The Daily bulletin., 1890-06-06

are compromising matters that muat
be kept III obscurity.
!. Having acknowledged that
the most Of the correspondence
about the Treaty between himself
and Mr.. Carter was in the shape not
OF confidential letters ~ generally
used in diplomatic circles, but Of
private personal letters, very sim
gular way for Minister to trent
public and diplomatic matters. Mr..
Austin, as shown by the steno.
graphic notes taken for us by Mr.,
Jones. distinctly refused tQ allow
the Committee 10 see those letters.
which be claims are his private pro.
pertv.
He finally condescended 10 pro-
mise one of Our committee an ab-
stract OF those letters in what may
coacern the Treaty, IL it wns pos.
sib!c for him to do SO. But of what
value those extracts would be, il we
are not able To compare them with
the originals. We fail to see. after
The showing that Minister Austin
made Of hi,nself y. tue time rumors
about the Treaty were first circu.
lated ia public. You will remember
that he positively denied, both to
the Press reporters and to the D.
plopatc Foreign Representatives.
that there was anything in the shape
OF proposed modification to our
Treaty with the United States; and
yet, at the very time be made this
denial, the foreign representatives
were all in possession of copies Of
the draft afterwards published by
the Government; and n similar
denial was made m San Francisco
by Mr.. Carter. II has been said
that diplomacy iS the art of hiding
and denying the truth, but We
find out here that, unless the diplC-
mats are ilrst-class deceiyers, which
ls not given 10 every man, the hest
diplomatic policy, rs Bismarck said,
is TO stick 10 the truth.
However, we cannot DISMISS this
part OF our Report, without cmpha-
sizing the fact that we, as Repre-
sentatives OF the Nation, consider il
to be a very singular notion, in n
public officer, such as the Minister
of Foreign Affairs, TO hold the opin-
ion that private correspondence on
State matters belongs to the !ndiNi-
| dual. Evidently Minister Austin con-
siders his incumbency to be tor his
own benefit, and the whole country TO
be o kind OF aranch which he can and
has the right 10 manage 10 suit him.
self and friends, and not tho Sovcr-
eign and people he is supposed 10
represent. We also further take
The liberty Of recommending Minis
Ter Austiu's views to tho meditation
Of all wouid-be politicians and dip!o-
| mats: any criminal action, any po.
Utica! or financial misdeneanor,
anything they want to keep in the
dark and withhold from the know
| ledge Of The People is simply to he
labelled ''privaie and personal, -
ard it vii! then nicely escape al! anu
every Investigation.
| These four rharges made ty your
committee against Minister Austin,
| would in some countries be quite
sufficient for clear case Of i'm.
peachmcht, bal your committee wi.!
limit Themselves TO say that, ut any
rate, they consider the Minister OF
Foreign Affairs in this matter guilty
OF .iisrcspect towards this House, in
trying To conceal documents (vhe.
thcr public or privatc) bearing OF
the very questions you had instruc'
cd Us 10 investigate. the result Oi
such concea!mcnt being that our re-
port cannot be ns conclusive - IL
might otherwise have been.
Now, from the perusai of the ey
plantations offered by the four Min
i,ters, together with that OF the oiii
cial documents placed on the tablt
ni this House by the Minister Vi
Foreign Affairs. all Of which arr
annexed to the present report, wt
shall try toreconstruct the history O.
the trtaly negotiations, although th'
first conclusion to be drawn from
the comparison OF the Ministeria
utternncas is the following, viz.
! that it hardly seems possible thai
!our Intelligent men who have made :
special study OF ony subject al
these four about the proposed treati
could ever differ so much in thei
rcco!lect!on- and statements OF many
Important points. 1t would TAXI
TOO much @! your valuable time Il
bring forth all the contradiction
that exist between those four sta.e
mcn.s, but rs We hope that all th,
documents will be published by or
der OF This honorable body, ever,
member will be able to judge to
himself, and We shall only offer
few remarks on the most Important
1t does not seem doubtful tha
for several months before Mr.. Car
ter's visit TO these Islands, the Min
listers had made up their minds Il
ask the United States for ne'
treaty, whether in the interest 0
the country or to protect themsc!ve
we cannot say. In the absence o
Il lao 1trn Il nd II "a.