Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1893-11-14
An Insult 10 the People.
Bangor Wing and Courier.


If anything were needed to complete the
feeling Of iistrust in and disgust for this
IN American administration, il would be
found in its avowed policy to use the power
Of the great Republic TO restore the rotten
monarchy 10 the Hawaiian islands. The
whole performance 10 of such an astonish-
ing character that it is not surprising TO fnd
the secretary of state forced into position
where it 10 necessary for him to discredit
the dead rs well as the living Witnesses in
order to reach his remarkable conclu-
| Hons. An ex-rebel was sent to Homo
lulu with an unwarranted commission that
gave to him paramount authority over
the regularly credited minister of the
| nited States. This Union hating repre-
sentative of an IN American administration
no sooner reached Honolulu than he or
dered the Stars and Stripes, hauled down, an
| act bitterly resented by every American
resident on the islands, as well as by the
practically unanimous sentiment of this
| country, and then proceeded to ingratiate
himself with the royalist party and hire
lings of the sugar king by whom he was
courted and wined and dined during his stay
nj Honolulu
He was manifestly sent to the islands to
seek for information that might be used as an
argument against the annexation policy of
the Republican administration and in favor
of the restoration of the corrupt government
of the Queen, and he persistently closed his
eyes and ears to all other evidence. Since
his return to this countr. his report has been
withheld from the people for all these weeks
while the secretary of state has been en-
ploying his legal experience to whip
it into wesk apology for the pre-
arranged course of the administration. The
report submitted to the President by the
secretary has all of the ear marks of cum
ming special pleader. hut it will not avail
with the great American jury which will
pass on this AMI other acts of the admins
tration as court of last resort.
When a question of veracity is raised as
between paramount" Biount, Minister
Stevens. or the lats Capt. Wiltse. whose
lips are now sealed in death caused largely
by the humiliation heaped upon him
by this administration, the American
people will not hesitate in their de
cision. Minister Stevens has received
the commentator of the patriotic
citizens Of this country in a manner as fiat
tering as it was merited for the admirable
Judgment displayed in the discharge of his
duties as the representative of the | nited
States, and for which he would have re-
ceived the thanks of any government of the
civilized world with the humilating excep-
ton of his own as administered by Grover
Cleveland and that recent convert to De
mocrscy. Walter q Gresham.
The whole course of the administra
ton in dealing with this most important
subject has been a travesty on the s0lu
ton and management of the public at
fairs of the country. Instead of recall
ing Minister Stevens when it was first
proposed to ignore all that had been done
toward gaining these islands as a part of
the territory of the United States an en-
tirely needless affront was put upon him by
the Illegal creation of another representa-
tive, who, while nothing more than a spe
cial commissioner of the President, was, in
direct violation of the Consultation, clothed
with unusual power. While he dasdle1
about on the islands, having as was re-
ported at the time very pleasant sojourh'
among the natives. who BOXED upon him a.
only trie lower than the President
himself, business was permitted 10 go to
ruin BY reason of the uncertainty that sur
rounded the future policy of the American
administration. Ia the meantime however,
the regularly accredited representative of tn
provisional government arrived in Wash
ington and was duly recognized. Thus it
was that the administration plotted the ruin
of the provisional government on the one
hand, while at the same time recognizing it
officially on the other.
If bloodshed follows, as it is liable to
on account of this inconsistent and mis-
leading course on the part of the Presi
dent and his advisers, they alone will he re-
sponsible. That, however, is a question
which he and his cabinet will have to an
swer to the Almighty. For the sacrifice of
this most important territory they will have
to answer to the American people, and as
evidence of what the verdict will be, it is
only necessary to quote the remark of the
Democratic Congressman who said it was
fortunate that this correspondence was with
held until after the elections, otherwise the
result would have been even more unan-
imous in condemnation of Democratic rule.