Hawaii Holomua, Volume III, Number 99, 28 April 1894 Edition 02 — An Excellent Review. [ARTICLE]

An Excellent Review.

Notbing written on tbe Hawaiian embrog!io bas bart tbe feelingR of St«vens. the Sun and tbe Tr'Jjune more tban ei-Governor D. H. Chamberlaine’8 excellent Ietter to the New York Timet. We reprodace it in full. believing it to be well worth readingjby all friends of Hawuii: No recent phase or exhibition of pcblic opinion seetns to me more retnnrkable or deplorable than the carrent aniraadversions on the dealings of President CIeveland with the Hawaiian question. Moeh of this must be set to the acconnt of p.irtisan rancor. mueh mnre to persoual and political ma!evnlence to.v:urd the President and the Secreiary of St»te. but a ceitainapp.ec ; able nart is due. 1 have uo doabt, to | bonest belifcf, restiug ou ignor j anee or imj*er*cet knowledge of the esssential feature of the ease. 1 It is uot, however. an essen | tially complic»ted case, nnd it; seems to me tbat on!y modicura j of clejr seeing nnd straight think 1 ing is reqnired to reach eonelnsions couforraable both to good morals and souud puhlie law, I i bave said the case is uot a eom- I plicuted one; I do not mean by ! tbis that is is not ore requiring tirae and close attention for its adequate masterv. The several messages of the President to tho congiess since Deceraber 18 last, with accorapayping docuraents. mako over 1,300 priuted pages, the correspoudence and reports of Spe- i eial Coniiuissioner Iliouni uloue covering nearly 700 p»ages. Tho Uawaiian question ean, however, be nearly stated in a few words. Between the 14th I and Iho l7th of Janaary, 1893. tbe Governrnent of tbo Hawuiian I Islands was wrested frora tbe Queen and assuraed bv a Provisional Governraent org-»nized by a so-called citiz°ns’ coraraittee of: safety of thirteen persons, five of whom were American citizens, ono an English and one n German subiect, six being Hawaiian subjects, and of these six ou!y two w«re uative born H.twaiians, «nd all were of foreigu parentage. We are thus raet at the outseL by tue fact that tl*e change of g«)vernmout waē conducted nnd effected by a committee, a majority of whom were not “»Hwaiians, but subjects of f«ireign Goverr ments, and of whom uot one was ot native Hawaiiau pareutage or, desceut. The so-called committe of safety owe«l its existence to no uotion or ehoiee of any pohlie body, uot even of a mass meeting or a mob It wus jiurely self-constitntcd, ] lts first pnhlie aj*j>ears to have beea the calling of n mass meeting at Houolulu on January 1G. 1893. lramediate)y after the adjourumentof tl*is mnss meeting Ihe coramittee of sifety called upon Stevens, the United St.des roinister at Hawaii. “for the pro- ' tectiou of the United St»tes forces.” At this time no effL*rt bad been oj*euly m»de to over : throw the Queen's Government, nor had the Queeu's Governraent j made tho least show of force 1 against tbe committee or its sup- 1 porters. The coramittee. iu their written eall oo Steveus. say “in view of recent pubiic events. * * | the puhlie safety is menaced, and ; aud iives and j*roj*erty are in l peril. * * We are unahle to proteet ourselves without aid, and therefore, j*r«y for the protectioa of the l’nited States forces,” lmmediately uj>on receiving tbis ea’l of tbe committee the : Amer;c«n minister caused l'uited ' States troops witb gatling guns to be landed in Honoluiu and stationed in a j*osition commandiug the Goverument boiidings in tbet city. At the time this was done no violence bad occnrred; no forces, armed or unarmed, of cither the Queen s j*arty or tbat of the committee, were in condict or were actively threatening the pohiio peaee or the lives or property of tbe citizens or Amehean ! nM>dents of Honoluin. Ou tbe 1 next »lay. January 17, tbe tempor i ary government—eo called— de < ēijpaied bv the eommiUee ot . fijJ«ty. proclaimedthe abrogatioo < of toh Hawaiian mooarohy and j. thfi estabUafam«ot o( a Provision-1 al Gt#WQifieot. ' # to ex ak ootil! Uaited t9tatss ol * i

