The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1889-03-06
OUR San FRANCISCO LETTER
san Francisco, February I3, per Brig
Geo. H. Douglas.
lFrom our Special CORES PondentJ
American Affairs.

be Attorney General in HarrisOn's
Cabinet.
The Senate in secret session pass
ed the following bill Be IL enact
ed, etc, that there be and IS hereby
appropriated out of any money in
the Treasury not otherwise appro
priated the sum of $250,000 to en-
able the President to protect the in
terests of the United States and pro
vide for the security OF persons and
property of citizens of the United
States at the Isthmus of Panama, in
such manner as he may deem expe-
dent.
1t Is learned that the Senate Com
mittee on Foreign Relations has re-
ceived no news of any outbreak at
Panama, but deeming it best to be
prepared for any that might occur,
decided to ask for the passage of the
bill at once, as an independent meas
ure, rather than risk the delays and
uncertainties attending an amend
ment to an appropriation bill. 1t Is
understood that it has been deemed
wise by the authorities of the United
States, Great Britain and other ma
tiOns having a large number of their
citizens employed on the Panama
Canal, to arrange for bringing them
home, in case of a wholesale dis
charge, and not to suffer them to re
main on the isthmus in restitution
and want. To provide for this, the
amount Of the appropriation was in
creased from 100000 to S25O,OOO.
There was but Slight opposition to
the passage of the bill.
General Alger states that he does
not expect to go into President Har-
rison's Cabinet; that he has not So
licited the position, and does not
know that General Harrison has serl-
Ously considered his name at any
time.
Mckinley of Ohio thought the
next Secretary of the Treasury would
be Ex-Governor Foster of Ohio. Elk
Senator Plat told friend that he
thought New York would be passed
over in the make up of the Cabinet.
The Navy Department has been
informed of the death Of Rear Adj
miral Chandler, commanding the
Asiatic Squadron, at Hongkong, Of
apoplexy.
The Samoan Trouble.
It is not believed in Berlin that
the Samoan conference can meet pc
fore the end of April, as it is unlikely
that the American commissioners
will be chosen until after Harrison is
inaugurated.
The statements of Sewall, Ameri-
can Consul at Samoa, with regard to
the affairs In those islands, have met
with little more than contemptuous
Indifference in Berlin.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Sewall at
Washington talks freely in regard to
the proposed Samoan conference.
Among other things, he says: ''COn-
slider the genesis of the conference it
is proposed to renew. 1t was sum-
moned by our Secretary of State,
assembled at our capital on an &C
knowledged basis of the equality of
rights of the three treaty powers, of
which we were the first. It's object
was the preservation of Samoan
autonomy, upon which all our ma
tiOnal and commercial interests in
Samoa depend. While the confer
ence was yet uncOncluded, with no
notice to this Government, German
ships went to Samoa and took pos
session of the islands, in violation of
the understanding on which the
pending negotiations were proceed
ing. If the conference is to be re-
newed at all, it should be renewed
under conditions as favorable to Us
as those which attended it's initia-
ton. The status ante conferendum
should be first restored, and Male
tOa, for whose deposition we are
morally responsible, should be re-
turned from exile, and it should
meet here, where it was interrupted
and where our representative would
be free from the peculiar influences
now at work at Berlin.
But were the suggestions of Sec
rotary Bayard in his letter to the
German Minister made conditions
precedent to the reassembling of the
conference, we might even then enter
upon the conference with something
of our national dignity saved. He
suggests truce in Samoa, but does
not insist upon it. The position
maintained in the conference by
| Bayard has not, I believe, been
| criticized. That the independence
of the islands should be maintained
and equality of rights Of commerce
and navigation secured for the sub
jects of the treaty powers, was agreed
upon. Our rights are not enlarged
by this, but only confirmed. But
having secured this recognition OF
our rights, Bayard rested, and it is
because of this-because pending the
conference he submitted to a viola
ton of these rights-that he has
been criticized"
Canadian Annexation.
That willy old fox, Sir John Mac
donald, has a scheme to beat the an
nexationists. Knowing that if be
waits for the regular election in 1892
the progress of the annexation seuti-
ment will overwhelm him, he has de
cided to appeal to the country at
once on this question, knowing be
can secure an easy victory, under
cover of which he can retire from
the government with flying colors
and with the annexation party ban
daging a very black eye. To furnish
an excuse for this one of his adher-
ents will demand of the Liberal Que