~at~su B 1 31E,910
i:::~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~i
%I~~~~~~~~I:A"" jI j";>nAAIA j  A;Al(  ~~   ~~Il~ j~~1rj A,  IA   I
~~A  <AlA  I  (ti"   H l~l  IAilf~~llll~
A; L A    I  >7~  
rllil~i""lOilAA: IE I niir;i I IA 4 Air~jj~A Ai  A  ~il I
17~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~~~~~~lill Alrl AA
iisiF11~~~~~~ A;~ r KI  A
i~~~~~iI  4AA7 K  A
Eiljn ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ AA 
a~~~~~~ A I    AAA
ii  i~~~~dE~~l  rj~   A
I A111
~~~iiiil ~ ~ ~ ~ A




In Memory Of
Katy Gower Hatch
~ffl __tI1!!11 IIIMll'[




3,2


if




I:
h,




MEMORIES       OF   HAWAII
AND
HAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE


BY,6~
JULIUS A. PALMER, JR.
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT " DAILY EVENING TRANSCRIPT"
BOSTON
LEE AND SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS


1894




:DU
62 3
P17


COPYRIGHT, 1894,
BY JULIUS A. PALMER, Jr.




h.. L      ~ <Sr 4ir
It-?-7-  -I
INTRODUCTION.
IN the month of December, 1893, I was commissioned by the BOSTON
TRANSCRIPT COMPANY to go to Honolulu for the purpose of ascertaining
the facts in regard to the revolution which was inaugurated on the 17th
of January of that year. At the date of my departure from Boston,
there was further a possibility of collision between the United States
authorities and the party in power, or between the royalists and provisionalists. The faith of the partisans of the Queen in her eventual
restoration to the throne, and the confidence of those in rebellion against
her authority, that they would be protected by annexation to the United
States, kept both parties in a state of suspense which has guaranteed the
Hawaiian islands a condition of nominal peace. But Hawaii is no
nearer a settlement of its political difficulties than it was on the day
when a few of its citizens, seizing the reins of government, despatched
five of their number to Washington, and made the attempt to convey a
nation of ninety thousand people to a foreign power. The reasons for
this appear in these letters and telegrams. It was at first my intention to issue them in pamphlet form for gratuitous circulation amongst
friends; but the fact that all information furnished the people of the
United States comes through channels pledged to support the provisionalists, and the general interest shown by frequent quotation of these
articles, has decided me to offer them to the public in a more convenient
form. By the courtesy of the TRANSCRIPT COMPANY, I am permitted to
do this; and it may be in place for me to add that, although I am personally responsible for any views of the question herein expressed, yet,
for the opportunity of revisiting those beautiful islands of the Pacific,
and for the privilege of enlightening the people of my native city on
the matters at issue there, with absolutely no instructions save to follow
the dictates of my usual independence in judgment, I am under obligations to the newspaper in which this matter has been already printed. I
most cheerfully express my gratitude to Hawaiian citizens of all races
and of widely different opinions who have, through their hospitality and
courtesy, enabled me to express in these articles, in the strongest and
best terms, the views of all parties in this contest.
X^                ^^^iS"^


*::~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~




C~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~




HAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


MEMORIES OF HAWAII.
(Written May, 1877, when the Hawaiian Embassy visited Boston.)
HE who has never enjoyed the luxury of a few months' quiet life in
the tropics knows not one of the most exquisite of the joys of the senses.
It is well described in the poem of the " Lotus Eaters," by Tennyson,
but any pen would fail in the attempt to paint a delight where sense
and spirit are so commingled.
And of all tropical residences, Honolulu, at least for an American,
has by far the most in its favor. Twenty years ago, when I entered its
harbor, there was no hotel for the stranger; but then, however, there
was no stranger, simply because the Americans there opened their doors
to each new arrival, and in some way he was soon among friends. The
advent of those of that blood into colder climes recalls to me many
characters and events of that delightful little island kingdom.
I was first taken in charge by Dr. Damon, the seaman's preacher, one
of those rare souls who can always speak the truth in kindness, and
who consequently, for about half a century, simply lived in love toward
God and man, making nought but friends among the contending
elements that the delicious trade-winds brought to those shores.
The descendants of the missionary dynasty, the Roman Catholics who
have been and still are their constant rivals, and the interloping English
ritualists, even the irrepressible sea-captains and their turbulent followers, - all, all had nought to say about Father Damon except that he
was a good man. And he was not one of those negative characters
against which it is hard to bring an accusation. He was a man of most
decided opinions; but he always stated them in such a gentle, affectionate way, that you really felt that he was conscious of pain at his own




2


HAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


kindly heart if his words were not in accord with the sentiments of his
listener. He was the preacher at an independent church; the editor,
from about 1847, of a small periodical called The Friend, which gave
the sailor directions how to avoid the shoals of the Pacific Ocean, and
also how ultimately to find entrance to the port of peace. He died about
two years ago, leaving the only true riches, - a good name and a
memory to be always blessed.
From his house, I was conducted to a dear little cottage opposite
that of General McCook, then the American minister resident.  But,
while his was lofty and of civilized architecture, mine was but one
story, giving one square ceutral room, and by the continuation of
its four-sided, sloping roof, ample space at the sides for verandas,
bedrooms, and closets. Here, surrounded by a board fence ten feet
high, I passed the months of the close of the year 1867, in that
delicious retirement and rest which such a climate only affords. There
are many houses in Honolulu built thus, so as to allow of the scantiest
clothing, and yet permit perfect freedom in one's domicile.
Yet I found none of that superheated atmosphere and burning soil
which I have noticed in Cuba. The very land of the Queen of the
Antilles seems to radiate warmth like the surface of a stove. All our
meals came from a restaurant near by; so, although the house had a
detached kitchen, it was never used. At an early walk, or one after
four P.M., the atmosphere was delightful, and the whole scene bewitching,
for then the native women, clad in their loose, flowing robes, dashed
along the principal streets, seated man-fashion on their scrubby ponies;
or the beautiful half-caste girls, in their loose Mother Hubbard robes
with flower-encircled heads, could be met going  to some evening
auction, or sauntering along in search of their sweetlearts. From all
time youth and maid have had and must have a trysting-place. The
Nuanu Valley and the thatched hut had not lost their charm; but one of
the prettiest sights was the evening auction-room, where the audiences
assembled about Christmas time, chose from cheap European novelties,
or flirted together at will.
The Hawaiian women, so far as I met them, are proud of their native
blood, and love the customs of their ancestors. I had a cousin married
to one of them in missionary days. His widow, half European, and
her mother, a full-blooded native, lived together, and were still fond of
poi, a taste in which they have many sympathizers. It is the native
food, a paste made from a root called taro, much resembling in its taste
the potato, and is very digestible and wholesome.




MEMORIES OF HAWAII.


~)
f0


Through the instrumentality of the lady above mentioned, I spent
a delightful evening with the queen dowager, Emma, widow of
Kamehameha IV., a mild, sweetly spoken woman, on whom grief had
laid a heavy hand; for, in a fit of temper, her husband, the king, had
put her only son into a bath of cold water to punish him for some
obstinacy. It killed the prince and lost the succession. The king, a
noble and excellent man, died in his sorrow; and only in her literary
tastes and in the mutual love that existed between herself and the people
could the desolate queen still have made her life dear. Every one loved
her. A naval officer, of whose friendship I was always proud, and
whose letters met me in every quarter of the globe, - the late Admiral
Henry Knox Thatcher, - was detailed to convey Queen Emma and her
suite from San Francisco to her native shores. She was a passenger on
the " Vanderbilt" under his command, and he told me he had never met
with a more perfect lady, with a simpler heart.
With the queen I had another link of acquaintance in the fact that I
was a fellow-voyager with a noble couple who were members of her
suite when, with her husband, she visited England. This pair continued their wanderings to New Zealand, and, penetrating its forests, lived
with the native chiefs, with whom, by means of the similarity of
language, they could easily communicate.  They were about the
handsomest pair of mortals, in some respects, it has ever been my
lot to meet.  After a year's rovings, they were again with their
people, and the simple islanders came along upon bended knee, and
bathed their hands with tears of joy; my own sight was not very clear
when it was fixed on the touching picture, and I still think that
there were human virtues under the feudal system to which we are
strangers.
The present princess, Mrs. Lydia l)ominis, was then a young wife,
one of the most graceful women I ever saw move through the dance.
The French frigate " Venus ' came into port, and a ball was given on
board, to which, by the kindness of Hon. Stephen H. Phillips, then
attorney-general of the kingdom, I was favored with an invitation. In
watching from the quarter the dancers as they waltzed on the main-deck,
one entirely forgot color at the grace and charm displayed by these
women in every motion. One could easily believe that the sailor's contest for his dark-skinned sweetheart has sometimes threatened to revolutionize the kingdom, and that visitors to Hawaii have often most
unexpectedly fulfilled the threat of " Locksley Hall," and forgotten
civilization for a swarthy bride.




4


4  HAWAIIAN CORRLESPONDENCE.


Noble traits, too, run in the native blood; yes, even alongside the
native leprosy. Bill Ragsdale! shall I ever forget him? Who was
he? Well, at that time he was the power behind the Hawaiian island
throne. All the discussions in the native Parliament are carried on in
two languages. Ragsdale was the most wonderful interpreter that I
ever met, and I speak as a critic who knows what it is to change
thought from one language to another. I saw him under trying circumstances, for the reciprocity treaty trembled in the balance.  The
Hawaiians thought it an hypothecation of their territory to the United
States. The sugar-planters saw only a guaranteed market for their
harvests. There was some doubt which side Bill would take. Of
one thing there was no doubt; namely, the opposite side would be
whipped. If my memory is not at fault, he had just been sent to the
chain-gang with his head broken by a drunken brawl. But the Parliament was as dull as an orthodox parlor on a Sunday afternoon. A bold
member moves a free pardon to Bill Ragsdale, and that worthy is
brought in, attired as usual in a spotless suit of white cashmere that
would do honor to any window in the Somerset Club next July. His
head lost none of its dignity because his curly black ringlets contrasted
with the turban-like bandage. Then began the pleadings; and as the
interpreter became enthusiastic, and in fluent English or impassioned
Hawaiian, equally without a moment's hesitation, swayed that assembly
of mingled nationalities, my own heart thrilled with pride at the view
of such talent; and the calm face of Mr. Phillips, the attorney for the
Crown, wore a quiet look of satisfaction when he saw that Mr. Ragsdale
was winning the battle.
And I have heard that the death-for death it is — of this island
genius was worthy of his life. The symptoms of leprosy attacked him.
A weaker man would have concealed its commencement; but his soul
rose to the occasion, and, assembling around him his friends and neighbors, he threw all the force of his splendid eloquence into a last oration,
in which he disclosed his disease, told them of his purpose, and in
fulfilment thereof went forth to voluntary exile until death at the
lepers' village on Molokai, where he was made superintendent of the
settlement. We forgive much to genius, for on great occasions it is
great.
A colony with a Catholic priest as their spiritual adviser, himself
voluntarily cut off forever from earth, await the day of death on a part
of one of those beautiful islands. Leprosy is somewhat slower than
consumption, yet its fatality is none the less inevitable. Whatever




MEM10l1ES OF IIAWAIIL


5


his previous faith, the leper of Hawaii hears his last Christian
instruction from  Catholic lips, and returns to dust followed by a
Catholic prayer.
It is, perhaps, not generally recognized that religious liberty was
brought to Hawaii with the guns of a French frigate, and further guaranteed to the kingdom by the actual seizure of the islands by Lord
George Paulet, in 1843, on the part of England.
The missionary dynasty of King Hiram and my Lord Judd was probably about as perfect a spiritual and temporal despotism as ever existed,
unless it may be that once maintained on our soil by the early settlers
of the colony of Massachusetts Bay.
The Rev. Hiram Bingham, the individual first named above, had
himself submitted to the Ruler of All at the time of my visit to the
islands, or else had left the kingdom; but Dr. Judd, the father of one
of the members of the present government, was still living, and, as he
was a sugar-planter, we were brought into business relations. He was
a mild, benevolent physician, who had done much for humanity. The
last picture I see of him is that of a kind old teacher instructing one
of his Chinese servants how to read English, showing that the ancient
vows were unforgotten.
The English Church is a recent interloper on the mission territory,
invited there by Queen Emma and her husband about twenty-five years
ago. The Church of Rome dates from a much earlier day. Its first
converts were Boki, the governor of Oahu, and the prime minister
of Kamehameha II. These received Christian baptism froin the chaplain of the French frigate " Uranie" eight months before the landing
of the Boston missionaries. After several banishments, it was securely
established in 1839. It was as fortunate in the choice of its bishop -
Father Maigret —as was Boston in the selection of Bishop Cheverus.
When he left to attend the (Ecumenical Council, poor as any one of his
flock, all classes, Catholic and Protestant, united in urging his acceptance of a purse for his journey.
It is sometimes claimed by the advocates of missions that the decay
of the native race in Hawaii has been retarded by Christianity and
civilization. I cannot see that the condition of the natives in these
distant lands varies in any degree from that of our own aborigines. It is
the old story of the extinction of a weak race at the influx of a stronger.
The islands contain now but a little over ten per cent. of the number
of natives found there by Captain Cook one hundred and eight
years ago. They have declined from about 62,000 to 47,000 in the
last twenty years.




~~~6          HAWAIIAN CORRESPONIENCE.
And I must also believe that their sinful condition was much exaggerated by the early settlers. To a party of Boston Puritans landing
there in 1821, the spectacle of a naked people, and the promiscuous
association of the sexes, was doubtless a very shocking sight. To one
accustomed to voyages in uncivilized countries such habits were perfectly natural. To a disciple of Jean Jacques Rousseau these islands
were then in that ideal state of happy nature to which he would have us
all return. They were never cannibals. Captain Cook found them a
simple, friendly, peaceable people. His own death was occasioned by
a quarrel, in which, on the testimony of his companions, his impetuous
temper was mostly to blame. Such are a few of my personal reminiscences of these beautiful islands, reviewed now hastily after the lapse
of twenty years, and as the tribute of a former subject to the dynasty
whose flag floats over the Parker House to-day.




TWO HAWAIIAN QUEENS.


7


TWO HAWAIIAN QUEENS.
I HAVE often wondered what would be my impressions should I ever
revisit those islands where I dwelt for nearly a half-year, some twenty
years ago, when the present queen was Mrs. Dominis, the graceful wife
of Mr. John Dominis, governor of Oahu and British merchant at Honolulu. I stood on the high poop-deck of the French frigate " Venus" at
a grand ball, where I had gone at the invitation of Hon. Stephen H.
Phillips of Salem, then attorney-general of the islands. To look at the
face of Queen Liliuokalani in repose, any one of us of the stronger yet
more susceptible sex would have said that it presented nothing to excite
the wish for a second glance; but of all the fair women who then moved
through the dance on the great main-deck of the frigate, she is the one
that, from that moment to the present, retains the strongest hold on my
memory. Why? It is as impossible to say as to explain that mysterious magnetism which draws our affections towards one person and causes
us to draw backward and inward in the presence of another.
And yet there is one element common to all the Hawaiian women
which may give a hint of their power, for we cannot ignore the fact that
some of the best blood of Boston runs in the veins of their children;
that these women, only one degree from barbarism, became the wives
of men whose education, talents, birth, and breeding would have made
them welcome partners in many New England families.
This element is not beauty, but it is grace. As Mrs. Dominis moved
through the misty mazes of the waltz there was nothing but grace in
every movement, nought but the most bewitching attraction in every
smile. She did not dance as the stately court lady: she threw her
whole heart into the poetry of her motions; and, whosoever the partner
opposite to her, you saw that she was in love with him -yes, at every
glance of her flashing black eyes. I do not think of a woman, unless it
was the dowager Queen Emma, who was more respected in Honolulu in
every way at that time than the present deposed Queen of Hawaii.
When she was in Boston I had the honor of a special invitation to meet




8


HAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


her at a private reception given by Gov. Ames; and although twenty
years makes much difference in the appearance of any one of us, I
could see a little of that element that had caused her to be so noticeable
when first we met.
Queen Emma, who has since died, was a half-caste, or the daughter
of a native woman by a white father; her maiden name being
Emma Rooke. A most lovely woman she was. I spent a most delightful evening at her house with no other visitors save the kind Hawaiian
lady who had married my own second cousin, and was one of her
retainers. Her story is too long to be repeated; briefly, she married one
of the glorious old race of the Kamehamehas. He was a noble man
in every sense of the word, but had a most violent temper, which was
inherited by their only son, a beautiful boy, and in direct line to the throne.
One day the boy had an uncontrollable fit of temper; the father, in
one just as unjustifiable, said he would cool him off, and without further
warning took the lad and plunged him into stone-cold water, and kept
him there until he was cooled- so he said. The boy died almost immediately thereafter, and, according to the physicians, from no other cause.
This utterly cut off the old historic line, for the Kamehamehas passed
away very soon after the little prince was killed.
How differently would one of us manage all these events, were we in
the place of Fate, Providence, or whatever you please to call the Ruler
of All!
To any superficial observer, nay, to any thoughtful person, it would
seem as though the woes of Hawaii began when the dynasty of the Kamehamehas failed; for although this particular monarch was rather unpopular with the missionary dynasty, yet none could deny the purity of life
of the noble couple who sat on the throne; none could in the least detract
from that which they were constantly doing for the welfare of their people.
One of these moves had my strong sympathy: it was their attempt to
make the English Church (what we would call the Episcopalian Church)
the established Church of Hawaii. The old orthodoxy had failed to control the hearts of the warm-natured island race; they could not appreciate
Dwight's theology; Jonathan Edwards, to their ears, was as much a mystery as to us the silent lips of the Egyptian sphinx; the necessity of never
going unclothed, even in the hottest of tropic suns; the total depravity of
a good swim indulged in by both sexes, just as our boys and girls are
now skating together, - all these were to the native mind unexplainable,
and somehow Puritanism had only succeeded in impressing them on the
people to the same extent as that historic hostler had convinced his horse




TWO HAWAIIAN QUEENS.


