[Correspondence of the Pac. Com. Advertiser]
Source: Pacific Commercial Advertiser. Honolulu: May 9, 1861.
MY DEAR COMMERICAL:- The present unhappy and critical condition of affairs in our American Republic, (no longer alas! the united States,) is the all absorbing topic of interest on the side of the Atlantic, and is watched with intense anxiety by the nations of Europe. England, and to some extent France, are too intimately connected with us by commercial ties, and too dependent upon the Cotton States for the supply of the great staple of their manufactories, to view with indifference the revolutionary movement now in progress in that section. And the crumbling despotisms of the Old World, whose greatest stumbling block is been the hitherto wonderfully prosperity of our country under democratic institutions, take fresh courage as they see this mighty fabric suddenly, and without apparent cause, tottering to its base, while the struggling and oppressed nationalities of Europe, to whom our progress and example has been shining beacon of hope, are startled and dismayed at the impending disintegration of the Great Republic.
Since my last waif, President Lincoln has been inaugurated, and the new Administration has come into office, I cannot say power, for of that very desirable quality in a Government, it has as yet but the semblance. Seven powerful States, in the excitement caused by the election Of Lincoln, and under the management of skillful and desperate leaders, have thrown off their allegiance to the Federal Government, and in hot haste, have formed a new Confederacy, the corner stone of which is the institution of negro slavery. A Provisional Government has been formed, an army raised, a Constitution adopted, the forts, arsenals, navy yards, mint, and other Federal property within their limits seized, (with a few exceptions,) and a menacing attitude assumed towards the North, while every effort is being made to induce the Border States to join them in their rebellion.
This formidable movement, it is now admitted by its leaders, has been contemplated for many years, and the election of Lincoln was seized upon as a pretext for precipitating a step for which the political Southern leaders have been long of preparing. The Border States as yet, have declined to join the “Cotton Confederacy,” but they are wavering, and demanding of the North concessions to the slave interest which will hardly be granted, as the condition of the remaining in the Union. The new President, sworn to uphold the Constitution and execute the Laws in all the States of the Union, finds his authority set at defiance in the seceding States, and is without the necessary force to assert it.
Already his Cabinet, composed of the most able statesman of the Republican party, is divided as to the policy to be pursued towards the rebellious States, and the disruption of the party itself on this great question seems inevitable. This, however, is a minor matter compared to the graver results which must follow the adoption of either policy. It is a question of peace or war; and if the latter, one of unparalleled horrors. The ultra Republicans advocate an uncompromising coercive policy, the retaking of the forts and other Federal property now in the hands of the seceders, and the collection of the revenue in their ports. They hold that the Government should not yield an iota of its authority to the rebels with arms in their hands, and that the revolutionists should be compelled to yield up the Federal property seized by them, and in every respect acknowledge the Federal authority, before their desire to leave the Confederacy should be listened to. This course would undoubtedly be followed if the rebellion was confined to one or two States, and no doubt existed of the power of the Government to enforce its demands. But in the present case, such a policy is out of the question. The Border States distinctly declare that if coercive measures are taken, they will make common cause with the Cotton States, while the President this without the sinews of war to act efficiently, having neither the force nor the means at his command. He cannot even collect the revenue from on board vessels of war stationed off the harbors without special authority of Congress, which is not now in session. The moderate wing of the party, of which the President and his able Secretary of State, Mr. Seward, are the leaders, are in favor of conciliatory measures and the avoidance of a collision, even at the sacrifice of national pride and dignity. By this policy of masterly inactivity, they hope to secure the Border States, unite the North in support of the Administration, and create a strong Union party in the South, which, in view of the heavy taxes which the support of a separate government will necessarily entail, and the evident groundlessness of their fears respecting the designs of the Republican party, will organize, and demand the restoration of the Federal Authority. On the contrary, should the sober second thought of the people of the Cotton States sustain their present action and attitude, then Congress will doubtless call a Convention for the purpose of enabling the Slave States constitutionally to withdraw from the Union so that whether this great Republic shall be permanently severed, or re-united, the public peace may be preserved, and the horrors of a civil and servile war be avoided. Even then the result would be