Hawaii Holomua, Volume I, Number 71, 11 December 1893 — WHAT THEY SIT IN WASHINGTON. [ARTICLE]

WHAT THEY SIT IN WASHINGTON.

Eveuts are proving that no matter how great may l>e their abilities aa sailors. our uaval commanders of foreign sUitioas are not 80ccesfal a> diplomats. Naval offioers have not ceased wondering \vhy Ad.uiral Skenett was so saddenlv relieved from tbe command of the Paeihe Station and onlered to exchange with Adminil Irwiu. uud the Secretarv s aetion bas been prodactive of no end of gossip in offieial eircles nere. fhe eause of this sndden cbange, if a statement coming from h : .gh anthority may be credited, arose from a circumstance very similar to that whieh caused Admiral Stanton to be relieved from comraand at Rio, though while the pnneiple involved is the sarae, the Pacific Admiral’s tault wus not so gruve. It is said that tho Secretarv of the Navy \vas led to tuuke the cbange bv representations to the etlect that Admiral Skerrett s course ut Honololn was not entirely in harmony with the views of the Administration on the aunexation questiou. His attitnde thero is suid to h;tve beeu rather to friendlv to\vard the aunexation party. Tbe station is noted as one of the most social on the list, and Ameriean naval officers are mueh tbought of and very popular in Honolulu. Eepresentations are said to have been mude to the Administration that Admiral Skerrett‘s social relations with tbe raembers of the Provisional Government, added to by tho presence of his farnily in Honolulu, were eonstrued in Hawaiiarf political circles as indicative of the friendliness of tbe United States to the annexation movement. While it was undonbtedly not tho intention of tbe Admiral tbat his positiou should bo so coustrued, the mistake is said to be the secret of his having orders to procee 1 to Cbina and relieve Admiral Irwin. — Washington Aei'S.