9


that shavings contained as much nutriment as hay: the people accepted
the inevitable from their Caucassian rulers, and -died.
Queen Emma saw this. She understood her people. She had all the
native's love for his land, all the Englishman's traditional love for his
Church, and she said, " Oh, if I could put this people under the guardianship of that faith! Perhaps they may yet learn to love God and to live
with each other as his children." So the Anglican Church, under Bishop
Staley, went to the islands. It was what is called the High Church wing;
and from one of its priests, Rev. Father Turner, I have heard some of
the clearest and best statements of catholic truth which ever met my
attention. It was one of the prettiest little churches I ever attended,
and I was there a constant worshipper. But the mission was not a great
success; there is now, I believe, a larger, finer house of worship, yet the
Hawaiian people, for whom the beautiful queen introduced that form of
the Christian faith, have never to any great extent been benefited by its
ministrations.
When the queen visited this country, Rear Admiral Henry Knox
Thatcher, one of the noblest of our ancient navy, grandson of General
Knox, was ordered to take her and her suite from San Francisco to the
Hawaiian islands on his flagship, the "Vanderbilt."  She won the gallant
old sailor's heart as easily as she had captured mine; and not only his,
but those of his wife and daughter, who were on board. " How? On board
a naval vessel? " asks some stickler for government discipline. Yes, the
gallant admiral told me, with a sly twinkle in his eye, how this would be
managed, and such was the fact: the accommodating queen simply took
the two ladies as members of her suite; and the admiral's orders from his
government directed him to convey the " queen and suite," and " a sailor,
you know," said he, "always obeys orders."  The same sweet simplicity
of manners which I noticed, even when grief had clouded her brow, was
there then. Naturally she sat next the admiral at the table, and one day
there came up the question of the color of some unimportant matter.
" Is it as black as I am?" asked the royal lady, without the slightest
show of sensitiveness as to the fact that she was not of the purest strain.
In care and love for her people - for much of the old feudal loyalty
was left when we met - and in literary recreations, the queen herself told
me that she found life still very dear.
Upon a nation incompetent to govern itself there would seem to be
forced one of two alternatives, - to be ruled by aliens, or to be subject to
anarchy. Before the advent of the white race the people were apparently
in clans or tribes, under similar forms of government to that of the North




10


1H-AWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


American Indian. Nominally united under Kamehameha the Great, the
real power was the missionary dynasty, which ruled the nation without
interruption, save an occasional clash with the Roman Catholics, up to
fifty years ago. Judged by their public record, these old heroes - for
they were noble, well-meaning men - were firm believers in the union
of Church and State. The community was governed as Moses governed
the Hebrews. The dress, amusements, baths, food, drink, habits of the
people, were all prescribed for them, and the New Englander not only
believed in the laws founded on the Pentateuch, but believed in their
enforcement.
The two most notable rulers were King Hiram and my Lord Judd, as
we irreverent sailors called Rev. Hiram Bingham and Dr. Judd. I think
there are descendants of the former now at the islands, and that if I
should go there to-day I would find in the present chief justice the son of
the old doctor, whom I had occasion to consult as a most intelligent
young lawyer when I was in mercantile life on shore at Oahu. If one
admires Cromwell and Knox, no better exponents of their character could
be named than the two above mentioned. Mr. Bingham was an inmate of
my father's house as a visitor when I was younger, and sang I"From
Greenland's icy mountains " to us in the Kanaka tongue, while with wideopen mouths we children looked into the stranger's face, and wondered
at the uncouth sounds that came from his capacious lungs, used to openair preaching amongst the mountains of Hawaii. As Dr. Judd was the
agent and manager of a sugar plantation, I was often brought into contact with him, and in private life he was a most gentle, attractive man.
True to his early vows, often did I see him with a Chinese servant
beside him, to whom, while awaiting a business call, he was teaching the
letters of the English language. And, glorious old hero! what did he
do when the government archives were in danger in 1843? Who but a
Puritan, - a friend with his God, - believing that no superstition, nothing
but his own sin, could harm him, would have thought of such a course?
Ile took the invaluable record books and rushed to the royal tombs; there,
free from interference from the native element, by reason of that longinherited dread of the bodies of the dying and dead common to many
people, equally free from the minions of Lord George Paulet, because
they would never have thought of such a bureau of administration of
government, the grand old man lived day and night, lying down to take
his rest between the coffins, and by day using one for his table and
another for his writing-desk. And it is the descendants of such men as
these - for I have cited but two examples - that now constitute the




TWO HAWAIIAN Q~UEEI~NS.                    11


Il


Provisional Government; surely they cannot be treated as ambitious,
political revolutionists, greedy for self-aggrandizement.
Yet it is a little singular that the most determined opponents of the
early tyranny - for it was a tyranny more absolute than that of Russia
-were the monarchical governments of Europe. The Puritanic powers
had a way, whenever a French priest appeared, of doing just as our forefathers did in New England. They simply seized, not his property, for
he had none-they seized him. What next?    Not so far away was
Mexico, a Roman Catholic land. They selected a brig, took the reverend
fathers on board, and told the captain to put them ashore anywhere on
the coast of Mexico. This was the summary manner in which the spread
of the Roman Catholic faith was slightly obstructed for some years.
But soon France, the eldest daughter of the Church, a nation which, in
spite of our view of her, gained from Parisian romancers, has in the past
given more for missions than all the other nations of Europe combined
-France simply said that her citizens, whatever their faith, should not
be thus treated.  She did more than speak, she sent a frigate there
(the "Artemesie "), who opened her gun ports and gave the missionary
party just so long to receive the Roman Catholic missionaries on the
same terms of religious equality as that enjoyed by the New England
preachers.
It was not until 1840 that the kingdom had any constitution at all.
The despotism of which our own people were the executors was the rule;
and when the then ruling king, lamehameha III., granted a constitution,
it was based on that of Great Britain, not on that of our own Commonwealth. The Church dynasty (and by this I mean that of Messrs.
Bingham, Judd, and their supporters) was virtually terminated, never
to regain its old power, by the seizure of the islands by the British
naval forces in 1843. It would appear from what I have heard of that
event that there was great similarity between the action of the British
minister, Mr. Charlton, who was very unfriendly to the United States,
and that of Minister Stevens in 1893. I think British marines were
landed under the same pretext, although I am writing from memory,
not of those days, but of what I learned of them from those who witnessed the events. Then, as now, the reigning monarchy was deposed
for some months, when the King was re-instated, and I have always
understood that this was done by the representatives of Great Britain,
France, and the United States of America; that here was a formal recognition of Hawaii as an independent nation, and that the three great
powers above named bound themselves by solemn treaty, deposited in




12                HAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.
the royal archives of the infant government at the Island Kingdom, that
neither one of them should ever destroy the liberty, limit the independence, or become the owners of the national life of the one then and there
admitted to their fraternity. If this is true, were that treaty now found,
it seems to me it ought to have some bearing on the present imbroglio.
I am going out to the islands, and will immediately forward to you a
clear, type-written copy of that treaty, made on my own machine, and
guaranteed to be faithfully a transcript of the original document. The
treaty is fifty years old, but I believe that one treaty is good until
another is made.




TELEGRAPHIC ADVICES.


13


TELEGRAPHIC ADVICES.
SAN   FRANCISCO'S VIEW.
SAN FRANCISCO, January 3, 1894.
No recent arrival from Hawaii, but revenue steamer " Corwin " hourly
expected. Many merchants in this city could give unquestionable evidence, such as Hon. Horace Davis, ex-member Congress; Hon. Charles
R. Bishop, for years and still the Hawaiian banker; H. W. Severance,
for many years consul there; W. H. Bailey, the largest single owner of
plantations; W. H. Dimond, late superintendent of Mint, and of the
oldest shipping-house in the trade. Commissioner Blount declined to
hear such witnesses, and entirely ignored San Francisco. He remained
here but five hours, not even stopping at any hotel. The feeling is
universal that he was sent as an attorney to make out a prearranged
case, and returned with object attained. His Southern sympathies led
him to oppose Boston families. No doubt whatever exists that he absolutely declined, both here and at Honolulu, to hear evidence from such
men as those 1 name, even though some went from here to Hawaii
with express purpose to give evidence. Annexation is contrary to the
pecuniary interests of the sugar-planters, because sugar cannot be
raised at a profit, except by Chinese or Japanese contract labor, which
is forbidden by our statutes. Why, then, desire it? Because no other
course appears possible by which provisional government can be transformed into permanent government. Those now ruling Hawaii do not
desire dominion or power; yet how can their successors be chosen, and
by whom shall they be elected? If vote were now taken, the Queen
would be restored. Feudal loyalty in the Hawaiian race would insure the
election of one of their blood. For like reason, the suffrage question
will always be troublesome. The first move of Liliuokalani, if restored,
would be the disfranchisement of whites. This was proposed by her
abrogation of constitution, and this act, more than any other one move,
was what precipitated revolution. Excepting Spreckels, men here are
a unit that she shall never rule again. The labor question is that which
makes him royalist.




14


HAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


SUGAR BOUNTY TO BLAME.
SAN FRANCISCO, January 6, 1894.
The revenue cutter "' Corwin " from Honolulu arrived yesterday, but
the captain refuses to answer a question, will not allow a Hawaiian
newspaper to be delivered, nor give the date of leaving the islands.
President Cleveland's course has cost him many friends on this coast.
The only partisans of his I know here are the Spreckels. Mr. J. D.
Spreckels tells me to-day that the revolution was exactly what the President, in his official message, asserts, and further, that the whole trouble
is owing to the McKinley Bill. He says that the planters thought the
United States would readily assent to annexation; that the bill gives a
bounty of forty dollars a ton on sugar produced on American soil; that
the plantations raise from 300 to 14,000 tons of sugar each, and that to
gain this profit was the sole motive of those now represented by the
Provisional Government. He believes that the sugar-planters of the
islands cared nothing for the Queen's character, nor had any reason to
complain of her government, for just as soon as she found the constitution she had proposed not acceptable, she promptly and cheerfully withdrew it.
Mr. Spreckels assures me that annexation would ruin every planter on
the island, for the sugar is now cultivated and the cane cut by Japanese,
who work on a three or five years' contract. Thus the planter knows
just what his sugar will cost him; but if subject to the tyranny of labor
organizations and strikes, he would soon have to retire from business.
Labor is the largest item in sugar culture. Without the sugar bounty,
Mr. Spreckels is positive that there would have been no revolution. He
claims that the Provisional Government has been just as arbitrary on
their side as President Cleveland has been on his, and instances the
fact that when the commission went to Washington to put annexation
through, the (ueen prayed to be allowed to send one commissioner on
the steamer, the cost of which was drawn from her treasury, which
request was refused.
But no person yet has been able to tell me any plan by which the government can be transformed into a republic, even with a limited suffrage, and this is the agonizing problem of the day at Hawaii.




TELEGRAPHIC ADVICES.


15


FUTURE     OF HAWAII.
SAN FRANCISCO, January ll, 1894.
In solving the problem of the future at Hawaii a small party here,
represented by Spreckels, would like to see the islands independent,
either under the restored monarchy or a republic, with extremely limited
suffrage. Those in sympathy with the Provisional Government do not
believe this feasible, because any half-caste demagogue can control a
large majority of the Hawaiian people, and thus plunge the nation into
anarchy for selfish ends.
These would like a protectorate, always supposing that annexation,
their first choice, is rejected. They would be willing to rule in the name
of some stronger power, to be responsible to that power on the one hand
and to the Hawaiian settlement of natives and foreigners on the other.
In this way they could still make their own laws as to the introduction
of contract labor, which of late years comes mostly from Japan, and is
a vital question. Should they be successful in negotiating for a protectorate, the settlement of the labor question would secure them the
Spreckels party as allies, for with him it is chiefly a pecuniary issue.
I have had peculiar facilities to obtain the sentiments of the naval
officers. The Boston, Mohican, Alert, and Monterey are at Mare Island.
In support of President Cleveland's policy there is more difference of
opinion here than in the mercantile circle. But intense loyalty to the
Chief Executive is characteristic of the navy. " I'm for the President,
whether he is right or wrong," exclaimed one high in command to me;
"for whatever he has done, or is doing, he has a good reason, you may
be sure of that, and if he hadn't, that's none of my business."




16


HAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


ON THE WAY TO HAWAII.
" ALKALI rock and sage;" such description of the California poet and
novelist, Bret Harte, must impress itself forcibly upon the tourist who
crosses the continent on the Pacific Railroad. Was there ever a more
forbidding, a more desolate, country? And yet man has conquered its
difficulties; his indomitable will has not only constructed this long line
of road, over which we smoothly glide, but before the iron horse had
crossed these plains he was, here urged on by thirst for gold or buoyed
up by religious enthusiasm; he followed the sun in its course westward,
until he descended the Sierra Nevadas where they slope to the Golden
Gate; that is, unless he was of the flock of the great Mormon leader,
and stayed his pilgrimage or rested his weary limbs on the borders of
the Great Salt Lake.
But while other men have labored, the traveller of to-day has entered
into their labors, and in his easy-riding car, or reclining in the almost
luxurious berth, he dines in Boston on Tuesday, reaching the western
limit of his journey just as the church-going bell is from yonder tower
summoning by its chimes the faithful to the worship of God. "Adeste
fideles!" (oh, come all ye faithful!) such was the greeting which welcomed me to the city of San Francisco on this my fourth visit to the
Pacific Slope.
The trip across is not without its dangers and attractions even to this
day. Of the former let me say but little: there is no such word as
danger to one in the path of duty; the pleasures of reading the great book
of human nature can be leisurely enjoyed, where one feels that no time is
lost and no duty neglected by the time devoted to its most careful study.
Of Hawaiian affairs, it would scarce be imagined that I could write you
much that is new. The "' Corwin " is daily expected, and will bring from
thence the latest advices. Yet there are those in San Francisco who
have been so closely identified with the islands for many years that what
they say may be accepted as evidence in this perplexing case. It is to
be regretted that Mr. Blount did not recognize their wish and privilege
to be heard. How did the commissioner treat them? I-e simply ignored
their existence. Instead of taking time in this city to listen to men of




ON THE WAY TO HAWAII.


17


good judgment, removed from the temptation to serve private interests
by identifying themselves with either party, Mr. Blount drove from the
depot to the steamer on which, in five hours' time, he was on the way to
the seat of war. There, his course was not unlike that of the attorney
who makes out a case for a client: he heard those he wished to hear,
and summoned none others. A gentleman who had large interests there,
and who was, by marriage, of royalist connection, went to Honolulu for
the express purpose of stating his views; but there was little opportunity
to do so; a certain formal set of questions were propounded, to which
the briefest replies were taken by the commissioner's stenographer.
Who are the reigning family?  The trouble began with Kalakaua; it
culminated in his sister, Mrs. Dominis, now the deposed Queen
Liliuokalani; its success deprives of the succession to the throne her
niece, Miss Cleghorn, the Princess Kaiulani. Up to thirty years ago
there were two houses of Parliament, - the nobles nominated for life
by the sovereign, the representatives chosen by the people. Later constitutions restricted this right of creating peers to six years, and consolidated the two houses into one legislative assembly. Kalakaua was an
extravagant and weak-minded king, and (it is said) virtually relapsed
into paganism; but when his sister succeeded him, she came to the throne
under favorable auspices, yet firmly resolved to show more of the monarchical spirit than her predecessor, and restore the rights of sovereignty
which recent constitutions had made more and more limited. She had the
right to appoint ministers, but these could only be removed by the vote
of the Assembly. The first act by which she alienated the affections
of good men was by securing the removal of a ministry in which all
had confidence, and appointing one of those of less purity and force of
character. Her next mistake was the lottery bill, which was not a
measure by which she was to be in any way profited, other than that the
government would receive a fee for license. The real culprits here were,
doubtless, those who have so long had their headquarters at New
Orleans. The next move was the change in the constitution restoring
old prerogatives, and at this attempt the monarchy was overthrown.
Annexation to the United States was the natural alternative, not as
the result of conspiracy, but simply because such has been the longcherished wish of many of the residents for years. It was always discussed; it was by many ardently advocated; and this seemed to be the
time to propose it as a solution of the enigma of the future. Minister
Stevens could not have done his duty to his government did he not consider it as the all-important question, and, so far as a representative
abroad may advise the Executive, had he not clearly and frankly




HAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


expressed his official opinion as to its possibility and expediency. It is
not necessary to believe that he was a conspirator. It is far more
probable that he was a sincerely honest man, acting for the best interests
of his country. Nor is this at all inconsistent with the allegation that
the landing of the marines from the " Boston " was a mistake. Strife is
usually a succession of mistakes, and it would be well for us to stop right
here and ask what is to be done, rather than to spend our time in the
attempt to make political capital out of the mistakes of our brethren.
Who are the parties wronged by the Provisional Government? Not
the native people: the men now in power have for years been the
best friends of the natives, and will remain such; and yet just here
would be the place to state the difficulty of submitting the question of
their continuance in power to a popular vote. Led by those who represent royalty, the vote of Hawaii, if taken to-day, would, without the
shadow of a doubt, restore to the throne the deposed Queen. How,
then, can this be changed? By only one compromise, which would be
to pension the Queen, and then to have her throw her influence in favor
of the new republic. This would be by far the best solution of the
difficulty; but it disinherits the charming young lady who won our gallant President's heart, and received the sweet sympathies of his amiable
wife. Beauty in tears appeals to our gallantry, and the man who now
and then finds himself led into foolishness by yielding thereto is far
happier, far more easily forgiven, than he who can listen unmoved to a
story that should touch his heart. Princess Kaiulani is a sweet and
charming girl. Those of us who know the charms of these dark-eyed
Hawaiian houris can perhaps explain the most easily the sudden withdrawal of a treaty which would have deprived her of her inheritance.
Her guardian, Mr. Davies, is an astute British politician, and from the
British has come and still comes the most obstinate objection to the
supremacy of the United States at the island kingdom. Even after the
republic is organized, should such be the solution, the difficulty of popular suffrage is a most serious one, for the native element, numerically
the largest, will always be a tool in the hands of designing politicians.
A property qualification for voting appears undemocratic, and yet that
is about the only way of securing a legislative assembly which will have
at heart the best interest of the country. An abdication on the part
of Queen Liliuokalani, with immediate appointment of the Princess
Kaiulani, was at one time advocated as the best solution of the affair.
This would continue the monarchical form of government, yet under a
queen of whom all speak in the warmest terms of a praise that is
unqualified.




IAWAIIAN POLITICS.


19


HAWAIIAN POLITICS.
I HAD supposed that at the time of the seizure of the Hawaiian islands
by Sir George Paulet, and the British occupation of 1843, the treaty
powers -Great Britain, France, and the United States- were bound to
keep hands off for all time; but I have received the following letter from
a legal gentleman of this city, which would seem to correct my impression.
He says:" I have examined the treaties of the United States, and there is no
such treaty.with Hawaii as you supposed. The first treaty in the books
is that of 1849, a long one. In this, Articles 8 and 9 give our citizens
full rights to buy lands and houses, reside and do business in the kingdom,
enjoy liberty of conscience and exemption from military service, forced
loans, etc. The treaty of 1875 is one of reciprocity, and Article 4
contains the following covenant: -
It is agreed on the part of his Hawaiian majesty that so long as
this treaty shall remain in force he will not lease or otherwise dispose of
or create any lien upon any port, harbor, or other territory in his dominion,
nor grant any special privilege or rights of use therein to any other
person, State, or government, nor make any treaty by which any other
nation shall obtain the same privileges relative to the admission of any
articles free of duty, hereby assured to the United States.'
" The treaty of 1884 sustains the former treaties, and also contains
the grant of an exclusive right to Pearl River on the island of Oahu for a
repair and coaling station."
That would appear conclusive; yet I am still of the opinion that in
examining the archives of government at Ionolulu I shall find some
evidence of a convention betwixt the representatives of the treaty powers
by which each one of those powers is bound to sustain the independence
of Hawaii, even as against the encroachments of the other two. Without abrogation of the above provisions it will even now be impossible for
President Dole to make terms of protection and reciprocity with Great
Britain.
The objections to a protectorate and the opposition to reciprocity have
always come from the native element in the kingdom, for the Hawaiian




20


HAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


race have that strong love for their land which is nowhere more conspicuous than where that land is in any sense under the heel of the stranger.
In a debate to which I listened in the Hawaiian Parliament, this was
very noticeable; the whites, with scarce an exception, speaking on the
side of reciprocity, and the natives opposing them with arguments
against conceding more to those numerically in the minority, yet before
whose stronger intellect and superior executive ability their own people
were declining as the grass goes down before the scythe of the mower.
All proceedings in this assembly must be conducted in two languages,
every speaker's words being repeated by the crown interpreter. At the
time I visited the islands, this office was held by a half-caste, for whom
all had the greatest admiration. His equal was not to be found in the
kingdom, and having been an interpreter myself in at least four modern
languages, I feel competent to hazard the declaration that it could not
be surpassed in the world. Not a second's hesitation did he show when
from the eloquent lips of Hon. Stephen H. Phillips there rolled forth one
of those paragraphs such as the orators of former days, Everett, Webster,
or Irving, loved to create. And when one of his own nation arose, and
with all the native passion poured thick and fast the burning words
which tyrants quake to hear, not only were they instantly repeated in our
cooler Saxon, but the very gestures of the speakers were in both instances
preserved and repeated. Poor Bill Ragsdale! The last time we met he
accosted me in the street, and asked for some simple information. He
was dressed in spotless white cashmere, and a silk handkerchief bound
across his noble brow showed the cause of his recent sojourn in the
chain-gang. For, in common with his people, there were certain matters
of conduct and of morals where Mr. Ragsdale could not conform to the
laws of good society, and now and then, when his offence was too rank,
he was arrested and punished like an ordinary subject. But then the
chariot wheels of the King dragged heavily, and the halls of debate
were more stupid to both parties than one of the great stone meetinghouses of a long Sunday afternoon. Finally, some member boldly
moves a free pardon to Mr. William Ragsdale, now serving out a
sentence for drunkenness and assault; unanimously carried, signed by
the King as quickly as a messenger could reach the royal chamber, and
shortly after, in a clean, an immaculate toilet, Mr. Ragsdale is in the
interpreter's box, and on the swift-moving current of his fluent speech
the affairs of the nation resume their interest for the National Assembly.
His last speech at Honolulu was made under the most touching circumstances. Leprosy had seized him. He could have kept it a secret,




HAWAIIAN POLITICS.


