Waifs from the Bay State: February 1, 1861

Source: Pacific Commercial Advertiser. Honolulu: Thursday, April 11, 1861.

MY DEAR COMMERCIAL: 

The dark cloud in the political sky of this hitherto favored nation, which but so lately arose “no bigger than a man's hand,” now overshadows the whole horizon, and from out its lowering blackness sharp flashes are seen, all the muttering thunder as yet indistinct and distant,  gives gloomy passage of the fearful storm about to burst upon our devoted country.  

Hardly a hope remains that the impending danger would be averted. State after state has been swept by this mad whirlwind of secession from the Confederacy, and though in all of them perhaps, except South Carolina, there may be a majority in favor of the Union, yet, such is the violence of the secession excitement, that the conservative portion of the community, not knowing their strength, have to bend to the blast, or be carried along with the mob. It is as dangerous for one in the seceding States, to avow himself opposed to the movement, and an adherent of the Federal Union, as it was during the election to avow himself an abolitionist. Many whose sympathies are all with the North, are compelled by their peculiar position to act with the secessionists. A friend of mine, who has been domiciled at the South for some 20 years, has belonged to a military company of the State of Alabama; and though a strong Union man in his feelings, was obliged to march with his company against the Navy Yard at Pensacola, commanded by Commodore Armstrong, an old acquaintance and former townsmen who surrendered to the overwhelming force. Doubtless many who are compelled to take part in these violent proceeding are similarly placed. The great question now is, whether the Border States will join the Cotton Confederacy, or remain in the Union. The Crittenden plan, erroneously called Compromise, which is offered by the Border States to the North, as the only basis of settlement acceptable to the South,  not only yields the whole question at issue, but is more pro-slavery then the platform of the ultra proslavery party of the last presidential contest. This proposition but only yields to Slavery all the territory in United States where Slavery can be made profitable,  but also stipulates that it shall be allowed and protected in all Southern territory hereafter to be acquired.  Even if the acquisition of more territory was the avowed policy of the United States, the injustice of fastening upon that the inhabitants of such territory the curse of slavery, without allowing them a voice in the matter, is too obvious to require argument. One of the grievances of Texas is which led her to throw off the Mexican rule was the prohibition by Mexico of Slavery. And yet the North are asked to consent in advance that Slavery, shall be legalized and fostered in any portion of that dismembered country which by filibustering or conquest or negotiation maybe acquired by the United States.

The Slave States are unyielding in their demands that Slavery shall not only be forever permitted where it is now, but that it shall by extension be enabled to increase its area and political power, 
so as to keep pace with the growth of the Free States. The Constitution is not sufficient for their protection now, and must be amended so as directly to recognize the right of property in man which its noble framers, though themselves slaveholders, were unwilling to do .The Free States are called upon to prevent the dissolution of the Union and the probable horrors of civil war, by an abandonment of their most cherished principles, and what they deem the common rights of man. It is a fearful alternative and let the result be what it may, the sacrifice will be terrible. On the one side are arrayed Peace, Prosperity, Patriotism, and Public Policy; on the other side, Principle. The odds are tremendous. The prominent actors in the Secession movement are violently opposed to any compromise or to any conciliation. They are determined to form a Southern Confederacy and knowing how dependent England and the North are upon their cotton, they have exaggerated the ideas of their power. Intoxicated by visions of future greatness and territorial aggrandizement by conquest of Mexico, Cuba etc., they spurned the idea of returning to their allegiance to the Federal Government and being subjected to the policy of the madsills of the North. But the moderate and Union men, of whom the number is not small even in the Cotton States and the large majority in the Border States are making eloquent and forcible appeals to the North, to save the country from dismemberment and from the most awful Civil War that ever raged. Mr. Seward, the leader of the party that elected Lincoln, and Mr. Adams, son of the “old man eloquent,” now a member of the House, have met these appeal in a magnanimous spirit, and showing a determination to abandon old party spirit, and go to the very extreme of concession to save the country and there is no doubt but that the North will sustain them by an overwhelming majority though the extreme anti-slavery party, like the secessionists of the South, are opposed to all compromise. But if the Slave States demand more than they have offered, and insist upon the cleaning everything and yielding nothing, I see no alternative but separation and civil war, for I fear that Webster will be proved a true prophet that "there can be no such thing as peaceable secession.” The South are contending for a system which the whole civilized world has deliberately condemned, and it can hardly be that in this enlightened age such a step backward can succeed. A few days will decide the fate of our country; but even though this glorious Republic should fall under the assaults of the Slave Power the experiment of self-government will not thereby, as has been falsely asserted, to prove a failure. The destruction of the most noble system of government the world has ever known will because not by any inherent defect in itself, but by the machinations of the only section of our country where the democratic principle has never been allowed to prevail. The London News, speaking of this change, says:

