488-489
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in his own district. If a difficulty arise between a land agent and a tenant the tax officer shall investigate it, and if the tenant is in fault the tax officer and land agent shall execute the law upon him; but if the land agent is in fault in the judgment of the tax officer the latter shall call the other tax officers of the island, and, if they agree with him, judgment against the land agent is confirmed, and the governor shall execute the law on him; but if any believe the tax officer to have erred the governor may be apprised and try the case over again, and if he is believed to have erred the case may be made known to the supreme judges, and they shall try the case anew.
"OF THE JUDGES.
"The governor of each island shall choose judges for the island according to his own mind, two or more, at his own discretion, and give them a written commission. When they receive this they shall not be removed without trial, but the law may limit their term of office.
"In this manner shall they proceed: The court days shall be declared beforehand, and when the appointed day arrives they shall proceed with trials according to law. To them shall be given jurisdiction in respect to all the laws except those connected with taxation, and to the difficulties between land agents, landlords, and tenants. The governor shall sustain them and execute their judgment. But if their judgment is thought to be unjust he who thinks so may complain or appeal to the supreme judges.
"OF THE SUPREME JUDGES.
"The elected representatives shall choose four judges to assist the King and premier, and these six shall be the supreme judges of the Kingdom. This shall be their business: Cases of difficulty not well adjusted by the tax officers or island judges they shall try again according to law; the court days shall be declared beforehand, that those who are in difficulty may apply, and the decision of this court shall stand. There is thereafter no appeal. Life and death, to bind and release, to fine and not to fine, are at their disposal, and with them the end of controversy.
"OF CHANGES IN THE CONSTITUTION.
"This constitution shall not be considered as fully established until the people generally shall have heard it, and certain persons as herein mentioned shall be chosen and shall assent to it, then firmly established is this constitution.
"And thereafter, if it be designed to alter it, the people shall be first apprised of the nature of the amendment intended to be introduced, and the next year, at the meeting of the nobles and representatives, if they agree to insert a passage or to annul a passage, they may do it lawfully.
"This constitution, above stated, has been agreed to by the nobles, and our names are set to it this eighth day of October, in the year of our Lord 1840, at Honolulu, Oahu.
(Signed),
"Kamehameha III,
"Kekauluohi."
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"The house of nobles, or hereditary lords and ladies, consisted of the King himself, a female premier, four governors of islands, four women of rank, and five chiefs of the third rank. The people were allowed to choose by districts annually seven men to be members of the national Legislature for a year: two from Hawaii, two from Maui and adjacent islands, two from Oahu, and one from Kauai, the Government bearing their expenses. The proposition was also distinctly made to increase the number after a time. The right of suffrage, so far as to vote for one or two men to act in making laws and appointing supreme assistant judges, was extended to all, but guarded with peculiar care."
XIV. Also the following from the remarks of mr. draper, of massachusetts, made in the house of representatives, and published in the congressional record of february 4, 1894.
I believe that the true policy of this Government is to negotiate a suitable treaty with the de facto Government in Hawaii, and annex the islands.
After this (or before if necessary), if Liliuokalani is supposed to have any rights, purchase them (since she is willing to sell), but on no account ought we to neglect this opportunity of securing this naval and coaling station, so important to us, both from the point of view of commerce and of coast defense.
I will first point out briefly its advantages to us from a commercial point of view. Situated at the intersection of the trade route between North America and Australasia, with the rich commercial stream which will flow between the China Seas and the Atlantic as soon as the Isthmus canal (whether it be through Nicaragua or Panama) is opened, the position of Hawaii is ideal for controlling both lines of commerce; and, for a nation which expects to maintain trade routes in the Paciiic, its possession is a necessity.
All the great commercial powers recognize the fact that our trade must be guarded; that convenient stations, as near as possible to the well-defined trade routes, must be established; and that supplies and facilities for refitting may be available at distances not too widely separated.
Until 1886 Hawaii was nearer to the territory of the United States than to that of any other power, the distance to San Francisco being but 2,100 miles, while the British fortified port of Victoria, with its neighboring dockyard of Esquimault, and coal mines of Nanaimo, was 2,300 miles distant. The next nearest British port was Leonka, in the Fiji group, 2,700 miles distant in an opposite direction.
French territory was 2,380 miles distant at Tahiti; Germany held the Admiralty Islands, distant 3,400 miles; and Spain the Caroline Islands, 2,000 miles distant, and the Ladrones, about 2,900 miles distant.
Since that time Germany has moved up to a distance of 2,098 miles, by annexing the Marshall Islands and placing herself in a flanking position on both the South Pacific and transpacific trade routes. France, by the acquisition of the Low Archipelago and the Marquesas Islands, is 2,050 miles distant from Hawaii, on the South Pacific route. Great Britain has advanced from Fiji toward the intersecting point on clearly defined lines, annexing group after group and detached islands when they were on the line of approach, even though uninhabited or without harbors and of no commercial value, until in 1891 her flag was
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