The Indianapolis journal., 1894-01-15
THE END OF "yiY PLANS"

afford a particle of consolation for the
failure of my plans is complete, and Don
Quixote Cleveland and Sancho Panza
Gresham are left sprawling their backs
amid the ruins of the throne which they
tried to re-establish.
The full text of President Dole's reply to
Minister Willis's demand on the provisional
government shows it to be a strong, digni-
fled and conservative paper. His array Of
facts is convincing, and his arguments are
unanswerable. The President Of an inde-
pendent government, which has been for
mally recognized by every civilized power
on earth. would have been justified in show
ing some Indignation at Mr.. Cleveland's un-
derhanded attempt to overthrow it, but he
contents himself with calm and conclu-
sive argument to prove that the attempt
was unjustifiable ''We do not recognize the
right of the President of the United States
to interfere in our domestic affairs says
President Dole. He declares that such
right could only be conferred by the action
of the. provisional government, acquired
by conquest, and as it has not been ac-
quired in either of these ways, it does not
exist. In the long list of stupid blunders
that Mr.. Cleveland has made in this busi-
ness, none has been more indefensible than
his assumption of the right to sit in judg-
ment on the affairs of Hawaii and to arbi-
trate the provisional government out of ex-
istence The sole question presented to him
was the acceptance or the rejection of the
proposition for annexation. Indeed, that was
not presented to Mr.. Cleveland but to his
predecessor. Mr. Cleveland only obtained
jurisdiction of the question at all by re-
calling the treaty from the Senate When
he got it in his possession the only ques-
ton before him was that of approving or
rejecting the treaty. He had no more right
to attempt to restore the monarchy in Ha-
waii than he has to attempt to re-establish
the monarchy in Brazil or restore Alsace-
Lorraine to France. President Dole's argu-
ment on this point is so strong that the
Secretary of State is driven to notice 1T in
his last instructions to the minister. He
says the President has never claimed
the right to act as an arbitrator 'in the
technical sense" If he did not claim the
right he exercised it when he undertook to
sit in judgment on the controversy between
the Queen and the revolutionists. and to
decide that the Queen should be restored.
President Dole, like every other reputable
witness who has spoken on the point, de-
MES that Minister Stevens or the United
States forces had anything to do with max
ing the revolution successful. Referring to
Minister Willis's statements to this effect
he says: II desire to specifically and en-
phatically deny each and every one of the
allegations" Again he says: mo man can
correctly say that the Queen owed her
downfall to the interference of American
forces" He asserts that if the American
forces had been absent the revolution would
have taken place just the same Yet, in
the face of this official statement, support
ed, as it is, by the testimony OF many repu-
table witnesses, Secretary Gresham, in his
last instructions to Minister Willis, reiter-
ates the charge that 1.-The Queen finally but
| reluctantly surrendered to an armed force
of this government, illegally quartered in
! Honolulu" The theory Of the administra-
tion seems to be that lie well stuck to IS
| as good as the truth.
One other point in President Dole's reply
| is so we'll taken and so strongly put that it
| deserves notice. This is that even if the
! American forces did assist in establishing
| not admit, that was q matter to be settled
| between this government and it's officers.
! And if the United States, by the action Of
it's officers, incurred any obligation to the
| Queen, that was a matter TO be settled be-
tween the United States and the Queen
This government" says President Dole
"a recognized sovereign power, equal in
authority with the United States govern
ment, and enjoying diplomatic relations
| with it, cannot be destroyed by it for the
sake of discharging its obligations to the
ex-Queen." Mr.. Clevelands idea Of right
ing a wrong seems to have been that two
wrongs make a right.
President Dole's reply completely demol-
ishes my plans" in Hawaii and leaves the
administration in state OF abject humilia-
ton. The annals Of diplomacy do not con-
tain any record of more miserable fiasco.
|