America is a signal illustration of the worth of representative government. The people of England neither believe nor wish to believe in the ruin of the great Commonwealth of their kindred beyond the ocean; but whatever perils be in store for it, arising out of the schism of the Southern States, they will know that these perils originate, not from the application or mis-application of the democratic principles in South Carolina, Georgia, or Virginia but conspicuously and only from its absence in those states. The Southern States are not and never were democracies in any sense of the word. The simple truth is and it cannot be too often reported that Virginia, Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana, and Florida, were each and all expressly founded with oligarchic care and oligarchic aim upon an oligarchic model. All power and privilege was concentrated in the planter caste; and a servile multitude was provided by regal and aristocratic policy, by whose unrequited for the governing few were to subsist. 

We grieve to be obligated to say that in our estimate of the possible future of America we see calls for the deepest anxiety as to the fate of civilization, social, and political, in the devoted regions whose fanatic oligarchies are striving to sever them from the wise and enlightened rule founded by Adams, Franklin, Hamilton, Jefferson, and Jay. For the destiny of the free North with its intelligence and industry, its wealth and invention, its love of equal liberty, and it's a love of equal law, there is no cause for fear. Inferiority of soil, seaboard and streams, of mineral wealth, and of mountain pasture, of sweep and domain, and enjoyable climate- the vigorous, fearless, self-reliant North can afford, with a laugh, to admit it all, and yet feel how consequently stronger and richer, nobler and happier is its place among the nations. If a permanent severance there must be, the world will soon comprehend the difference between a complete nature of educated, free, and self-dependent citizens, and a community of indolent and insolent proprietors of land living in hourly dread of a herd of slaves. 

I have filled my letter with the all absorbing subject of the American political crisis. But as it is a question in which the whole civilized world is just now deeply interested, I make no apology. Among the candidates for the commissionership to the Islands, Mr. Bunker formerly consul at Lahaina, seems prominent. It is too soon however, to predict who will be the successful applicant, and it is very likely that foreign appointments may be delayed by pressing emergency of home matters which will engross the attention of the incoming administration. 

MAIKELA. 

Poem: Jonathan and His Sons (1861)

Source: Pacific Commercial Advertiser. Honolulu: June 20, 1861.

Jonathan and his Sons: A BALLAD FOR THE TIMES (June, 1861)

For the Commercial Advertiser.

When Jonathan was a grown man,
He swore, as well he might, Sirs, 
That, rather than be ruled by 
Old Britain, he would fight, Sirs,
And, though a rebel son he was, 
Young Jonathan was right, Sirs. 

CHORUS.
Jonathan a rebel was,
Jonathan when young, Sirs, 
Every Tory in the land 
Vowed he would be hung, Sirs,
Yet Jonathan the battle won, 
For all they said and sung, Sirs.

But Jonathan, now older grown, 
Is not the man of yore, Sirs, 
His great success, prosperity, 
His pride and love of power, Sirs, 
Have turned him from his principles:- 
He's Tory to the core! Sirs.

Jonathan a rebel was, &c. 

The declaration which he made 
About the rights of man, Sirs,
Went first against his mother he 
Upraised an armed hand Sirs,
He, now, ingloriously ignores,
Or will not understand, Sirs.

Jonathan a rebel was, &c.

And when, of late, his rebel Sons, 
True offspring of their Sire, Sirs 
Avowed their independency, 
High rose is tory ire, Sirs,
He would baptize them all in blood, 
And scourge with sword and fire, Sirs.

Jonathan a rebel was, &c.

And, in his pride of power and place 
He maketh an oration 
About his high authority,
Their proper rank and station; 
How he had made himself and them
A great and mighty nation.

Jonathan a rebel was, &c.

The duty of obedience;
His law -the constitution;
The right of Government to keep 
Its parts from dissolution.
His rebel sons made answer in 
“The right of revolution!”

Jonathan a rebel was, &c.

“Traitors!” he said, “you have no cause 
To justify your claim, Sirs,- 
I am the judge, not you. Disperse! 
Go home and hide your shame, Sirs,
And know, that should we come to blows, 
With you must lie the blame, Sirs.”

Jonathan a rebel was, &c.

“With us and our posterity 
That judgment rests. And you, Sir,
In seventeen hundred seventy-six,
Past seventy years ago, sir,
Was then the judge, in your own case,
As will the records show, Sir.”

Jonathan a rebel was, &c.

We have in justice suffered much, 
Else, would the sword we draw? Sir, 
“To suffer what is sufferable
Mankind are apt,” your saw, Sir.
Our brothers, those adverse to us, 
Have made there will your law, Sir.”

Jonathan a rebel was, &c.

