New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-08-26
THE HAWAIIAN TREATY,

THE HAWAIIAN TREATY.
Our friends Of the Picayune boast its
forty years Of "unwavering support Of
the people of Louisiana" small
hyphen, or quad, as We printers call it
during the rule of Major General Ben
jamin F. Butler, then commanding in
this military district. Yet We think this
''home institution" must have somewhat
abated its vigilance when it permitted
The stupid and Infamous legislation
which eliminated in the passage OF what is
known as the Hawaiian treaty"
To pass without the early remonstrance
and continued opposition of the peculiar
guardian of Southern honor and Southern
interest It recites that
The treaty was first smuggled through
the House without any intelligent under
standing of it's bearing or import.
1t is somewhat surprising that journal
which kept an "observer" at the mast
head at Washington during the past
session should not have had more cor
rect knowledge of legislative history.
The Hawaiian "treaty" could not have
been Struggled through the House, since
that body can have no constitutional
cognizance Of diplomatic contract. It
has been question much mooted whether,
when treaty has been negotiated by
the executive and Senate, there is
not an obligation upon the House Of Rep
resentatives to enact all the conditions
necessary to the ful6llment of the national
obligations. The treaty, however, did
not and could not have come before the
House of Representatives. It became
proper for the faldllment of that treaty
that the House Of Representatives, which,
under the constitution, can ''alone origin
ate bills for raising revenue, should SO
modify the tariff as to admit cert9in az
ticles, the growth or product of the Sand
wich islands, into the United States duty
free. This proposition came before the
House of Representatives in bill, No.
612-
To carry into effect convention between
the United States of America and his mai
esty the King of the Hawaiian islands,
signed on the thirtieth Of January, 1875.
The Picayune and the public will OBJ
serve that this treaty, signed more than
year ago, could have been no surprise to
any Representative, because such persons
are intrusted with the public interest,
have access to public Offices and records,
and have no excuse of ignorance. We
know that two Of our Representatives in
Congress upon the passage of the Hou-
mas land grant confirmation, testified pub
licly that they were not aware that con-
firmation of disputed titles had been
snaked in. These representatives were
excusable, because the purport of the act
was sedulously concealed. But it is 9th.
erwise as to the provisions Of treaty,
Of which it is the duty Of all Repre-
sentatlves to know the provisions, since
they may be called on to legislate them
into effect. We can not see, then, where
a treaty communicated to the House of
Representatives could be any more 'smug-
gled" into that body than our unfortunate
bills for the construction of railroad,
the reparation Of our levees, or the re-
establishment of our Mint could be said
to have been "smuggled" into Congress.
On the contrary, few bills have received
such repeated or such able discussions at
the hands of Representatives.
Mr.. Banks, of Massachusetts, classified
as Democrat, advocated the bill in one
of the most elaborate speeches on the
general commercial policy Of the govern
ment which we have ever read. Mr..
Tucker and Mr.. Thomas, Of Maryland,
opposed the bill, Mr.. Money and Mr..
Garfield advocated it, while the speech of
MIR. Gibson, Of Louisiana, charac-
terized by ability and zeal in the interests
of his constituency, although it did not
receive the justice of publication at the
time by either of the Democratic journals
of our city, manifested full notice and
for the measure. He was no
"bump on log" in that matter, as his
public action was satirically called by the
Times of the time. There was then no
surprise and no smuggling. If there was
mo intelligent understanding of the
bearing or import" of the convention
or of the free trade bill, then
were Messrs. Tucker, Banks, Gibson and
others incompetent to understand it them
selves or to make it comprehensive to
others. The convention was regularly in
troduced. The bill to give it effect was
fully. ably and fairly discussed, and the
bill was passed and sent to the Senate for
passage and for the ratification Of the con-
vention. fit becomes important to ad-
just the responsibility for the admission of
Sandwich rice and sugars-as if our sugar
was not sufficiently sanded at present
duty free, we ask an impartial public to
remember that to the Democratic Repre-
sentatives was committed the whole ques-
ton. If they determined to maintain
this protection to these Southern
staples, they could have done so by re-
fusing to modify the tariff as to the Sand
wich products. Had the Democratic
House stood by the protection to South
ern staples the convention with the King
Of the Sandwich Islands would have been
impotent and void. Now, if