Hawaii Holomua, Volume III, Number 254, 30 June 1893 — Untitled [ARTICLE]

The Star of lagt night bronght in another d* fenf4e of the di«gnceful eocusations of J. L. Stevens against tbe Queen and the nionarchy of Hawaii. As there isn’t a crownedhead in Europe who has not heen the object of sirailar vile slanders frora such a low born and lower-bred mob as the one from whieh Stevens hcre greedily sucked the lying rumors on whieh he baeed his ii83ertions, we need not take any notice of the remarks of such out-casts or their obscure hired scribbltrs, but we shall eonfineourselvtS to reprint an editorial frora the S\n Francisco Argonaut whieh sufficiently onee imd for all setties Mr. J. L. Steveus and his manufacturtd liee, unj>roven assertions, and f. ise Btatements. The lamentations f Jereniah are joyous in coniparison with the groai;8 whieh John 1.. Stevens, exMiuister to ilawaii, emitted in presence of the Chaniber <>f Curaraerce un his return froin the p<<st from whieh he h d b en. re.n< ved It w»s, perhaps, hard!y to be < x t>ected that iie <*ho i.d endure such a cuff from f rtnne wit'i a plnl<>sophv. Mr. St’ veiis is a conntry editorfr<<m Maine."ho was rewarded with sinali b< rths in the eonsular service. and was finiilly pro moted to be Minister to Hawaii, where it was 8iipp< s<d that he wo dd be i»nocuous; in.f rtunate!y. hehapper.od lo represent the Uniled States at the time certaiu cor.spirators at Honoiulu undert>'Ok their little eoup d'etat, «nd he e<mld nol resist the opportumty t > put hi? foot in itandt <drag him his scmpf fKK>r Capt.iin \Viltse, wh - has dieil of remorss iu r u<eqneiice. Mr. Stevens nn.st feel thi.t he has not only commuted p<>lit:cal suic:de, but that he !»><s cu:-r<t»d i<gainst a possihle resnrrecli-uj by drivii>g the tradiliona.i sl .ke thr >ugh h.s vitals. His aeonml of the eveuts In whieh he w.ii au :.ct>>r <s u t str ct ly iu haro»o;.y with hist«»ry- \\ hen he returned t*i Monolulu frora his juuket to Hilo ou Jauuary 14th, he found the c:tv irf , coiuiaotion, a parly «»t «hite planters, shop-keep-ers, and adventunrs having deelami that the un»narchy was abolistied and supreme power vested m s»'iue hulf-d«>zen g>-utlemen, s>»me of whom had sw..rn allegiance to the queen, and not one of whom hsd beeu invited by ihe Hawaiiaos to Uke charge uf puhlie affiirs. Under sachcircumsUnce8,tbe duty of ihe miuislez of ihe United States waa obvioualy to keep his bands off and to eouneel an appeal to the people of the islūnds who are educated and intelligent. Mr. Stevena did neither. As Uuited States Ministez, he authorized tbe Botton to land ber mannee, and hoisted the Americ*n flag over the office where

