The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1894-02-05
s.n..r,r,,.. y, Va, Postpaid.



Affairs to the House OF Representatives. 1t
asserts what. in the absence OF thorough
and impartial investigation. 1t has no right
TO assert; and IL leaves unsaid what the
country expected it TO utter. Whatever
may be the fate Of this doubly wrongful
resolution. he who offered it and they who
reckoning by the people whose indignant
protests they let pass unheeded. and whose
interests they betray.
Sins OF commission and omission are
branded on the face of this trucking reso-
luton. whose presentation Is an insult to
men OF candor and common sense. 1t con-
demns ex-Minister STEVENS for his alleged
participation in the overthrow Of the Ha-
waiian monarchy in January 1898. and it
says not a word about the iniqutous de-
mand made by Minister WILLIS in Deem
Der last for the abdlcation OF friendly
Government which had been repeatedly
recognized by our Federal Executive. The
Committee on Foreign Affairs had no right
TO ask the House OF Representatives to
pass judgment on the acts OF ex-Minister
Of the subject. On the other hand. it was
not only its right. but it was its duty. in
view OF the Presidents own admissions
and the undisputed wrongdoing of his
agent, Minister WILLIS. to rcbuke him for
q violation Of international law and usur-
patton Of the war-making power which be-
longs to Congress under the Constitution.
The committee refrained from making an
inquiry on what seemed the reasonable
course Of prosecution by the Senate Com
mittee on Foreign Relations. which might
be trusted to elicit all the facts and arrive
at just conclusions. Unless this plea was
delusive and treacherous. It implied that
the House committee would defer any ex-
preston OF opinion until the Senate inquiry
was completed and its conclusions had been
made known. Having refused to take testi-
mony. and thus to obtain an authentic and
independent basis for judgment. the House
committee had no right to forestall the
results of the Senate inquiry and report
resolution founded exclusively on er pdrte
evidence and assumptions.
Yet it is just this iniquitous and insolent
thing which has been done. The House Of
Representatives Is invited to condemn ex-
Minister STEVENS on the er pdrte evidence
OF Paramount Commissioner BLoUNT. which
has long since been discredited throughout
the country, and which. as the report Of the
Senate committee will show. has been met
by an overwhelming mass OF counter testi-
mony. Why did not Mr.. MCCREARY play
the part Of an honest man. and report that
his committee, having made no Independent
inquiry. must. in equity and decency. await
the outcome OF the Senate investigation ?
We will tell him why he dared not wait.
Because he knew or suspected that the
Senate report would riddle his iiimsy allie
cations: because 1t was his dishonest pur-
pose to steal snap judgment from the
House; because he was conscious that only
thus could he prevail upon his fellow DEM
ocrats to cheat the people and disgrace the
Democratic party.
We pass 10 the equally fragrant sin OF
omission in the resolution an omission in
spired by base subservience to the Presi-
dent. and dictated by motives OF which even
cuckoos should be ashamed. Silence gives
assent. and. by its failure TO allude by SO
much as a syllable to the subject, the
McCREARY resolution has the impudence to
ask the House to approve of the gross
wrong committed by Minister WILLIS on
Dec. 10. Here there was no need Of taking
testimony; all the evidence requisite lay
before the committee in the shape Of ad-
missions and confessions extorted from the
foiled and Inundated President. The proof
OF the bloodthirsty intentions OF the woman
whom Nj, CLEVELAND had determined to
place upon throne; the text OF the in
out on Dec. 10; the report OF that prepos-
ferrous performance transmitted without a
word Of eItenuation or regret; here was
exhaustive and indisputable evidence which
II was the committees solemn duty
tn consider in the light OF conscience and Of |
their oaths to preserve inviolate the Consti-
tuition. With such testimony before them.
the members OF the committee were bound |
10 record their deliberate judgment whether !
The act committed by WILLIS ON Dee. 10 |
was not an infringement Of international |
law and Of the constitutional rights Of Con- |
gress- The duty was more imPerat.vely !
JinGing on the Democrats than Oh the Re |
nublicans because the Democrats are in |
Iower. custodians Of the country's interests
aud honor; aud it is with bitterness and |
,iuZinp of tina heart that nan,naratG ~ hn |