New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-12-07
THE PP1NES OF THE P1R4NOTNTS.

THE FRANKS OF THE PARANOTNTS
| 1t is not TO be wondered at that the President
and Mr. Gresham are nervous at the dictatorlal
declarations of Minister Willis well rs at
his delay in action. In what he unwsely says
and in what he wisely refrains from doing he
is making them ridiculous. For their policy OF
Interference is founded on the theory that inter-
ference is wrong and unlawful. and yet here is
| their Minister prcclamng his purpose to Quito
all that they allcge against Mr.. Stevens What
tangle of Inconsistency and contradiction they
have snarlcd themselves in. They send out
special commissioner with an unlawful com
mission empowering him to be superior in a'l-
thorty TO that officer whose high powers could
only be conferred by the joint act Of the Excc'l-
| tive and the Senate Can part be greater
than the whole? If it takes both President ana
Senate to make Minister. can one OF them
make an official greater than the Minister!
| But. casting the Constitution contcmptnouSiy
| aside. they tell this commissioner that he IS
| paramount" they place the Minister the Con
| su-Gcneral and the Navy under his sole direc-
| ton. they give him full discretion and power
to determine when naval forces should be land
ed or withdrawn and then they charge him
to such measures as are necessary TO protect
| the persons and property Of our citizens mat
he must abstain from any manner OF inter
ference with the domestic concerns OF the
islands" and that the United States claim no
right to interfere in the political or domestic
affairs or in the internal conflicts Of the iia-
waiian Islands
| With these instructions the commissioner goes
| to Honolulu and finding the American nag
floating there and American troops paradng
to signify our Minister'S intention 10 preserve
al things as they are until 1lawaiis application
| TO be admitted 10 the American Vnion has been
acted on, he pulls down the flag and sends the
troops TO their ships Then he reports TO Mr.
Cleveland that the revOlutOnists had succeed
ed in dethroning tile Queen because our Min
| lister had landed troops ostensbly 10 protect
! American property. but really TO give moral
backing TO the revolution. and on that report
though denied by Mr.. Stevens, by the naval
commander by the Hawaiian Government and
by all other credible witnesses, Mr.. Cleveland
decides that it was our interference beyond
all question which destroyed the monarchy,
and that, 10 prove that it was wrong. we must
interfere again. Thereupon he sends ont an
other Minister charged TO do Il second time
what he says it was wrong and unlawful to do
the first, and this Minister, arriving at his post
discovers there some food for reflection AMI
pauses TO chew and digest 1t. lie suddenly per-
| ceiyes that il is a war and not game of ten
| pins that he has on his hands, and he wants
time to think. Perhaps he becomes confused
in the effort to soc how he is going TO destroy
| the existing Government and 10 establish an
other in its place without interfering in the
political or domestic affairs or in the Internal
conflicts Of the Hawaiian Islands - which Mr..
Cleveland has charged his predecessor - the
United States claim no right 10 do" Perhaps
he gets bewillered trying TO figure ont how he
is going TO abstain from any manner Of inter
ference with the domestic concerns Of the
islands ana at the same time tear down their
Government and force on them dep0scd
Queen.
| He pauses, therefore. and sends home for
more wiedom from the fount Of ALL and, mean
while, bright idea strikes him. He will com
promise He won't make war; nor smash the
Government, nor declare for the Queen, but he
will announce his superiority over all
transitory and merely mundane powers. lie
will be more paramount than BlOunt. SO he
1 tells the Hawaiians that he is duly celebrating
on their destiny. and comforting with Il being
whose behests it Is the chief end of man to
obey. that he will presently make known 10
| them the will OF this utterly august and pre-
eminent parsonage, and that meanwhile ii any
body does anything he will stop him. This Is
history as literally as ii can be written. Are
our servants out of their minds! DO they under
| stand their responsibility? Have they any CON
ception of public law and the relations Of Gov
crnmcnts: Do they know anything about the
Constitution of the United States and the lin
itations il imposes on their authority and Oh
1 their use Of our sovereignty? These are not
such questions as we like TO address 10 an
American President but they are necessary.
Never I'm our Nations history has IL been placed
| i'm n position so absurd so humiliating as the
one into which the personal and partisan ma
| levolcnce of Grover Cleveland, Walter O. Gresh
am and James H. Blount has got IL now And
they are without the shadow Of excuse. They
have acted from no worhicr motive than 10 in
| lure the preceding Administration. and now
/ they calmly tell the Nation that when they
| hnye committed IL TO a fragrant injustice and
unlawftIy used its forces to make war on a