< AmeHen bave been negotiated aod «greed npap a . - - Therenpon. within an boor cf {tbe m»king of t!i;s j roci i m.-.tion i tbe Amenenn mīn;ster recf*gn>»ed the provi»ion--«l goveroroent aa : tbe de facto of the Uawaiian Islanda. Th* Qaeen Wj»s uow presse*l to abdicate. it I being represente<l to her th»t the i Amenean minister. bnving recog | n red the provisional government, | and that government being snp- 1 ported by tbe trooj>s of the United States, resistance woohl lie aseless, acd tb»t she wonhl have the r ght of appeal to the ’ govcrnment of the Uoited States to nndo tbe acts of tbe provision- : al government and of the Amer- ! , iean minister. Tielding to these considerations the Qaeen on the sime day j signed a declar tion bv whieh she yielded * to tbe saperior ; forces of the l nited States of America nntil snch tirae as the . government <*f the United St ites slmll, uj*od the f«cts being presented to it. umlo the action of its representative aud reinstate roe in the aathority whieh I i eluim.” Two days later comraissiooers of the provisionul governraeut started for Washington, where tbey arnved on tlie 3rd of Febrn- . ary, and ou the 15th of tbe s.»me mi>ntb the treaty of nnneiation w»s transmitted to Congress by President Harrison, only tliirtytwo days having j*assed between 1 the incipiency of the movement for the overthrow of tlie monnrchy a< d the presentation to Congress of the tre»ty of annex»tiou. and ; of these few days fifteea were occupied by the passage of the I commissioners from ilouolalū to Washington. It wou!d not be correct to say that all the facts here st»ted are undispated- Some of them rest 1 upon authentic j*ublic docnments i mul events whieh are ind sj»nt : ahle; bnt sowe of them rcst upon the evidence gathere»l and j*rei sented to the President nnd ; Congress by sj*eci.il Coramissioner [>Iouat. Ōf Mr. B!onnt it is just to sa} r that no c*t.zen of onr I country had higher claims to j confideuce for snch a mission. Uis report and conclusions bear every mark of skill, indastrv »nd iropartiality, atul the evidence sabmitted by him thoronghly establishes the tnith of every i statement here madewhich is not estiblished otherwise by indisj*utable evidence. It clearly apj*ears, tben, that tbeHa\vaii<n revo!ution was begnn and c*rried foiward by a baud of men a mnjority of whom w*-re not Hawaiian snbjeets, but foreign snhjects. not one of whom \vas of native Hawaiiau parentage; that bef<*re the revolution ; had gained «ny assnred standing, | aiul while the Qneen \vas undisturbed in lier anthority, the j American minister eame to its rescoe aml landed Umted Stutes ■ forces to give it j*li3 r sical enpport; that the Americin mmister recogn:zed the provisional govern- ! ment wlneh he had thus aided ' as the de facto government bef<ire ! the Queen hud to an\ r extent I yielded her authoiity, and before ' the j*rovisional goverumeut w«s iu formal or even technical pos- 1 session of the goverumeut build- , ings. Mueh additional evidence ten<ls 1 stronglv to show the Amei'ieau j minister as the active f<>n*euter and sealous advocate of revoI« tion and annexation before aiul <liiring tbe j*rogress of events bere narrated, but it is not uecessary to take account of this. lf the facts now sammar;zed disclosed a c»so where two par ties or factions of Hawaiian subjects had bv their volunt«ry. independeut acts j*recipitated a revulution, the only dcty or ' responsibilitv of the Uuited j | States wuolii have consisted in stauding absoIute!\ r neulnil as between the two j*»rties, and. if j neetl be, protecting the lives aml i proj*erty of the Amenean citizeus uot parties to the strugg!e, and ' when the supremac3 r of one or : the other party was a«sured, and it was iu actual possession of the : government, to rec<'gmze the * governraental represeutatives of j such succ-ssful partv as the de | f»cto government. 0ur goveni ment would have had no t»wfal , ■ eoueem with the merits of the 1 struggle. but ou!y with its phvsi- i 1 eal result. If, for example, Mr, i Cbief Justice Judd of the Hawaij iuu lslands, (my friend and . i classmate in cotlege, &nd in the law school,) and others, «s he ■ now states, h.ul eome to the eonclusion oo Jauaar\' 14, 1893, tbat tbe mouarcby c *uld no louger be tolerated, it was entirely oj>en to Ihem to engage iu un effort to , overthiow it, and the Uu:ted j States wouM have uo rigbt what-1 ever, if Mr. Juddand bis j*arty bad been successful witbont the aid of foreign forces, to dispute or question the result. Such, as we have s?en, was not ihe Uawaiian questioo as it fir»t c»me before Presulent Clevel»nti Abandant evideoce ihen existed c»lling f >r furtber investig»tion. j An iuvestig;»tioD showed iodis-1 putable tbot the Hawaiiao ra*oIwūon eooeeaa to the j