21


perhaps, for months; but he arranged all his affairs for a living burial.
Then, summoning those who had known and loved him during his career,
he threw the whole force of his passionate soul into a farewell address,
and strong men wept like babes as he bade them adieu, to remain at the
leper settlement for the remainder of his days.
Oh, how much that gives warmth and interest to human life is lost
by the self-control and the coldness of our Saxon temperament,
especially in such as that of the inhabitants of Boston! On a bark in
which I was interested, there were as passengers two of the suite of
Queen Emma, a native chieftain and his wife,- about as fine specimens
of man and woman as any with whom my lot was ever cast. They had
been travelling in many lands after the return of their royal mistress to
where the cocoa-palm threw its shadow on her home. Soon after the
vessel was made fast to the wharf, it was noised abroad that they were
on board, and their retainers came to welcome them back -with cheers
and noisy demonstrations? Oh, no! Bowing to the deck the moment
they approached the cabin door, one after another, they bent their heads
in the presence of their chief. Then. in a most peculiar step, not crawling, yet moving along with exquisite grace close to the deck, they came
in succession to where they could touch the princely hand, and washed
it with their tears. Never have I seen so sweetly melting a scene.
Had the grand old Scotchman, Thomas Carlyle, been in my place, he
would certainly have added another chapter to his " Heroes and Hero
Worship."
And this is the people whose nationality we would extinguish. This is
the people which must yield its soil, its customs, its very life to us,
because we are intellectually stronger, and the islands are a necessity
to the commerce of the world. Examples might be multiplied even to
weariness. There was the old story of the Hawaiian queen, who, to
destroy once and forever the faith of the people in the fire-god, made
the proclamation that she herself would brave P(61's anger; and so, on
a day when the fires of Mauna Loa were specially rampant, at a time
when the sea of liquid fire was boiling in Kilauea, she, alone and unprotected from the flames, went, like Moses, the man of God, down, down
into the very bowels of the earth, into the sulphurous vapors of the
seething crater. And the people stood and lamented the sacrifice of the
royal victim to the spirit of fire, as the maidens in the old story
mourned for the daughter of Jephthah. But, forth from the altar of
sacrifice came the triumphant queen, and from that day to the present
the power of P('l16 over the native mind was gone and gone forever.




22


HAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


I do not wonder that Father Damien loved this race. It is with no loss
of dignity that our own brethren mingle with them. They won the hearts
of such men as James Jackson Jarves, Richard H. Dana, Bishops Staley
and Hopkins, Charles Warren Stoddard, Edward Clifford, and scores of
men as intelligent, but whose names are not as widely known. They
must not be judged by the standard to which the civilized world very
generally conforms. It is as impossible for some of the best of both
sexes to realize the turpitude of certain offences against morality,
as it would be for us to conform with the heart to the Mosaic law
regarding our food and drink, supposing that a powerful army should
land in Boston to-day, and force upon us its observance. We might be
constrained to public compliance in order to avoid arrest, but our consciences would not reproach us if we ate our oysters or our pork and
beans in secret. The Hawaiians, even in the pre-European days, were
never cannibals, or believers in human sacrifices.
But why should the American people take such an all-absorbing
interest in the Hawaiian question? There are several very good
reasons. In the first place, the Provisional Government is made of
bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. This is true not only of the
physical descent of these men; it is true of the spirit also. There
lives in the heart of President Dole the very throbs which moved the
heart of Washington. His supporters but re-echo that cannon-shot, the
report of which was heard round the world. They are not rebels for
personal gain against a rule which should be respected; they are striving to supplant misrule with those self-same principles which have made
this the golden age.
Again, great battles are won or lost at strategic points, and we cannot
ignore the fact that Hawaii is the La Haye Sainte on which depends the
day at Waterloo. By some of those who best knew James G. Blaine
it is asserted that, although his head lies low in an unmarked grave, his
soul is marching on to Hawaii. Ex-Minister Stevens is said to be a
bequest to American diplomacy from the dead Secretary of State. For
he - Mr. Blaine -had all that love for the acquisition of territory which
is found in kindred minds- in Alexander, in Napoleon, in those prime
ministers of Britain who have been determined that the westward
shadow of the tree-top should never be on other than the dominions of
the Queen. And so the great chieftain of the Republican party saw, in
imagination, the day when, from the trade-wind region of the Caribbean
to the frozen sea of the North, from the Isthmus of Panama to Greenland's icy mountains, there should be but one government and but one




HAWAIIAN POLITICS.                     23
flag- the starry banner- for whose entirety millions had died, whose
unity does certainly represent principles well worth martyrdom. Then,
the continent including all climates, producing all that could be needed
by its inhabitants, the iron wall of protection could be built around us,
and the arguments of free trade would be sunk in the moat of the
oceans of the Atlantic and Pacific. Let us once abandon our policy of
non-interference and non-annexation, and all this will be possible to our
descendants.
Against this are arrayed the calm, clear arguments of the able
Executive who now holds the helm of the ship of state: perfect freedom
of intercourse with foreign nations, but they shall still be the lands of
the stranger; perfect protection to the lives and property of our fellowcitizens resident there, as long as they are Americans, but no sides to
be taken by us in any local quarrel, even if one party is exclusively of
our own blood.




24


IHAWAIIAN CORRIESPONDENCE.


THE HAWAIIAN SITUATION.
IN one of the first of my present series of letters mention was made
of a treaty made some fifty years ago by which it was agreed that
neither Great Britain, France, nor the United States should ever acquire
any title to the Hawaiian islands. The occasion of such agreement was
the forcible occupation of the islands by Sir George Paulet, commanding Her Majesty's ship "Carysfort."  The trouble was the alleged
oppression on the part of the missionary dynasty of British subjects,
the consul of that kingdom having been rejected in his official capacity;
in certain private matters, his property was under civil attachment;
further, other British citizens resident there, or mariners, had been
arrested, confined in irons; and with that promptness always shown by
Britain in redressing the wrongs of the humblest of her citizens, the
guns of a man-of-war were soon in readiness to belch forth the lion's
wrath upon the offending king.  The real offender was, doubtless,
I)r. G. P. Judd, who was practically the supreme ruler of the kingdom
at this time. It is from his family that many of the present dynasty
originate. He had a large family of children. Hon. H. A. P. Carter,
late Hawaiian minister at Washington, was his son-in-law; Chief
Justice Judd of the islands is his son. The British captain declined to
hold any communication whatsoever with Dr. Judd, and, after a long
correspondence, a note of four lines informed the government that, at
four r.Mi. of the following day, the ship would open fire upon the
town. The result of this was the provisional cession of the kingdom of
Hawaii to Great Britain, and its occupation as a colony of that power.
A protest was made by the King, and forwarded to Washington.
John Tyler was then President and Daniel Webster Secretary of State.
The means of communication were limited to sailing vessels, and the
British Government continued in power at the islands from February 25,
1843, to the following August, when the rear admiral commanding the
squadron of the Pacific restored to the King his sovereignty. In the
mean time, Mr. Webster had not been idle, and he, like our honored




THE HAWAIIAN SITUATION.


25
Ad,


President, sent out a commissioner. But it would appear that Mr. Tyler
did not assume to appoint this official on his own responsibility, for in
his letter of instructions there occurs this phrase: "Congress having
complied with his [the President's] suggestion, by providing for a commissioner to reside at the islands, you have been chosen for that
purpose."
These instructions are not unlike those which would be given by an
executive to such a deputy to-day, for there was much that is parallel in
the situation: the King was deposed, a Provisional Government was
ruling wisely and well.
But, while there is no record that the home government ever disowned
the acts of her navy, or that she ever in the least apologized for the
occupation of the island kingdom, it is certain that it was made an
international question between herself and her always jealous neighbor,
France. It is further certain that from that day to the present, whatever the reigning family at Hawaii, no power has been more respected
than that of Great Britain, and to none of her subjects or officials has
the least indignity been offered.
What the position of the United States was then and thereafter I am,
at this writing, unable to state; but my assertion was correct in regard
to the action of both Great Britain and France; and I now have the
satisfaction to subjoin a copy made from official records of the convention, by which the present Provisional Government are forever
debarred against placing themselves under the patronage or protectorate
of Her Majesty, the Queen. This, it seems, could only be effected if
France were invited to be a party to the arrangement, and her consent
was made a part of the cession. This she will not willingly give. She
now holds the Society Islands. Tahiti is her Pacific Ocean coaling and
naval station. She will doubtless insist on the validity of this convention,
and not fail to notice that the word "never" means "jamais," and it
cannot be otherwise translated. Therefore, in our ancient ally of 1776,
we have a bondsman that Great Britain cannot raise permanently the
cross of St. George in Hawaii.
Here is the treaty to which I referred: —
Declaration of Great Britain and France relative to the Independence of
the Sandwich Islands, London, November 28, 1843.
Her Majesty, the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, and His Majesty, the King of the French, taking into consideration the existence in the Sandwich Islands of a government
capable of providing for the regularity of its relations with foreign




HAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


nations, have thought it right to engage reciprocally to consider the
Sandwich Islands as an independent State, and never to take possession,
either directly or under the title of protectorate, or under any other form,
of any part of the territory of which they are composed.
The undersigned, Her Majesty's principal Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs and the Embassador Extraordinary of His Majesty, the
King of the French, at the Court of London, being furnished with the
necessary powers, hereby declare, in consequence, that their said Majesties take reciprocally that engagement.
In witness thereof, the undersigned have signed the present declaration, and have affixed thereto the seal of their arms.
Done in duplicate at London, the twenty-eighth day of November, in
the year of our Lord 1843.
ABERDEEN.
ST. AULAIRE.
While not exactly a treaty, this has all its binding force, and I was
certainly not far from truth, when it is considered that I was writing
solely from memory. Brother Miner may conclusively demonstrate to
me that Gehenna was no more than the Scriptural synonyme for Chelsea,
being, in fact, but a suburb of Jerusalem. I shall still hold, as I
always have held, that if there is no hell in that life which is to come,
I shall be perfectly able to construct one for myself, providing I have
failed in my duty in the present warfare of the life that now is.
Further, unless the gift of memory is withdrawn, that hell with me will
be everlasting, for I shall never be able to forget. In thirty years' miscellaneous contributions to the press, often severely attacked, the essential truth of my statements has never been impeached.
The great question which now stares the Provisional Government in
the face is this: " How can the community over which we are unchallenged rulers be transformed from a temporary government into a permanent government? How, and by whom, shall our successors be
elected or named?"
The wisest men, those most interested for the prosperity and peace of
the islands, fervent Christian men, who wrestle in prayer to God with
all the solemnity so well described by Macaulay in his essay on the
Puritans, read that question, and with a little less than agony in their
tones, reply, -
"I cannot answer; God only knows; it is the great, the serious
question of the present; it is the great shadow in the portentous future."
The American people cannot understand nor appreciate this terrible
dilemma, for it is now causing wakeful nights to hundreds of our own




THE HAWAIIAN SITUATION.
la


27


flesh and blood, and nearly driving to insanity their loving wives.
Why? They have taken the bull by the horns —that unreasonable
creature now representing the uneducated people. They are strong
enough to hold him, but when, how, and what, if they in the least relax
their hold?
This is the sole reason for which many of them desire annexation.
"We will let go any minute," say they; " we do not wish for power,
position, or dominion; just take us and those we now control as national
wards, and make your own terms for the cession."
Annexation is against the pecuniary interests of the planters, for the
reason that sugar cannot be raised there without the cheap contract labor
of the Asiatic. This can, under our statutes, be no longer admitted.
But without the intervention of a superior power, must it not be forever
an armed despotism, the government by an aristocratic minority of a
great ignorant majority? When the native of Europe emigrates to our
land, if not in the first, at farthest at the second generation, he desires
to learn of our principles and institutions. The Hawaiian is not unlike
the Chinaman: he has all the indolence of the tropical races, and even
were it granted, he cannot in a republic of universal suffrage be trusted
with a vote, which counts exactly the same as that of President Dole.
If the question were now put to vote, the present deposed queen would be
restored by an overwhelming majority. Her first official act would doubtless be to repeat the attempt which cost her the throne. This was the
virtual disfranchisement of the white population.  These men own
millions of property there which represent the work not only of a single
lifetime, but of generations. Could they, ask their San Francisco correspondents, submit to taxation with no representation?
This reminds me to reiterate my assertion that Commissioner Blount
most certainly treated San Francisco with most shabby and inexcusable
neglect. Such men as Hon. Horace Davis, president of the Flour Trust
of the coast, formerly member of Congress and supporter of Cleveland's
silver policy; Hon. Charles R. Bishop, for years the George Peabody of
Hawaii, whose wife was one of the old Kamehamehas; Hon. II. W. Severance, for two generations holding high office under government, his father
being a resident commissioner and the United States consul; General
W.. Dimond, late superintendent of United States Mint and Hawaiian
shipping merchant, and many others, while resident here, have immense
interests at stake - the two last-named were born at Hawaii. Now Mr.
Blount utterly ignored San Francisco in his investigation, and the citizens
here are practically a unit that he was sent out as an attorney to make a




28


HAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


prearranged case for President Cleveland's side, and absolutely refused
to hear anything which should militate against that specific case. There
is not the least doubt of the truth of the assertion that men high in power
and influence almost begged him to hear them, and that he was firm in
his refusal to allow them to appear.
This course of Mr. Blount's has made the President enemies in the very
house of his friends, and those who once believed in him now boldly
impeach his motives. I said to one of these - his former supporters -
yesterday, that we must judge our honored Executive by his public
utterances, and that certainly his message on this very matter was a clear,
cool, and masterly statement of his policy, containing not the least hint of
armed interference; to which the reply was made that this message was
a mere afterthought; that it was Mr. Cleveland's purpose to use all the
naval power of the United States to reseat a corrupt queen upon a rotten
throne. This is excessively unjust to one of the best Presidents that has
ever lived in the White House; but this is a sample of the criticisms to
which Mr. Blount has subjected him. The only safe man to send there
would have been one acquainted with the history and peculiarities of the
island race and their rulers. I am certain that, had I not lived there and
kept up for twenty years past my acquaintance with them, I could never
have understood the situation. There are some humorous phases of the
matter. That the paragrapher should play upon the fascinations of
Miss Cleghorn, and depict the sweet sympathy offered to the Princess
Kaiulani by the amiable Mrs. Cleveland, would appear but natural; but
it would surprise Eastern people to know how general is the impression
amongst those who recognize the peculiar attractiveness of the Hawaiian
race that this sweet, good, and beautiful girl of eighteen has more to do
with our dilemma than is ordinarily credited to her agency or to her
visit to Washington.




SPRECKELS AND HAWAII.


29


SPRECKELS AND HAWAII.
WHEN we were boys, we availed ourselves of a neighboring heap of
bricks for a very innocent sport: this consisted in placing on end a long
line of these, if possible in intricate windings, then touching the first
one erected, and seeing the one fall on the other in the speedy toppling
over of them all. Now, a mistake is very like that first brick: the only
way to avoid the fall of the last is never to touch the first.  The
Hawaiian business is a series of blunders, apparently on the one side and
on the other; but, with all their selfishness, Messrs. J. D. Spreckels
& Co. have presumed to name to me the initial mistake. Shall we ever
get to the end of the mischief worked by the McKinley Bill? Mr.
Spreckels is positive that had that measure never been initiated, there
would have been no revolution at Hawaii. Let us first have an introduction to this great mercantile establishment. In brief, who are they?
Years ago, when I was residing at San Francisco, Claus Spreckels, the
father, was an honest brewer, doing business in a very small way on one
of the by-streets of this great city; but it seems in his native land he had
also understood something of the process of refining sugar. There was
a good-sized refinery in operation there at that time. But Mr. Spreckels
had a secret of his own by which he could take the sugar that the rival
establishment used, refine it, and put it on the market at one cent a
pound cheaper than that produced by his neighbor, all the time making
a profit for himself. In due time he drove his rival to treat with him
as a purchaser, and became sole proprietor of the business for the Pacific
Coast.  Sugar could not be imported to compete with him, for the
cost of transportation would render it too dear a commodity. Now,
Mr. Spreckels had only to employ clerks to figure out the daily growth
of his business and the increasing amount of his bank account. But he
was not satisfied with having forced the inhabitants west of the Rocky
Mountains to depend on him for every drop of sweetness in their cups,
he went to Philadelphia and tried the same tactics, and soon the sugar
magnates of the East found themselves in the same position as that in
which he had placed the California refinery: that one cent a pound
meant bankruptcy to them and profit to Mr. Spreckels. Either they
must buy his refinery in Philadelphia, or they must sell him theirs at a




30


HAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


tremendous loss. For a long time Mr. Spreckels refused to treat with
them; but, finally, five millions, which they raised to pay their rival's
passage back to San Francisco, brought him to terms, and he returned
to California.
But here his restless energy did not tire. He bought lands at Hawaii,
until he was not only the largest refiner in the world, but the largest
producer of sugar.  He sent to Philadelphia and built ocean-going
steamships in which to bring his raw materials, so that he literally pays
no profit to any one but the firm of J. D. Spreckels & Co. The New
Zealand Government pays him   a large subsidy a year to continue
the route of his ships past the islands to Auckland. He became friends
with the Hawaiian Government at once, and got the crown lands for a
song. To make use of his name to show his standing, he certainly has
his Claus on everything there from which a dollar can be realized. The
firm consists of the father and some three or four sons. It is organized
as the Hawaiian Commercial Company, and as J. D. Spreckels & Co., but
under whatever name he operates, his profits are just as sure and sweet.
Years ago, in times similar to the present, a relief committee went to
a Boston merchant, who shall be nameless, for a subscription. He
received them courteously, but responded, " Why, gentlemen, I cannot
afford it. All my investments are paying less now, and I have $200,000
lying right round in the State Street banks which amount does not pay
me a dollar."  How much, on the testimony of his own broker, had Mr.
Spreckels in like position, think you? About seven millions. One son rebelled about something in the management of the business, and the people
thought they were to have all the private history of the concern in the
columns of their morning papers; but, within a day or two, when the
case was called for trial, a long list of lawyers came smiling to the bar,
and each and every interest waived further proceedings, saying that all
had been amicably settled. Further, no one of them, nor their clients,
will give the least information as to what the arrangement was.
Mr. J. D. Spreckels, the manager-in-chief, is, socially and in business,
one of the most agreeable men to meet. He has a way of going at once
to the bottom of things, and, without any equivocation, stating the very
root or ground of the matter in dispute. And so, in the present troubles
at Hawaii, he says that it requires but a glance at the McKinley Bill to
define the cause of the revolt. That unfortunate measure offered a
bounty of two cents a pound on sugar grown on American soil. The
planters thought that the United States would eagerly embrace their
offer of annexation; then all the plantations became instantly American
soil, and each planter would be entitled to the bounty on his whole crop




SPl'ECKELS AND) IAWAIII.