“And at their will-which is the law,
And by your own command, Sir,
We have been driven from the new,
Uncultivated land, Sir,
And, when we ask you for our right,
You smite us with the hand, Sir.”

Jonathan a rebel was, &c.

“These brothers -brother but in blood, 
No more -have to a man, Sir,
departed from those principles 
___________________________, Sirs,
For in their negro-longing, now 
They rob us when they can, Sir.”

Jonathan a rebel was, &c.

“But why enumerate the wrongs 
That we have suffered sore? Sir-
A numerous catalogue -which you 
Have heard and known before, Sir.
Enough? The world shall judge us when 
A few years have passed o’er, Sir.”

Jonathan a rebel was, &c.

“We long have a sought redress in form 
Prescribed:  -but vain each word, Sir! 
Tis not our purpose here. We now 
Demand, with one accord, Sir, 
Your free acknowledgment of this 
On which we draw the sword, Sir.”

Jonathan a rebel was, &c.

“We claim what you have cleaned before, 
What you yourself have done, Sir -
The right to form new government! 
We abrogate your own, Sir ,”
Thus, to the rebel father, spake 
Each goodly rebel son, Sir.

Jonathan a rebel was, &c.

Then Jonathan was wroth indeed; 
And swore in terms of uncivil,
Regardless of the consequence 
Of words and deeds of evil, 
That, “by the great Eternal,” he 
Would hang each rebel devil.

Jonathan a rebel was, &c.

“Charge me and my most loyal sons 
With theft and breach of faith, Sirs.
Look to yourselves and your own acts!” 
He answered, high in wrath, Sirs, 
“My castles in the gulf! my chests! 
My money bags! who hath? Sirs.”

Jonathan a rebel was, &c.

“Of wrong and grievances to talk 
Unwisely you made bold, Sirs, 
Go, wash your rebel hands! which these, 
My castles, and my gold, Sirs, 
Feloniously have seized upon, 
Feloniously withhold, Sirs.”

Jonathan a rebel was, &c.

Then, thus his rebel Sons: “The first 
Great law of life commands, Sir, 
Self-preservation, and all acts
Necessity demands, Sir, 
For our defense. We took the means 
That fortune placed at hand, Sir.

Jonathan a rebel was, &c.

“The castles we intend to keep 
And hold, now and forever, 
They are invaluable to us; 
To you not worth a feather: 
They must of right become our own, 
To be surrendered never.”

Jonathan a rebel was, &c.

“And, when you deign to treat with us, 
On settlement, we will, Sir,
Allow you, what is fair and just, 
Nor cavil at your bill, Sir:
The money that we hold of yours 
Your purse again shall fill, Sir.

Jonathan a rebel was, &c.

But loss of property!- that thought, 
Proclivities of age, Sirs. 
Had maddened and all the Old Man’s heart; 
And, rising in his rage, Sirs, 
“To arms! to arms!” he cried,  “-my boys, 
These rebel dogs engage, Sir.”

Jonathan a rebel was, &c.

“They think me weak, the fools! Their skulls 
My strength shall know and feel, Sirs, 
Bring me my arms! and cloth my limbs 
In panoply of steel! Sirs, 
Then let us forth! the castles storm! 
We take them well! wo or weal, Sirs.

Jonathan a rebel was, &c.

O would “the powers that be” but turn,
And do what duty tells, Sirs,
Then might we, brothers, part in peace, 
Apart, in peace might dwell, Sirs. 
‘Gainst wars that cannot come to good 
HUMANITY rebels, Sirs

Honolulu, June, 1861                     W.S. HUGHSON.

Late News from America. (February 1, 1862)

Source: The Friend. Honolulu: February 1, 1862. 

A few months ago, the true American, abroad in a foreign land, felt no pleasure in hearing from home. The citadel of Liberty had been attacked. Traitors were among the officers of the President's Cabinet. Spies gloried in their infamous trade. The Army, small and scattered, was demoralized. The Navy could not be trusted. It really seemed as if I-cha-bod —the glory is departed—was to be written beneath every inscription to which " U.S." was attached. Then came the astounding news of the defeat at Bull's Run, where, it appears, both Secesh and Yankee ran, but the Yankee outran his southern opponent, and carried off the palm of a defeat. The tables have turned. 

The American abroad now holds up his head. He has a country. He is not ashamed to acknowledge himself American. The late mails brought intelligence that cheers and animates the patriot's heart. The President's message is hopeful and sound. The Cabinet is united. Congress is alive. Senators and Representatives speak like men who had a work to do, and would do it. The Army and Navy are strong, and growing stronger. The Hatteras affair is eclipsed by the Beaufort victory, still more brilliant and glorious. The capture of Mason and Slidell capped the climax, and makes a good theme for newspaper talk. 