the araorping g*»vernmeot tr*nMCted haeineee. lt w»s thus made to appe»r by tbe Americ»n representative that the United States was , : at the back of tne rebels, He did not advise au appeal to the people, and that for the txceileut reason that such an appeal wou!d have been fat«I to the so-cal!ed provisionaI goTeroment. At the Iast e!ection in Hawaii, 13.593 votes were cast. 0f these. 9,554 were cast by Hawarans. 637 by Amerieane. 505 by* Englishmen. 382 by Gernjans, 2,Ū91 by P<>rtuguese—the Chine.«e and Japanese being nonvoters. Mr. Stevens and hia eon federate? knew i>erfectly weil that out of th<se tuirteen thousand five hundred voters, they could not comiuand one lhousand votes; therrfore. they did not risk a plebiscite, and they hav<* not dared to do so yet. Assuining that the pocketful ol voters with whom he acteti represeut~d the islands and were warnnted in assiguing their sovere gnty to whomsoever they pleased,Mr. Stevens warmly indorsed the appliealion of Mr. Thurston's seifelected commission for annexation to the United States. That ixidy consisted of f<>ur Americans and one Englishman, without a drop of Hawaiian blood in their veins. Tuey had no show pf authority from the Hawaiians to act for them. The commissi< n they bore was drawn and signed by them and their fellow-plotters. They had uo more right to speak for Hawaii than Dfuis Kearney has to speak f>r California. And yet they had the impudence to ask Mr. CIe\*eland to recognize them as genuine representatives o Hawaii and to listen to their t »le of woe. As Mr.Stevens hails irom Maine, he must be presumed to be an American. and yet the reasons whieh he gave to the Chainber of Con<merce forannexing Hawaii are strangely un-Amerioan. We in this country are uot borrowing our foreign poI:cv from Rome or A'exander of Macedon, nor do we eonsider the example of England in grabbing ffreign countries a good one to f >llow. The American idea is laat we h*ve counlry enough of our own to take care of. True, we have in this country a pot-bouse school of politicians (they used to be called Filibustcr8) who are in favor of all sorls of blatant unAmericanisms, including that of rot'bmg foreign nations from their land; but these p>-rsou8 constitute a microscoiucal section ofthe Ameriean j>ciple. When Mr. Stevens tells us that tht shop-keepers, planters, aud adventurers whom he represents "stretch out a pleading haud to this mightv nation of freemennnt tu abandou tbem in their d:\V8 of imperative need,” he does n<>t affect us at all; we ehall not study the question of annexation uiitil Mr. Sleven’s friends ean show that ttiey have a right to stretch uut any hand at all for Hawaii. Mr. Stevens ealla the istanda ‘*the Piymouth Rock of the Pacific,” ttnt “i>cean f>*rtress of Christian civilization fronling the Asiatic wurld;” that is very pretty and sweet. Bot Americans are not now looking round for Plymouth Rocks or oeeaii fortre*>ses to steal in defiai.ee <>f the protest of their ownen. Mr. Stevens does not understaud his coUnlrymem His great objection to the Queen of Hawaii is lier in<morality. He i< 1 1 ke O'Oonneli, who h;»s n<> fault ] t<i find with tlie Chinese as eom- | peiil rs iii tbe lab»>r-market, but canuot endnre- ttieir vices; their ; morai e <nduct f ills so far bel<>w the 0‘DL»nneli standard. So Mr. St ven r s high moral tone is cbiefly shocked aUhe Hawaiian monarchy “because it is conrsely iuxurious in its iastes aud wishes,” constantly sending out impure exhalations, ’ *‘utterly vicious and demoraIizing, ’ “an astounding exhibition of shatne" with “a semi-barbaric queen at its head.”and “c«rruption, anarchy, and barbaric 8ensuaiism' at its lail. It was as a moralist, and not as a statesman, that be consented to take a parl in tbe farce *>f the “Three T*.ilors of Tooley Street.” How s»d to thirk that so pure an apoelle of virtue sbould have remained ao long in the pollatingatmoephereofsuch acarmval of vioel Here. again, Mr. Stevens miaapprehends the purpoee of the Gov- J

ernment of the United Statee. It is no part of its basinees to sit tn judgmeot on the mor»ls of* ite neighbon. lt m»y deplorv the breaches of th» moral l»w whieh filled Mr. Stevens’s immacul»te soul wilh anguish —after he had been displaced. not before. But ita desire to see sound mora!s prevail evtrrwhere eannoi induce it to go out of its way to administer a course of purg«tion to the islands in the hope of mending their moral he i!th. Mr. Steveus'has knocked at the wrong door. Ue should have carried his elegi»cs to the churches. if a clear majoriJy of the people of H i waii ever demonstrale, in an unequivocal manner, that they desire anuexation to the l mtcd States, the Amenean people will consider their request. But resideuts of this s’ooe may as well understand now, as hereafter. lhat Hawaii could only be annexed on the conditi<>n that every resi<lent ot the islands, wherever he WaS b>rn and whatever hi? raoe. eame m as a citizen, with the same r;gftts ot citizenshu> as are enjoyed by a native white b*'ru in California. This would cover Chinese as weil ;is Kanakaa. Whether Caiitbrnia is prepared to vote for the admission of the islands on these terois ia a questiou whieh the Chaiuber of (>immerce did not think it worth while to cons der.