St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-11-22

full comprehension of the conse-
quences OF the course he pursued. II
he had devoted himself assiduOusly to a
study Of the question for two months he
would, perhaps, have been able to COM
prehend it. That he manifested such
indecent haste IN going to the assistance
OF the revolutionists is sufficient con-
demnation. He is self f. convicted of
nasty ana lll.considered action in mat
Ter OF the grayest consequence mat
ter involving the lives, the property, the
civil and religious rights of an entire
nation.
"a But MIR. Stevens was not alone in mis-
haste to recognize the revolutionary
government. 1t appears that the ma
tional administration, at the head of
which was Benjamin Harrison, was sat
lsfled with an eX-parte statement of the
case. and recognized the rebels before
official notice of the establishment of
the provisional government had reached
Washington. No effort was made, APP
parently. to ascertain the facts. The
representatives of the queen arrived in
Washington as soon as steam could
carry them, but when they reached the
executive department they found the
damage already done, the outrage con-
summated. They had no course left but
to enter their protest against being
judged and condemned without a hear
ing. Two months elapsed after the
uprising at Honolulu before the HarrI-
son administration surrendered control
or the government, but during that
time no effort was made to ascertain the
true inwardness of the revolution. The
president and his advisers were content
to accept unquestioned the statements
of those concerned in the rebellion.
They seemed to think the queen and
her subjects had no rights which the
United States government was bound
to respect, and studiously ignored all
who attempted to speak on their behalf.
The same indecent haste to recognize
the provisional government was dis
played at Washington as was manifest
ed by Minister Stevens, and, without the
inquiry that would be devoted to the adj
Judication of a case of petty larceny in
police court, a friendly government
was overthrown and its powers trans
ferred to a junta OF alien adventures
1t Is noticeable that IN all the dis
cuSSion Of this affair there is no word
said by the NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. organs
about the rights of the native population
of Hawaii. They are entirely ignored;
not n thought is bestowed upon them.
While a great deal is said of what the
American and the English residents de-
mand, there is no hint of what the de-
sires Of the Kanakas may be. And yet
these people constitute four-fifthS of the
entire population. Are not their
wishes entitled to some respect, or have
they no rights which our government is
bound to respect? There is great
moral question here, even if its political
aspects shall be ignored.
When the relations of the two powers
towards each other come before congress
for adjudication, many phases that now
are obscure will he made plain. 1t will
then be shown that Minister Stevens
not only transcribed his authority in
recognizing the revolutionary junta,
but that President Harrison and his
associates acted upon ex-parte testimony
and were guilty in conseQ uence of an
unwarrantable interference with the
affairs of nation with which we are at
peace, thereby perpetrating wrong
dISgraceful alike to nineteenth century
civilization and to the eternal principles
of Justice