It was to be expected that the government and people of England would remonstrate loudly, if they did nothing more ; but, after all, there is net an Englishman, at home or abroad, who will not say that Wilkes did a brave deed, and showed what they call " pluck." No impartial person will or can say that he intended any insult to the English Flag, but he saw the game, and, as the sportsman says, " bagg'd it." 

Two more mischief-making rebels could not have been seized in all secessiondom. They were dyed in the wool. Neither Jeff. Davis or any other rebel is their superior. We may hereafter hear of the Northern forces meeting with an occasional repulse, but the backbone of the rebellion is cracked, if not broken! When this rebellion is once put down, another like it will never occur.

'War Inevitable' (1861)

Source: The Polynesian. Honolulu: Thursday, June 6, 1861

All eyes still turn with increasing anxiety towards America, and each arrival, pointing as it does to a portentous future, betokening a bloody and terrible struggle of some kind, only whets the appetite for further news from the scene of approaching conflict. The advices brought by the Asterion on the 2d instant, published on our next page, are only three days later, and consequently throw but little additional information on the state of affairs at the South. One thing only seem certain -war is inevitable. The telegraphs South of Washington are all cutoff, so that very little authentic news is being published from thence, except such as is brought by circuitous conveyances. The policy of the Southern Government is inevitably to keep its military plans as concealed as possible from the federal government, hoping thereby to gain some advantages in any movements which it may make.

There can be no doubt that before the 1st July there will be at least 250,000 soldiers under arms in the service of the General Government, or subject to its call at a moment’s notice. This large force, or so much of it as may be required, will be employed in various parts of the border, mainly to act as a guard for defense, in case of attack from any quarter. The New York Herald gives the following programme of what the government will do which appears very plausible, though the number required to effectively blockade all the Southern ports will be much larger than that designated:

First-A corps d’armie of 35,000 men will be collected in and about Washington for the purpose of defending the seat of Government, protecting the military posts, controlling the Potomac and Chesapeake Bay, and keeping open the communication between the North and the Capital. Washington will serve for its point d’ appui, while its line of operation will extend along the left bank of the right shore of the bay. 

Second-A second corps, 25,000 strong, will be formed in and around St. Louis. A portion of it will be employed in protecting the Union men and Federal property in that state from the violence of secession sympathizers, and the rest in holding Cairo, and the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi, the most important strategical point in the West.

Third-Of the remaining 40,000-5000 are expected to be thrown into Western Texas, to form a nucleus around which the Unionists of that State will gather.

Fourth-25,000 will be employed in a demonstration for the relief of Fort Pickens and the recapture of the other fortifications around Pensacola bay.

Fifth-10,000 men will be kept hovering in steam transports between Charleston and Savannah, to worry the rebels by necessitating the presence of a large defensive force in both places, and effect a landing wherever opportunity shall offer.

The army operations will be seconded by a strict blockade of the mouths of the Mississippi and all the Southern Ports. Orders for a general blockade have not as reported already, been issued but will doubtlessly be given as soon as the steam-frigates now fitting out will be ready for sea. 

This programme reflects exactly what the Government has decided to do, but will of course be materially changed in case Virginia and the other Border Slave States should secede. Washington, however, will be defended, and Fort Pickens relieved at any cost of blood and treasure.

We cannot better fill our columns to-day than by inserting another of the admirable letters of Mr. J.W. Simonson to the Bulletin, written from Washington, which gives probably a better insight into the relative position of the two sections of the country, which are soon to be engaged in war. The writers sympathies are, of course, altogether with the North and do allowance should be made for that circumstance; but many facts are given which will be read with interest, and which are necessary to a correct understanding of the claims and position of the North and South: 

THE CIVIL WAR-NORTH AND SOUTH CONTRASTED.
-I shall be expected to say something in respect to the probable issue of the Civil War if it must come let me say at the beginning that it cannot and will not be a war for “the subjugation of the South,” but in defense of the government and to prevent it subjugation by the South. It is the seceding States who rebel and who seek to overturn. The Government, which consequently must always have the advantage that belongs to him who stands on the defense only. Government does not propose “invasion of the South,” only to retake its own property where ever it can, and to execute such of the laws of United States now as will make it a necessity of existence that the remainder shall be voluntarily obeyed by the rebels by and by. Thus, for instance, they will blockade ports of the Seceding States in order to prevent smuggling and execute the revenue laws. Similar guards against smuggling will be instituted  on the inland border in the waters traversing the loyal and disloyal states. These things done and supplies caught off from the Seceding States, the latter must either return their allegiance, retire from their assault upon their assault upon the Constitution, or make offensive, and invasive war against the Government. To do this, they will need twice the force which the Government will need for successful defense. The call of the Government for 75,000 men, has already brought forth proffers of at least 300,000 and if they are needed, the state of the North alone can furnish and keep in the field half 1 million of men. Jefferson, after four months of recruiting, has an army of 25,000 men. True, the telegraph tells us that he will call for 150,000 more. This is simply a desperate brag and it betrays only is insanity or insincerity. Nothing can be better settled than that the Confederate States are wholly unable to raise any such force as thus proposed. Their utmost possible force of citizens able to bear arms, even for defense at home ,is 300,000 -or one-eighth their entire white population -and more than half of these must be kept at other pursuits of life, to say nothing of the force necessary to keep the slave population in subjection. As to arming, clothing, and feeding any such force as 175,000 men the proposition is simply absurd. Each soldier and campaign costs not less than $600 per annum to the government employing him, which, multiplied by 175,000 gives an aggregate costs of $105 million annually for this simple item! The Confederate States have not been able to raise $15,000,000, even on forced loans, and moneyed men will not and cannot, be expected willingly to contribute their funds to the creation of the state of anarchy which destroys all property values and makes the rich man poorer than the poor. 

