The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-01-01
THE PRESIDENT AnnAIGsED.

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From the outline furnished 20 the press
of the report of the minority of the House
committee on foreign affairs on the Ka-
waiian question, it is evident the report
makes a very strong case against the
President. The point relative to the uncon-
stitutionality of the appointment of Para
mount Commissions Blount Is not new.
but the report presents it in a very strong
light. IF the President. without the con-
sent of the Senate" says the report, "can
send a paramount diplomatic officer to
supersede a minister, leaving the latter
only routine duties. he may do it in Great
Britain or in Germany as well as in the
Hawaiian Islands" There is no escape
from this conclusion. All our ministers to
foreign countries stand on the Same legal
and constitutional footing. They can only
be appointed by and with the advice and
consent of the Senate. There is no other
way by which a person can be clothed with
ministerial powers. Appointing a minister
and calling him a commissioner does not
change his legal status. In the present
case there was already a minister at Ha
wall who had been confirmed by the Sem
ate. He had all the powers of a minister,
and the President could not divest him of
them or confer them on another person
without removing the minister and sub
hitting the name of the other person to
Il C--x 49, xof-fc
terial Office at Honolulu by appointing a
paramount commissioner to perform the
duties, he could do the same thing at Lon
don. Paris. Berlin and every capital in the
world. Suppose. instead of making one
such appointment, he had made a dozen,
can any person doubt that he would have
been impeached? Yet the appointment of
one is as much a breach of the Constitu-
ton as the appointment of a dozen would
nave been.
Another strong point in the report is
which the President attempted to dictate
to the ex-Queen. His policy pretended to
be based on the high moral purpose of
righting a wrong. The monarchy was to
everthrown, and the ex-Queen was to be re-
seated because she had been wrongfully
deposed, but as a condition precedent to
righting the wrong Mr.. Cleveland exacted
certain pledges from the Queen as to her
future policy. In other words, he said "a
great wrong has been committed; 1 will
right it, provided you will do what I sug-
gest." Thus he tried in advance to de-
stroy the independence of the government
whose independence he pretended 1t was
his duty to restore. Well might the mi
nority say, as they do in their report,
what right the President supposed he had
to impose terms upon an independent gov
eminent which he was about to reinstate
on the very ground that it must remain an
Independent government and still assume
to issue commands that universal amnesty
should be made a condition precedent, is
difficult to say"
The resolution reported by the minority
censures the President, first for trying to
overthrow q friendly government which
had been duly recognized by all civilized
nations, and second, for the unconstitu-
tional. unwarranted and underhanded
means by which he sought to accomplish
the end. If the majority in the House had
any proper sense Of their duty TO defend
the Constitution against executive usurpa-
ton, the resolution would be adopted, but
there is no probability that it will be. 1t
is a cuckoo Congress.