The Coconino weekly sun., 1893-12-28
MINISTER STEVENS.
Ills Reply to the Message of tho Presi- dent-He Gives Ills Views on the Has waiian Affair.

Only once in our political history has ma jorty of tho congress of the United States solemnly resolved in favor of impoaching the occupant of the executive chair Probably ft was well that the effort to remove Andrew Johnson from his once was arrested just on the brink Of success The great reluctance Of the conservative men of the country to remove the chief executive for abuse of power seems to have encouraged President Cleveland to resort to the extraordinary measure of overturnIng the provisional government Of Hawaii. while as much as possible concealing his arbitrary design from the American congress and people. Look at the historical facts dispassionately and no one will deny that the lines of usurpa- tion and injustice on which President Cleve- land and he secretary of state have acted since March last, coupled with the ex psrte course of Commissioner Blount relative to the accepted testme 7 of Lilioukalani's fallen and corrupt ministers, are more sweeping and more hostile to Anglo.Saxon liberty than the acts of George the Third and the Lord North ministry, which drove the American colonies to success full revolt President Cleveland's recent special message in which he so severely criti- cises the course of the recent American min ister at Honolulu is but feeble repetition of Secretary Gresham's statements In my an- swer to Blount's report showed exclusively, as did Minister Thurston and other thoroughly responsible witnesses have shown, that the allegations in that report against the offlcial conduct of Capt Wiltse and myself are grossly unlrue are in manifest antagonism to all the reasonable probabilit and logic of the situation in Honolulu in January last
 Irepeat here what has been amply verified again and again, that neither by force nor the threat of force nor by any action Of mine was the fall of the monarchy precipitated From the time entered on my duties as the head of the United States legation to the termination Of my official responsibility, maintained the determination to call on the naval commander for aid only in the event that American life and property was in danger. Cautiously but form. ally, perhaps sometimes too silently, l made this my fx'd rule of action, not only to the representatives of the queen but to the leaders of the parties who saw no safe alternative for the welfare of
 the islands but in the abolishment Of the mon- archy. If President Cleveland sees fl | to make a point against my official conduct that months before the events of last January had advo- | cated annexation. he deliberately and purpose. ly conceals that which said in my dispatch in Novem Der, 1899, was confidential statement | 10 the state department of the true condi ion of affairs in Hawaii report of facts by which the established ruleS and practice Of diplomacy | was in duty bound to make to my government At that date my opinions were so privately held that both in Honolulu and California 1t
 
 10 annexation For months prior 10 the date l Of this dispatch there had been continual struggle between the legislature and the queen as to their respective rights regarding tho con. stiiution and the responsibility Of cabinet min | isters after the ministry had been appointed in defiance of the votes of the legislature and re- | sponsibility of public opinion The queen, her immor al favorite, Wilson, and the lottery ring, | openly defled the legis ature and the property hp1d of tha ha rlya a self possession ef the respectable and responsi. | ble men of the islands prevented au outbreak | and the overthrow of the monarchy at an early day
 | But when the queen and her fsvorite, VII. | son, ielded by the appointment of the Jones' | Wilcox cabinet men of the highest respectable | ity and responsi oility, eighty three of them men of wealth, wishing not for office. confiden'
 italy reached the conclusion, as the close of | the legislature was near, that this ministry | would be able to carry on the government for | the following eighteen months and until the election of a new legislature. In this belief 1 left Honolulu in the United States steamer | Boston Januari 1, on a trip 10 Hilo 2So miles | from Honolulu the first time for many months | when had deemed it safe to leave Honolulu. | n the ten days of my absence l had known | no more Of what had tTanspired on Honolulu | thun though had been at the time in Wash l ington. Capt Wiltse and myself. on the Dos' | ton arrived at Honolulu in the forenoon of July | IA. was comple telT taken by surprise at what the queen, the palace associates and the lottery | gang had accomplished in ten days The re
 monstrances of the chamber Of commerce., oi
 the numerous petitions of some of the best | people of the islands, both whites and natives | and the earnest pleadingS of those who had
 previously adhered to the 'nlonarchy, had beer | detantly disregarded
 I found the city in great excitement and | learned that for many days there had been an | obvious desire for the return Of the Boston | and this desire was strong among the more | thoughtful supporters of the monarchy as vel l as among the great body of the responsible
 citizens The surgIng irresistible tide Of reyo | lution was then obvious 10 all persons not will | fully blind I attempted to gain access to the queen and try by friendly advice to stop the
 trouble. It was too late The mobs of roya
 retainers were already gathering to the palace | to aid the queen to carry out her plan of over | turning the constitution. What took place al
 the palace that afternoon ot January IA ended
 the Hawaiian monarchy forever
 | Chief Justice Judd who has held his office l for years, always conservative, supporter ot | the monarchy in a recent great public meeting 1 in Honolulu gives the following account as tc 1 how the monarchy fell: q will not here re | peat what before said to the American public | as to the falsity Of the charges that the Qu CT | was driven from her throne bJ American force: by the threat Of American force in any form ol | manner whatever At the landing of the Bos l ton marines January l6, they did what had | been done dur ng previous Hawaiian revolu | tion on the request of Minister Merrill, actlnG
 under the ClevelanG- Bayard order Aug |, 1889. At that time the legation was near the royal | palace at a less distance than the Arion hall | of which Cleveland and Blount speak of as SC
 commanding. Of the hall had never heard | until lodging place was needed for the
 marines after they had landed-a hall that have never yet seen. By an accurate map jus l received from Honolulu, 1t is obvious that this
 hall does not command the place. The presi I dents statement that the three points at which
 our small naval force was placed was not ia
 vorablv chosen for the protection of American l life and property is radically an error, as al | know who arc familiar with the map and the | buildings in Honolulu
 | That the Hawaiian mona chY was overturned | by the United States force was and is put fortf | for the sole purpose of bringing discredit ol
 the preceding admnistrat at Washington | and on the action Of the foreign rela ations com l mittee of the United States senate in favor O | annexation It remains to be seen if th' | American congress and people will approve tho | conspiracy to make war on the provisional gov ernment at Hawaii, and use military force | Of the United States or the diplomatic pressure | of the United Sta tes for the restoration Of l semi. barbarious queen in wanton defiance O | the best American opinions ami antecedents
 and by ap excessive use of executive powe
 against an American colony, more pernictous anC
 more inexcusable than which George TIL ant
 his ministers sought to impose on the American
 colonies that formed the government Of tho
 United States. JOHN l.. STEVENS.