On the other hand let me quote the late secession organ, the N.Y. Herald, upon the strength of the North, as that authority, speaking against its own inclinations must be admitted to tell no more than the truth. It says:

The Northern and Western States have an enrolled militia of nearly two and a half millions of men, most of whom are trained to the use of firearms ,and can make a pretty good shot, and many of them are regularly drilled and disciplined in organized companies. These States have also abundance of munitions of war and money enough at command to sustain a large force in the field. There exists, moreover, a perfect unanimity of feeling to make all these resources available to the surface of the Government. It is true that half the men who are now hurrying on to Washington do not care who is President; many of them may be opposed to Mr. Lincoln and his party; but they do care for the integrity of life the permanency of the republic and in the sentimental all party predilections prejudices are now submerged. 

The North and the South are equal in courage. If either has superior endurance and coolness it is the North who is climate makes the blood runs slower, but the pulses in whose patriotic bosoms we all the more fiercely and persistently when once aroused. The lion which will longest bear shaking by the mane is most terrible when at last excited beyond endurance -and so it will be, as someone has expressed it, when the people of the East go in to battle “singing psalms” while dealing death. These are no words of menace. God save me in this unhappy hour of our country, from any any disposition to do injustice, or to offer taunt to the people of any section. The issues of war now-a-days are accurately measured by the amount of money which belligerents can respectively command. Cash is equivalent to miracle numerical superiority in men and all else that makes an army terrible and invincible, for it supplies subsistence, munitions, perfection of engines of human destruction, and means of rapid transportation. The combatant who excels in the means of war and has equal skill and wielding them must win in the end. This premise is universally admitted, and it relieves us at once of all doubt as to the issue of the impending contest. Concede, as we do, in the Seceding States, personal courage to the equal to that of the loyal States, and the former are still left in a hopeless inferiority and all other respects. The Confederate States contain a white population of 2,500,000 or about one-eighth the population of the Northern States. The latter can, if necessary, bring a force eight times greater into the field. All the Slave States together have a white population of only 8,000,000 against 19,000,000 in the North. Measured by numbers, the North's twice and a half as powerful, assuming all the Southern States to be a unit in sentiment and purpose. But this is impossible. Missouri in no contingency will join the Gulf Confederacy, neither will Delaware or Maryland or Western Virginia or Eastern Kentucky, nor Tennessee. In case of hostilities the proper surveillance over the negro would compel at least one half of the white males to remain at home as a local police, increasing the disparity to such a degree is to render it the height of foolhardiness for the South to venture upon the contest. They cannot be expected to overcome impossibilities, and they have no grievance calling for exhibitions of the stoicism which leads men sometimes to seek death rather than yield to the force of surrounding circumstances. 

They have no munitions of war except their small arms and a few cannon; nor have they a single manufactory of arms or a powder mill in all the Seceded States. They cannot arm themselves efficiently, therefore, however brave, especially when the Federal Government commands the sea and blockades all their ports. Neither do they manufacture a yard of cloth suitable for soldiers clothing, or raise a pound of food for their rations. They must be supplied with these from the North, if at all; and the granaries of the Northwest, which are ready to pour forth their treasures like water to feed our Southern brethren, free of cost if they need it, are our friends, will be sealed to them by war as closely as a vice. Even for its own safety from starvation, the Cotton States must this year devote all their slave labor to the raising of food, while the North has stores enough on hand to keep the wolf from the door, though no crop is raised during the summer campaign.

