The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-01-29
In the Hawaiian Matter, Which
Ended Ignobly.
COMMENT ON DOLE'S LETTER.
The Man Who Assumed to Be a
Dictator Says He Was Not
Respectfully Treated.


ordinary letter." 1t will interest large
the course of Grover Cleveland in his efforts
to replace Liliuokalanl on the throne:
The dangerous tension in Hawaii during
Minister Willis would use force to restore
LiliuOkalani. is thus described dispas-
sionately in the Friend, religious
newspaper published in Honolulu
by the Rev. Serene E. Bishop:
1t was week of deadly fear. On December
structions 20 Minister Willis. The warships
Philadelphia and Adams were Immediately
prepared for landing forces MI. Willis a.
once began active negotiations with Liliuoka-
LAM. The British and Japanese warships
asked and received permission 10 land heir
marines to protect their legations during the
mated on Monday, the 18Th, when everything
indicated an immediate crisis. Several leading
men called on Mr.. Willis, asking for some word
TO alay the public tension OF fear, but IN vain
The one word needed-that lie would NOT use
fOrce-he did not utter.
President Dole had on the 18th demanded OF
the American Minister the meaning of his
negotiating with LiluOkalani. while accI edited
TO this Government. He replied by securing a
formal interview on the 10Th, at which he de-
manded that the Provisional Government
should retire and restore the Queen.
t1TO this demand President Dole prepared an
extended reply, declining to consider Mr.
WINS pTOpOsiliOD. Ibis was OtllNci6u OH lDf
night oil the 23d, aud The Corwin sailed with it
In the early morning
Meantime the terrible menace of invasion and
battle hung mercilessly over our city, until the
morning OF The 22d. when the Alameda came
bringing Minister ThurstOn. and the welcome
news OF powerful demonstrations in Congress
III our favor. making IL certain that Mr.. Willis
must postpone the use OF force.
Ii Is due here 10 say that II was well under
stood that their threatened task was known to
be utterly distasteful to our friends of the
as nd
truly relieved than they by the Alameda's news.
On the 30tb the Australia brought the Presi-
dents at-ment about his instructions TO Min
lister Willis proving that during our week OF
fear he actually had no power TO enforce his de-
mands aud was using mercless but hollow
menace TO terrify the Government In % compi-
ance. Our consolation Is that he gave US the
opportunity 10 prove our manhood by refusing.
The dispatches sent to Congress on Sat-
urday enable US to complete this picture of
the week of terror in Hawaii. Reporting
TO Secretary Gresham on Deeembe &C.
Mr.. Willis explains that the delay in the
departure of the Corwin from Honolulu
was caused by the failure of the Provi-
sional Government to deliver its answer
to "the Presidents DECISION" On the
same day our Minister to Hawaii, accred-
tied to a friendly Government, which is by
our own Government duly and fully rec
ognized. addressed to one of the late Min
listers of Liliuokalani an official communi-
cation in which Mr.. Willis begs that
private person to inform her Majesty the
Queen" that be (Willis) has notified the
Provisional Government that the Presi-
dent of the United States had reached the
decision that she had been Illegally de-
prived Of her authority as the constitu-
tional sovereign Of the Hawaiian Islands,
and that they were expected TO promptly
relinquish to the Queen her constitutional
authority"
This astonishing communication in
which Mr.. Willis officially recognizes as
the constitutional sovereign of Hawaii
person whose prete1Sions are hostile to the
existence OF the actual Government to
which Mr.. Willis is accredited, and ad-
dresses that person as Her Majesty the
Queen" did not contain his last reference
10 "the Presidents decision" that the Pro-
visional Government must cease to exist.
AS recently as January Mr.. Willis
writes to Washington that he has acknowl-
edged the receipt of the Hawaiian Govern
ments response to the decision Of the
President" meaning thereby the manly,
dlgnified and unanswerable letter in which
President Dole and his colleagues declined
to abide by ''the Presidents decision" and
inquired by what authority Mr.. Grover
Cleveland assumed to make or publish
such decision.
So this was the situation at Honolulu
long after Mr.. Cleveland had petulantly
turned over the whole affair to Congress:
The people of Hawaii were trembling for
their lives and homes, not knowing at
what hour the bayonets and bullets of the
United States might be turned upon them
to enforce 1.-THE Presidents decision: the
Provisional Government. recently COM
maDded in Mr.. Cleveland's name to sur
render its authority to Liliuok alani, was
in entire ignorance whether Mr.. Willis
enforce "the Presidents decision -;
Mr.. Willis, on his part, was talk
ing right and left about that "de-
cisioD," while carefully refralpIng from
saying one word to indicate that his
instructions did not contemplate the en-.
and gunpowder, and was actually in
diplomatic correspondence with the ene-
mics of the Government to which he was
accredited by the Government of the
United States.
Under these circumstances. unprece-
dented In the whole history of the wolrd.
President Dole wrote to MIR. Willis asking
to be Informed whether the latter held in
structions to enforce Mr.. Cleveland's "de-
cision" with the use of arms In any event.
and pointing out the disastrous effect of
Mr.. Willis ambiguous utterances and I'M
certain attitude upon the public peace and
security.
This letter of President Dole's is the
document which Mr.. Willis forwards to
Washington with the remark that in his
opinion it reflected very unjustly upon
the President, whose agent was" This
is the document which Mr.. Cleveland, with
whine and whimper, turns over to
Congress as most extraordinary letter."
This Is the document upon which the few
remaining cuck0os in the Senate and
House and among the newspapers of the
land are trying to base a national griev-
ance against the Provisional Government,
as IL President Dole had insuIted Presi-
dent Cleveland, and through President
Cleveland the whole American peoplei
Such is the ignoble and ridiculous end
of the policy of infamy. The man who
upon his own responsibility undertook
with unparalleled arrogance and perfidy
to destroy the Hawaiian Government, and
who now finds himself defeated, out
matched and bumiliated by an adversary
strong only in its consciousness of right,
comes back to Congress to complain that
he q LIZ 10 traatad with