The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-11-20
American Rights" in Hawaii.

mt IuAldueA putd ITeSS represents
/ probably, the best there is Of republican
F sentiment, and holds high place in the
. counsels of its party. Its editor was ap-
/ pointed minister to Russia by President
/ Harrison; that may be taken as a marker
of its prominence. Yet we find the Press
lndulgiug in poppycock in its effort to dis
] credit President Cleveland's Hawaiian
/ policy Here is a fair sample Of the kind
+ Of stuff it is working of in its editorial
| columns: "Our history does not present
+ a more amazing abuse of official position
+ than is presented by the joint attempt
/ Of President Cleveland and Secre-
/ tary Gresham to asperse the acts,
| to sully the character and TO
cloud the motives of their predecessors
/ at Washington and our recent minister
/ at Hawaii in the interested a corrupt and
| idolatrous sovereign, who had lost the
/ power she abused by the acts of Ameri-
cans asserting their rights and protecting
their liberties in the land where all their
interests We're situated and in which
/ most Of them were born. The gravest re
| sponsibility will rest on all concerned, if
| the wanton action of the administration
/ prccipitaJes in the streets of Honolulu a
struggle between Americans defending
their liberties and their rights of self
| government, and our naval forces used to
| replace on the throne a debauched and
debauching despotism"
1t will be observed that the Press seeks
to conjure with the word. American"
All that stilted period about Americans
I defending Thair- ,;g-L -
elf-gOvernment-in Hawaii, mind you-is
buncombe Of the brass-throated kind.
How did those Americans acquire the
right Of self-gOvernment" in Hawaii?
| The Press tells US they did it by deposing
the corrupt and idolatrous sovereign"
while asserting their rights and protect
ing their liberties in the land where all
| their interests are situated, etc" The
right of the Americans to self govern
ment IN Hawaii was then, acquired by
| conquest. All the privileges and liberties
that they had enjoyed up to that time
were granted by the corrupt and
idolatrous sovereign. They were foreign
ers, in Hawaii by the grace of its queen,
and as Americans resident in Hawaii had
no more right of elf-government
than they would have had as
Americans, or other foreigners, resident
in one of the cars provinces. Neither
the degree of the queens corruptness nor
the measure of her Idolatry had anything
to do with the rights of foreigners in her
domain. Had she slaughtered a mission
airy every morning and gone on a royal
drunk every night those facts would not
have extended the franchise to the strang-
ers within her gates.
The American right of government
does not extend beyond American soil.
American liberty does not embrace the
liberty to filibuster against and overthrow
a ruling sovereign for personal or political
ends The Press must get a new abracad-
abra. american" will not do
1t is probable that before the Christ
mas holidays shall have arrived the Bra
lillian war will be settled one way or the
other. Mello played his trump cards
when he proclaimed the restoration of
the empire and set out with his most
powerful ships to intercept Peixoto's
| feet of warships. If the people ashore
| have a leaning towards royalty they will
at once flock to MellOs aid if otherwise
! those of them who have not already done
so will take up arms in defense of the re
! public. Should Melo succeed in captur-
ing or sinking Eel Cid, or the Nictheroy,
as she is now known, and gain further
| foothold on land, the republic would be
doomed. The insurgents, it may be de-
| pended upon, are stronger than the cable
| dispatches sent out from Rio make it ap-
| pear. The report of several days ago
| that Peixoto had captured Desterro, the
! seat of the provisional government, was
| false and it is also probably false that
| the Aquidaban has proved to be a weak
! ship. When she was in New York har-
! Dor last spring she was pronounced by
naval experts to be one of the most for
midable craft afioat. She mounts guns of
extraordinary caliber and reach, and if
! she should get within four or five miles
of the Nictheroy, that vessel would be in
imminent danger of a catastrophe.
The minutes of the British admiralty
upon the loss of the battleship Victoria.
which was rammed during maneuvers by
the Camperdown off Tripoli, express the
! conviction of the investigating officers
that the loss of the ship resulted from
neglect of the safeguards provided for
just such emergencies as befen the Vic
toria. The water-t tight doors connecting
the compartments and bulkheads were
not closed during the maneuvers, as they
should have been, nor were they closed
after the accident, although they were all
in good order The minutes declare that
while the ship, after the accident, must
have lost considerable buoyancy, vet
making all due allowances for probable
damage, the ship would have remained
afoat and under control, and able to make
port under her own steam. Her bow. it
is said, would have been depressed about
to the water level; her heel to starboard
would have been about half of that OBJ
served before the lurCh began; her bat
terry ports would have been several feet
above water, and she would have retained
ample stability" In short, had the Off
GERS of the Victoria enforced prompt
obedience to the rules of the admiralty
to close the water-tight doors during
maneuvers-the ship might have been
ahoat to-day
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