The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1894-04-10


general feeling then seemed to be il
favor of a protectorate of some kind
nobody explained what. The ablesi
men in Congress declared the policy
of restoration to be "unthinkable. .
At the same time the appointments o.
Minister Resident and Consul-Gen
eral seemed to show that no anneXa'
ton was contemplated by the Ad'
ministration. During the first week
in September Messrs. Blount and
Willis were both summoned to Wash
ington, and it was known that the
Hawaiian question was under discus
sion in the Cabinet.
The profound secrecy which had
been strictly observed on that subject
is without precedent in diplomatic
history, and quite an excitement was
raised by a despatch by the New
York Herald correspondent on Sep
tember Sth, setting forth the alleged
programme decided upon by President
Cleveland. The substance OF it was
that protectorate would be extended
over this Government, under which
elections would be ordered to deter
mine the permanent form OF govern
ment, and that Gin return for the pro-
lection thus guaranteed, the Admins
tration would expect the exclusive
and unreserved right to Pearl Harbor. "
The absurdity of making such a pro-
posal to an Independent Government
was ably exposed by the New York
! Sun and other papers, and the lively
discussion that took place all over the
country, showed the interest that the
American people felt in the question.
Here a word will be in place on the
course of the American press. On
this particular subject the venerable
Dana of the New York Sun is fdciLe
princepS. 1t is his kuleana. A con-
temporary of Horace Greeley, he en-
gagged w. NJ. Gibson as a correspond
ent, before he had sailed for the East
Indies in the brig "Flirt." He has
"outlived and outworked four genera
tions of newspaper writer's" and is
today generally acknowledged to
stand at the head of his profession in
America.
For six months scarcely day passed
without an editorial article in the Sun
on the Hawaiian question, always ac-
curate, always crisp and fresh and diff
erent from any that had appeared be-
fore. Every phase of this many sided
subject was illuminated by turns. Age
cannot stale his infinite variety.
The New York Tribune's services to
our cause are well known, but its
influence has been more confined
within party limits. Other infiuen-
tial papers on our side are the Chicago
Tribune, the Inter Ocean, the Phila-
delphia Press, the two leading Wash
ington papers, the Post and Star, and
the Atlanta Constitution.
1t is a remarkable fact that almost
all the religious papers of the country
have solidly sustained the Provisional
Government, and among them all,
for insight and breadth of view and
convincing power of statement, the
palm must be given to the New York
Independent. The editorial writing
in the New York Herald is notorious.
ly weak, but it employs able cores
pondents and is a mighty organization
for gathering and disseminating news.
1t did us much harm at first by the
circulation which it gave to Nordhoff's
ISLANDERS. 1t took the American public
a considerable time to "siZe him up"
but he is thoroughly discredited now,
and has at last reIapsed into ''innocu-
"
preached non-interference. The New
York Mugwump papers, the Evening
Post and Harper's Weekly, have been
our bitterest and most unscrupulous
enemies. The Mugwump, as Theodore
Roosevelt once said, is invariably
wrong on questions of foreign policy.
He is still Colonial in his senti-
ments.
Any pronounced American senti-
ment is "bad form you know" and
the Navy is his special aversion. He
advocates a sort of Corean policy of
isolation, and shudders at the idea of
going off soundings, or even wetting
his feet in salt water. Happily, his
influence is limited and on the de-
cline.
The extra session of Congress drag
ged on through September and Octo-
ber, and final vote was not reached
till October 30th. Congress finally
adjourned without receiving any in
formation on the Hawaiian question
from the President.
The following week the Herald cor
respondent again seemed to have
found a leak in the State department,
and published a statement of the !
Presidents Hawaiian policy, which |
has since turned out to be very nearly |
correct, and which called out storm |
of discussion all over the country.
This continued for several days, !
when Secretary Gresham, believing |
that his carefully laid scheme had al |
ready been executed, gave his famous |
letter of Oct. 18th to certain "cuckoo"
papers in New York and Chicago on |
the evening of Nov. 10th. The effect |
was that of bomb-shell. Friends |
and foes alike either condemned or |
deplOred it. The tidal wave of popu- |
lar indignation that swept over the |
country far surpassed our eXpecta-
tiOns, and the American eagle GER
tainly did scream. Editor Dana of |
the Sun set the keynote by his famous
editorial on "The Policy of Infamy," |
and three-fourths of the papers
throughout the country took the same |
view of the case. Our legation was !
besieged by correspondents and press
agents, ravenOus for news. "Have |
your people got sand ?" "Will Dole
tightm was frequently asked by naval
gNtfi 4