Show IS HAWAII A REPUBLIC To the Editor of The Herald Much is said just now about the inconsistency in-consistency of our government in put ting down a republic in Hawaii and setting up a monarchy Is there now or has there ever been a republic in the Sandwich Islands If so when and by whom was it established In January last a small body of influen tial men with the countenance of the United States minister backed by United States marines put down a constitutional monarch and estab lished an oligarchy placing the supreme su-preme power in the hands of a small exclusive class Hawaii has a population popula-tion of nearly 90000 Honolulu the capital having a little over 6500 inhab itants Was any one outside of the capital consulted in regard to the revolution rev-olution Is there any evidence that more than a small minority of the inhabitants in-habitants of Honolulu were in the plot or have since ratified it Have the revolutionists ever dared to call an election to vote on its ratification Isnt it the merest bosh to talk about such a government being in any sense a republic t READER Our correspondent asks a number of questions which are quite pertinent in view of the nonsense uttered on the Hawaiian disturbance by antiV adminIstration istration papers There is no republic at present in the Hawaiian Islands I There was nothing republican in the manner of the establishment of that which is dubbed a provisional government govern-ment but which is rightly named by Reader an oligarchy The great body of the people of Hawaii Ha-waii have not yet been consulted as to the kind and form of government they wish to have It is true that only a small minority of the inhabitants of one town have had any voice in the temporary government set up in Honolulu Hon-olulu They have not dared to submit the matter of the government of the islands to the people The proposition for a plebiscite as soon as mentioned met with a storm of opposition from a number of those journals which have howled about the overthrowing of a republic The consent of the governed has not been asked If the people of Hawaii under the provisional government are ruled by a despotism iii the form of an oligarchy oli-garchy selfconstituted and In rebellion rebel-lion against the constitutional authority author-ity of the realm To call it a republic is making a burlesque of republicanism republican-ism for it violates the very essential and fundamental principle of republicanism repub-licanism the will if the people the consent of the governed I In the restoration of the lawful government gov-ernment we have no idea that the United States will do anything more than right the wrong perpetrated under un-der its name and authority It surely will not do anything to force upon the people of Hawaii any form of government govern-ment which they do not wish to tip hold or be subject to Until they have a chance to speak the temporary provisional pro-visional affair is not a bona fide government gov-ernment at all And it has not so much the elements and liberties of a republic as were embodied in the const con-st limited monarchy which c V V I was and perhaps is now the recognized I recog-nized form of government on the Hawaiian Ha-waiian Islands We clip the following on this subject from the Provo Dispatch V Truly Is the Hawaiian question a mixed one After all the onus of the bad situation Is to be ascribed to Mr Harrlsons bad combinations Cleveland Cleve-land has simply unraveled a scheme of double dealing and trickery which was not suspected before He will have discharged his whole duty In this connection con-nection when he has restored the status quo as it existed before the close of President Harrisons term It maybe may-be necessary In the future complications complica-tions for Uncle Sam to take in this little island empire out of the wet but when that necessity arrives he will do so in a manly and above board way But he will never do It by mean trickery trick-ery and cowardly doubledealing |