Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1893-12-22
The Message Of the President.

The message c; Prcsidtn; Cleveland.
sent to Congress Monday. on the Ha-
waiian question, We apprchend, will
Great, quito a revolution in popular
sentiment. Probably on no matter
has the Administration been more
generally misunderstood than III his
treatment OF this important ques-
ton. In fact, but one side OF the mat
tor has hitherto been presented, the
former executive having acted III sym
pathy with Minister stevens, who it
seems had used all the influence o! his
position to encourage the revolt and
advance the scheme for annexation of
the islands 10 the United States. In
this proceeding he was, a. the President
states "nnt it4eet.reefiaaiieeiiiitt i strtpu-
lous" rs to the means employed for
the accomplishment OF that object.
The record shows that he had pre-
pared the authorities at Washington
for the chain Of circumstances which
SO rapidly followed the first overt act,
nearly year previously, and had sup
plemented it with repeated declara-
tons calculated to bring the scheme
within the range OF possibility during
the term OF that Administration. 1t
seems that he acted in close accord
with the committee of safety, and
used the United States forces to take
possession of the government of the
islands, without its consent. and after
the queen had relinquished the project
that had aroused discomfort - the
proclamation of q new constitution,
curtailing in some degree the priv
ileges of citizenship. The committee
OF safety, thirty in number, was Sc
lected by less than 100 citizens of
Honolulu, mostly resident aliens, but
this seemed quite enough to serve
Minister Stevens purpose. Then be.
gan the effort to rush the matter to a
consummation. In % days from the
Inauguration OF the scheme for annex
alton at Hawaii, the U. S. Senate, at
Washington, was in possession of the
treaty for annexation, and it would
have been ratified, doubtless, had not
the change Of Administration at WASH
ington brought to the front master
mind, able to discern a motive in such
precipitant action and with nerve
enough to call a halt until the full
facts should appear.
1t is narration of the facts reported
by Commissioner Blout that constitute
the gist of this message. Mr.. Cleve-
land ascertained from this report that
great wrong had been perpetrated
on Hawaii in the name of and by the
power of the United States. He found
that the provisional government owed
its existence to an armed invasion by
the United States. The surrender of
the queen was on condition that the
facts in the case should be reviewed by
this government.
The policy of the President, as con-
fided to Minister Willis, was to cid in |
the restoration of the island govern
ment to its status before the landing
OF the U. s. forces on the 10th of JAN
uary, with amnesty to those who had
taken part in setting up the provis-
ional government. This act of grace
was due from the fact that the insur-
gents had been misled by what ap.
peared to be the policy of this govern.
ment al that time.
The President having gone thus far,
his duty ceases. Should the effort to
right an obvious wrong be rejected by
the queen, she must rely upon her
own resources. 1t seems that nothing |
less, in justice, could be done by q |
strong nation to correct the mistake |
into which it had fallen in dealing
with weak one. Presidential media |
ton has been in great degree checked
by misunderstanding of the merits
OF the controversy, but now that the
facts are known, We believe that pop
ular sentiment will sustain the Exec
utive in all that he has done.
"NOT INcoNvENIENTLY SCRUPUL-
0Us."-President Cleveland seldom
submits a State paper, in which he