall consent to waive all cluims to political preferment, and agree tbat the traitors shall continne to admiaister atfairs after they bave tnrned np smiliug as Her Majesty’s most liege and dutiful subjects. |It’g all one to them what form of government we have, so long as tbey—God’s chosen one —shall be permitted

to hamlle the >poi!s. aml pooket the hooille. Their patron >aint opeuly annoanoe«i, in a polUioal meeiinp. s».'arcely more tban a vear*aiT'>. hi> reailine<- to >trike bamis with the detil. in onier t0 accompIish his en<is Like saint iike worshippers. ami the entire guild are to-day in the same frame of mimi. nor have they ever been in any other. Ho«r oheerfully they erabrace Mr. Thun>ton’s Silent Partner as a helpmeet iu their extremity has been frequently demonstrated, ami is in constant proce-s of demonstration. The i-sue oannot as some of tlx? P. ti- sages suppose, be eithor hidden or obsoured, by a change of tactics or of name on their part. A restoratiou of the constitution is certain, and the Queen, as an incident of snch restoration. will be replaceil upon the throne. Tf this be not performcd by the l nited St:ites, —tbe power by whieli tlie eonstitution was suspend d.—theu if that great nation shall ignore its manifest dut\ in the premises, —even then. in the lauguage of GIadstoue, “the 'resoorces of civilization aro not exhausted.’ A chango of uame by the P. G. will be merely a following of the eiample set bv the sapient ostrich whieh, having bnried its head iu the sand, left other, and more valuable portions of its anatomy eonspicnously exposed. To change from ihe P. G. to the Hawaiian Commonwealth, or tlie Hawaiian Ilepnhlio. might involve some expense for printing, but couid scarcely be oxpected to produce anv more serious results. orbriug to the administrAtion any of the virtues it now so conspicnonslv lacks. A sknuk, by auy other name, wouhl sraell as sweet.