Nuhou, Volume I, Number 4, 7 March 1873 — "OUR FOREIGN POLICY." [ARTICLE]

"OUR FOREIGN POLICY."

j We 'liave it at last, It is fornially an- ; nouneeel in Gazetie of ! Wednesday. Tlīe Nuiiou, or the threat of j an indignation meeting, has made the Min- | ister for Foreign Affairs speak out; for this official anuneiation is evidently liis work, , and bears abundant ear-marks of his genii{S ! and style. ■ . : j We liave nothing new to announee; \ve have already aiTtieipated in the eolumna of this journal, the poliey of the Foreign Oiliee, whieh is to wait for something -to turn up, or <c await tlie progress of>events; ? - j wliieh progress isjuiderstood to be of course, j iii this eountry, a general declme of busi- ; ne«s aud linaL bankruptcy. j- Look over tliis official article and see if j you ean lind any other policy, or any semj blance of a p6licy āt alh It begins with an assumī>fioiī of severe official dighity, and says thāt " such charges" (our's and the Advertiser's) u pass for what they are worth, ahd nothing more;'' and then goes 011 to ! show that thcy are worth about oneeolumn j and a half of olheial rigmarole. What else | buf rigmarolē; or a re-hash of newspaper ] gossip and street-corner talk, are six para|graplis of thē articlc beginning with the | third, whieh constitute tlie main burthen | of this oraeular Of what eonj sequen<ie ij? of all these views, j pro and eon, concerning a treatv, whieli j -ibr a future ehroni- ! eier of reciproeity diseussion? And if it be |proper for (he Minister to undertake this discussion, why uot,gp more ftilly into the subject and say that the views of some ; were that the late treaty, perhaps, was | imperfeet, because l.anai wool was not ! inclnded in the-schedule of free produets; ; or because German capital might be largely | introdueed at 4 per cent, and so eut down 12 ' per cent.;.or becausc France objected to the of ".bad, Bourbon whiskey in preference to her o\Vn imperial brandy; or because the free inij)ortatioii of Humboldt |potatoes wquld be to the tradt? ! in poi; *r because of a thoiisand other views both wise and otherjvfise, whieh have heen, jōr may have hoen | addueed to prove tlie s everlasting of opmibns, ahout the imperfeetlons of the treaty, and. theii to present all this m sense as a reason tor doing iiothing in| the past, and tV>r doing *nothing now? | : The only th'ing elear about Ihe āūiele i> ? \ *

that it invites everybodyto -ay^vhatthēT _ like about the eession of. Petir; Plarbor, or else you please ; imti> tliese and kindred tpxiies are ruii into thc ground; ahd then soniething may be done ' i l \lf at all 1J when wje have exhausted disci|ission and ourselves.. Is not a policy with vengeance ? It wouM have been better to ,have kept up an owlish silence, and let the oppos!tion mge ; ratlier than to have eominilieu to th€ sueh twaddle r . |We are to wait fqr Unele Sam, who ha.s a small mortgaged estate, and rather apoor w 7 ay to make liis living, to present his cornpUments to His of the Foreigi» Office, and to beg tq know if it would not i be agreeable to allow liim to eome in aa a I dead liead over John Bull and others ii.* to peddle a fe>v notions to our na_tive*> free of charge, and io have a plaee to rer>a ir his tubs in our llsb pond, and for all sueb and other favors t;hankfully received~-he be glad to talve from us all_our spare j groceries. We cai| imagine him sending | his little boy Washfjurn, x>erhaps to askihe j favor. But Unele Sam has not\been whitj tling wooden nut}neg& fbr the sake of j making a few dimes alone; he has cut his | ej 7 e teeth besides, aiid he a knpws, or at | there are boys here who will tell him so. | tliat he has only tOjlie low, and dark tl|ie same. as. we arq.gqing to dp; and that we will liave to cave in first, and cry out--u take Pearl Hai'hoi', or anythingand every- : thing you please, and buy our groeeries, ,or_ I we die. n Ii [ I The Minister says that i£ the new question | of cediiig Pearl HHtbor is uncler cqhsiderai tion in official circles; that ii is idle to sup-. | pose tiiat we ean give any information on | tbe subj.ect io tlve Xjnited States; ?? , and | i4 it is for that govermnent fo say whether ! it sees reason now to gnuit wliat il has j heretofore refused. ? f ? j We have a new que!stion, about whiehnoih- | ing is to be said; anjd yet a certiiin govern-. I ment must grant sonietliing it lu*s iieret<>j fpre. refused, before, perhaps, it oan be en- , liglitened about the new question whieh i n supposed to have a-bearing upou wha( it | l>as to grant. Caii| you niake anythi.ug ov i j of such talk, geutlp readers of (he Gazi ftc ? |We eannoi, and wy doif t believe that tlie j writer knows whal he iiieane either! Our ; only sohition of *|ucli obfuscation is Hiat | being worried by the Xubou, the wnter I hurried ioo pree'ipjitabTy into priut i>eiore |tfikiug "legal and praetieed minMeual l adviee, | ; j j i)FFIOIAI* C|OBRKarO^I>KKCK. ) i The Minister fby Foreign Atlairs |qii the 25th iill., tP the Minisler l\esident I of the Umted to enelose a request for enumithig froni the llonolulu CliaMiber of Commeive } aeeonipi- * ikied with the ren!varkf in substanee, that tlhe Minister and his eolleagues do not know whether a tiei\ty % for rvviproeity can jl>e negotiated or ivot, and wisli to know j i|f it ean; and the Ameriean ]Mhusier says j lie dpes not lvnow r This is the substanee } 4ut it is not tlie way these two high put\ %incs. put it, espeeially the l:\tter. Ile in a long preainble ? all that ihe qther pub. fune. had said ; ulludi\\g; to f/ormcr whieh had attended prei nttempjU>, M >vhy nol >;»v

about the lātter failiires ? whieli attend the later attempts ?) and then says that he has no information ; but says he will transmit the correspondenee to the Secretary of Btate at Washington. When it gets tliere y an inscrutable sphy?tfx of that mysterions departnient will put it into a pigeon hole, and there it will lie. To what ean the Secretary reply? !STo proposition is made to him. Why not have requested, that His Excellency the Minister Eesident be empowered to discuss, negotiate, &c> 11 The cession of Pearl Harbor T y js 1 ' under eo'nsideration; n it is not a tabooed--guhject here now, even the selling and surrender of it to the United States ; therefore, w-hy not give a hint of it abroad but uit is idle to suppose that we ean give any information on the subject to the United States, ?T and therefore Secretary Fish must allow the meaiiingless correspondence to be put into the limbo of departilieht files v until such times as it is no loiiger u idle T ' to give information on this, or some other positrve proposition—Oh, " 1 ame and impotent eon* clusion ,? of men- trying to play at statesmanship, whose brains aiul fingers are better fitted for suiriming up quarteiiy accounts at 12 per cent»