31


of sugar. Now, as I write, I foresee the scorn of those who would
sneer at a profit of one cent a pound; but let them figure it out as, in
our schooldays, we figured the cost of the horse whose price was fixed
by the number of nails in his shoes. It was one cent a pound which
forced the California refinery into the hands of its rival; it was one
cent a pound which obliged the Sugar Trust to raise five millions; it is
two cents a pound which has made revolution in Hawaii, and embarrassed
two successive administrations at Washington. There are no small
things in life. Let us see to how much it amounts: the plantations
produce from three hundred to fourteen thousand tons of sugar annually;
therefore a fair average would be a plantation of seventy-five hundred
tons. Two cents a pound is, on the short ton, forty dollars per ton,
and for seventy-five hundred tons, this makes an annual difference in
the balance-sheet of the planter of just $300,000 in his favor. And
when you realize that this is no monopoly, that, from the small investor
to the large owner, the return will come in like proportion, you begin to
see why the commission bearing the annexationists was hurried off to
Washington by the unanimous voice of the sugar interests. Queen
Liliuokalani begged and prayed to be allowed to send one commissioner
on the steamer, the cost of whose coal was paid out of her royal treasury, but she was flatly refused this privilege. Had the President's eyes
been opened to the immense interests at stake when those men were
urging him to favor annexation, perhaps the good sense of Benjamin
Harrison would have prevailed, and his message to Congress would
have been couched in other terms. Mr. Spreckels thinks that the cool,
clear head of Grover Cleveland has seen through all the professions of
patriotism and Americanism on the part of the revolutionists, that our
present honored Executive is right from first to last, and that gain,
desired for gain and nothing else, was the cause of the seizure of the
government of the Hawaiian kingdom by those now in power.
The annexationists had supported their views by those opinions of our
Presidents and statesmen which have for years appeared in messages or
reports of the Secretary of State, notably the words of Daniel Webster.
But they failed to remember that the dream of such men was to see the
United States a great commercial nation, while it has become, under
the management of those who have excluded foreign-built ships from the
privileges of our flag at a time when the building material was changing
from wood to iron, a country of no commercial importance. The annexationists are confined to the New England States and to the Pacific seaboard; they may have some allies in New York.     Who are their
opponents?  First, the long-established conservative policy of the




32


IHAWAIIAN CO(RtESPONI)DENCE.


country, which has always declined to receive, even as Territories, foreign
colonies. It was this, and this alone, which defeated the cession to the
Union of Samana Bay, San Domingo, in General Grant's administration.
The South might have favored that move; it must oppose this because
Hawaii, by its products, becomes a rival to Louisiana and Georgia. Is
it surprising that Mr. Blount of Georgia should advise the President to
recall the annexation treaty? Then there is the great West, settled by
a people who have no idea whatsoever of commerce or navigation, many
of whom never saw the ocean, all of whom care absolutely nothing for
ships and sailors. I remember once hearing a distinguished preacher
say that the armor of indifference was the hardest phase of resistance to
overcome. To this we may add the Sugar Trust, who, having been
already severely worsted in their contest with Spreckels, will certainly
oppose anything which gives an additional advantage to the power
which now owns one-third the surgar-growing lands of Hawaii. Those
lands becoming American soil, with the McKinley bounty, it is not
impossible that the indefatigable German might be able to refine his
sugar at Honolulu, or send it by steam around Cape Horn in its raw
state, thus using the five-million payment to torment his old rivals.
To all these influences against annexation there is but one element in
opposition which may be considered at all powerful; it is this: the strife
between the great political parties. Should the Republicans make the
question a test of loyalty to Ex-Presideut Harrison, and the Democrats be
equally firm that the course of President Cleveland must be sustained, a
general victory of the first-named at the next presidential election would
mean annexation for the Hawaiian islands should these then desire it.
If the lrovisional Government's rule should be as satisfactory in the
future as it has been hitherto, it is not impossible that we may experience the truth of the old rhyme,"He who will not when he may,
When he will shall have ' Nay.'"
For annexation, as Mr. Spreckels tells me, involves the islands in
trouble as soon as the present labor contracts have expired. Of late
years the largest supply to the Hawaiian labor market has come from
Japan, the sugar plantations being now largely cultivated by natives of
that empire. Their mother country would relish excessively the addition
of these islands to her domain. It would afford her a glorious opportunity to rid herself of her superfluous population, and her laboring
class w6uld be sure of employment the moment she landed them at
Ionolulu. She has one man-of-war on that station.




T1'E IA WA IIAN 1R EVOLT.


33


THE HAWAIIAN REVOLT.
IT is surprising to one who dwells in that democratic ward to notice
how little many Bostonians know of the part of Boston lying toward
the sea, easterly from Post Office Square. As one of my windows
looks on to the long flight of stone steps which mounts to the acme of
the politician's ambition,- the collector's seat of the Boston Custom
House, -visitors frequently demand of me the name of that beautiful
stone building.
Years ago there were three buildings in Boston, of which it was
said, at the time of their erection, that they would stand until the day
of judgment should dawn. These were the Boston Custom House, the
Merchants' Exchange, and the building standing at the corner of Batterymarch and Milk Streets. The two latter have already been removed,
and it will not be many years before the first-named must follow its
contemporaries. The day of small, low buildings has passed away.
There were many reminiscences of the Exchange. There will be
many of the Custom I-Iouse, with its half-century or more of political
associations; but I have failed to see any in print of the site of the
new Exchange Club, the home of which is rapidly approaching completion. Yet on that place was the grandest mercantile house which ever
existed in this city, managed by a merchant whose executive ability was,
in the opinion of his compeers, second to none in the world.
To go back farther still, in the early part of the present century,
opposite Merchants Row, on State Street, was Deacon Proctor's hardware store. My father entered it as little more than a boy. The
deacon's theology was as cold and unyielding as the material which
formed the basis of his stock in trade. It was not unusual —in fact,
it was the general rule in 18830 -for a mercantile house to be either
Unitarian or Orthodox, and in hiring help, even to the errand boy, the
religious affiliations of the applicant were first considered. If these
were contrary to the principles of the house, that settled negatively the
application, whatever other testimonials of fitness might be offered.




34


HAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


The concern passed through many changes of title. Proctor, Palmer
& Co., Proctor, Palmer & Felt, Proctor, Butler & Co., Butler, Keith &
Hill, Butler & Sise, and Butler & Johnson are some of the styles which
occur to me now. My father retired from the firm in 1837, with an
engagement never again to enter the hardware business in Boston;
hence, after a brief experience as agent of a Sheffield firm, crossing the
Atlantic on a packet ship, he became partner with lIon. Thomas A. Davis,
mayor of Boston, and then in the jewelry trade.
The grand ally of good, orthodox Deacon Proctor was the American
Board. By their needs, the export trade in all articles, but notably in
hardware, started from Boston. The part of the world which was the
largest customer was the promising missionary country of the Sandwich
Islands, as the kingdom of Hawaii was then universally called. The
deacon's account was sure to be paid, for, until a comparatively recent
date, all shipments were charged to the Pemberton Square house,
although the goods were shipped direct to the missionaries.
But the business altogether outgrew its quarters, so a contract was
made with the Thorndike estate for the erection of the grand building
which has just been destroyed in order to make room for a grander. It
was the strongest built house of merchandise in the city, and the export
trade was increased and carried on there by Peter Butler, to a degree
and with a success which is not equalled even at the present day.
Noble ships, ably commanded, fully manned, American from truck to
keelson and from captain to cabin boy, carried our goods to every part
of the globe, and there were few clearing from Boston but what took
part of their cargoes from that massive granite structure just demolished
by the hand of improvement.
I am writing of that which I know. It was in that building that I
took my very first lessons in mercantile life. No salaries were paid to
the boys. It was only by favor that one could get admittance there,
and the best families in Boston repeatedly applied to Mr. Butler for the
appointment of some youth to the first vacancy. The hours were long,
and the work exacting. Each salesman had a boy and a porter. It was
Mr. Butler's instructions that no customer should be permitted to leave
the store in search of any article whatever, no matter how foreign to
our stock in trade, that all his customers should thus learn to depend
upon him to supply every need; so the salesman had a boy to trot from
one end of the city to the other to find such things as the buyer had
wanted, but which were not in stock.  In this way the firm kept a
customer from opening an account with a rival concern. Sometimes the




TITE HAWAIIAN REVOLT.


35


shipments were enormous and sometimes almost ludicrous. A thousand
stand of arms to a foreign potentate - some little power of South
America -is an example of the former. Of the latter it occurs to me
to mention that most important requirement of a Protestant missionary;
namely, a wife. The concern was equal to the emergency, and the next
packet which sailed for Honolulu took out that joy of the missionary's
hearth and home, her outfit, passage money, and all her belongings
going through Mr. Butler's ledger. Her safe arrival was duly chronicled,
and the debtor discharged himself of the claim of the shipper. Whether
the goods wore well or proved unsatisfactory will never be known. It
was one of those cases where no return to the exporter was possible.
Mr. Butler himself was often at his desk by quarter-past seven. We
were on the twelve-hour system then, and were never dismissed until
that hour in the evening. After this I had to take the keys of the
store to his house on Bowdoin Street, to which place I went at half-past
five in the morning the year round, so as to have the doors of the store
open at six. In order to see that none of us were absent at the time
of closing, the cry " Call over the waste!" rang through the store at
seven p.AM., and the pretence of reading aloud the list of cash sales for
the day served to assemble us all, some sixty in number, in the countingroom.   It was then that we were reprimanded or directed by the
partners, of which there were six.  Of these, I think, Mr. Butler,
Messrs. Johnson, Dudley, and Sise are still living. The sales of the
concern amounted to about one million annually, which was an immense
business. The first decline in the prosperity of the establishment was
at the outbreak of the war. The final settlement came after the great
Boston fire, at which date the firm had left its ancient warehouse, and
had a store in the burnt district.
I have thought a little sketch of such a house would be interesting,
not only as a bit of local history, but because it is one of a chain of
events which has led up to the present crisis in Hawaii. And the reason
is this: at first, all merchandise dealings were with the American Board;
but the hand of the New England Yankee can never lose its cunning,
and in the course of years the Sandwich Island missionary turned
planter or merchant.  There are those in ecclesiastical line at the
Hawaiian islands of missionary birth, but the majority of the descendants of those who went there to preach the Gospel are now the politicians
and planters and shipping merchants of Hawaii. Further, when I was
a resident there, the old stock was some of it living, and where were
some of those early exponents of the Gospel to be found? Not in the




36


HAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


pulpits, but behind the counter, in the counting-room, or on the sugar
plantation. As one of the oldest and best told me in so many words:
I I was for years on a missionary's salary, just enough to keep my soul
in my body; then the growing family I had, my duty to them and to
my old age, led me to resign, and go into sugar and trade." The
reasoning may be good, the duty may be obvious, but yet, in the light
of the original purposes of the American people in going there, it must
be considered as an unfortunate combination of circumstances.
And this is now thrown into the teeth of the Provisional Government
and its supporters to-day.
" You came here," say the Hawaiians, "with but one avowed purpose
-to teach us, you said, of that God who made of one blood all mankind. We listen to you. First, you directed our rulers. It was you who
forbade our native sports, our free use of the ocean, the free use of our
own limbs, the right to play if we wished, not six, but seven days in the
week; you virtually seized our government through the elder Judd, who
resigned nominally from your ministry that he might own our king, and
it was only the guns of England and France that forced you to relax in
that form your hold; you then began more craftily; you followed the
course of your Puritan predecessors with the aborigines of New England
- you acquired by foreign capital all our best lands; we gave you a
voice in our government, although you were the pettiest of numerical
minorities; and now, having decimated us from 200,000 to 40,000 by
your rigorous civilization, you hurl our queen from her throne, drive each
and all of us from power, and take away our name from its place amongst
the nations of the earth. And you. do all this in the name of religion,
in the name of the Master you have told us counselled to his followers
poverty and chastity and obedience to authority."
Now, has not the intelligent native a case against us stronger than that
of the American Indian? What right have we on his ancestral soil, anyhow? If he desires a queen who represents manners to which he has been
for centuries accustomed, what have we to say about it? We are foreign
residents under a titular dynasty. If we do not like our rulers, they can
naturally say to us, Go elsewhere. The only possible answer to such
questions as these is that old assertion that might makes right.
A disciple of Jean Jacques Rousseau must be infinitely satisfied at
the present aspect of affairs. To him, the islands, before the advent
of civilization, represented Paradise. An occasional paragraph assumes
that they were cannibals, which is absolutely false. They were, by the
most trustworthy accounts, a simple, peaceful, happy people, with pagan




TIE HAWAIIAN REVOLT.


37


practices, in which superstition showed far more than cruelty. Although
from some of their habits, in which they saw not the least sin, we
might infer that they could not have been a healthy people, yet the contrary was the fact. The universal use of sea-water, in which they lived
as freely as they breathed the open air, kept both sexes in splendid
health. It was only when the habits of civilization were introduced that
the long train of its diseases followed. To the native race the coming of
the white race was, according to this view, as great a misfortune as that
which the landing on the continent of the early settlers of North
America brought to the red men.
How much of truth, how much of mere partisanship, there is in the
Above impeachment shall be judged by each reader. It will be observed
that my informant says not a word against the motives or the character
of our missionaries; no one could, for a nobler band of men and
women, even to the third generation, never existed since the world
began. They were the very flower of that Christian army whose progenitors were the Pilgrims of Plymouth. The first question to such
men was and is to this day, "' Is it right or wron? "  To them there is
no mean between these extremes; there is nothing in life too insignificant to need application to that touchstone. But, for this reason, their
mistakes are terrible, since these are not the result of blind impulse, but
stern conviction. Did they make one when they seized the kingdom of
Hawaii? Is the long train of dilemmas into which their course has
plunged two nations a proof of the truth of their Master's words,
" But I say unto you that ye resist not evil?"




38


HAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


WAIFS FROM THE PACIFIC.
IT will be many months before those interested in the welfare of the
Pacific Coast will forgive President Cleveland his management of
the revenue cutter '" Thomas Corwin." When I was doing business at
the islands, it was the universal custom for every vessel, government,
sailing-ship, or steamer, to give due notice to the postmaster of her
intention to clear the port. This was at once conspicuously advertised,
and a mail was made up by the authorities to send by such departure.
Now, long-established custom gives an authority to precedents which no
public man can safely ignore. That which was a privilege becomes by
constant usage a right, and Mr. Cleveland (for, by whoever ordered, the
cutter is assumed to have carried out his will), in ignoring this right,
belonging equally to Hawaiians and to the American people of this
coast, has estranged his friends and embittered his enemies; for it was
a flagrant outrage. The vessel belongs to the American people. Under
the control of their chief Executive, it is still true that it was the
"Corwin's" business to have done everything in the present crisis to
relieve their agonizing suspense, and to have at least informed them of
the condition of affairs. But she came in almost as a vessel of a power
with whom we were at war, and she has sneaked in and out amongst
the islands and through the straits of the bay, since her arrival, as
though she were a smuggler avoiding confiscation. I had private information what would be her action, so I did not board her at the Golden
Gate. But those representatives of the press who, in discharge of their
duty to the public, attempted this, narrowly escaped with their lives.
Their boats were cut adrift in the most critical moments, and, had not a
friendly coasting steamer succored them at the right time, there would
have been loss of life. They concentrate all the vials of their wrath,
not on the captain (it might have been his orders to fire on them), but on
the chief Executive of the nation, for whom Captain Munger was acting.
It is singular to see how events the most distant are brought into
connection by the ever-moving, endless chain of circumstances. The




WAIFS FROMV THIE PACIFIC.


39


Hawaiian difficulties have aroused renewed interest in the transit by
canal across the isthmus at Nicaragua, and the necessity of having that
route under the control of the United States. An American company
now has the franchise, and is doing just enough work to keep its charter
from a lapse. But if the supporters of President Cleveland wish to
recover the prestige which he has lost in the Pacific States, -if that
gentleman himself has any desire to regain popularity on this coast, a
better move could not be made than to put the whole force of the
administration at work to foster the attempt to complete this canal, or
even to take it from the present projectors at a fair price, and continue
it as a government work.
Starting from the Pacific side, an easy ride of ten miles by mule-train
brings you to water transportation; there, a change is made to lightdraft steamer, and the rest of the crossing, save where one has to go
around the rapids, is possible, even at the present time, either over the
lake, or by its tributary rivers. Thus, nature herself has prepared the
way, and a little of that liberality on our part, which our English
brethren have shown in making a seaport out of Mlanchester, would give
us first-class water transportation between the eastern and western
extremes of our Union.
What does this mean to San Francisco, to the whole Pacific slope, but
more especially to her metropolis?
It means infinitely more than a mere convenience in rapid transit.
She is now groaning under a mercantile monopoly, more exacting than
the despotism of the czar. It is the Pacific Railroad system; the child
she nurtured has enslaved all her citizens. For the great distributing
centre at San Francisco was annihilated by the railroad, not only from
natural causes, but because that organization discriminated ind favor of
freights to the interior of the State and to the prejudice of the terminus.
Then, for the purpose of preventing this commercial community from
entering into competition with its master, the railroad system secured
control of the route by way of Panama, thus making the Pacific Mail
Steamships assist in the exaction of tribute from the merchants. The
clipper lines around the Horn were attacked by the railroad managers
by buying off the sailing-vessels, until shippers and merchants, bound
hand and foot, raised sufficient capital to run a line of their own. The
wine merchants of Southern California were taxed by the railroad magnates until they, too, rebelled. Represented by the oldest house in the
trade, they wrote me in Boston to come to New York prepared to select
and command a clipper which should sail direct to Southern California,




40


Hl AWAI IAN COIRRESPONDENCE.


and return with their wine. The railroad surrendered on the wine question, for this is one of the few commodities which is absolutely
improved by the transportation of a long voyage. But the immense
bulk of California products is dearer in price to the Eastern consumer,
the fruit-raiser receives less for his product, and all because of the
grinding railroad monopoly. This would seem to be a question in which
all sections of our land should have a common interest, for, by the
opening of the Nicaragua Canal, tramp steamers would carry the products of California to the Southern and Gulf States in such quantities
and at such rates that, not only would there be an outlet for the superfluity of production, but these steamers would have to fly the American
flag, and our commerce would gain thereby. The grain ships might
possibly continue on-the Cape Horn route, although it is more probable
that the competition of British tramps through the canal would interfere
with their business. The general effect, however, would be to cheapen
breadstuffs in Europe. Like the cut at the Isthmus of Suez, the canal
would not be available for the passage of sailing-vessels, if for no other
reasons, on account of the long calms and dearth of regular breezes on
the Pacific side. There is also the disadvantage of the opposing tradewind on the Atlantic water route.
Should the canal be built by Britain, France, or Germany, at a
time of emergency such as that now presented by the troubles in
Hawaii, we should be entirely at the mercy of the controlling power; if
that power favored the insurgents on any outbreak in the Pacific
wherein the Washington Government were an interested party, a refusal
to allow our war vessels passage through the canal would be a powerful help to our opponents. It is for a time of peace that I would
advocate the opening of such a canal, but those who believe in preparation for war should not fail to see its advantages.
There should be no partnership between the present owners of the
franchise and our government. If built at all by public money, it
should be constructed by naval engineers, and managed just as we
would manage the erection of a fortress in Boston Harbor. The tolls
from passing vessels would furnish some offset, by being a perpetual
income on the cost of construction. The secret of the Napoleonic rule,
both under the great Bonaparte and under his nephew, was that of
keeping the people employed so that the revolutionary spirit could never
arise, because a change would interfere with the very means of subsistence of the masses. It was thus that the last Napoleon controlled the
turbulent masses of Marseilles, the very descendants of those who




WAIFS FROM TIE PACIFIC.                   41
initiated the famous canticle of revolution. Not only was public money
spent without stint in civic improvements, but a new port was constructed, a lengthy stone breakwater built; so that to this day the city
is a second Paris, where once it was an unhealthy, ugly, and inconvenient port. Now, President Cleveland has a rare opportunity at
the present crisis to divert public attention from the seat of war, and to
reunite all those of influence having interests on the Pacific by giving to
the Nicaragua project his influence, and summoning his friends to his
assistance. The Hawaiian imbroglio, too, furnishes him with an admirable pretext for the enterprise.