But it is in money that the disloyal States are weakest. They spend the price of the cotton crop always before it is raised, and have no funds of any consequence to fall back upon.  Every bank in South Carolina is broken, and the first bugle-note of war broke down Southern State stocks and bank stocks so terribly that they are a drug at any price. While over $100,000,000 is been freely tendered to the United States Government within the last week, the $15,000,000 loan of the Confederate States cannot be got rid of two voluntary purchasers. The moment a State secedes, her credit is ruined -for secession becomes repudiation by ultimately rendering her unable to pay her debts. A people who trample on the Constitution they have sworn support will not hesitate and throwing off a debt whenever it is found a burden. Mississippi and Florida, even for slighter temptation, blasted their financial reputations long years ago, and the stain is so deep and damning as to cast a shadow over its associates. It is a warning. Neither the Confederate States nor its individual members can have any credit abroad, and every dollar of available means in the hands of its people at home must be exhausted in a very brief time. It is a terrible reflection in times like these that the wealth of the seceding States consist chiefly of lands and negroes, and war renders both the species of property almost valueless, while they are entirely so for work purposes. The disloyal States can get no money except by spoilation, which will soon exhaust itself. 

Again the loyal States have an immense advantage in the fact that they hold the commerce and command the sea, so that the Confederate States are quite at their mercy in their numerous vulnerable points of attack upon the coast. They need 2000,000 men as defense against 10,000 on board a well-appointed fleet. One day this force could threaten Norfolk, the next Wilmington, the next Charleston, the next Savannah; than Florida, Mobile, New Orleans and Galveston. No one could tell where the blow was to be struck, and consequently every menaced point would have to be well guarded. Such a fleet and force could in six months put the whole South in a perfect frenzy, by constantly hovering upon their coast with hostile demonstrations. And yet with the mercantile marine of New York in Boston at their disposal Government could precipitate 100,000 men upon any required point. A dozen points could be threatened at the same moment, and having thus the command of the sea in the hands of the North, the South, having no navy, nor ships, nor sailors, could not defend themselves with even ten times their presents number. They have more than 5,000 miles of frontier line to protect; what folly then to talk of invading the North. Would to Heaven that wise councils might stay the mad passions of the rebel conspirators, and avert them from the destruction towards whose brink they rush. There is one door of escape left open for them- the Congress to meet in July. The Herald (I quote it because its view will not be supposed to be those of a partisan Republican,) speaking of the President, says:

But he has chosen to cut the Gordian knot the north response was startling unanimity and we must deal with the solemn facts of war which are before us. We presume that Virginia and the other Border Slave States will come up with the representatives of the North to Congress in July and that their object in coming will be a treaty of peace. In this connection the resolute policy of Mr. Lincoln and General Scott, and the significant co-operation and enthusiasm of the North may operate powerfully in behalf of peace with the beleaguered Southern Confederacy. 

If the Border Slave States cannot a present act with the Northern States in this great crisis, neutrality is their best policy; and we think they will adopt it to escape the destructive visitations of this Civil War upon themselves; in the field of warlike operations being thus confined to the Seceding States, their reduction or destruction appears almost inevitable. Beyond a year or two of exhausting civil war, they cannot hold out without losing the monopoly of the cotton culture; for if our Southern supplies of cotton fail beyond a year or two, they may be raised in other parts of the world to supply the world’s necessities. 

The same journal, arguing that the Border Slave States will not rush into the whirlpool of civil war, but will arrange for a position of armed neutrality, has the following:

We are inclined to this opinion from the fact that secession and full cooperation with the Montgomery government would only throw the brunt of the war upon Virginia and the Border Slave States in making, them the field of battle, but in bringing down the Canadian fugitive slave line to the borders of Virginia, she would risk a grand stampede and demoralization of her slaves, which might only end with the destruction of her to hundred millions of cash involved in her slave property. And so with Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri. The Union is indispensable to the safety of their slave property in this crisis of Civil War. Let Virginia secede and let General Jeff Davis establishes military headquarters at Richmond as it is said he expects to do and amidst the confusion of contending armies Within their borders Virginia will hazard the additional calamities of a ruinous demoralization of her Negros.

If the Border States haply take this position the war at worst will be a short one; if they, on the other hand united with the Confederate States, or allow the Southern force to cross their soil to invade the capital, Virginia will become the battle ground, and will necessarily be devastated by fire and sword, while her slave population will in 80 days be entirely beyond its borders either South or North. Virginia neutral in the war becomes little more than a blockade of the Southern ports; Virginia active in hostility, and no man can estimate the baptism of horrors through which our country must pass. The bonds of the Northern States today or almost as good as before the war panic broke out, and many of them are at a high premium. The stocks of Virginia have going to 50 per cent, already, and holders have not the least idea what they are worth a cent except the State keeps out of fratricidal war. It is Jeff Davis's purpose to have the war on her soil, if he is to have it all, for his own dominions are barren of food. He must move his army to a theater where food can be seized or he must disband. So, too, if he can transfer the war two Virginia, Davis probably thinks there will be peace at home and that cotton can by cultivated their next summer. In that he is greatly mistaken; for if he attempts invasion, he will be repelled by invasion. If he comes towards this capital he will be attacked in the in the rear, while chivalrous Virginia for the sack of her cities the desolation of her fields, the liberation of her Negroes, and see all her interests completely blasted by the military despot. Of all the States that have seceded, or threatened to secede, Virginia is the most vulnerable and exposed. The United States holding Fort Monroe completely cuts off her communication with the sea. From this port expeditions may penetrate by water far into the interior. On the North, Washington will be a fortified camp of 25,000 men. On the west, she will be threatened by her own free territory, and by Ohio and Pennsylvania. Between all these forces she will be grounded to powder-eaten up by those who profess to come to her aid and commanded at every turn to buy the overwhelming forces of the United States. 

