Hawaii Holomua, Volume I, Number 71, 11 December 1893 — TOPICS OF THE DAY. [ARTICLE]

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

For eaeh an<l ever> day whieh poea by, the governnient shows its utter laek of ability. eommon s ense hh<1 decency. 'i’he ktest e\hibition of its asinine ijnalities is tho correspomienoe whieh the govornraent has entereil mto with the Anierican Minister Mr. Willis. The minister of foreign aH>iirs has acldreased a note to Minister M’illis the contents of whieh if translatecl fiotu tho usnal «liplomalie language wouM read something like this: Look here. what does Gresham uiean by that confounded letter whieh he has been writing to Cleveland' Is that letter as we see it in the newspapers really gennine, and )f so, wbat do you think about it ' What are your inteutious and instructions anj'bow, and "here aro we'" The temperature around the government building uuist havo heen rather chilly wheu tho answer was received. aiul the Auierican minister polite!y called the attention of tho provisiona! jackauapes to tho fact that a commuuication from the Socretarv of State to the President of tho United Statos was eminently a domestic matter, whieh eouhl certainly uover be a eoneem of the American miuister to Hawaii (nor ioihe Hawaiian Governraent ) and that he did not donl|t that Mr. Clevoland would in due timo framo his policy in regard to Hawaii und carry it out. Tho sr.ub whieh the goverumont received in this their latest folly must hava beeu very trying, but it was iudeed weil*deserved. A more uudiplomatic act, a worse bieach of all eticjuette and diplomatic courtesies ean ha~dly bo imagined. Fancy a goverument adi*essing themselves officially to a foieign representative aud asking him to iuterpret tho action of his superior—an action of whieh ueither the goverument, nor perhaps himself had auv official recognizance. Tho Hawaiian government may have read the letter of Gresham in some Ameriean newspaper, but we feel sore that it has uever vet reoeived notice of Mr. Gresham s policy officially either throogh the Hawaiian representative Thurston, or through the Amenean representative M illis. To presume that a minister will read newspapers at all is absurd enough. but to presume lhat he wouUl for a minute enter into a discD8sion or an explanation of the alleged actions of his home government, actious of a purely domestic nature is simply outrageous. lt seems more and more that the ProvisipnaI Goverament is gettiug desperate and intends to thruw all forms aud decornm to j the winds. lf it was eomposed of iurn it could be expected that thev wonld meet the defeat sUriug them in their faces wiTh dignity aud propnetv, and not go out of existence behaving like a lot of irrospousible scbool boys

j or an assembly of hysterical old I women. An esteemed correspondent is taking exceptions to the attitude i whieh -the Holomi a has so far adopted towurds Minister Damon ani is critizisiug both him and us pretty severely. M e are not yet ready to admit that we have been wrong in our judgment of the raiuister. although, we caunot understand how be ean cousider it appropriate to his diguity aud politicrtl standing to remain in office afler an expression of want of coufidence in his ability as an Executive Officer, and in his loyaltv to ihe annexation cause has been carried bv the Advisorv Council, with au overwhelmiug mujority. Mr. Damon may have : reaaons to re.naiii iu office whieh he has not given to the puhlie and of whieh our correspondent we presumo, is as iguorant as we are. It is possible that Minister Damon cOrabines with his wellknown patriotism au<l his love for Hawaii, a well-developed aioha for the inierests of Bishop aud Co., and that this is the cause for his meekness after receiviug tiio snub furnished to him last Thursday. It may be tbat he does not desire to turn over to anvbody the ktys to the pnhlie safe as long as lie represeuts the creditors of the governraent. It 111 ay be that ho has personally gnaranteed tlie payment of clairas aguinst the government aud fears that the creditors if not paid by his successor, will look to Damon the bauker, as they uow do to Daraon tho miuister. Tllese are all possibilities, and we are of course not in a positiou to judgo- what the motives of His Excellency ean be in what now. appears as a back-down. The truth is perhaps that if Mr. Damon rcsigued from his olliee he would have a mighty dithcult tirae in collecting his claims — aud it is proper to remeraber that the 895,000 whieh the govern ment boasted of haviug paid to Claus Spreckels were not ]iaid to that gentleraan, but that the notes for that amouut have simplv been transferred to other parties, and are still overdue and apt to be called for at any momeut. As Mr. Damon reprosents the holders of some of the notes he is perhaps anxious to get them cashed while the B. G. is in power, and some cash is left. But who would ever accuse His Excellency of being led by sellish motives? The finances of thegovernment don’t seera to be in a very blooming condition at the present moment. The cash-balance according to the last fiuancial statement was smaller than it has ever heeu under tbe P. G. reg rae. We are infcrmed that a large [ j amouut of money was transferred ; from the treasury to Bishop aud Co.’s bank last week, but we are I unahle to skite for what purpose this transfer took plaee. $30,000 j have got to be forwarded as interest On tho English loau tbis week wLUe, Lf we remember rightlv, the amount of $47,000dae : the Bisdou Inon Worls have got 1 to be paid. Mini&ter Damon in his palmy days when he still boIieved in the prospects of a perof the P. G. stripe expressed in the eounoila a hope that tho Risdon Iron Works would accept P. G. bonds inste*d of eash. Does

His Excellency still think that snch scheme is feasible' | donbt that any sonnd firm or any 1 sane individuat wonld pay one cent for a bond issnetl by the Provisional Government. The prospects of ev»>r getting them redeemed by a legitimate government of Hawaii are extremely slim. The on!v ehauee for a recognition of snch bonds lies in the possibdity of the individual members of the Provisional Government being compelled to pay the debts contracted by them out of their persoual estates. The Hawaiiau tax-payers will undoubtedly repudiate all obliga- I tious iucurred and assumed on behalf of Hawaii uei by the revolutionists.