President Cleveland, it will be remembered, repudiated the action of
President Harrison in Hawaii, and declared not only that the island ought not to be annexed, but that the agent of the United States had acted wrongfully, and that the native Queen ought to be restored. This would have been done at once, but that the Queen at first refused to sign an Act of Amnesty ; and by the time she consented, Mr. Dole, the acting ruler of the islands, and his colleagues refused to yield up power. They await the decision of Congress, which, it is said, entirely disagrees with President Cleveland, not so much because it wishes to annex the islands, though the Pro- tectionist Party does wish that, as because it thinks President Cleveland should have left the islanders (American and native) to battle out the matter for themselves. At present, there- fore, the American Government has come to no decision at all ; and the contending parties are preparing for a free-fight. That would be fair enough if the fight were really free, but it may be taken to be certain that if the natives beat the whites, the American ships in Honolulu will interfere; and that if the dark Queen wins the day, and executes Mr. Dole for treason, she will not be permitted to retain her throne. There is another reason also for the Senators' re- sistance to Mr. Cleveland. They want a topic to talk about- outside American politics, by using which they may delay the- Tariff Bill, which is to go up to the Senate on January 29th.
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