But Jeff Davis threatens our commerce with privateers. The threat is perfectly idle. His letter of marque will be laughed to scorn, and every man who accepts one will be treated as a pirate wherever found. The Southern ports will all be blockaded by the United States, and there will be no port in the world to which they can carry a prize for god condemnation every naval power of the world who will be compelled to aid us and sweeping these piratical craft from the seas. The only danger of this piratical proclamation of Davis is that it may provoke the in roads of scores of John Brown Crusaders into the Southern States, for the express purpose of setting free of the Southern slaves, and arming them against the Southern rebels. The “property” of the South is much more open to assault and even the commerce of the Northern States. No letters of marque and reprisal will be needed to make the wort effective heaven save the land from so fearful and demonic a retaliation but it forced to the death struggle men will strike at that point there assailants person which is most exposed. 

Even the dastardly New York Express which has been the least manly of all the opponents of the administration has wheeled intuit support. As another evidence of the overwhelming unanimity of sentiment of the North I take from the journal in question the following: 

Not another gun cannon revolver or pound of powder should be permitted to go to the Seceding States. The President of United States, through his revenue officers, should instantly stop their exportations and states should stop their intern transit trade. The port of Charleston ought to be instantly blockaded there may be no wall for it but South Carolina has put herself out of the protection of any loss of hours she does not respect us and we cannot be expected to respect her. 

Cotton-Cotton Seed-Cotton Gin-and Cotton King (March, 1862)

Source: The Friend, Honolulu, March, 1862, page 24. 

[Correspondence of the Friend]

Boston, 4th December, 1861. 

Mr. Editor: 

Dear Sir—l am very glad to hear from the Islands that an effort Is being made to encourage the cultivation of cotton as an article of export, and I have no doubt but that the effort will be successful if persevered in. I have been amused at the remarks of some of the verdant writers who speaker the first cotton seed having been carried to the Islands between twenty and thirty years ago. Samples of cotton, of native production, were sent to China by Kamehameha 1st, forty-five years ago, and other samples were sent by Kamehameha 2d, about the year 1828, (38 years ago,) the seed having been extracted by hand. These samples were there pronounced by competent judges, a very excellent article, very fine and of a long staple, and have been compared to the American Sea Island. The old seed may be improved by cultivation, and become as good as ever it was In former days; but to improve the quality, and for the benefit of all interested, Mr. Charles Brewer has now on the way out, in his bark Arctic, a barrel of the best seed that could be procured, and at a great expense. The great facilities for raising cotton on our southern virgin soil, with slave labor, and aided by the cotton gin, our "King Cotton" has had almost a monopoly. He grew rich, foolish, and finally ran mad, and set about his own destruction. The first shot fired against the walls of Fort Sumpter, aroused not only a rival but a nation to arms against King Cotton, and the world as his rivals, and they are cultivating cotton in all parts of the world, and in no part can a better article be produced than at the Hawaiian Islands. Having had a personal knowledge of your soil, and climate, and the goodness of the article raised there, as soon as our troubles here began, I commenced writing about It, and knowing the importance of the Cotton Gin, in clearing it from the seed, I sent out one in the Raduga, which arrived out safe ; but I have not heard one word about the Gin, but by advice I have sent out two more Gins In the bark Arctic. They are such as I thought best adapted to the commencement of the cultivation, and shall be glad to hear that the crops require the greater article to clean it from its seed. I have also sent the printed description of them to Messrs. C. Brewer & Co., and beg leave to send a set of printed circulars and description of the gin to you, which please cause to be placed where they will be useful to the cultivator of cotton. Any persons wanting Gins, If they will send me the funds, I will purchase and send out for them any size, free from charge on my part.

Very Respectfully Yours, 

JAMES HUNNEWELL.

War Tax (Jan. 1862)

Source: The Friend. Honolulu: January, 1862, page 2. 

