Ka Leo o ka Lahui, Volume II, Number 199, 22 May 1891 — OUR FOREIGN REPRESENTATION. [ARTICLE]

OUR FOREIGN REPRESENTATION.

In Leo, we began a little plain talk to our Minister of Foreign Affairsabout those rumored appointments of Hawaiian representatives abroad. namely our Minister in Washmgton and our Consul in San Francisco. On the first point it seems that things are not quite as we apprehended them, in this mueh that the "wise" resignation of Mr. Carter is not yet such a "fait aeeompli" as it had been represented but we Btill hope it will be so before long. We all knew here, the nature, of the rendered by Mr. H. A. P. Car'er, during the ineumbency whieh entrusted him with the delicate mission of representing Hawaii abroad, and the least said about them the best; he ean ffe characterised in two words: he is a worthy brother of the great i£ coming man" Joe, and that is all! The only really popular act of Mr. Carter, as already stated īn the Leo, will be his resignation, whieh will be regretted only by the planters, —and the American planters at that, —whoee subservient tool he always was; Mr. H. A. P, Carter has i>eeii the faithful representative •f one class only, uot of the masses, not" of the Hawaiian people, and specially he never represented any of the naticnal and patriotic sentiments who wish Hawaii for the Hawaiians; he never cared for the preservation of our independence, and if ex Minister Austin had not. sacrificed himself manfully and generouslv, sooner than to deliver np to the Foreign Committee of the Legislature all that interesting 4l private" correspondeßce on public matte.rs from Washington, it would have been shown how Mr. Carter was a complaisant tool to the planters' selfishnesß and to Mr. Blaine's ambitious dreams; it would have established also what was the nature of the semi-official suggestions to our government as regards independence. If Hawaii is still an autonomous power, it is not Mr. Carter's fault, and the history of the last attempt at that treaty with the u troop clause" if ever written, will settle Mr. Carter's political character. Now the difficulty for thegovernment will be to choose a w»rthy man in Mr. Carter'fl plaee, a man fitted for such a dehcate and reeponeihle position, who will avoid falling into Mr. Carter'g errerB and becoming ljke him instrument U monied and the selectipn will bē all the, more difficult if~as it ia asserted, —the Am«rieah G»verm»ent have expressed tbe : degir#-4hi>t iio other m&n »hou!d be appointed but & natite of the lslands. a wiah is & •prbof of the pr&cticil eense and of the kind wiēhes of th* powers at Washington, for it has been * great misfortune for Hawaii, to have been too often aud too loi>g £npres;Mited a"broid by toreigners, who be mbued w.th the tjue »eeiiogB and of &

patriotic native, and have always been mere puppets of monied rings and family cor»pacts. The troublo is that men of the talent, tact, fortune and education required by the position are rather scarce here among the imtive born, and proba« bly *#he very best that could be suggestēd, would be our present Minister of Foreign Affairs himself if, as a true Hawaiian, he could bē spared here, but he cannot. The late minister Cummins be mentioned if he were willing to spend the money for obtaining a good private secretary to supply him with the intelligehce and educa- j tion of whieh he is la<iking. Mesers. Nawahi, laukea, Rosa and others, are also good very names, though n©t absolutely perfect for the necessities of the plaee; finally among the foreigners Hawaiian born, we could mention the Judges Judd and Dole, the first one eepeeial suited by his edncation, knowledge of public affairs and general inteiligence, if he eoukl only put aside his narrow prejudices, his bigotted religious notions And his partiality for our nefarious family compacts. Other names might also be suggested, on whieh we shall make future cōinmentary, but one thing must be borne in miud by the selectinjy power and this is that their principal object must be to obtain aa honest man, for the reason that the diplomatic and intellectual importance of the position in Washington will be greatly reduced by the fatal anel unavoidabl« shifting of our commercial relations over t© Canada and Australia. The consulship m San Franciseo is a situation of busiuess imp©rtance. The present mcambent has succeeded in dissatisfying all the commercial men whose business is obliged to pass through his hands. j On the other hand he was only appointed and afterwards maintained in office on account of his being the brother of the Mclvinle_y ef tariff fame and consequently as a means of ingratiatmg the Hawaiian interests with the senator. It had been foolishly repeated here that so long as McKinley sr. was our consul, we had nothiug to fear from the tariff; but now tlie facts havc answered a*d every one ean see of what use, or better of what utter uselessness, brother MGKinlev has | been to our interests, so that there i is now no more reason to keep | such an unpopular man in the c«n-! sulate. Who ought to be the euecessor? Most likely family eomrpacts will unfortunately have more weight in the m&tter than eommon reaBon and of practical fitnesB. And yet the only i requiremetit for the office is prac-! tical commercial ability. The i very best ehoiee that c«uld be sug- i gested would be that of the present secretary or chief-clerk' bf the For-1 eign Office, who was onee a brilli- i ant ai)d eapahle 4 'attache" to th« American consular corps, but who by marriage in Haw&ii, hat heeone more Hawaiian than Am- i ericau. Mr*. Hastings cimbines in hii»Belf clerical anjl busine§s eapaoity with valuable exjperienee of the worK of the ofiice, together with the highesj( v integfity, se that. better than any other man, he eoulil make the office in Ba»t Francisco fully what it ought to be. An«ther goi»d name would be that ofCapt.' Ross, whilst C. P. laukea would be a very # suitab!e native cAndidate. Moro anon.