42


IAWAI IAN COItiESP'ONI)ENCE,


NEW HAWAII'S FIRST BIRTHDAY.
I PROPOSE to speak in this letter of nothing but the celebration of the
first anniversary of the new nation of Hawaii, whose birthday was celebrated January 17, 1894. It is a very lively youngster, and, like most
babes of that age, while a joy and blessing to its progenitors, it gives
these latter great anxiety and trouble. But this was forgotten on this
day, and not a wave of trouble rolled across the peaceful breast of these
beautiful islands, as they rested from labor and congratulated themselves
and each other on the first completed year of Hawaiian history when the
people have been a State without a king. Monarchy, they said, is dead
forever in Hawaii. Whatever may unfold in the future, of this we are
sure: Liliuokalani is now plain Mrs. I)ominis, Princess Kaiulani is no
more than Miss Cleghorn, and thus they will ever be.
The day was perfect, - days usually merit this adjective in Hawaii,the temperature about 65~ F. in the early part of the forenoon, and not
rising more than ten degrees through the afternoon. It opened exactly
like an American Fourth of July. Chinese fire-cracker venders reaped
a harvest of small silver such as they had never sown, and aly instrument which could make a noise was pressed into service by the native
or the irrepressible small boy. The grown-up Hawaiian is but a child
in disposition; and as these lines will be printed too far away to lead
to my arrest, I must interpolate the traitorous opinion that this impulsive race would have entered just as heartily into the celebration had its
ceremonies been preceded by the spectacle of President Dole standing
on the steps of the palace, and, with the grace of a courtier, placing a
newly-burnished crown on the head of a queen, who should allow him to
kneel at her feet while she extended to his lips, warmed by professions
of renewed loyalty, the sceptre of her clemency, for which grace he
should humbly kiss her gracious hand.
However, there was no such picture, but instead of this, harmony,
a calithumpian band, followed  by a procession  of Antiques and
Horribles, awakening those who slumbered at about six o'clock on




NEW HAWAII S FIRST BIRTIHI)AY.


43


Wednesday morning. Probably some four or five thousand persons
were in line along the principal streets of Honolulu, witnessing the evolutions of this organization, and laughing at the caricatures exhibited.
This put the community on good terms with itself for the day following
its initiation into mirth. But a tropical people cannot really enter into
the full enjoyment of life, save when the sun has set; from that time,
until he scatters the haze from the eastward mountain-top, social pleasures reign supreme. When in Rio Janeiro, I noticed that, for those
who could afford it, the night was turned into day. 'Ihe bedroom,
while the sun shone, was by far the more comfortable resort.
So the great celebration of Hawaiian independence took place in the
evening on Palace Square, and at this time there were seven or eight
thousand people on foot, a seething, surging mass of humanity, men
and women, young and old, some thronging thickly around the speaker's
stand, awaiting the hour of the exercises with patience, others at so
remote a distance that they could have heard but little of what was in
progress; however, they were all happy, good-natured, patriotic, and
not disorderly.
The firm of Castle & Cooke is one of the original missionary establishments, by which is meant that the senior member certainly, and
perhaps others interested therein, came here under the American Board,
and resigned their ecclesiastical connection to devote their energies to
trade. Mr. S. N. Castle, its founder, is still living, some eighty years
of age; but its present manager is Hlon. J. B. Atherton, and he was
the presiding officer of the mass meeting on Independence Day. His
opening address was very brief, beginning with strong disapproval of
President Cleveland, whose course, he declared, had bound together
citizens of all parties in Hawaii. He next congratulated the people on
the purity and strength of the Provisional Government, which he said
would be upheld by strong hands and willing hearts until, in the providence of God, it should be absorbed into the great American Union.
Mr. J. B. Castle, son of the senior in the above firm, next spoke,
addressing the crowd as "Fellow annexationists," and that term was
the real keynote of all the music of the evening. It was the cue which
each actor dropped, and the one which his successor took from his lips
and re-echoed the moment he came on the boards. " Our hope is in
that; every road leads to Washingtonl; we wish no permanent government
nor anything else which does not lead to annexation; no republic but
the great republic." This is but a sample paragraph, and indeed might
serve as such for the remarks of other speakers, or for the tenor of the




44


HAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


conversation throughout the day. The day might merit the name of
independence, because royalty was dethroned, but on no other ground,
for absorption by another power was its end and aim.
General A. S. Hartwell, a lawyer by profession, and a man very well
known in Boston, was the next orator, meriting that name by his commanding presence and strong yet amiable individuality. His remarks
were scholarly, and all eminently historical, their main point being the
comparison of the fall of the monarchy to other and similar crises in the
history of human liberty, such as the charter wrested from King John
at Runnymede in 1215. He made, however, a plain statement of the
movement of one year ago, when he used these words: " The avowed
and legitimate objects were to maintain the public peace and to promote
political union with the United States." General Hartwell was appointed
associate chief-justice of the kingdom in 1868, and resigned that position
to become attorney-general under King Kalakaua in February, 1874;
after serving awhile, he resigned, to return to a like position under the
King for a year and a half about 1877. He is now engaged in the practice of law here, and is also very active in the attempt to secure cable
communication with San Francisco. In social life he is a most genial
and popular man.
It is not necessary to follow each one of the speakers through the
evening's exercises. Parallel circumstances in history, fortunate coincidences were freely cited. That it was the birthday of Kamehameha III.,
who was at the close of his days an annexationist; that just one hundred
years before on that day the people of France condemned to death their
despotic king, these are instances of the aptness of human minds to look
for auspicious auguries.
Electricity has a stronger following in Honolulu than in any other
city of its size in the world, and to this fact may be laid the beautifully
illuminated grounds, - for the square was ablaze with lights of all
colors, and there were further some home-made fireworks. By some
accident or inexperience, I have not heard which, these all went off in
one brief but altogether glorious blaze, much to the glee of the crowd
in the momentary enjoyment. I have not heard whether any bilious
royalist noted this as an omen of the short yet brilliant career of the
new nation.
President Dole with his wife held a reception during the day, when
any person was at liberty to call and shake hands with the chief executive.
It was largely attended by those in sympathy with the Provisional
Government, but by no others. The royalists were not there; nor were




NEW HAWAII'S FIRST BIRTIHl)AY.


any of the naval officers of any one of the national vessels of Britain,
Japan, or the United States present, although it is claimed by the annexationists that some did attend in civilian's dress, a statement which,
acquainted as I am with the principles of nautical obedience, I more than
doubt. Two full pardons and one commutation of a long sentence were
granted by President Dole, much to the surprise of the recipients of his
clemency.
The most amusing phase of the celebration is to be found in the position
of Minister Willis, a well-meaning man, who is believed by some persons
strongly in sympathy with the present government, to be at heart one of
its friends, yet officially bound by President Cleveland to remain its foe.
Accredited to that government by his own, it was his place to have
accepted the conspicuous part which he might have filled during its
national holiday-to have concurred with the admiral in arranging
for a national salute to the flag of Hawaii. Yet such a demand having
been made on President Dole as that of a few weeks ago,- worse yet,
such a defiance having been returned as in past years would have inevitably
led to war between the two powers, - if the American fleet had opened
their ports, it should have been with shotted guns levelled at Hawaiian
breastworks. It was locally remarked that Hawaii is at peace with the
American people, but at war with President Cleveland and Secretary
Gresham. In either case Minister Willis was in a dilemma, and he did
the best thing under the circumstances - namely, he did nothing publicly,
save to take his three meals at the same hotel from whence I send you
these lines. There is great indignation manifested towards his action,
or, rather, non-action, in the premises, because, either from the fact that
American interests have always been paramount here, or from some
other diplomatic courtesy with which I am  not acquainted now, the
American minister has always led in the offlicial acts of the whole corps
of the resident representatives of foreign nations; none of these in the
slightest degree noticed the celebration, and to poor Mr. Willis is the
universal snub assigned; and so it is roundly clarged to him that there
was no official recognition of the first birthday of Hawaii by a single
representative of any one of her sister nations.




46


HIAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


TELEGRAPHIC ADVICES.
I)ISCO()NTENT IN    HAWAII.
HONOLULU, January 23, 1894.
IT is nominally quiet at Honolulu, but the feeling strong that the
government must announce its policy for a succession and for the future
within sixty days. It is at this season that annual election is held.
This, and the fact that the provisionalists have been in power one year,
render it probable that public impression is correct. Besides, there are
the most decided signs of difference of opinion, even disaffection, in the
rank and file of the adherents of government. They complain that
they have no voice in the ruling of the nation, that a leading official for
the post-oflice is to be imported by the executive council from California,
and claim that there should be at least ten new members of the government elected to represent the people. The whole membership of the
Provisional Government, including' President Dole, is but nineteen, and
the advisory council of fourteen is included in that number. This
places a nation in the absolute power of a very few self-nominated,
self-elected men. 'The finances are most honestly and successfully
administered by lion. S. M. Damon. Ile is the minister of finance and
a partner in the powerful banking-house of Bishop & Co., which has
been for nearly fifty years the bank of the islands. lie publishes
weekly statements of condition. January 17th was observed as the
Hawaiian Fourth of July, - noise, processions, reception by President
Dole, pardons to convicts, speeches, and fireworks. In the evening some
seven thousand persons were assembled on a public square, the largest
gathering ever witnessed on the islands. But prominent royalists stayed
indoors, no foreign consul called on the government, no naval officer
from any national vessel appeared on the street in uniform, nor was
there any salute to the Ha:waiian flag, nor any recognition of the day on
the part of any representative of any other nation. From an announcement of an independence day, the celebration became that of an annexation day; such was the keynote and the final echo in every speech.
The Queen is still calm, patient, and hopeful. She has never in the
least lost her faith that a great national wrong will be righted, and in
every respect bears her sorrow with true Christian fortitude.




OUR FLAG IN HAWAII.


47


OUR FLAG IN HAWAII.
HONOLULU again after more than twenty years of absence, during one
of which I passed its meridian when bound around the world as master
of the celebrated clipper-ship "Nightingale."  A sailor's ship ranks
scarcely second to his sweetheart, so pardon a line to her memory. On
her first voyage she ran from Portsmouth, N.H., to Land's End,
England, in thirteen days. That was in 1851. She was bound for the
original World's Fair at London, where she took the prize. She was
named, not for the bird, but for the heroine, Miss Florence Nightingale,
and during her checkered existence as merchantman, naval vessel,
Russian telegraph service ship, slaver, and now, alas, Norwegian, no
person had ever had the heart to change that beautiful name. It was
my good fortune to command her on her last circumnavigation of the
globe, under the waving folds of our star-spangled banner.
She is a good text for this article, for of all words I could write,
those in the last line are now the dearest to the majority of the white
population at Honolulu. Our flag waves everywhere.  Mr. Blount
might have had one pulled down, but the glorious ensign still meets
your eye at every corner. As I come down the street (the same on
which I lived years ago), I see the whole upper story of a large building
turned into one great American banner; the hall is that of the Annexation Club. The ceiling is so ingeniously draped with our colors that it
has the effect of a large flag the exact size of the room. Thus, those
assembling there are literally under their own flag at every meeting. I
continue my walk, and enter a beautiful driveway, at the right of which
is the large, comfortable mansion of my host, l)r. John S. McGrew, a
member of the staff of General N. P. Banks during the war of the
Rebellion.  When here before, this mansion was occupied by the
American minister, General McCook. Now- but I will let the doctor
tell his own story:' A newspaper correspondent succeeded, about two months ago, in
obtaining an interview with the Queen, and saw a bran new rope.




48


IHAWAIIAN CORIIESPONIENCE.


When he asked what that was for, she said that it was to hang that
terrible old chief of the annexationists, Dr. McGrew. This was at the
time of the refusal of amnesty."
The above is an example of the silly stories repeated about the Queen.
Dr. IMcGrew was very sorry to learn of the failing health of his old
commander, General Banks, for whcm he has never ceased to have the
highest respect. Frank, brusque, outspoken in sentiment and manner,
the doctor has this great merit —he can never be misunderstood. He
regards these islands as paradise upon earth, yet has never wavered in
his allegiance to that flag for whose stars he gave four years of his life,
and often faced the terrors of a soldier's calling. I have mentioned
him as a type of the American element in this city. There is no northern village of the whole Union, let the flowers carpet its cemetery on
Decoration Day, whose loyalty to the flag is more intense than that of
the majority of the white residents of Honolulu. Fourth of July has
always been celebrated here as in the United States. The present year
there was an interesting dilemma. The day dawned, and there was to
be a more enthusiastic gathering than ever. Why? Because the celebrants believed themselves already adding another star to the banner.
But who was to preside?  The Paramount Commissioner Blount was the
highest resident American citizen. He was waited upon by the islander
in charge, and told that he must assume the chair; that, in the history
of the islands, the United States official highest in rank had never yet
declined that responsibility. He objected, flatly refused, but his caller
was equally obstinate; and, finally, under the assurance that he should
make no speech, that he should be retained for but one hour merely as
the figure-head, and in deference to a custom of more than half a century's standing, Mr. Blount consented. No greater proof of the mistake
of President Cleveland in sending him to the islands could have been
seen. There sat Mr. Blount, an ex-Confederate, a Southerner, while
all the absolute Unionism of the war era was fired at his head. HIe had to
listen, not only to "c Yankee Doodle" and I' The Star-Spangled Banner,"
but for him were also sounded forth the inspiriting notes of L" Marching
through Georgia;" and he was further assured, with a local meaning,
that the soul of John Brown was marching on. No regard was paid to
the fact that Mr. Blount's State was that which witnessed Sherman's
march to the sea, nor was it ever thought by the throng that, to a
Southerner, the hottest regions of Dante's "Inferno" are not severe
enough for the crime of the old hero of Harper's Ferry. Mr. Blount
did not fraternize in the least with the people while he was here. He




OUR FLAG IN IHAWAlII.


4!)


declined all social attentions, and knew as much of the spirit animating
the Provisional Government party when he landed as he knew when he
left, save for the fact that Mrs. Blount, of whom all speak favorably,
exchanged calls with those of her own sex.
My letter of the 17th spoke of the first anniversary of the new nation
as Annexation Day, and this would be a far better name for it than
the day of Hawaiian Independence. There is not the least desire for
the latter in any class whatever of the residents. The natives are at
heart loyal to their traditional monarchy. The Americans are all annexationists; their idea of government meanwhile is aptly expressed in the
title it now holds, - it is a provision for the interregnum; that is, until
the United States may see fit to accede to their wish to open the door at
which they will continue to knock until, to use the Scriptural parable,
because of their importunity, the master at Washington will arise and
give them that which is needed. This is their openly avowed intention,
and whatever they otherwise do it must be considered as merely preliminary to the grand end and result.
In the handwriting of I-on. John L. Stevens to me, now open before
me, I read these words: "The points in issue in Hawaii are not of
theology or church government, but those pertaining to free government
as against an irresponsible monarchy, of public morality and financial
honesty as against public license and reckless expenditure." I-on.
Peter C. Jones, a Boston boy, for over thirty years a resident, a man
of whom any community should be proud, member of the last cabinet of
the Queen which had the confidence of all parties, and also one of the
first members of the circle by whom she was overthrown, said to me,
We want good government; that is the whole aim of this movement.
We fully decided to waive the sugar bounty, and it was so agreed
amongst us at the departure of the earliest commission that went to
Washington. We haven't had good government for twenty years, and
we are sick of corruption in high places."  This was the universal
sentiment of the residents of the place at first; that is, as described to
me by a gentleman of European birth and still representing a foreign
government at this place. "We know now," he said, "where the
money goes. We have always paid seven-eighths of the taxes, and we
never knew what became of the money; everything is now above-board,
and we shall pay our taxes far more cheerfully." These are but sample
remarks of some of the soundest, the most honest and most sincere men
in the city; and they often add that the only way by which pure,
upright, high-minded government can be secured is to be found in the




50


HAWAIIAN CORRE-tSPONDENCE.


continued abrogation of a monarchy. Such men are not conspirators;
grant that they are mistaken, if you will; call them moneyed aristocrats,
but that must be the harshest name of which they are deserving. They
are to their view Christian patriots; if in error, behold all the more reason
why they should be fairly treated. They have the sympathies of some
of those of foreign birth; yes, one of the older citizens of British blood,
forty-three years resident on Oahu, with eye scarcely dimmed or natural
forced abated by his eighty years of life, a man of broad views, who
has crossed the ocean about a hundred times, stepped out of his beautiful parlors the other day and returned to show to me the very revolver
which he bought to use in the provisional army at the time of Minister
Willis's demand on President Dole, and, said he, "c I would have gladly
given what remains to me of life in such a cause. I should have esteemed
it an honor to die in the defence of the government. I once took out
preliminary papers as an American citizen, for I own a great deal of
property in the United States. I have made of life a success, and own
a great deal here. I did not want my property put in jeopardy; there
was danger of it, I know there was. We had an incendiary fire the
very night before the marines landed, and there was kerosene abroad;
only the presence of the troops under arms that night, the knowledge
that they were here, prevented scenes of violence. Oh, it makes me so
mad to hear the remarks made about Minister Stevens! A good man,
one of the very best men that ever lived. Why, I wrote him a letter
myself appealing to him to ask Captain Wiltse to land his men to
protect my property;" and, interpolated, the son of the old Englishman,
" I saw the four discarded members of the Queen's discharged cabinet,
men in sympathy exclusively with monarchy, enter Minister Stevens's
house to ask him to protect them also."
Now such direct evidence as the above cannot be ignored; it is worth
more than all the affidavits, stenographic reports, or cautious testimony
ill high places. I have heard enough already. I know the island people
well enough, and understand enough of the human heart, to assert that
all insinuations that our nation's representative was 'other than an
American sincerely devoted to the honor of his country and the good of
humanity will never be noticed by me. Nor is this view inconsistent
with the belief that the landing of the United States troops was a
blunder. It would have been far wiser to have had the boats on their
oars about the L' Philadelphia," the launches with steam up, and immediate recourse to the telephone (with which the ships are connected), in
case of attempted violence. It seems to me that had a man of naval,




OU1R FLAG IN HAWAII.


51


nautical, or military discipline had the casting vote, such would have
been the course, for he would have known how quickly trained force can
be concentrated at a given point. Mr. John L. Stevens may have been
hot-headed, misguided, an imaginary Lafayette to a struggling land,
anything which those similes typify, if you please, for the greatest evils
are often the result of the blunders of the good, and this is as far as
any one can go in condemning his action. Of the financial soundness
of the nation there can be no doubt, with lHon. S. M. Damon, son of
my old friend, the seaman's chaplain, at the helm. Mr. Damon is now
the leading partner in the house of Bishop & Co., which has always
been the standard bank of the islands. Another banker assured me
yesterday that he had just sold $10,000 of the Hawaiian Government
bonds.
It occurs to me to add in defence of the oft-repeated assertion that
Minister Stevens quartered the troops in a hall near the palace, that this
was merely a matter of momentary convenience and not of prior selection. It is not easy at an hour's notice to secure barracks for an army.
Arion Hall was about the only room available in which the men could
get a night's sleep.