The people of the United States will no longer be able to boast of their freedom from taxes for the support of the General Government. Hitherto the revenue from the tariff and sale of lands, has paid all the expenses of the Government. Sometimes there has been a surplus in the Treasury. Those days are gone, as many be learned from the following statement: 

THE INCOME TAX.—We subjoin a copy of the income taxes and duties imposed by the last Congress. The act comes into effect on April 1st, 1862. By provisions of the act an annual tax is laid on incomes derived from all sources other than that subject to direct tax, as follows: 

On yearly incomes of residents of over eight hundred dollars...........8 per cent. 

On yearly incomes of non-residents of over eight hundred dollars...6 per cent. 

TAX ON CARRIAGES.—The tax on carriages resting on springs and not used exclusively for the transportation of merchandise, together with harness used therewith, is in proportion with value, as follows :

Not exceeding $50.............................................................$1

If above $50 and not exceeding $100................................$4

       “     $100 and not exceeding $200..............................$8

       “     $200 and not exceeding $400..............................$16

       “     $400 and not exceeding $600..............................$20

       “     $600 and not exceeding $800..............................$30

       “     $800 and not exceeding $1000............................$40

       “     $1000 and not exceeding $1000..........................$50

TAX ON WATCHES.—The tax on every watch kept for use is as follows : 

Gold watches.......................$1 00 

Silver watches........................   50

TAX ON DISTILLED SPIRITS.—A tax is also laid on distilled spirits, to be paid by the manufacturer or distiller thereof: 

        On each gallon first proof, or less, 50 cents. 

        On each gallon of greater strength than first proof, in proportion to the above. 

Tax on Fermented Liquors.—Beer, ale, porter, and other similar fermented liquors, the duty to be paid by the brewer thereof, is taxed as follows :

On each gallon................2 cents. 

On each barrel, containing no more than thirty gallons.....................60 cents.

War in the United States (Jan. 1862)

Source: The Friend. Honolulu: January, 1862, page 5. 

This war is assuming an auspicious shape. It was not to hare been reasonably expected that the people of the loyal States, most of whom were unaccustomed to the use of arms, and who were taken by surprise, could on the instant rise and crush out a rebellion which had long been premeditated and carefully prepared by men who, however criminal, had, it must be confessed, experience and ability. Jeff. Davis and his associates in treason had, through a serious of years, occupied high positions under the Government and held actual control of public affairs. During all that time their power and influence were wielded to prepare the Southern States for the rebellion. The people of the South were encouraged to exercise themselves in military discipline, and arms and munitions of war were furnished them in abundance from the national arsenals. Thus when the time arrived for the hoisting of the standard of revolution, Davis, Beauregard and the other leaders of the revolt found themselves at the head of armies already disciplined and furnished with every necessary of war. We say, the loyal States were taken by surprise; they had so long listened to the gasconade of politicians that they regarded the threats of the Secessionists with incredulous ears; and it was.only when they heard the thunder of the guns from Fort Sumpter they realized the actual situation of the country. The spectacle which followed was grand to an extreme, and every way worthy a great and free people. The merchant left his ledger, the farmer his plough, the mechanic bis tools, the lawyer his briefs, and even the minister his pulpit, to commence an education in a new profession—to learn the art of war. It is no exaggeration to say that five-sixths of the volunteers scarcely knew the difference between a minie rifle and a flint lock musket, so far as such knowledge might be useful on the field. But, brought up in habits of industry, trained to adapt themselves to contingent circumstances, and gifted with quick intellectual powers of discernment which men accustomed to business pursuits only can acquire, the people of the great North, East and West proved themselves equal to the emergency. They were as rapid to learn the duties of a soldier, as they had been slow to believe in the existence of a rebellion. Still, after they acquired the theory, they had still to confront the enemy and acquire the practice of their new profession. It was natural, under the circumstances, that a few blunders should occur, and we had the Bull Run, Springfield, Lexington and other disasters to lament. But again the people of the loyal States triumphed, and there is now at the disposition of the government as vigorously disciplined and well appointed an army as has been assembled any time within the century. Every day its strength and efficiency are being increased. Unworthy and incompetent officers are driven from command and soldiers of experience commissioned in their stood. 

Three months ago, it was the boast of the rebels that their forces had been trained from boyhood up to the use of arms, and that it was folly to suppose that tradesmen and "greasy mechanics" could successfully meet them in hattie ; but we imagine they at length are beginning to discover the great truth that labor elevates and strengthens manhood. 

As we before said, the war is assuming an auspicious shape. The rebels have exhausted their resources; they can bring no more soldiers into the field. On the other hand, the U. S. Government has not developed a tithe of its strength, and yet our armies largely outnumber those of the enemy. And while we hear of dissensions among the leaders at the South, the feeling of cordiality between President Lincoln and our Generals grows stronger every hour. In short, the loyal States have risen superior to all adverse circumstances, and are gaining strength every hour, while the rebel government is in the last extremity for men and means to save it from perdition.  -S.F. Herald.