Hawaii Holomua, Volume II, Number 22, 26 January 1894 — Clean Cut Criticism [ARTICLE]

Clean Cut Criticism

While holy peaee reigns in the Hawaiian islantls, a Hawaiian war of singnlar bitterness eontinues to be waged at Washington between the blatant annexationists in the senate on the one hand and the quiet, conservative gentleraan who oeeupiea the executive chair on the otber. The primary object of the Hawaiian belligerents in the seuate appears to be, not to secure a decorons settleraent of a diplomatic question, whieh might easily aud quickly be disposed of under ordinary circumstances, but siraply to demonstrate that a eoalilion of immoderate Republicans and disgruntled Democrats is eompetent at auy time to pursue and ! hamper the chief executive in the discharge of his duty aud to add to the record of vapid imbecillity already earned by the upper branch of the federal legislature. Senator Hoar’s arraignment of the President for daring to send a commissioner to Hawaii with"Out the consent of the senate is but one of a 8ei*ies of . incidenta showing the iuiemperat« folly of the annexationist cliqoe. Tbe detailing of epeeial commissioners to secore information for diplomatic nse without asking the j permission is a privilege | natnrally out of the powers of the President in tbe j matter of couducting negotiations with foreign nations and one that has been repeatedly exercised without eTokIng 'adverse corament in any quarter- When | resorted to by Mr. Cleveland, I however, this privilege becomes ! a critne and the commissioner ; who did duty in Hawaii is gravely j set down as a criminal subject to | * n< bctment and punīsbment. It is a question wbether the semle asininity whieh prompts , recourse to expedients ol this 1 cbaracter as a means of embar- 1 rassing, not only Mr. Cleveland “l!*» ho«, t 1 1

' of whieh is at the stnte in the H iwaiian affair. is not even more offensive to the intelligence of the American people than was the recent senatorial exhibition of triflīng witb the silver repeal bill. Qf conrse, the handicap whieh the senate seeks to pnt upon him wili not preveut the President from doing his whole dnty as far as performance lies in his power. As far as he bas goue, up to tb« present, he has acted as, there is j every reason to believe President Harrison wouki have acted had he been re-elected. and thos enabled to undo the daraage done by Minister Steveus. Neither Mr. Harrison nor his Secretary of State c«mprehended the natnre of the alleged revolution in Hawaii. They relied npon Stevens’ reports, and,as everybody knows, Stevens’ re|x>rts were no more nor less than campaigu documents of the carpet-bag revolutionarv junta now in power and whieh were designed to pull the wool j over the eves of tbe authorities j at Washington and to force the I accomplisbment of the annexa- , tion scheme before tbo trutb heeame known. Tlie ex-President requires no I vindication at the bands of his j partv, iu or out of tlie senate, as j regards his course in the Hawai- j iau atfair, and it is to his detri- j ment rather than otherwise to assurae tliat, if he had obtained the opportunity, he would not have done exactly as his successor has been doing.