The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1895-04-18
DANA's TRIBUTE TO THURSTON.

The usage with regard to the dis
missaI of p,srsons accredited from one
government to another Is Wen nXeo
and familiar. The executive head o.
any country, admitted to the comfy
of nations, has a perfect right to sig
| nifty that given diplomatic agent Is
unacceptable, or, to use the technical
| phrase, a persona non grata. Ii such
| an intimation is conveyed, as nor
mally it should be, without any re-
| cital of reasons, it is not debataDle,
| but is deferred to as a matter OF course.
| II, on the other hand, the reasons for
| Directing to an envoy are set forth,
they may properly become the sub
| ject of discussion and even OF remon-
STRANGE. In the case before us the
Hawaiian Government will be war
ranted by usage in examining the
charges brought against their Minister
and inquiring whether as matter OF
fact he has overstepped the line of his
plain duty to his country. Nor Will
any equitable person blame them
should they suggest the further query
whether Mr.. Cleveland and his Secre-
tary of State would have had any
thing to complain of in Mr.. Thurston's
conduct if they themselves had car
ried out the wishes Of the people they
were CHOSEN TO represent.
Mr.. Thurston during his residence
in Washington has not only upheld
with loyalty and vigor the interests
of his Government, but he has given
valuable information to the American
people, for which they would have ap-.
piled in vain to our State Department,
although they are the masters In this
country, and put Mr.. Cleveland in
office on the distinct understanding
that he would execute their will.
What that will is in relation to Ha-
wall they have announced in the
clearest way.
There has never in the history of
the United State been any measure
tending to national advancement
which has been so heartily approved
by the great body of our citizens, ire
spectiveIy of political parties, as was
the annexation of Hawaii, proposed
by the Harrison Administration.
Strange as it now seems to US, the pur-
chase of the Louisiana territory was at
the time vehemently denounced by
most of the Federalists and by many
Jeffersonian Democrats; and the an
posed by nearly all the Northern
Wings. But the mass of Democratic
as we'll as Republican voters were
disposed to grant the appli-
cation of the Provisional Government |
at Honolulu for the admission of Ha-
wall to the Union. Nor, outside of a |
few thousand office holders and Office |
seekers in and out of the Federal |
was there man in this |
country whose sense of decency did |
not revolt at the secret and treacher-
Gus attempt made by Mr.. Cleveland
in November, 1898, during a recess of
TO lo 1rn1I1
eminent which had been officially
by himself, as well as by |!
his predecessor. No less unanimous
was the resentment felt by genuine
at the sympathetic treat
nent received in Washington last
by the emissaries of the
1ethroned Mrs. Dominis, who were
addressed in published letter of Mr..
as Commissioners and
assured that his conviction of the
ustice of their monarchical cause
1ad never wavered, an assurance
hat was almost contempor-
Ineous with the withdrawal of
he American war ship stationed at
honolulu. For the outbreak of the
conspiracy, which so
followed, the improper acts
nd words of Mr.. Cleveland are uni
-ersally regarded as morally respOn-
ible; and the blood of the misguided
ebels would have left stain upon
is hands had not the death sentence
pom them been committed at the re- .
uest of the very Mr.. ThurstOn whose
ismissal is now demanded. Through
ut every phase of the Hawaiian
rama the American people have APP {
called in vain for full intelligence and =
pright, patriotic action to their own
xecutive, which has persistently
riven to deceive them; and they are I
rateful to Mr.. Thurston for supplying
leir lack OF information, and pub I
shing the truth regarding matters r
hich,he conceived to be of vital in
rest to the United States as we'll as {
laval. +
The Hawaiian Government will un-
oubtedly be constrained, in conform c
y with diplomatic usage, to comply r
it'll Mr.. Gresham's request, although, =
eng that reasons have been stated, Il
will be at liberty to answer them. U
ut Mr.. ThurstOn, on his part, may
'cept his dismissal with equanimity. v
q has seen Mr.. Cleveland meet with /,
'risory discomfOrture in his attempt
overthrow the Hawaiian Govern
ent, and sharply disciplined by the RI
'nate as to his prospective course. IS
e has seen the Fifty-third Congress q
buff MIR: Cleveland's request that a s.
Irish submarine cable might be suf- -
red to lapd on one of the Hawaiian Il
ands, and he will see the Fifty T
nth Congress order the construc-
IN of an American submarine cable "
I'M San Francisco to Honolulu. And, q
,hough Mr.. Thurston may now
I'VE US for a while, he can count on
ing welcomed back to Washin gton a
the day, happily not distant, when -
:. Cleveland and his Cabinet officers II
al have been relegated to obscurity. tC
New York Sun.