The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1893-06-16
Ex- Minister Stevens and His "Re-
marks"

nav WdS RESdJ SlIOhe VI ueWS-
paper enterprise on the part of the
Hawaiian jingos to print the ere
marks of ex-United States Minister
John l.. Stevens on his arrival at San
Francisco, after terminating his Off
cial services at Honolulu" as San
Francisco special], dated May 81.
This precious special is as precious
a piece of humbug as ever wore the
doves white feather to mask the
ravens. For more than week these
remarks as made by ex-Minister
Stevens on his arrival at San Fran
cisco yesterday have been lying in
print in every lingo newspaper office
in the United States. The remarks
were sent by the steamer that pre-
coded the man who was to deliver
them and the United States mail did
the delivering while yet ex-Minister
Stevens was on the ocean not half
seas over. This by way of preface.
AS for the remarks of ex-Minister
Stevens themselves they are as re-
markable deliverance as ever came
from an ex-diplomat. Heretofore
we have seen this singular person
age in dim perspective. Now, by
this grandiloquent effort, he is
brought before us as distinctly as a
highly-colored poster on board
fence. His amazing self-sufficiency,
his ignorance of the American for
eign policy, his disregard of peo-
pies rights, make him about the
queerest specimen of Minister that
is to be found in our rather queer
collection.
Mr.. Stevens had not been in Ha-
waii long before he discovered that
there was need of a change Of gov
eminent. He was much shocked at
the conduct of the Queen for one
thing. Pondering over her loose
ways he shook his head wisely and
thought this must not be-" Then
came the lottery scandal. We give
an excerpt from the remarks" a
little gem from which their general
character may be judged: "Both
she and the little ring of adventures
who surrounded her expected thus
to get the money to carry on the Gov
eminent by making Honolulu a fort
ress of gamblers and semi-pirates
amid the ocean, from which they
could by every mail steamer to the
United States send out the poisoned
billets of chance, by which to rob
the American people of their mil
lions-a method of gaining silver
and gold as wicked and audacious
as the freebooters who once estab.
lished themselves in the West India
seas and made piratical forays on
American commerce."
If the reader has caught his breath
after this outburst he will probably
reflect that the wicked Queen would
cut comical figure in trying tc
overreach the American people by q
lottery game. He will remember
that the lottery flourished in an
American State for over twenty
years, that the scheme was taken
from this country to Hawaii and
that its demoralizing influence
spread not from the simple islanders
but from an association of our OWL
crafty countrymen. The picture Of
the half-naked, half-civilized, pitt
ably weak and harmless Hawaiian:
descending like pirates upon this
unhappy land with their "billets O.
chance" and robbing us of our mil
lions, is one of the finest flights o.
fancy in all literature.
AS the clouds thickened Mr.. Ste
vens' responsibilities began to lie
heavy upon him. IIe saw clearly
that his was higher calling thar
that of mere Minister, that he wa:
not only representative of the
United States Government, but al
umpire chosen by fate to settle the
affairs of nations. Hence his inter
est in Hawaii was not that of a di
plomat who does not take sides il
the internal discussions of a coun
try, but that of monitor, censor
and partisan. Having made up hi.
mind that the Government to which
he had been accredited was semi
barbaric, semi-heathen and grossly
spurious and that it's reconstruction
was his special business, he stucl
close to Honolulu. But in All un
guarded moment, when betrayed by
a sense of security, he sought relax
dJlOu lOT low udyS III Trip TO hll(
and upon his return found the CAPT
tai on the eve of a revolution
That he was in hearty sympa
thy with the revolutionists j!
plain enough from his exaggerated
praise of the Provisional Govern
ment, and there can be no doubt
after reading his own language, thai
he called for men from the Bosto1
quite as much to support that Gov
eminent as to protect the lives anC
property of Americans.
The real points at issue are entire
ly ignored in this bombastic screed
and such argument as there is seem
to be based upon the idea that it il
our right and duty to take possession
of any poorly governed countr,
after we have decided that it's PEG
pie are not fitted for self-govern
ment. 1t is good that Mr.. Steven
has come home. His soaring spiri
is not for the humble office of Unitec
States Minister. 1t was kind also O
him to send his remarks" on in ad