New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-12-16
THE PRESIDENTS Dill EMMA
FLIMSY EXCUSES For DELAY.
THE LAST HAWAIIAN TRUMP CARD FAILS
TO WIN A TRICK.
THAT ALLEGED DISPATCH FROM Mr.. BLAME
WHICH is SAID TO HAVE DISAPPEARED
My PRETExT TO POSTPONE THE
INEVITABLE COLLAPSE OF THE
fry 1rIEopArH TO THE TRIBrNK.1


wosbinpton Dec 15-It is announced no"
that the Presidents message on the Hawaiiah
question and the accompanying correspo"'@
asked for in Mr.. Hoars resolution VIII Ho. NC
sent to the Senate before Monday OF iue''a'
So far no credtable excuse has peen given i''
the delays of the last two weeks WHO" nav
SO sorely tried the patience or Congress anu ',ie
country The pretence is put 1orwaru iiiuie'"'
that the State Department has been ui'aoie "
unearth a supposed reply of Mr. Blaine 10 'e''er
of Minister Stevens dated March S, 1892 and pub
lshed this morning with some hour1sh DIS su :" '"I"
Inc certain contentious Of the President and Secre-
tarv Gresham as to the character OF the reNo-
luton which occurred some ten months later
rrbis letter has been jubilantly referred 10 py
sunnorters Of the Administration as trump
card" Of the Secretary, played from a mana
which he has not yet exposed to his poIucai
critics. ,
But the Stevens letter. in the general Judg-
ment will be found to have little Value III
bolsterng up the restoration scheme whlch the
Administration seems now at once so eager ana
SO helpless to disavow. The letter is Eot even
new moreover, and was included in the HAWAIIAN
correspondence sent to the Senate by PRESIDENT
Harrison with the Annexation treaty In FeDru-
ary of this year The nsinuation Is made, IN
deed in some quarters that the Department Is
genuinely occupied in hunting for an answer
IRON Mr. Blaine which has presumably van
ished and that Mr.. Gresham feels disinclined 10
furnish the full correspondence until the sup
posed missing link" Is discovered. But TINS eX-
euse for delay is as fiimsy and Transparent as IL
is~ characteristic of the peculiar methods OF the
present Secretary The date OF Mr.. stevens
letter shows how violent such an assumption
would be. 1t was written on the Sth OF Mar en-
1892 and could hardly have been received at the
Department before the last of the month. AL
that time the approaching National ConVehtloi,,
was occupying the minds of both Mr.. Blaine ana
Mr. Hor
the communication which required an lmme6'-
ate answer. a little more than two montns
later Mr.. Blaine retired from the CABINET ~ Is
entirely probable. therefore, that MT bialhe
never answered this letter at all. and the lnsinu
alton that his reply has been distracted Is whoiy
bascless and without warrant
The fact is that the Administration is so haru
pressed on its Hawaiian policy that 1t is now
graspng at any and every chance OF postpor' i,s
a reckoning and of lessening or dsaVowing It's
own extraordinary responsibility in the manage
ment Of the Hawaiian question MI Vest SPEAK
ing behalf OF the great majority OF tne Demo-
Gratis in Congress- has already thrown oVerpoard
the whole programme of restoration as q moran
duty" and the President Is now confronted with
the dilemma Of reconciling the directly connecting
views of his party in Congress and his Secretary
of State on the merits of righting the wrongs
OF Lihuokalani. How the President IS gong -, 70
defend the beautiful scheme of poetic justice out
lined by his sympathetic assistant ana yet re-
tain the support Of the Democratic party IN Con
gress who care absolutely nothing ABOUT restoi-
ing the ex-Queen to her own. is puzHHhe
problem even for those who have seen the Presi-
dent .'stradde' the many political platforms o, OF
his marty No wonder n delays to make puDilc
his struggles TO repudiate the monarchical res,o-
ration programme which he complacently IN
str,c,ed Minister Willis to carry out in secret
last October 1t may be that the Administrator
wishes that the original Willis instructions han
gone the way OF the mythical Blaine ie,,er' nov
snparently occupying the thoughts Of the state
Department 1t is safe TO say that II the WINS
instructions could have been lost. whether OF hot
the Blaine letter could be found. the- message
which the President is labor1ng over wouic un-
dombtedly have gone to the Senate fully week
ago