New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-02-14
DANIELS TURN NEAT.

We have been oppressed for some TINE past
with an indescribable sort of feeling as II some
thing was lacking in the great Hawaiian as
cussion 1t seemed as If something had Dceh
kept back. We suspect that the pubic gen
orally have undergone the same experience.
ON the face Of all the known facts IN tie case
the Administration had made from beginning To
end Of it such an utterly incXplicablc and IRE
| decmablc blob" of the whole business mat
all men said: 1t is incredible that the ma
iority If voting citizens In this great country
should go 50 stark. staring mad aS 10 erect Il
President who did not know better than io
plunge into mess Of this sort at the "utSr' 81
his Administration unless he had some justiiica-
| ton for 1t which does not appear. There must
be something behind it all which VIII explain
| 1t later" Such supcndous folly was too much
for human crcduity The public Judgment was
| In large measure held in suspense. because 1t
was not thought possible that any sane man IN
| his sober senses could have adopted III" policy
that was followed without having some reason
! for II which did not appear In tie publisher
facts in the case. The reasoning was. that aS
| nothing could he SO incOnccivahly ldollc rs
This business appeared to be on the face OF IT,
| there was n reasonable hope that when The end
was reached and the final explanation offered II
would turn out TO be- uncommonly wise aud
bencnccnt Still, every successive revelation
| continued TO disclose profoundcr incapaciy. X
norance and obstinacy without ever 80 much
rs a flicker Of ordinary intelligence or saving
common-scnse. and no suggestion Of any real
purpose or plan in all the thick darkness OF IT,
Titil yesterday. Yesterday Daniel H. Cham
bcrlain entered upon the scene. bearing torch
nearly two columns long Of THE Ncw-lork
Times" which throws a luminous. not to say
| lurd. glare over the whole transaction. Daniel
| IS n dcposcd ruler himself About seventeen
veors ago he was Governor of South Carolina
His position rcsemblcd In several important par
tculars that OF Mrs DOmnis. late Queen OF
Hawaii According TO the testimony Of many
| eminent men who are now his political asso-
ciatcs his supporters were chiefly Of the same
color and the same order of intelligence aS
those Of the late Queen. They were in the ma
iority and were quite content with his system
of government. But In South Carolina seven
teen years ago. rs in Hawaii last year. the
white taxpayers were dissatisfied. Not because
Daniel was boodthirSty or cruel. for he had no
chopping machine and did not cut off the heads
of his subjects, but because he did In effect ny
his administration the other thing which the
white taxpayers Of Hawaii complained oil coil
Gscatcd their property. And the white taXpay
crs Of South Carolina rose mp one Election Day
and took down their guns and went To the
| polls and in Il manner somewhat similar 10
that Of the Hawaiian white taxpayers gave The
! coorcd people to understand that thereafter
they would govern the State themselves. The
coored people, though Il majority of the voters,
took the same view Of it that the Hawaiian
natives did-that it was not worth while to
make n fuss over little thing like that, and
| offered no resistance 1t was then minated To
| Daniel that the State could get along without
him, and he withdrew. II was great wrong.
II has never been relrcsscd. We had not then
entered upon the High Muckamuck period. The
| American people looked on coldly and unsym-
, pathctically as Daniel laid down the sccptrc he
had been inundated out Of and resumed II law
practice which, venture 10 hope has been
MS much more profitable as it is more honorable
than his political career
In the almost two columns with which Daniel
has illuminated the Hawaiian situation we do
| not observe that he discovers any new facts
| or any fresh evidence rs To things already
known He says that only Il modcum of
clear seeing and straight thinking is required To
| reach conclusions conformablc both To good
morals and sound public law, and he accord
inylv onplics his "modicum to reaching the
conclusion that the policy OF the Admnistra-
ton. which "parlisans and Jlngolsts may de-
cry" is essentially wise and bencfccnt and
that the impartial Judgment and the instruct
cd conscience Of the world. as well rs Of the
American people will honor and applaud it,
| Herein Daniel undoubtedly crrs. But he has
thrown light on the situation. Not by anything
he says, but simply by appearing on the scene
in person and appealing to " the Impair
tial judgment and instructed conscience OF
the world" This il Il question of rcdrcssing
great wrong As rctlrcsscr Of one solitary
great wrong in Hawaii Mr.. Cleveland is, by the
universal verdict, ridiculous. 1t is quite an
other thing. however, II he proposes to make
rbuslness Of redressing great wrongs Daniel