The sun., 1893-12-08

1t Is a good augury for the maintenance
Of the constitutional partition OF powers
between the Legislature and the Executive
that the Senate should have passed. with
out division, the resolution calling for all
the papers Of the Hawaiian business.
Tho speech OF Mr.. MILLS would have been
relevant. II the President In his message
had requested Congress to exercise the
war-maklng power reserved to it by the
Constitution. and to authorize the Execu.
tive to overthrow by force. or a threat OF
force, the Government which is established
at Honolulu. and which has been repeatedly
recognized by the United States and other
foreign nations. No such request has yet
been made. and therefore the question
whether q wrong was done by the HARRISON
Administration in January last in Homo
lulu. and the further question whether such
a wrong. II committed. ought now to be re-
dressed by the perpetration Of another. have
not as yet been forced upon the attention
Of Congress.
1t is another and a very different
question that the people are determined
that Congress shall at once investigate.
the question. namely. whether the Execu-
tive has been guilty OF usurping funct ions
belonging to the Legislative branch OF the
Government The demand for the papers
was prompted solely by the suspicion that
such q usurpation has been contemplated.
IL not accomplished: suspicion founded
on the published recommendations OF Sec
retary GRESHAM and. to certain extent.
confirmed by the ambiguous tenor of u pas
sage in the Presidents message. The sus-
picion Is one OF the gravest that have ever
attached to the conduct of President for
the question whether Mr.. CLEVELAND has
unlawfully and surreptitiously undertaken
to wrest the war-making power from the
depositary prescribed by the Constitutions Is
OF incomparably greater moment to the
American people than is the course which
the Congress may eventually decide to pur-
sue toward the Hawaiian Government. 1t
would be better that the Hawaiian Islands
we're sunk beneath the ocean than that
the Congress should. for one instant. tolerate
the transfer to the Executive Of function
80 pregnant with portentous possibilities
as Is the war-making power.
1t was. of course. because the Senate
recognized the primary duty OF determin-
ing whether the rights OF Congress had
been threatened with infringement. that
the Hawaiian resolution passed without a
division. 1t is noteworthy that. with one
exception. no Democratic Senator ven
tured to assume In advance that the Presi-
dent had never contemplated. in the Ha-
wailan business. violation of the Consti-
tuition. The exception was Mr.. Villas OF
Wisconsin, who. rushing in where wiser
members OF his party hesitated to tread,
asserted boldly but vaguely, that, "for
what the President had done. and for what
he had instructed his Minister to do he had
ample. and complete. and perfect author
ity." We suspect that the Incorporate
and pleonastlo zeal of Mr.. Villas struck the
Senatorial leaders Of his party as too pre-
vious. and that he may have privately re-
eeived the rebuke administered on a we'll
known occasion to a hyperoficious parti-
san, that he was "too unanimous and
sloshed around too much" To cautious and
men it may well have seemed
exasperatlng to hear Mr.. Villas profess to
know that. for everything the President
has done. he has "ample. and complete, and
perfect authority" when every thoughtful
friend of Mr.. CLEVELAND is racking his
brains to discover some faint shadow OF
precedent or justification. should 1t turn
out that the President, without the previous
sanction OF Congress. has ordered Minis
ter WILLIS to perpetrate an act OF war
It was his perception of the impossiblllty |
Of defending Mr.. CLEVELAND. should his |
to WILLIS reveal an infringe |
ment OF the power vigorously confined to |
Congress, that drove Mr.. MILLS, when the |
Hawaiian resolution came up. TO discuss |
he wholly irrelevant question whether it |
6ould hereafter be expedient for Congress |
% authorize the overthrow Of the Hawaiian |
Mr.. MILLS knows. what Is |
latent TO every competent lawyer In both |
Houses OF Congress. that il Mr.. CLEVELAND |
las usuTped the war-making power in the
hawaiian matter. his act Is not susceptible
i any excuse or extenuation. The Presi-
lent had ample time to request the assent
II the Federal legislature 10 ths overthrow
Il the Hawaiian Government. before ths !