52


IHAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


THE HAWAIIAN ROYALISTS.
THIS letter is written on the inspiration of conversations with those of
pronounced royalist affiliations. One of these is a lady of Hawaiian
blood, but connected by marriage with my mother's family. About the
year 1808, there was a firm of Indian commission merchants on Kilby
Street, Boston; its style was J. & J. Peabody. Jacob Peabody, the
senior party, had been to sea, making two long voyages on the ship
" Java" of Salem. He was my maternal grandfather, and it was on
our ancestral acres, still occupied by my mother's children, which have
never been leased, mortgaged, or divided since 1654, that the Peabody
family had their last year's annual reunion. One of Jeremiah's grandchildren was husband of the lady who first welcomed me to these islands
in 1867, and who has now thrown open her house and home to me. Her
children, while one-eighth Hawaiian blood, are not as dark-skinned as
I am, the tendency being universal to return to the whiter strain as the
race gets farther from the original half-caste. It will not be well for
me, nor is it necessary, to mention the other sources of my information,
for it comes to me, not as a newspaper correspondent, but through
friendly or family channels similar to the above.  It comes to me
directly from the lips of Christian men and Christian women; by which
term I mean those who recognize that God demands truthfulness in all
things, and that their own lives must be modelled on that of the Galilean
teacher. But one of those of whom I speak is of my own faith. I have
some half-dozen in mind, and the rest are Protestants.
" Hawaii for the Hawaiians! " This, it is asserted, is the war-cry of
those in sympathy with the monarchy; it is, and why should not this be
so? By the Hawaiians an islander does not mean necessarily those of
exclusively Polynesian blood, for it is acknowledged everywhere that in
about one generation there will be few, if any, of these in existence; but,
taking the places of their darker ancestry, there is already in the field
a superior race, those in whom runs a strain of the bluest of New
England blood, or the sturdiest of ancestry coming direct from Great




THIE HAWAIIAN ROYALISTS.


53


Britain. Now this, with an occasional admixture of the German or
other race, is the coming people of Hawaii. It is a healthy race, a prolific race, even an energetic race, and it is characterized by an intense
love of its own nationality, its tendency to look for that nationality in
the blood of the Kamehamehas on the land of its nativity, rather than
to cast its eyes backwards towards Boston or London.
In this respect, it differs most decidedly from that portion of the
island population composed of intermarriages between missionary families. These are just as intensely American as the first named are
Hawaiian. " More Catholic than the Pope" is an ancient expression;
and adapting the proverb to the descendants of strictly American families, there is more of the spirit of Bunker Hill, more love of the cause
of '61, in the last named than now is apparent from the State of Maine
to the mouth of the Delaware.
It is from the strictly American that the Provisional Government is
formed, because the object of its organization was annexation. Now
that this has failed and left its projectors in a dilemmna, it is their
policy to exclude from office or from any prominence in the community,
all those not in openly expressed sympathy with them, and this means
the contrary war-cry of " Down with the Hawaiians "
As one of the latter said to me yesterday: "If these men succeed,
whatever their ultimate form of government, we shall be a conquered
race; the offices are more and more filled with importations from abroad.
Adventurers, with all things to gain, with nothing to lose, are coming by
every steamer, and these ally themselves at once with the party in power.
Without such recruits, without disfranchising us, the annexationists
cannot keep in power."
And, as usual in revolution, there is no consideration for the minority.
Whosoever is not with us is against us" is the assertion. Families
and business houses are divided by heart-rending feuds.
Was there a reference to the United States at the time of her enforced
abdication? There was, without the shadow of a doubt. Granted that
it was not formal, duly acknowledged, signed, sealed, and delivered, it
is the first premise of law to consider the intention of the parties. Of
this no reasonable person who hears the words of the actors in the fall
of the monarchy can be undecided. The Queen distinctly understood
that her cause was to be heard, judged, and settled on the basis of such
arbitration. I have as yet no right to state the feeling of President
Dole, but it is permitted to me to say that the messenger from the
Queen (to whom he handed her protest after endorsing thereon his




54


HAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


reception thereof) fully believed that such endorsement meant a submission on the part of the Provisional Government to the decision of
the President. Both parties desired to avoid bloodshed, and the distinct understanding that both parties were bound by the results of the
reference was all that spared the people the clash of arms. Why did
the Queen at first refuse amnesty? Not that she had an actual fixed
intention to require the blood of those who had rebelled against her
authority, although in past centuries this would have been considered
but justice.  She, however, expressly told the official who bore the
tidings of her refusal to say that she did not desire the presence of
these men in her kingdom. Let them return to the land to which in
their hearts they had now given allegiance; as long as they remained
here they would be a standing menace to her rule. They had shown
that in political questions they would not be bound by any vows,
because four out of the five commissioners who went to Washington to
subvert her government had taken in official capacity the most solemn
oaths to sustain it and its royal executive. Is there anything unreasonable in the position of the Queen? She retracted and promised amnesty?
She did, for at least two reasons: first, she was weaker, and was advised
by good counsellors; second, when she sent the promise of amnesty,
she expressly said, " if they will take hold with loyal hearts and assist
in the re-establishment of good government."
I may at some time consider the causes which led to her fall, the
reasons for the abrogation of the "Bayonet Constitution," as it was
called, because it was wrested from her brother, King Kalakaua, at the
point of the bayonet, and sullenly granted by him; but I have not the
time for this in this article.
As to her character, the better class of her opponents are agreed that,
so far as this does not influence her official acts, her subjects have
nought to say about it; it rests with her associates and with her God.
But she has nothing to fear in this respect from the most bitter of her
enemies. Character-building is a slow process, the work of a lifetime.
In two previous letters, my opinion of Queen Liliuokalani, as she was,
has been stated. That opinion has been happily, overwhelmingly, confirmed to me by those who know her best to-day. Look at it reasonably, as child, maid, wife (her husband, John Dominis, -educated at
Chauncy Hall School, Boston, - when I was here before, was governor
of this, the most important, island), she bore, as I stated in these
columns, not only a spotless, but a high reputation. To this day it can
be asserted of her by women who have associated with her in all the




THE HAWAIIAN ROYALISTS.


55


intimacy possible to two individuals of like sex- women who have had
the entry, unannounced, of her apartments -that not an impure word,
not the suspicion of a concealed action has ever met their notice. She
does not indulge in gossip nor repeat scandal in relation to others.
This latter has been a life-long characteristic, and by none more than
this can the character of an individual be estimated. Now after such
has been the reputation of a woman for years, when, ex officio and as a
benevolent lady, she is the patroness of schools and charitable institutions, after passing the meridian of life, do we look for its opposite?
I consider this question as settled forever, and believe that the press,
of whatever politics, would be wise to exclude from their columns any
reference to it as an element in this civil strife.
A word as to her niece. I ask that young lady's pardon for an error
in alluding to her age, and were she here would kiss her royal hand or
meekly accept a slap therefrom for having called her twenty-three instead
of seventeen. She is a beautiful, lovable, Christian girl, as all will
acknowledge who met her in Boston last year. She did not wish to take
part in the quarrel.  Her guardian, IIon. T. H. Davies, formerly the
British vice-consul at this port, and a merchant much beloved and
respected by persons of every shade of opinion, was in England. Ie was
advised by a United States consul in England to go to Washington at
once, - a most inconvenient move for him, and prejudicial to his own
affairs. He said, Kiaiulani, we must go, you must go; " the girl refused,
hesitated, then added, " But what shall I say when I return to my native
land, and the people come around me and say to me, ' Kaiulani, we have
lost our country; Kaiulani, you might have saved us, and you did not?'
yes, for my people's sake, I will go." The result of that mission is now
before the American people.
I have mentioned the exact state of the case which came to me from
the lips of Mr. Davies, because it illustrates the intense affection for their
nation and their people which distinguishes this amiable race. No one
can know the Hawaiians and forbear to love them. Oh, how their
beautiful dark eyes fill with tears, and how cloudy is my own sight when
they speak to me of the extinction of their name and nation from the
community of their more powerful sister-lands! My first acquaintances
of native blood were Mr. and Mrs. Hopili, who were in the cabin of a
sailing-vessel with me for two weeks. They are both dead; they were of
noble birth and lineage; but I recognize the same intense loyalty in the
words of the Princess as was apparent in this devoted couple, of whom
I have already written.




HAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


It is touching to see in the present attitude of Queen Liliuokalani
renewed proof of the deathlessness of hope. She has never lost confidence that a great national wrong will be redressed; she bears her
sorrow and reads the slanders of her enemies with the spirit of true
Christian fortitude.  With two persons in sympathy with her, I had
almost an identical remark; it was on this wise. They said, " Do you
not think that President Cleveland will redress the wrong done to us by
the United States authority?"
" No," I answered; "' I cannot see how the President can do any more
than he has already done: he has made his demand, it is declined; now,
to go any farther would be an act of war, and this he cannot initiate
without declaration on the part of Congress."
"Then, under your constitution, the American minister is more powerful than the President, for le had the right to land forces, which the
President cannot do," was the answer in both cases from men who, as
far as I know, have no acquaintance with each other.
One of these is a professional man, the other in mercantile life; one
is of French, the other of German lineage.
In deciding this question, remember that the end never justifies the
means. Grant that there was place for wrath against the Queen's official
acts; to consequently ignore the law of nations, to appeal to mob-law,
even to a mob of righteous men, to forget one's oath, to substitute
oligarchy rule for the will of the people, this is to violate the eternal law
of right, and the end is not yet.




SOCIAL LIFE AT IONOLULU.


57


SOCIAL LIFE AT HONOLULU.
ALTHOUGH, nearest to our shores, the Hawaiian islands were discovered
latest of all the Pacific groups. Captain Cook sighted them January 18,
1778, at which time he reckoned that they contained 400,000 souls.
There are now about one-tenth that number of native blood; of these,
rather more than one-third are Roman Catholics, the rest being equally
divided between those still holding to Congregationalism and those who
can scarcely be claimed by any party or sect. There are fourteen islands,
of which three are barren rocks, three are thinly populated, while on
eight civilization and its industries are fully established. Hospitality is
universal.
But it cannot be too often asserted that one must never judge the
strictly native race by our standards, and this is notably true of the
country districts where some of the people are but one generation from
absolute barbarism, although this term does not mean cruelty or cannibalism, neither of which were ever characteristic of the Hawaiians.
In one of the country churches, for example, a member was tried for
getting drunk on sweet-potato beer. The church acquitted him, assigning the following reasons:1. Sweet-potato beer was the common drink of the people, therefore
he could not be condemned for using it.
2. To get drunk on the beer was so common that it would depopulate
the church to condemn the members for such offence.
The reasoning is very ingenious, and I cannot doubt the fact, for
it is given on the authority of the minister who best knows the native
churches; namely, the Rev. Dr. Hyde, resident correspondent of the
American Board.
It is strange that at the second social occasion to which I was invited
this gentleman was one of the first to whom I was presented. It was
at a meeting of the Social Science Association, held at the house of
Hon. A. F. Judd, chief-justice of the Supreme Court. Judge Judd and
myself had met at his father's house in other days. Dr. Hyde and I




HAWAIIAN COR1RE S IOND IENCE.


had met as antagonists in the press when he attacked and I defended
the memory of the late Father Damien.
Personally I was much impressed and pleased with Dr. Hyde. A
man of rather more than ordinary height, with silvered hair, gentle
voice, and reverent manner, he could not fail to interest an audience.
He is a very handsome man, and in this respect, as well as in a certain
assumption of authority, he forcibly reminded me of the pastor of my
boyhood, Rev. E. N. Kirk of Mount Vernon Church.
There is every opportunity for friendship here, for in no part of the
world is society so large-hearted and open-handed. Within the first
week, invitations reached me as follows: to amateur theatricals at the
residence of a foreign consul, to two afternoon receptions, one social
meeting of gentlemen at Mr. Judd's residence, lunches and dinners
innumerable. This was always characteristic of Honolulu, and it is
wonderful to note that such hospitality is still in vogue, - wonderful
because there are now good hotels, but more so because the good nature
of the citizens has been most discourteously abused by visitors; these
have accepted attentions, and then in letters have exposed to ridicule or
travesty the customs or opinions of their hosts.
Such has been the case since steam communication was established.
This is now frequent but not regular, by which I mean that we have at
times three mails in as many days, and thereafter we may not have
another for as many weeks.   This is because the " China," "New
Zealand," and the local mail steamers make this a port of call, and
arrange their dates according to respective convenience rather than with
the object of alternation. The steamers of the line of J. D. Spreckels
& Co. are American built, conveniently arranged, and offer to the tourist
a pleasing voyage of one week going or coming from San Francisco.
These run on schedule time, never arriving a day earlier than the date
due, and, unless delayed at San Francisco awaiting the British mails,
never behind time. Fare, $125 the round trip. Every courtesy and
attention are shown to passengers on the Spreckels line.
The Hawaiian Iotel is a large establishment with twelve adjoining
cottages, and its accommodations or table, while not perfect, are sufficiently so to leave no room for reasonable complaint. The price of
board is ten dollars per week, if one has rooms elsewhere; if lodgings
are provided, the charge is about double this sum.
Near the hotel is the house of the American legation, the Masonic
Temple, Union Church, government buildings, Public Library, and
Young Men's Christian Association. To the two last-named, visitors




SOCIAL LIFE AT HONOLULU.


59


are always welcome, or one may subscribe fifty cents a month to the
library, and enjoy all its privileges. There is no restriction on the use
of the papers or books; these are liberally supplied, and access to them
is open to all without the use of cards. Advanced ideas also find a
harbor in Honolulu; for example, a library of theosophical books has
just been opened to the public.
Had such progress not been characteristic, the community would not
now be the largest patron of the telephone known to the world. The
city of Honolulu has a population of, say, 24,000, and there are about
thirteen hundred instruments in place, being one to about eighteen
inhabitants, an unexampled record. There are two rival companies, but
for both my instruments I pay but two-thirds as much as my single line
costs at Boston. Electric lights are also in use in all public places, and
there are few residences without them.
Even the national vessels at anchor are connected with the shore by
telephone. These are at this time the Japanese iron-clad " Naniwa,"
the American steamship " Philadelphia," the British ship " Champion,"
and the American steam bark " Adams."
President Dole has visited the American ships, but has never been
to the others, at least in his official capacity. Hle has been notified by
the latter that he would receive no more than the salute due to a foreign
minister, while under our flag, he is honored with twenty-one guns, or
the same number which would be given to President Cleveland.
In an official communication in regard to a British vessel, made to
the chief executive by the minister of that kingdom, President Dole is
addressed simply as the minister of foreign affairs.
The President is very considerate of the wishes of representatives of
the press, and allows them access to him at any reasonable hour. The
sessions of the advisory council and its discussions are open to the
public. "We have absolutely nothing to conceal," said the President
to me on the occasion of our first meeting. "As long as a faithful
report is made, we are willing that everything we say or do should be
recorded and read."
The American press is represented here by correspondents for the
following newspapers: Chicago Times and Inter Ocean, New York
World, and Boston Transcript. Mr. Nordhof has left, so the Herald
bureau is simply one of information gleaned from local newspapers, and
forwarded by others.  The other papers have sent out special correspondents. Mr. W. P. Harrison, son of the late Mayor of Chicago,
represents the journal owned by his family.  The most unenviable




60


HAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


reputation has been left by Mr. Nordhof, because, like Mr. Blount's
case, it is thought that Mr. Nordhof's was prearranged, so that neither
of these gentlemen could be other than partisan. In support of this
assertion, I hear that Mr. Nordhof's first despatch was written on board
the steamer by which he came, and forwarded to San Francisco on the
steamer then leaving, ere the writer had stepped on Hawaiian soil.
But no amount of misrepresentation can, it would seem, restrain the
hospitalities of the Hawaiian people. Houses are never closed, and this
is true in whatever sense the statement be construed. There are no
door-bells, no watch-dogs, and no bars to entrance save those required
to exclude the mosquitoes. You step up the outer stairs, and thence on
the veranda, and your host, or hostess, advances from the room to
welcome you.   My cottage has three rooms; it is most beautifully
situated under spreading palms, flowering vines, and never-failing shade
trees. Its outlook is upon an acre of grassy lawn, which the sun's rays
reach only through the interstices betwixt the verdure of the lofty trees.
Neither my doors nor my windows are ever locked, by day or by night.
Within there is not a lock on closet, desk, or bureau, and such is the
universal custom.
Whatever difference of opinion we may have in regard to the progress
of Christian missions, let us never question their utility. Be the organization conducting them Congregationalist, Catholic, or Wesleyan, humanity is always the gainer to the full worth of every dollar expended in the
cause.




TELEGRAPHIC A)VICES.


61


TELEGRAIPHIJC ADVICES.
TIHE QUEEN      TIlE  R11BEL.
HONOiLUiU, February 3, 1894.
PRESIDENT DOLE says, in an interview with your correspondent to-day,
as to the justification of his course, and the fall of the monarchy: -
"It must always be a question in such movements where the point
of submission to authority terminates, and the right or duty of resistance begins. If ever there was a just revolution, it was ours; not only
in the cause of sound politics, but also with a view to the social, moral,
and educational needs of the whole community. The best interests
were not only in peril, they were openly attacked. The Queen was
an insurgent. She had rebelled against her own government. This
revolt on her part was equivalent to an abdication. There was then no
government at all. No community can exist without government. As to
the violation of oath of allegiance, the first oath broken was that of the
ex-Queen, who abrogated her own oath of fidelity to the constitution.
After she had done this, her former counsellors were, by that fact,
absolved from their oaths of loyalty to her. It cannot be otherwise.
But is an oath a covenant? Most certainly it is in such a case as this.
It is a contract between two parties. A covenant is an agreement,
the fidelity to which on either side is conditional on like fidelity on the
other side.
" Our forefathers rebelled against George III. for less cause in 1776
than we had in 1893. The North took up arms against the South, in
1861, for less reason than when we strove to prevent the imperilment of
our liberties against acts far more subversive of good government than
the encroachment of the slave power. King Kalakaua, in 1887, made
an almost equally flagrant attempt upon our rights; but there was this
difference: he never rebelled against his own constitutional government,
while the ex-Queen, by one wave of her hand, would have swept this
entirely away, - in fact, this is just what, so far as it was possible before
our resistance, she tried to do. Kalakaua met the case constitutionally,
and we arranged matters with him on the basis of the constitution, a
new one granted by agreement with him.   Suppose Queen Victoria




62                HAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.
should openly violate and wrest from her people the British constitutional authority, would her subjects then, from the least to the greatest,
be bound by their oaths of allegiance to her? In the case of many of
our citizens, there is no oath of fealty. They were born into the kingdom, and inherited the rights of citizenship with their native air. So
much for what is asserted of the violation of oaths of office.
" Now, as to our form of government. Was it a mere provision for
the day and hour until we could gain the advantages of annexation
to the United States?  By no means. Did we stake our all, the sum
and the substance of our hopes, on that probability? Not at all. We
believed in annexation. It was our first choice —that we do not deny,
for it is self-evident by our course. But we realized that there were
doubts of its success. Yes, realized it from the first, and talked of
alternatives.
"We also realized that there must be a representation of the people.
This was fully understood in 1887, when all parties were practically
united-in the desire for a republic, that is. Granted the supposition
that the King had refused us a constitution, would not a republic introduce bribery, corruption, and the demagogue, so that thus representation would be deprived of its advantages? It can never have the same
power in this respect which those very elements have held over our
heads through the influence of royalty under the monarchy. The demagogue has had every chance. The only parallel to it under a republican
form of government to be dralwn is by supposing the President to be
one of the very class to be ldreaded by the advocates of purity in high
places. But we hope to defeat this possibility by making him in all
cases ineligible to the place by re-election. IIe should never be his own
successor.
" With all the wisdom of the organization of the greatest of modern
republics, it is a matter of wonder that this simple provision against
corruption has never been adopted. I do not know that I would say
that he should never again hold office, but I would exact that he should
never be a candidate for the office while he was holding it. If he went
out of office, stayed out, and, while only a private citizen, was again
nominated, that would place him in a totally different light before the
electors.
( Would I wish to state anything about our plans for the future?  I
should have not the least objection to doing this were there anything
of a certain or definite character to be stated; but we must be set at
rest on all questions in which the Washington Government may have an
interest before we can intelligently consider the future. As lovers of
representative government, we may say this: The people are entitled
to representation, and any plan to which we assent must include this as




TELEGRAPHIC ADVICES.


a constitutional right. Will it be by the addition of members to the
present council, such new members to be chosen by the people, or will
it be by the organization of an upper and lower house? We cannot tell.
You have suggested to me three houses; for instance, the organization
of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, where there is a Governor's
Council, a Senate, and a House of Representatives, all elected by the
voters. Of course, this is possible, but I fail to recognize in it any
special advantages.
"We had something like the first-named body here in that which we
called the privy council. It had the power of appropriating public
moneys in certain emergencies -that of the outbreak of plague or lestilence, for example. It was a very convenient body, for it could
always be convoked into session while the members of Parliament were at
times scattered over the islands, and could not, at a sudden emergency,
be assembled. Further, by reason of the length of the session, many
of the members might have returned to their homes. Th't was the case
in this last Parliament that sat before the fall of the Queern. She had
absolutely tired out the better element by a seven montls' sitting, so
that her supporters were left in the majority, and it was thus that the
last ministry, which represented the best citizens, was overthrown.
" Some such body as the privy council might h)e, to any future government, a great convenience under certain conditions. It at once held
the power of the purse, and could disburse money for certain welldefined objects. It is true that the preselt government has been in
power over a year, and that this year terminates just prior to the time
when our annual elections are held; but I (do not think that has, or will
have, any influence on the plans for changing the form into one of permanence, with a legitimate succession. I think the latter movement
will be influenced by other causes, the most important of these being
our relations with the Washington Government."
The above synopsis of my conversation with lHis Excellency llas been
courteously revised by President Dole, in accordance with my request.
It is thus the latest expression of opinion of those in sympathy with the
Provisional Government.




