The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1893-12-21
REPLY TO CLEVELAND
Another Sharp Letter from Ex-
Minister to Hawaii Stevens.
Some Of the Presidents Statements
Flatly Contradicted and Others
Sharply Criticised.
AN INFAMOUS CONSPIRACY
There Is Nothing i'm American
History More Shameful,
Mr.. Stevens Says, than the Attempt to
Restore LiliuOkalani and Crush
Out Liberty in Hawaii.
CHARGES GROSSLY UNTRUE
WiltSe and Stevens Had No Hand
in the Revolution.
Both We're Absent from Honolulu for
Ten Days Before the Outbreak, and
Knew Nothing About 1t.

AUGUSTA, Me-, Dec. 20.-Ex-Minister
Stevens tonight made the following reply
to President Cleveland's message and his
criticism of Mr.. Stevens's official conduct:
only once in our political history has a
majority of the Congress of the United
States solemnly resolved in favor of i'm
peaching the occupant of the executive
chair. Probably it was well that the eff
fort to remove Andrew Johnson from his
office was arrested just on the brink of
success. The great reluctance Of the con-
sentative men of the country to remove the
chief executive for abuse of power seems to
have encouraged President Cleveland to re-
sort to the extraordinary measure of over
turning the provisional government of Ha-
wall, while as much as possible concealing
his arbitrary design from the American
Congress and the American people.
Look at the historical facts dispassion-
ately, and nc one will deny that the lines
of usurpation and injustice on which Presi-
dent Cleveland and the Secretary of State
have acted since the 7th of March last.
coupled with the ex parte star chamber.
course of Commissioner Blount relative TO
the accepted testimony of Liliuokalanfs fall
en- and corrupt Ministers are more sweep
ing and hostile to Anglo Saxon liberty than
the acts of George III and the Lord North
Ministry which drove the American colonies
to successful revolt.
There is nothing in American history
more shameful in it's scope of injustice and
tyranny than the attempt of President
Cleveland and Secretary Gresham to crush
out liberty and American interests in Ha-
wall by the threat to restore the extinct
Io.-otfo ,.o,,rob~r ~ fo~c0 50 or-,c -
by diplomatic chicanery and pressure
more infamous, if possible, than the use of
ball and bayonet.
President Cleveland's recent special mes
sage in which he so severely criticises the
course of the recent American minister at
Honolulu is but a feeble repetition of the
statement of Secretary Gresham, previously
published. In my answer to Blount's re-
port. extensively published in the United
States. 1 showed conclusively, as Minister
Thurston and other thoroughly responsible
witnesses have shown, that the allegations
in that report against the official conduct
of Captain Wlltse and myself are grossly
untrue, are in manifest antagonism to all
reasonable probabilities and the logic of the
situation in Honolulu in January last. Pres
ident Cleveland's grossly untrue and shame
fully unjust allegation against myself and
the naval commander rests entirely on the
statements Of the VIGOROUSLY corrupt Min
listers of the fallen Queen. of Wilson. the
Queens f~avorite, and other thoroughly dis
credited testimony.
CLEVELAND CONTRADICTED.
81 repeat here, and it has been amply
verified again and again, that neither by
force nor by threat Of force, nor by any
action of mine, was the fall of the mon
archy precipitated. From the hour which
1 entered On my duties at the head OF the
United States legation to the termination
of my official responsibility 1 maintained
the determination to call or the naval
commander for aid only in the event that
American life and property were in dan
ger. Cautiously, but firmly, perhaps some
times too silently, / made this my fixed
rule Of action, not only to the representa-
tives of the Queen. but TO the leaders of
the parties who saw no safe alternative
for the welfare of the islands but in total
adjustment of the monarchy.
IF President Cleveland sees fit to make
a point against my official conduct. that
months before events Of last January /
had advocated annexation, he deliberately
conceals that what 1 said in my dispatch
i'm November, 1892. was a confidential state
ment to the Department of State OF the
true condition of affairs in Hawaii, a re-
port of facts which. by the established
rules and practice Of diplomacy, 1 was in
duty bound to make known to my govern
ment. At that date my opinions were so
privately held that both in Honolulu and
California it was believed that the Amer
lean minister was averse to annexation.
For months prior to the date of this
a. - l~l
gle between the Legislature and the Queen
as To their respective rights regarding the
constitution and the responsibilities of the
Cabinet Ministry after the Ministry had
been appointed in defiance of the votes of
the Legislature and of responsible public
opinion. The Queen, her immoral f~avorite,
Wilson, and the lottery ring, openly defed
the Legislature and the property holders
Of the islands. Only the remarkable self
possession of the respectable and respon-
sible men Of the islands prevented an out
break and the overthrow OF the monarchy
at an earlier day. The self-possession and
forbearance OF the men thus defied by the
monarchy and its parasites were remark
able, considering that they We're enduring
abuses and scandal which no American
city or Estate would tolerate thirty DAYS.
But when the Queen and her favorite.
Wilson, yielded by the appointment Of the
Jones-Wilcox Cabinet. men of the high
est responsibility and responsibility. three
of them men OF wealth, wishing not for
office. confidently reached the conclusion,
as the close OF the Legislature was near.
that the Ministry would be able TO carry
on the government safely for the follow
ing eighteen months and until the election
of a new Legislature.
I'm this belief l left Honolulu in the
steamer Boston Jan. 1 on a trip to Hilo,
25O miles from Honolulu. the first time for
many months when i had deemed 1t safe