The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1893-12-20

MENT:
Mr.. Cleveland and Secretary Gresham
seem to have very vague ideas as to what
a provisional government is. One of their
principal grounds of attack on the pro-
visional government of Hawaii is that it
tary Gresham said in his letter to the Pres
ident: 'It is not claimed that a majority
of the people who have now the right to
vote under the Constitution of 1887 ever ia
vored the existing authority or annexation
to this or any other country" Mr.. Cleve-
land says in his message: 'The provisional
government has not sought to find a per-
manent basis of popular support, and has
given no evidence of an intention to do so.
Indeed, the representatives of that govern
ment assert that the people of Hawaii are
unfit for popular government and frankly
avow that they can best be ruled by arbi-
trary power"
1t is a singular proof of Mr.. Cleveland's
Inconsistency that, while industriously in
triguing for the restoration of the mon
archy in Hawaii and using all the power
of the United States government to that
end. he should make the point against the
provisional government that it has never
been submitted to a vote of the people.
Whatever force there may be in that point,
no outside authority has q right to raise it:
1t could only have weight when raised by
the Hawaiian people themselves, or by that
portion of the people who, it is claimed,
have been ~disfranchised in the establish
ment of the provisional government. As a
matter of fact. nobody has been disfran-
chised and nobody In the islands has raised
that complaint.
Not only has Mr.. Cleveland no right to
raise against the provisional government a
complaint that has not been raised by the
people of Hawaii, but the complaint itself
is absurd. The provisional government
does not claim TO be an established gov
eminent. Provisional governments never
are. Their name indicates that they are
revolutionary and temporary-provisionai
iii II DCA LII IOlhi VI LlC d.
be established. 1t is the function of a pro-
visional government to bridge over the
hiatus between the overthrow of one form
Of government and the establishment of an
other. When MIR. Cleveland complains that
the provisional government in Hawaii has
not been submitted to a vote of the people
he shows that he does not know what a
provisional government is.
The present government In Hawaii, like
nearly all other governments in the world,
is the result of force. 1t is the outgrowth
of a revolution. 1t exists because the sup
porters of the monarchy were not numer-
to withstand it's opponents. This
being the case, the latter overthrow the
monarchy and established a temporary or
provisional government. Having the power,
they have the right to ordain any constitu-
tion and establish any form of govern
ment they may choose. They had a right
to offer the islands to the United States,
and If the offer is rejected they will have
a right to establish an independent gov
eminent of their own, and it will be none
of Mr.. Cleveland's business whether it is
submitted to a vote of the people or not.
People who do not see the daily papers
of many cities can nave no adequate idea
of the extent OF the preparations that are
being made to relieve the distress of the
poor. Everywhere is heard the cry of the
unemployed, and everywhere those who
are able to do so are being asked to con-
tribute to the relief of the needy. Citizens
of indianapolis must not think the situa-
ton here is exceptional. 1t is not. The
duty that is being pressed upon our people
is being pressed on the people of other
cities, and everywhere it is recognized as
one that cannot and must not be evaded.
Every consideration Of duty, of humanity
and of civic pride requires that we should
take care of our deserving poor. and there
should be no backwardness or niggardli-
ness in responding TO the appeal for aid.
If the Sentinel can make political capital
by publishing indefinite statements about
house breaking and sandbagging which are
not reported to the police, and which, there
is reason to believe, are fictitious, it should
not be denied the privilege, even if such a
Dublication should induce the criminal class