64


HtAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


THE HAWAIIAN PRESIDENT.
TIIE Provisional Government of the Hawaiian islands is composed of
a president, - now His Excellency Sanford 13. Dole, - who is also minister of foreign affairs, an executive council of four members, and an
advisory council of thirteen members, -all at present from the island
of Oahu, - and the nineteen (this number including the secretary) meet
in one hall as a legislative assembly.  The sessions are open to the
public, at least in part; for, at a certain time, it is moved to go into
executive session, and then spectators are excluded.
The object of combining two offices in one person was that thus the
president might draw a fixed salary. There was no statute fixing compensation for a president, but there was a stipend provided for a minister. But such economy had its disadvantages, nowhere more forcibly
shown than when the British minister addressed Mr. Dole on a matter
connected with a vessel of that flag, using simply the designation of
i' Minister of Foreign Affairs."  At an ensuing meeting of the council,
a bill was introduced, separating the two offices, and fixing the salary of
the president at $10,000 a year.
Mr. Dole presided at this meeting, the first at which he had been
present for many weeks; for his health has suffered not a little by the
pressure of official duties and the anxieties of his position, which is the
one of the most responsibility of all those connected with the government.
The legislative deliberations are no longer conducted in two languages.
The parliamentary language is now English, and the interpreter's occupation is gone. There is but one member in whose veins runs a strain
of the darker blood. He is the son of a Chinaman by a native mother.
This unity of idiom much simplifies discussion, and there can be no
further misunderstanding of technical terms. It was a matter of coimmon notoriety that Mr. Ragsdale, the former official, could give to any
speaker's remarks that bias which was judged best by the interpreter's
own mind. For example, in the heat of discussion, the presiding




TIlE HAWAIIAN!P1ESI)DENT.


officer was called by a member speaking English, " a pudd'n'-head."
He turned to the interpreter for a synonyme.
"Oh," coolly remarked Mr. Ragsdale, "he means that your Excellency's remarks were not distinguished by that good sense and sound
judgment which are so characteristic of your Excellency."  The debate
proceeded without further interruption on the part of the chairman.
But it was at Mr. Dole's residence that I was received by his own
appointment. It is a spacious, airy cottage, like most of those in
Honolulu, abundantly shielded from the rays of the sun by a thick
growth of surrounding trees. The President's parents came from the
State of Maine, and landed in Hawaii in the year 1840, after the usual
long voyage around Cape Horn. They were members of that devoted
band of New England missionaries by whom civilization and Christianity
were introduced into these islands.
Sanford Ballard, their son, was born here in 1844, and received his
early education at Punahou College, an institution of which his father
was first president. From thence he went to Williams College, Massachusetts, having earned, by his own labors, a part of his expenses. Leaving college, he studied law in the office of the late William T. Brigham
of Boston; but soon after his admission to the bar of Suffolk County
he returned to his native soil, and was duly admitted to practise in the
courts of the Hawaiian kingdom, of which he became afterwards one
of the associate justices. He first entered the Legislature in 1884, serving again in 1886, and taking a prominent part in the revolution of
1887. In view of existing events, it is notable that, although at that
latest date a stanch believer in the necessity of a radical reform, yet
Mr. Dole then declared his unwillingness to participate in any extreme
measures; especially did he oppose the least manifestation of violence,
or any step by which bloodshed would be precipitated. IIe showed at
this time so much conservatism, that the peaceful solution of those
difficulties was very generally assigned to his personal influence. In
person, President Dole is rather beyond the average height, of commanding presence and dignified mien. IIe rarely relaxes, even momentarily, his self-control.  Yet, with all this, he has not a suggestion of
frigidity in manner, but impresses his sympathetic nature upon the
visitor.
To my remark that the journal represented by me desired to maintain
an independent attitude, and give expression to each and every view of
the points in issue, President 1)ole kindly favored me with his sentiments, an account of which has been already published in these columns.




66


66            IL~~.1AWAIIAiN COURlRFSPOiND)EiCE.


After sending my telegram, at a casual meeting, he desired to add a few
words on the assertion that, in the event of the success of his government, the Hawaiian people would be a conquered race. To this, he
replies that it was current talk at first that the natives would be treated
like the aborigines of North America; that is, they would be allowed
no share whatever in the administration of government, they would be
segregated from the whites in all departments, and it had even been
asserted that they would be forced to reside upon reservations. To all
this, he had simply to remark that there was nothing in it. ' The
people now in power are the best friends the natives have, or have had
for years. As individuals, you would be surprised to know how many
of the native race, both boys and girls, are receiving support and education from the very men who sit in this council-chamber. Our adherents
take great and substantial interest in the poorest of these people. As
a government, one of the most important movements under consideration is a project which will give to each Hawaiian, no matter how poor,
the opportunity to hold land, to improve it, and to thus have a homestead of his own. We are discussing this matter, and the result of our
deliberations will be duly announced. It will be something very similar
to the system of land tenure which obtains in New Zealand. Now, in
contrast to this, what was the position of the poor native under the
monarchy? It was that of a serf. The whole Hawaiian people have
always been held in serfdom, from which no one of them had the least
chance to emerge. The rich man was sure of place, preferment, and
every consideration from royalty. The court was dependent upon the
latter for its extravagant support; it relied upon the former for nothing,
and it did absolutely nothing for its poorer subjects."
It may be in place for me to add just here that the bill now before
the Assembly gives President Dole a salary of $10,000. I was present
when he announced that he desired the freest expression of opinion
on the matter of his stipend, and should relinquish the chair when
the question came before the House. In contrast to this, it may be
stated tllt Queen Liliulokalani drew $80,000 a year from the public
treasury, and that her brother, the late King Kalakaua, died with
$250,000 of private debts, in spite of the very munificent appropriations for his court and personal expenses.
How successful President Dole and his friends may be in arousing
the ambition of the natives to become proplerty-holders remains to be
seen. By those who believe that these people can never be capable of
intelligent interest in public affairs, the fact is noted that there is not,




THE IIAWAIIAN PRESIDENT.


(67


throughout the dominion, one person of strictly native blood possessed
of property of the value of one thousand dollars. If this is rigorously
true, which I am much inclined to doubt, it places the Hawaiian, in the
matter of worldly energy and enterprise, on a lower plane than that
here occupied by the Chinaman, or, in our own land, by the negro,
because instances are not lacking where representatives of the latter
race have acquired that mercantile or social distinction which is accorded
in America to the possessor of wealth.
The President is his own chaplain at the opening of deliberations in
the National Assembly. IHe makes a brief and expressive prayer to the
Ruler of Nations as soon as the IHouse is called to order.
The first applause for many days was manifest in the sitting of February 2d, when Minister Damon announced that the government had
withdrawn the name of the post-offlce official, which it had been his
design to invite from California to take charge at the central office of
the city of Honolulu. This was a most unpopular movement. As the
financier of the government, Minister Damon was also severely criticised
for selling fifty thousand dollars in gold, instead of putting into circulation the more precious metal. Subsidy to a non-political publication,
the liberty of the press (which is notably abused), Chinese immigration,
and the representation of all classes in the government, are specimens
of subjects which make the seat of a councilman anything but an easy
one, and call for the greatest exercise of superior wisdom on the part of
President Dole.
Although generlly   fin tally preferring to allow statements to go without explanation, I cannot forbear to add in a note to this letter, that the Queen
received from the public treasury exactly the sum voted to President
Dole, and that the remainder of the revenue named came from the crown
lands which have been the property of the monarchy since the day of
Kamehameha I.




HAWAIIAN CORRESPONI)ENCE.


TELEGRAPHIC ADVICES.
ATTITUDE OF PRESIDENT DOLE AND
MINISTER WILLIS.
HONOLULU, February 8, 1894.
PRESIDENT DOLE'S specifications of charges against President Cleveland
and Minister Willis for threatening the Provisional Government give great
satisfaction to the American element here. By those who know President
Dole, it was never expected that he would withdraw any official communication. He is a man who weighs each word he says, and had Minister
Willis insisted on the least apology, the minister might rather have
received his passports. At the same time, the question of the compliance with the written request of the American minister was the most
exciting topic here for days.
In this connection, the veracity of Admiral Irwin's statement is
publicly challenged: that his ships were in fighting trim; that no officers
nor men were allowed shore leave; that ammunition was brought from
their magazines, -these facts are cited in proof of threats. The displacement of Skerrett, known to favor annexation, and the appointment
of Irwin, were also disquieting.
Whatever the end, the whole Hawaiian affair is a sad injury to the
missions. It was impossible for me tonconvince an intelligent, educated,
half-caste member of a Congregational Church that there could be any
Christianity in men who had dethroned the Queen, seized the treasury,
voted themselves salaries, and especially had refused to abide by the
decision of President Cleveland, their mutually chosen referee. The
action of some of the Protestant ministers in taking annexation petitions
into their churches for signature by the members is indeed very unfortunate for the cause of Christianity.
The government's armed force consists of whites, mostly of that
undesirable class which otherwise would become tramps. They have no
sense of devotion to the cause, but simply earn their living in a soldier's
uniform. There is a large reserve force at the call of the authorities,
composed of the Portuguese, who take musket and cartridge to their
homes, and swear they will use it, if required, in defence of the Provisional




TELEGRAPHIC ADVICES.


i;9


Government. This is necessary in order to obtain the humblest employment from the departments of government.
You must not blame these men, said an educated Portuguese to me;
they must find bread for their wives and children. How can they do it
if no one will furnish employment? Joseph 0. Carter lost his position
as president of the Charles Brewer Company, and Peter C. Jones is
elected. This change is due entirely to the royalist opinions of the
former.
An immense order for cartridges has just gone forward, although those
on hand have not been used. The provisionalists allow no person to
hold office save declared annexationists.
The native and half-caste elements have no sympathy with annexation,
and the few signatures obtained from them are given under duress of some
kind. The government employee, whatever his position, who declines
to sign the annexation petition, loses that moment his place.  The
Hawaiian Band, almost to a man, -in government service and pay for
twenty years, - refused the oath of allegiance. The members disloyal to
the Provisionalist party were dismissed and a new government band
organized. When the latter gives free concerts, the natives and halfcastes stay away. If the former plays on the public square, the grounds
are crowded and the voluntary contributions are liberal.
President Dole is accessible to the poorest citizen, and all is done to
conciliate every class. Even the Chinese, who regard the revolution
with natural stoicism, must be kept from giving aid to the monarchy.
It is advocated that the entire population register, so that there be no
class legislation. The natives would rebel at this, but it is proposed in
order to conciliate the advocates of Chinese registration.




70


HIAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


THE HAWAIIAN RACE.
IT cannot have escaped the attention of your readers that as yet
I have no opinions of my own, and such ambiguity is intentional on my
part. It is my effort to correctly record the statements, theories, and
political position of any class with whom I may be invited to confer,
and then, just as though I were the reporter for such persons, to place
the result in proper form for the consideration of the public. Save to
vouch now and then for a matter of fact, the final conclusion will come
where it belongs, at the close of my sojourn here. At a crisis like the
present, I believe the correspondent's duty to be fulfilled by stating, in
the very strongest and best manner, the views of any and all persons
who may be entitled to a hearing.
I have seen her Majesty, the (Queen, and paid my respects to royalty
just as though it had not fallen from its high estate. Of this I shall
perhaps have more to say at a future time; suffice it now to add that she
impressed me just as she ever has, - as a good, strong, dignified, and
sensible woman, and this in spite of that which she said in her interview
with Minister Willis. A New York lawyer, who came here fully primed
all the way down by an annexationist and an American woman with
those absurd stories which it is for the interest of the provisionalist to
circulate, entirely impartial in his judgment, because he visits this city
for a strictly business purpose, told me that he had written a voluntary
communication to a leading paper of that metropolis so strong on just
the opposite side that he doubted if it would ever be printed; as a consequence, both of his former friends, besides others to whom he was introduced by them, call him a rank royalist, and regard him with the
darkest suspicions. "t Why," said he, with that acumen natural to those
of his profession in going to the root of such matters, "these very
people have told each other and strangers within a year that the Queen
was one of the most philanthropic, the most upright, Christian women
in the whole land, and from careful inquiry I am sure that she is
exactly that. Such has been her reputation for her whole lifetime,




TIlE HAWAIIAN RACE.


71


and a woman does not radically change for the worse after she is fifty
years'old."
But not with her Majesty, rather with those in whose hearts is
cherished the spirit of loyalty to her, will this letter deal, chiefly in
regard to one point; namely, the decay of the Hawaiian race. This
has been industriously asserted by the American party, the reasoning
being on this wise: in a few years there will be no natives, therefore it
is as absurd to bring that element into the discussion as it would be to
bias public interests in the United States by asking how it would affect
the North American Indian. Now, is this true?
The house from which I have just returned contained a mixed company. There were two women present at our conclave whom I knew
when first I visited Honolulu; there was one gentleman who has been
intrusted by royalty with at least three most important foreign missions;
another, a gentleman of wealth and leisure devoted to literary pursuits,
but long a resident here. lie was of European birth, and, besides myself, was, I think, the only person in a company of nine present in
whose veins there ran no strain of Hawaiian blood. It is to him that
I am indebted for the statistics contained in this article.
The census of 1890 gave to Iawaii a population of 90,000, of which
the native and half-caste element amounted to 40,500; Japanese and
Chinese, 27,500; Portuguese, 9,000; Hawaiian born of sundry nationalities, 7,500; all other foreigners (2,000 of these being Americans),
5,500, the nearest round number being used in these figures.  The
natives - Chinese, Portuguese, and other foreigners - have diminished
since the census of 1872.  The half-caste and H-awaiian-born have
increased. The Japanese are a new element since that date.
Now briefly let us consider who are the voters to-day. There are but
14,000 in all; of these the natives have the majority, 9,550; the Portuguese and half-castes come next, with 2,100; of sundry nationalities
(the British having of these 500, but excluding the American element),
1,700; the Americans, 650!
By the above facts and figures, it will be seen that the Americans
form but two and one-fifth per cent. of the population, and less than
five per cent. of the registered voters. Now, granting, for the sake of
argument, that each and all were in favor of the present Provisional
Government, and upholders of the recent attempt of some four or five
of their number to convey (under a past administration) these islands
to a foreign country on their memorable visit to Washington, does the
world realize the astounding revelation of those statistics? That the




72


HAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


pettiest of minorities should have obtained the notice accorded to it, is
the wonder of those who are conversant with the facts. "Why, had
these figures been before President Harrison, had he realized how little
those adventurers were authorized to speak for the Hawaiian nation,"
says my informant, " he would not have given them audience."
"Allowing for differences of opinion," suggested another of the company, " and I could take you through a street and introduce you to
many Americans there who have not the least sympathy with the revolt,
there is not one per cent. of the population, or two per cent. of the
registered voters, who thus claim the right to destroy the independence
of a nation. It is conceded by some who gave the first revolutionists
their adherence that there were not in that original body but two men
who were entitled to universal respect. These were Messrs. Damon and
Dole. IHad it not been for their names and their influence, the movement could never have received even the limited support accorded to it."
One of the peculiarities of politics in Hawaii is a certain feature
extorted from King Kalakaua at the point of the bayonet in 1887; this
is; that abating not a jot of his rights as a citizen of a foreign power,
the resident in Hawaii can take any part he chooses in governing the
land; can sit in its executive and deliberate councils: in short, his position is exactly that of one born here, or one who has sworn allegiance
to the.Queen. " The great convenience of this may be seen at a glance.
A man became a political nuisance; we endeavored to discipline him;
he went to his consul on board a ship of his flag, and we were powerless. l)o you think any other country in the world would have borne
that for fifteen years? And yet they blame our Queen because she
wished to frame a new constitution."
This from another side of the house.
"But why (lid Kalakaua consent to it?" I asked.
"Why, indeed?   It deserves its name; it is, and has always been
called, 'The Bayonet Constitution.' Hle would have lost his life, had he
refused. Hlis sister spoke with truth when she said that she would
never be safe as long as these men remained in the land; that they
had killed her brotllher."
" Killed?  Yes, just as truly as it is an historic fact that there was
a committee of five, the names of whom would surprise you, should I
mention them (for they went early into this very revolution), who were
bound for the public good to execute King Kalakaua, as the vigilance
committee executed the rolughs of San Francisco, had he continued in
his obstinacy that he would not sign the constitution of 1887. And




THlE IIAWAIIAN RACE.


73 


now those very men are writing letters on the bloodthirstiness of a barbarian Queen. And why? Because she stated that it was her judgment
that such persons should be dealt with in HIawaii just exactly as they
would be treated to-day under like circumstances by the Queen of Most
Christian England or the Emperor of Most Enlightened Germany."
But to return to the rate of increase or decrease of the Hawaiian race.
In 1866 this had lost for six years an average of 1,400 a year, or twelve
per cent. of the population; in 1890, it had lost an average of 600 per
year, or but eight per cent. of the native population. During the same
six years the half-castes have increased by some 2,000 souls, and this
latter is the coming Hawaiian race. Of this there is not the least doubt.
The missionaries in 1850 calculated that in forty years the native race
would have ceased to exist. Their period of limitation has been over
for three years, yet, excluding the Japanese and Chinese, whose stay is
merely temporary, we are still two-thirds of the entire population of
Hawaii.
This race, and by half-caste is meant here any mixture of native or pure
Hawaiian blood, has every element of vitality. The males and females
are almost equal in numbers. These are, at the present time, almost
exclusively in early manhood or womanhood, more than half being under
fifteen years of age; thus proving that the movement toward fertility
has but just commenced. They are astoundingly strong, handsome, and
healthy. Why should this not be so since they have the natural physique
which comes with an out-of-door life joined to the intelligence, but not
the bodily feebleness, of civilization? The women are handsome, very
sweet-tempered, affectionate, and graceful. They are zealously sought
in marriage by those of the whiter races who make of these islands a
permanent home. You will find no pleasanter houses than that of one
of these happily married couples, and none which will more rapidly fill
up with healthy, happy children.
But in their national affiliations it is not to Boston, to London, nor to
Berlin that they direct their eyes. No, it was here that they were born;
here is the land of their love. Has America shown in her treatment of
those of mixed blood, or in those of the darker complexions, anything
for which these, the true Hawaiians, should desire annexation? What is
the social position of the African race in the land of equal rights?
How many ladies do you know with ever so slight a tinge to their
beautiful faces who could be received in the best society of New York,
or even of Boston, and treatted with exactly the same consideration as
though their fathers and( mothers showed the purest of Caucasian blood?




74


HIAWAIIAN CORRESPONI)ENCE.


