Hawaii Holomua, Volume II, Number 13, 16 January 1894 — Is This Americanism? [ARTICLE]

Is This Americanism?

--- Any self-respecting American ought to be sorry to think that this giant republic of ours, which is supposed to reach out its protecting arm to all people in this western world who are trying to be free, should become the prime factor in restoring a corrupt, a rotten, a blighted monarch. The people of Hawaii have established, so far as they are able, a popular government, and even if there was something irregular in the porceeding, they ought to be sustained--[Malden News. This is the most barefaced attempt to bolster up a cause manifestly unjust that has yet come under our notice. Analyze it and see what it means. It represents the people of Hawaii as endeavoring to free themselves from the curse of a corrupt monarchial government, and appealing to the United States to aid them in their struggle for liberty. This statement of the case is false on its face. Everybody knows that it was not the people of Hawaii who overset the royal government, but a party of foreigners, who, having enjoyed the hospitality of the islands, subverted a government which was perfectly satisfactory to the natives. There is sufficient evidence that the naval power of the United States was employed in this act, or at least that fear of its employment induced the Queen to resign, Now if this is a popular up rising against a government which the people desired to be rid of, what was there irregular in it? The News Admits that there was some irregularity, but claims that it should be sustained. Why? There is nothing irregular in a popular revolution; and if the movement is irregular it is evident that it is not popular. The truth is the "irregularity" lies in the fact that the overthrow of the government of Hawaii was not the result of a popular uprising, but an unsurpation by violence. Let us suppose that a certain class of foreigners in this country should, by a revolution, with the assistance of some foreign power, overthrow our government and establish a new one without submitting the plan to the people, would the News think it a mere irregularity which it comported with the honor of any government to support? The Hawaiians are not so far advanced in civilization as our nation, but they have rights, and it is not the part of the United States to countenance any measure toward them with we would not consider as just were we in the same case. The question whether the rightful government of the islands is a monarchy or a republic is subordinate to the principle of justice involved, and to the fact that according to the President's plan the popular will must decide what form of government is most desirable.--Lynn Press.