New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-11-22
TIE BLOTNT REPORT.

If the question raised by the Administration
In it's Hawaiian policy were simply anneXa'
ton it might be claimed reasonably that the
Blount report is pertinent. II, as Mr.. Gresham
declares the overthrow OF the monarchy was
accomplished by an abuse OF the authority or
the United States" that fact might be expected
TO affect some peoples minds in considering
the desirablIty Of accepting a sovereignty OBJ
tanned In that way. But II is not annexation
that Mr.. Cleveland asks the public to think
about 1t is an act Of war upon the present
Government of Hawaii. He has proposed TO
destroy that Government. Upon this question
the Rlount report has no bearing whatever, and
among the reasons why its publication has
fallen so fat not the least controlling is that
all the people except Mr.. Clevclands blind and
unthinking partisans clearly perceive that two
wrongs do not make right. and that the fact
Of one Intervention. if ii be fact. does not
Justify another, and all the less if the first in
terventiOn WAS wrong.
In the very instructions which Secretary
Gresham gave to Mr. Blount. he writes his
own answer to his absurd proposition that we
must strike down one Government because we
have struck down another. He tells Mr. Blount
that there must be no use Of force in Hawaii
except such as is necessary TO protect the
persons and property Of our citizens, ana he
instructs the Commissioner that he must re-
fran from any manner of interference with
the domestic concerns Of the islands" The
United States" he SAYS, claim 10 right to III
terfere in the political or domestic affairs or In
the internal conflicts Of the Hawaiian Islands,
| A. han
the purpose of prot setting American life and
property. Does he think it Is not an interfer-
ence with their domestic affairs to tell them
that their existing Government and form OF
government must be abandoned: that they must
give up President Dole and take back the
Kanaka Queen? Suppose it was by the I'M
proper attitude Of our Minister that the revo-
luton against the Queen succeeded. That may
give us a good ground Of complaint against our
Minister 1t may enter into our consideration
of the desira bility of assuming ourselves the
government Of the islands Bnt how can II en-
title us to punish men who are in no sense re-
spOnsible to us for what they have done: What
authority over an alien land aud people is con
ferlsd On us by what we choose TO assert to be
the indscretions Of our own Minister: The an
swer TO these questions Is so simple that nobody
will mistake 1t who has not motives similar to
those which are to be justly suspected Of Pres
dent Cleveland and Secretary Gresham
Mr. Blount's report is collection Of the
stories told by the cx-Queen's corrupt >clique.
backed by what he calls the admissions Of
persons more OF less associated with President
Dole and the Provisional Government. disap-
pointed Officcseekers. whose ambitions have
been neglected and whose views of their own
importance that Government has declined TO
share As testimony IL contradiction Of Minis
ter Stevens. Captain Wiltsc ard the thousand
and one eye witnesses Of the revolution, whose
intelligent and disinterestcd accounts have fully
corroborated our diplomatic and naval officers
It 10 utterly worthless. 1t would be worthless
even IL not thus dscredlted, because every line
Of 1t bears vivid marks Of the partisan m0lcvo
lence which inspired its author and those who
sent him forth Indeed, If It's Introductory para
graph were frank declaration by Blount that
he had been sent to Hawaii TO make a case
against Minister Stevens by hook or by crook.
and that he had done ii, as follows, by crook.
his intensely partisan purpose would not have
been more plainly exposed than 1t Is in the
silly street-corner tales he tells and the narrow
minded, vindictive language they are told in.
1t is the report Of a man who means to injure
another mans reputation, not the report Of
fair-minded sincere. intelligent and disinterest-
ed investigator Instead OF sustaining the Adj
ministration with the people, ii has aroused,
and will continue to arouse, the Indignation
and contempt Of honest-mlnded Americans in
cdentally for Bl0unt, who Is only Of small con.
Germ, but tremendously for the two men Of
whose rancorous malevOlcnce he has done his
petty best to be the tool.
Nothing that he can say or they can say
will obscure the fact that President Dole
and bis party are a Government, recognized
BY every other Government, including our own,
represented at their capital, and that
they have sustained themselves for many
months without aid or the prospect Of
aid Nor can the fact be obscured, which
is even more powerful upon American senti-
ment, that, however partial may have been
the attitude Of our Minister last January, they
are the party Of enlightenment, progress justice.
morality and civilization, the party in whose
hands these important Islands will be safe from
European or Asiatic interference, and admins
tered In harmony with American ideas and in
terests Equally beyond the reach Of malicious
or Quixotic bubble is the fact that the crowd
wnom Cleveland and Gresham are proposing
10 restore are corrupt and mischievous, the
'oois OF u sugar Spectator. a lottery gang and
an OPIUM ring incompetent and barbarOus. II
IL were our business to restore them-and IL Is
"e'iher OUT business nor our rght-it would be
unavai'ns' The Affairs Of Hawaii, the society
OF Hawaii the politics Of Hawaii, lave gone