The Hawaiian gazette., 1903-11-20
SANFORD B. DOLE.

nearly eleven years is an event which
serves to especially recall the eXigen
duties which he has rendered at the
head of the government of Hawai-
When, in 1898. the native monarchy was
thrust out of the way of progress, II
was ours to choose man of conserVa-
tive temper and staunch character anc
one who had the confidence OF the
whole people and could gain that oil
foreign governments, to take the LEAD
in the annexation movement which fol
lowed the overthrow The American
party turned unanimously to Sanford
B. Dole. He was a Justice of the SUI
preme Court and had always enlisted
with reform political movements in the
kingdom. Whatever the issue he had
been found on the right side. Asked to
become chief of Provisional Govern
ment he took the matter into delib-
Grafton and then accepted the Office OF
President.
From the quiet and peace of judicial
chambers he was plunged at once into
the strenuous life. Surrounded by
armed men he carried on the functions
of government partly as civil and
partly as a military chief, and he made
no mistakes in working out a middle
policy of sound administration. HIS
earliest work was to seek annexation
to America but the coming into the
Presidency of Grover Cleveland not
only baked his plans but put the gov
eminent over which he presided into
an attitude of defence against the mis-
used powers of the government of the
United States. To those of us who re-
call the inhexible stand of President
Dole when a demand for the restora-
lion of the monarchy came from CleNe-
lands envoy and the keen ability with
which he addressed himself to the
diplomatic interchange which followed.
admiration for him as a statesman
mingles with thankfulness that the
American party here made so wise a
choice of its political leader
Having won his battle for independ-
ence, leaving scars upon the Cleveland
administration which were never heal
ed, President Dole addressed himself
to questions of administrative reform.
For almost the first time since the day
of complete missionary ascendency in
Hawaii, the land had an honest and
capable government. Its credit steadily
which could not be avoided, there was
always a surplus in the treasury.
President Dole drew about him a
cabinet of strong men-the ablest and
most unimpeachable cabinet, in its
complete personnel which the islands
had ever seen. With the help of these
advisers. he managed difficult questions
with consummate tact-and few new
governments have ever had more per-
pleXities to meet. There We're enemies
on every side. The American govern
ment was captious and unfriendly.
Japan began pressing for the suffrage
SO as to gain control of domestic adj
ADMINISTRATION and make Hawaii a trade
dependency; at home the natives and a
strong group of aliens We're plotting
against the State; and over it all was
the fear that the reciprocity treaty
might be attacked and overthrown in
Congress.
Meanwhile the Provisional Govern
ment was changed to a Republic, Pres
ident Dole remaining at the head OF
the new State. Prosperity grew apace
but annexation seemed far off. At no
time was the Federal Senate ready to
accept treaty. though more than one
was proffered. Against Hawaiis ann
bition stood, with sullen Obstructive
ness, the Sugar Trust, which also con-
spired against reciprocity. The best
Mr.. Doles ENJOYS could do at Wash
ington was to keep things in statu quo.
Then came the Wilcox revolt of 1895
an uprising which proved the strength
of the Dole government and the mill
tary weakness of its adversares
Though vastly in minority as to num-
bers throughout the group. the citizens
of the Republic formed about President
Dole in solid phalanx and We're always
masters of the crisis. Never for a mo-
ment did the President lose his poise.
He knew what to do and did it in the
right way; and when the rebels and
their accomplices, with the former
Queen at their head. We're imprisoned,
he let no impulse of revenge dusk the
clear mirror OF his humanity. Like
Lincoln he tempered justice with
mercy; and II he earned no gratitude
for 1t from those whose forfeited necks
he spared, he strengthened his cause
at home and abroad, and in the con-
trast which his leniency afforded to the
barbaric violence of the Queen, who
had demanded heads as the prizes of
her return to power, he marked the
vital difference of the old order and the
new in these emancipated islands. The
world did not miss the contrasts nor
fail to read the lesson Alright.
The years that followed were hardly
less strenuous than those which had
gone before. II the era of revolution
had passed, there was still the labor
issue, the diplomatic pressure of the
Japanese, the flood of free" Asiatic
immigration, the claims OF the aliens
imprisoned after the Wilcox emeute,
the cholera and a host of minor ills.
Yet the great man at the head OF
affairs never lost his faith or his tenn
per or his capacity to deal with emer-
gencies. Opposing him and intriguing
against him was the last United States
Minister ambitious himself to take the
lead in Hawaii, but never for moment
did the President swerve from the
straight line OF duty to fight out per-