nraister and to tb© kc*It© pbv*i-1 c*l »appr»rt «nd protectrtm HHliē ! Uait«*d Sti**?s r,»rce*. Dīd not • lbis st«U» ct f-*cts impofie a doty ’ !»n tbe Cnited 8t«tes <od oo the | Pre* deul in tbe firsk inakanee? Clejirly it di«l—a dah* ns plain and imper*tire as voold be īmposed npon nn individaal trhose servanta *rul »gents, acting in bis name aad bebnlf, had enabled one or two prīvnte contestants to ' secnre and m*ke off with proper- I ty wh’eh did not belong to him except when won by his own nnaided strength - the daty. nameIy, of nidiug. within tbe limita of hia leg«l |x>»er. in restoring the ; . pro,.erty to him from whom it ! bad been thas wmugfally wrest- 1 j ed. Xon-intervention, nnn-inter- ; ! ference in tbe stnse of internalional or ]»nb'ic law, dots not m-nn aiding one of two parties strnggliug for politicnl supremacv ! , to achieve snccess. and tben sitting idlv by and i<llowing the , party thns aided to enjoy tbe frait of its success oa the plea of : nnn-interf- rence. Honor «nd jnstic«, go«xl morals aud pnhlie law «like r-qnire a naiion in snch a case to do wbut it ean to right its wrong. Tbis nml nothing else has been tbe policy aiul action of the present AJministration. Sncli a problem, nnprecedented before ! in our nnnals, eouM not liave , fallen into better bands tban tliose of President Clevehnd and S cretary Gresham—men of the keene-t sen.se c.f pnhlie and per'son«I honor, ardent and i»atnotic ; Araeric ms. devoted l«» josticeand fair dealing. Uufortun«tely, 1 i owing to action for wliieh the ! present Aduiinistr.it or. is not res- j ponsibie. tlie wrong done by the ! ! represeutative of the United I Stites at Hawaii could not he ! absolutelv undoue against the will of the beneficiary of tiie ; wrong. By the act of tlie Ameriean minister at Hawaii andof the ; late Adrainistration, the provisionaI governmeot liad heen re- | ! cognized by tlie United States ! government as ade facto govern ' rneut wIiose r ght to esrst us an i ■ indepeud-nt governmeut eoukl no | longer be demed. Ou1y one conrse wns open to onr g »vornment, u-«mely, to witb- • draw its frrther support from tbe ! provisional government, to re- ' ' m«.ve its tnn»ps from Hawaii, to I abaudon ail reil or ostensib!e i protection of that govermnent, 1 and. finally, to eall un the provisional government to return the booty whieh by onr aid it had ! sncceede«I in gaining. To do ! tbis was the aim and scope of the ; po!icy. This is tlie exact nie.isuro of our duty as ex- | prossed in Secretary Oresham’s ; ! report of October 13. 1893. to tlie | Presideut. aiul in the Piesideut’s I message to Congress of the aame I date anel Secretary Gresham’s first instructions to Minister j Willia of tbe same date, as well t i ns the more exphcit instrnctious '• !of December 3. 1893. This is ; I likewise the policy faithfully ■ ‘ carfied out by Mi»iister Willis in all his dealings witli t»e Queen | and the provisioual govermner.t ,—a policy whieh, of course, eame to n natnr il close wilh the refusal ; { of the provisional g »vernraent to accede to the dera md and urgi ency o? our govermuent. ( Partia:ins nnd Jing\ists mny i | decry tbis policy and style it the [ ; policv of infuny, bnt the irap-ir- j tial jiulgment «nd tbe instrncted conscience <>f the worM, as well i as of the American people, will honor mul »pplaud it. To descant. >is so many do, on . the alleg»M imraorality of the : Qdeen. or on the fact that the i success of Pres : dent Cleveland's i eff.»rts wonkl have restored a monaieh. is utterly beside the mark By the clear precej'ts of : all international law onr governn»ent bas not tbe least eoneem with the personal character of a fore ; gn ruier, or with the form of governmeut of a foreign nation. and it is proper to sav here that the evidence doea uot snstain, but tends to negitive. tbe accusations made agatnst theQaeen’s [ character. 1 Wnen it is said tbe President bas been eng>tged in the otfensive ttsk of tr>’ing restore a mon- | archy, it is well to ask whnt sort of a govemment now exists in Hawiii. Tbe Q*i©eo s goverument was certainly » high!yi liraited coustitutioual raonarchy. . but what is the provisional gov- ; ernment? A tnero junta n bald . i oligarcy, an unrestrained desot- * ism, set up and inaint.iined with- | oat the siua!lest reference to the I consent o{ the governed. Noth- j iog more nnrepablican or un-1 | Auerican aao be conceived of. Phiiimom describes interoa- | I tionai law as “tbe eonnenk of ! uations tbings whieh are i naturallv — that is, by the law of j God —biuding opon them,’* and ! Woolsey declares it to be "the expression nf the juni and moral retation ol States t«» one another ” ; Never, in my judgmont, were! tbese lofty conceptions of tb»t i law more faithfally and cooarage ous!y ap:»lied and illastrated than , ia the daal)ogs of tbe j»pe*eat , I witg ia» 1