sufficiently deplorable, and the prospect of a continued peace between the two rival Republics extremely dubious. The new Confederacy, unblushingly avowing as its foundation a system against which the advancing civilization of the whole world is arrayed, will it once endeavor to extend its possessions and bring under its baleful rule the weaker States of Mexico and Central America, and the North will surely join with England and France to prevent the consummation of the unjust scheme. Constant collisions will arise along the border, which will be infested by smugglers, slave-stealers and brigands, and it is not probable that piece could be long maintained. It is to be hoped that the Southern people may realize this, and throwing off the iron rule of their present selfish and despotic leaders, may demand from the Federal Government that protection which it is duty to extend over them, and that the close of Lincoln’s administration may again find the States united and prosperous. This “consummation so devoutly to be wished,” will be resisted to the end by the unscrupulous leaders in the present revolution, whose hands will be strengthened by the army and naval officers who have resigned their commissions or violated their oaths to serve the Federal Government, and are now in the service of the service of the South. Still we cannot yet despair of the Republic. We shall soon know what is to be its fate. That the new Confederacy, concerning which Stevens, its Vice-President, says, “It's foundations are laid,
its corner-stone rests upon the great truth that slavery -subordination to the superior race -is the natural and normal condition of the negro” -that a government founded upon that such a principal can ever maintain a position among the civilized nations of the earth, we cannot for a moment believe. The following quotation from the London News gives, I think, the correct idea of the sentiment which, in spite of the power of King Cotton, will be universally felt by European Powers towards the new confederacy; “They, the Cotton States, have, as far as their acts are worth anything, voluntarily cut themselves off from the only connection with which gave them political dignity or credit. As long as they were confounded in the grand total of American Nationality, they shared the high and noble place which its vigor, freedom, and enlightenment secured it in the regard of the world. All this the South has lost. It has not only isolated itself, but in the madness of fanaticism, has found its constitution on that very social feature which is the most odious in the eyes of the civilized world. It has abused the name of the Republic, and from being part of a glorious nation, has become a joint stock corporation from holding and extending the enslavement of their fellow men.”
“Nero fiddled while Rome was burning,” and despite the storm which is raging around the devoted Republic and threatening it speedy ruin, the badgered President and his cabinet are besieged by the horde of hungry applicants for the official loaves and fishes which the new administration has it in its power to distribute. The unsolved appointment of Charles Francis Adams as minister to England gives general satisfaction to all parties. His grandfather, the immortal John Adams, was our first ambassador to that Court and the second President of United States. His father, John Quincy Adams, the “old man eloquent ,”was also Ambassador and President and the son bids fair to maintain the renown of his family of true patriots. Mr. T.J. Dryer, editor of the Oregonian, has been confirmed after much opposition as Commissioner to the Hawaiian Islands. Mr. Bunker, formerly U.S. Consul to Lahaina, was a prominent candidate for that post. The two principal candidates for the Honolulu Consulship are Mr. J. A. Dix, one of the editors of the Boston Journal, and Mr. Elias Perkins, formerly resident of Honolulu. Mr. Dix’s chances are considered the best, though Mr. Perkins brings a strong New York influence to bear upon Mr. Seward. Either of these candidates will worthily fill the office.
Favored denizens of Hawaii, as you cannot envy us our present political status, neither can you sigh for our most undelectable New England the climate. The first month of “ethereal mildness” has nearly passed, but winter yet “lingers in the lap of spring,” with a vengeance, after having once fairly taken his leave. On the second day of this deceitful month, the thermometer on the North side of my house stood at 76° in the shade. The snow had disappeared, and the snow drop and crocus were in bloom. In 48 hours later, the same thermometer indicated 4° below zero! Since then it has been 20° below zero, and we have had the three severest snow storms of the season, the last having drifted 20 feet high! In some of which your humble correspondent has three times been upset in his sleigh. And while I write, my little nephew, (sole scion of a late respected resident of Honolulu,) and a native graduate of Mr. Ingaham’s Honolulu Free School, yclept John Stupplebeen, are busily snowballing each other under my window to the music of the robins and blue birds and other spring warblers, which having been humbugged into coming north too soon, are “whistling to keep their courage up” till the “better time coming” makes its appearance. But in my letter is already too long, and I close. Aloha.
MAIKELA
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