Suppose we do multiply and begin to emigrate to the Union, how long
will it be before you will pass a Hawaiian exclusion bill as you have
passed one against the Chinese? No, I thank you; you keep your own
nationality, and let us keep ours. Would you stain the flag of the land,
which we own we love as the escutcheon of our ancestry, by forcing us
to be one of its territorial possessions, acquired contrary to the will and
wishes of the great majority of the voters, or of the entire population?
for our sisters are not a whit less patriotic than we are in saying, if
there is one right to which we have a legitimate claim, surely it is the
right to national existence.
One of the most common of assertions is that the Hawaiians are
incapable of self-government. When, it may be asked, did they have
any opportunity to demonstrate either this or its opposite?  From the
very first they have, in their good-natured hospitality carried into
politics, allowed the foreign, and especially the missionary, element the
utmost freedom in assuming to direct national affairs. They have been
subjected to all the cabals of the contending parties amongst these
residents, so that cabinet has plotted against cabinet without any regard
whatsoever for the good of the nation, but simply with the determination to overthrow some rival faction.  The strongest government in
Europe could not exist if those of alien birth and sympathies were
allowed such privileges as have been accorded by the island race to
their visitors, or temporary residents in Honolulu; for it is this one city
which has assumed to govern the kingdom in the past as it a t ssumes now
to speak for us to the civilized world of to-day.
The bill for fixing the President's salary has been amended so that he
is to receive $1,000 a month instead of $10,000 a year.
The new minister of foreign affairs will probably be Francis M. Hatch,
a lawyer, formerly of New Hampshire, and for a time vice-president of
the Provisional Government. He is now president of the Annexation
Club.
That President Dole, as soon as relieved by Mr. Hatch, will devote
himself to the final draft of his new constitution, so that a republic will
be announced within a few days, is a rumor gaining ground just as this
mail is leaving.
That whenever promulgated, the native element will in reality be
disfranchised by the property clause, and the other nationalities by the
limitation in regard to reading and writing the English language, is
nearer to fact than to rumor, so it appears to me. This will place the
rule of the nation in the hands of the very men who offered to convey




THE ITAWAIIAN RACE.


75


it to the American Union, for it is quite improbable that the English, or
other foreign residents, will take much part in the affairs of the incipient
commonwealth.
Amongst other rumors may be mentioned the following:That the younger portion the ynr pthe American party are now saying that
if it is not to be annexation, they would far prefer to return to the old
regime. And the reason is this. They say if the present clique are to
rule the country, it will be entirely under the dominion of those of the
strictest religious opinions; that it is this very party who have in the
past frowned on all sports, established as law the most Puritanic of
Sabbaths, tried to prevent the sale of so much as a glass of beer in the
whole kingdom, and in all other manners have endeavored to restrain
the personal habits of those of the white settlers who had no sympathy
with such restrictions. If they did this when the latter had something
to say, what will be their course now that they are an absolute despotism?
For this cause the very young men who voluntarily shouldered a musket
a year ago for the defence of the government now look lovingly back to
the days of monarchy, rather than hopefully forward to the coming
republic. This statement comes to me from an officer in that first army,
a man now in the service of the most active of the Provincialist party,
although no longer in the military.
The strained relations existing between President Dole and Minister
Willis give color to the rumor that the latter is already looking up the
date on which a comfortable passage can be taken from hence to San
Francisco; in other words, that he will notify President Cleveland by
this mail that he desires to be relieved from a position which daily grows
more embarrassing.
The organization of a new Board of Education is giving the President
some anxiety. He states that he wishes to have all nations and creeds
represented; his best attempts, however, seem to be fruitless, when he
goes outside the pale of the Congregational churches. He has found no
Catholic willing to serve, and in this he experiences the usual trouble
with the traditional conservatism of those of that faith. The British
also ask to be excused, and I presume the IIawaiians have not been
invited to nominate one of their number. The Roman Catholics have
at present the largest denominational following in the land, and it is
increasing almost daily.
The throne, crown, and all insignia of royalty are to be on exhibition
at the California Midwinter Fair, and a considerable portion of the late
Queen's official belongings have already been shipped to San Francisco.




76


HAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


Perhaps it was thought that should her Majesty be restored, the fact of
forcing her to sit in an ordinary arm-chair, with no more on her brow
than a smile of satisfaction, would deprive the occasion of its brilliancy
or success as a royalistic pageant.
The official who had been invited from California to take charge of the
post-office arrived according to contract, but the government did not
dare put him in possession of his office. There were some stormy scenes
between employers and employed. What the result was no one knows,
but the official has sent for his family; this confirms the statement of a
native to me that all positions will be filled by partisans of annexation,
even if they must be imported for their places.
As though there were not enough activity on the surface, the celebrated volcano shows signs of a grand eruption; earthquakes make the
land tremble around the home of Pel6, the fire-god; the lake of molten
lava is making inroads on the more stable soil; there are indications of
a fine display of fire fountains. I leave for that locality to-morrow, and
may spend two nights at the summit. This is the last mail to San
Francisco, save by a sailing-vessel, for a period of three weeks, and the
long interval gives me the opportunity to ascertain the sentiments of
the native population on the other islands.




TWO HAWAIIAN ROYALISTS.


77


TWO HAWAIIAN ROYALISTS.
IN those consistent but extreme views held by Count Leo TolstoY, he
accepts the words of Holy Writ in their literal sense, and asserts " that
ye resist not evil" is the first command of the new dispensation. The
Mosaic showed the world under the law of eye for eye and tooth for
tooth; the Christian, the crucified Master, when twelve legions of angels
could have rescued him from his slayers. The little world of Ionolulu,
while not in a state of civil war, exhibits at the present time all those
phases of mutual disagreement and division which are consequent upon
war, and its necessary disregard of this precept and those which come
where the heated passions of the one side are opposed to the equally
obstinate will of the other. Slowly and surely it is becoming necessary
for every person in public or official position in this city to be pronounced
against royalty or retire to inaction and private life. In the case of the
laborer, it means bread to the family; in the case of the office-holder, it
means sign the annexation petition or resign your place; even in the case
of the business manager of large experience and undoubted integrity, it
means that unless he disclaims all sympathy with fallen royalty, another
president's name must head the list.
The house of C. Brewer & Co. needs no introduction to Boston
readers. It is the oldest house in business in Hawaii, its organization
dating from the very earliest missionary times. It is now an incorporated company, $600,000 capital, and its officers and stockholders include
some of the ablest of the American colonists. Its president and manager was, until a day or two ago, Mr. Joseph 0. Carter, a man of the
most undoubted integrity, born on the islands, and dwelling here (with
the exception of some seven years, when he was receiving his education
at Chauncy Hall, Boston) for his whole lifetime. But Mr. Carter
believed that it was his duty to observe the oath of fidelity he had taken
to her Majesty, the constitutional monarch of the land. His name
appears on the letter in which she promises amnesty, and he was the
messenger who originally carried to President Dole the protest, and saw




78


HAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


it indorsed with a note of reception by that official. He has, since the
dethronement, nothing whatever to do with the Queen. He never sees
her save when she might send for him, as a business man would summon
his attorney. This he considers he is bound by his oath to do, for he
swore that whenever she desired counsel from his lips, he would give it
and to the best of his ability. IIe has taken no public part whatever in
the present revolution, appearing in no capacity before the people as an
advocate of royalty or adherent of the present government. But for
all this, his sentiments were well known, if not as publicly expressed,
as are those of Hon. T. H. Davies. It was certain that he believed the
reform party went too far, that he considered the Queen to be the legitimate ruler of the country. No provincialist, no partisan, has ever been
known to so much as hint against the personal character of either
Mr. Carter or Mr. Davies.
Yet at the meeting of the Company, after having once, prior to this
meeting, spread upon its records a condemnation of Mr. Carter's political sentiments, he was officially beheaded; he loses his position and his
income. Mr. Peter C. Jones, one of the original revolutionists, a man
of equally high character, for years connected with the house, was
elected to the presidency. Mr. Jones is well known in Boston, his
father being one of the typical old Boston merchants. He came around
Cape Horn to this city nearly forty years ago, and is a man of about
sixty years of age. He often visits the East, and is most highly
esteemed in business, social, and ecclesiastical circles.
The government would also like to discipline Mr. T. It. Davies, but
it is not so easy to punish him, and he speaks and writes against the
self-elected ruler with all the vigor of a man conscious that, to his
view, he has the eternal principle of right upon his side. He is a
British subject, was formerly the vice-consul of that power, is a man of
great wealth and education, and, as has been before said, is the guardian of the Princess Kaiulani, the next in succession to the throne.
His position and his ideas of the difference between our government and
that of Great Britain are well displayed in the following statement, which
came to me from his own lips -
" Fifty years ago," he said, '" there was a hot-headed British captain
in this harbor.  IIe landed a force of marines, pulled down the
Hawaiian flag, and ran up the British flag. In due time, the admiral of
the fleet arrived, and Lord George Paulet was told to pull down that
British flag, run up the Hawaiian flag, and give the latter a national
salute, which was done. There is no name dearer to the people of




TWO HAWAIIAN ROYALISTS.


79


Hawaii than that of Admiral Thomas. A square is named for him, his
portrait is hung among those of the Kamehamehas, and his name is
spoken with love unto this day. There is one picture; now for another.
" In 1893 there was a hot-headed American captain afloat and an
equally hot-headed American minister ashore. The force of marines was
landed, and again the Hawaiian ensign was pulled down, the colors of
an alien power taking its place. The President decided that his own
representatives had acted unjustifiably; but-  Well, the end is not
yet."
Whatever the merits of the above contrast, from my general acquaintance with the course of Great Britain throughout the world, I think it
is typical of the strength and weakness of the two nations. The former
is the distinguishing trait of the British Government in all acts under
its foreign policy; the latter is our reputation, both in matters of diplomacy or in insults or abuses offered to our citizens or seamen in foreign
parts.
Mr. Davies may yet find in his own person an example of the value
of British protection. As he has business connections with British
Columbia, has resided there, and is now the local agent for the line of
mail steamers plying between Vancouver and Australia, touching at
this port, when recently it was said that an army to reseat the Queen
was being recruited on British soil, the attorney-general summoned
Mr. Davies to his office, and questioned him very closely upon the
alleged movement and his own connection therewith; to which the
accused made the very proper and natural reply that lie knew nothing
whatever about the affair, and considered it a canard. lie also added,
and this would be said of him by any person who knows him, that his
name would never be seen amongst those of traitors or conspirators.
He has been a resident, from time to time, of Honolulu since 1857, and
is favorably known for his support of Christian and philanthropic
movements. But he is outspoken in his assertion that it is a dangerous
precedent to violate the law of nations, or to subvert, by violence, constituted authority. One of the government organs has an editorial
indirectly advocating his deportation.
Had President Cleveland been a second Admiral Thomas, the army
which would have repelled, if possible, the United States forces would
have been composed of the very flower of the American residents. I
have listened to private letters written at that time, in which wives
renounced husbands, mothers gave up only sons, and there was every
sentiment of that high-toned patriotism which was so general during the




80


HAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


great Southern Rebellion; for it was distinctly believed in Honolulu,
not only from the President's attitude and his message, but from
Admiral Irwin, that force was to be used. No officers nor men were
allowed shore-leave from the naval vessels. It has even been said that
the admiral transferred to places of shelter his own wife and daughter;
that ammunition was brought up from below, and that every preparation
was made for war. So the people of Honolulu, from President Dole
to the humblest citizen, expected to see the Provisional Government
attacked at any moment; and the Hawaiian President is right when he
says that Minister Willis stood in an attitude of menace which he
declined to explain. The specifications of President Dole give great
satisfaction to his friends here; that he would ever, at the request of the
minister, withdraw or apologize for any line of conduct, no one who
knows of what stuff lie is made would as much as intimate. Perhaps,
were it not for the fact that it might prejudice the cause of annexation,
Minister Willis would be told plainly that he is persona non grata, and
thus be required to buy his ticket for Washington.
It must be remembered that the one end of all movements made by the
present government and its sympathizers is annexation; for all that they
are perfectly willing to admit with reason that fusion with the American
Union will never be the portion of Hawaii; yet there is scarcely an
American here but what fondles the delusion in his heart. This is
because such has been their ideal for years. It is the only thing, they
say, which will insure peace, harmony, and good government, and they
fail to realize that although such was the profession of the first Americans
who came here, none the less is it true that the American Union was not
organized, nor is it continued as a national missionary board for the
relief of those abroad desiring purity in politics or integrity and wisdom
in ruling nations of commingled blood.
There are some encouraging and some disheartening aspects in the
present condition of things. Amongst the former may be mentioned the
surprising ease with which nineteen men can govern a nation, even
under the most adverse circumstances. For Hawaii is now governed by
just that number, and this includes one who has not been yet selected,
namely, the new minister of foreign affairs, that office being now segregated from  the presidency; and the nation is well governed, the
finances especially being in a most wholesome condition. May not our
cities learn a lesson here, even our States?  As Hawaii is now governed
there is no difficulty in fixing responsibility: it is on these nineteen men
but in Massachusetts, with our numberless commissions, organized




TWO HAWAIIAN ROYALISTS.


81


mostly for the purpose of political reward, our governor's council, a
totally useless and often obstructive body, our two houses of deliberation,
we have far too much machinery.
The saddest part of it is the great injury in the native mind the whole
affair has been to the cause of Christian missions. It is useless to argue
with the man of prejudice, and the native cannot be blamed if he is
prejudiced in favor of his own queen, his traditional government, and
especially his own right to be a nation amongst nations. It is just as
useless to explain to him that these are not missionaries, that a majority
of the whole civil list never had anything to do with missions. To him
the American party and the missionary party are synonymous terms.
The circulation of annexation petitions in the Protestant churches was a
most impolitic move, and the contrast in the Catholic churches, where
nothing but the worship of God is allowed, cannot fail to be noticed by
the more intelligent and the half-castes. Protestants who are not in
sympathy with the revolutionary movement speak to me of this every
day, although it does not appear that the priests count much on the
secession which the Protestant natives allege is going on. These simply
go about their ecclesiastical duties as they do in all lands; they take not
the least part in any of the demonstrations, nor can they be expected to,
for the mission was founded by the French in 1827, and established on
a firm basis by the action of the French Government in 1839. But
whatever the form of Christianity, every true man must feel sad to see it
lose its hold on the people, especially where these have nothing toward
which they may turn. Dr. Johnson stated a great truth when he said
that without realizing his obligation to a higher power than anything
human, man could not live a virtuous or upright life.




82


HAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


THE GOVERNMENT OF HAWAII.
" WHEN the former government was overthrown," I began, in conversation with a gentleman who had for many years represented
Hawaii in foreign parts.
"Let me correct your language right there," he interrupted. "The
government of the Hawaiian islands has never been overthrown, and it
never will be. It rests on a foundation which has stood the changes of
half a century. The only modification to which it is subject is that of
annexation to the United States."
This was a new view of the situation, and in this letter will be presented the views of this official and those with whom I have talked who
sympathize with him. Some of my informants have been members of
the fallen cabinets of royalty.
What was the government of the Hawaiian islands up to the 17th of
January, 1893? Who directed the voice of the nation? Who furnished
the money by which national improvements, hospitals, schools, leper
settlements, and all other public works were directed, supported, and
sustained?
To whom is all this due to-day?
To identically the same party, almost to the same individuals.
There, in brief, is stated the side of the provisionalists, their very
right to being to-day.
Are they a company of filibusters who have landed here, seized the
reins of power with intent to drive the chariot of state at their own
pleasure and for their own profit? Far from it. Had this been their
position, the inexperienced hand would have been manifest, and to its
own destruction.
The fact is just this: brains will tower above brute force; intelligence
joined with activity must lead; money is accumulated labor, and the
millions amassed by the few will overpower the petty stipend paid daily
to the many, and so divided as to be deprived of its force.




THE GOVERNMENT OF HAWAII.


83


This has always been recognized in Hawaii. The American missionaries and their descendants have always, from the earliest days, been
the power behind the throne. They have now swept aside that piece of
furniture; it had survived its usefulness, and its destruction simply disclosed to the view of nations the real rulers of the Hawaiian people.
These continued to govern; they did not initiate government. Had
they done the latter, there would have been anarchy and strife; as they
did the former, there has been nought but harmony and peace.
Who put Kalakaua on the throne?
Who counselled him, directed the kingdom, not only while he
nominally appointed a cabinet, but during his long absence from these
shores, during his pleasure-trip around the globe? These very men who
have now told his sister that they fail to see any advantage in yielding
to her further voice in public affairs. Fifty years ago there were but
two rulers of the nation, - King Hiram and my Lord Judd. Rev. Hiram
Bingham governed the native element throughout the island kingdom;
Dr. C. P. Judd sat in the palace, and wrote the decrees with his own
hand which regulated trade, habits, and usages in Honolulu, the royal
race of Kamehamehas doing no more than to affix a pen-scratch to the
spot on which the doctor's right arm held the pen. To-day the legitimate
successors of these, in reality the titular dynasty of the land, govern
the nation, and it is well governed, because they have the prestige of
long succession, the wisdom which comes by decades of experience.
They were never the servants of royalty. The latter was their mouthpiece to a part of the people as long as the reigning monarch spoke
words of truth, of Christian purport, and for the good of all the people.
The men who put those words into the English language were glad to
sustain the throne.
When, in place of financial integrity, a system of legalized gambling
was promulgated by the Queen, so that the families of the day-laborer
would be robbed of bread; when the despotism of Siam was to supplant
a constitution founded on that of Queen Victoria; when the barbarism,
sensuality, and heathenism of centuries past were proclaimed and practised, rather than the principles of Christ's Sermon on the Mount, -then
the men who had always made the laws, who had furnished the means
and directed the forces which sustained the government, simply said,c The voice of the executive is no longer the voice of God, and that
there may be no misunderstanding in future, we will execute his decrees
for the present by a council of those who believe in him, not through
one person who openly defies him and his precepts."




84


HAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


"And," say my informants, "we should have been partakers in
iniquity if we had not acted exactly as we did. Perhaps you may assert
that we should have promulgated the Queen's lottery bill; that we should
have seen the people bow their necks to the Siamese despotism; that we
should have assented to the revival of pagan practices; that we ought
willingly to have paid of our substance into a treasury the disbursements of which were in no manner under our control; but the wisest of
us cannot see how a person with any regard for civilization, morals, or
Christianity can advocate or even approve such a course. We stand
just where we always have stood, save that we have conciliated, modified, and even submitted, for twenty years, accepting the royal promise
of good government. When there was no longer hope of the latter,
save through ourselves, then, and not until then, did we most unwillingly, and as an unwelcome duty, assume the executive as well as the
legislative functions."
Now for the facts in support of this statement of the views of the
American party. No one can contest their allegation that it is by their
wisdom and intelligence that kings have reigned and princes decreed
judgment. Further: By whose money has the royal household been supported? Who paid for the trip of Kalakaua around the world? Who
paid the expenses of the royal party which visited Boston a few years
ago? The foreign residents, chiefly those of American lineage. These
were the men whom the Queen would have disfranchised; these are the
men who, in the event of her restoration, could not have stayed in the
country under penalty of death.
King Kalakaua's tour was, to some extent, a factor in the trouble.
Of all the potentates he saw, none pleased him so well as the ruler of
Siam. He there beheld an absolute monarch, with a standing army,
with no power behind the throne, with prerogatives the exercise of
which meant death to this man or preferment to that one. Ah, this it
was to be king! This was a monarchy worthy the successor to the
great Kamehameha! He had met his ideal; he landed at Honolulu
determined to make it a living reality. But he had neglected to notice
that in Siam there was no party of intelligence, Christianity, and wealth.
But the heathen, in his blindness, made a desperate attempt to change
the American commonwealth into the Siamese despotism, and utterly
failed. He sullenly accepted defeat, and the constitution wrung from
him by those who now govern Hawaii is called the " Bayonet Constitution " unto this day. He had a sister, Mrs. Lydia Dominis, governess
of the island on which Honolulu is built. What did she say? That, if




THE GOVERNMENT OF HAWAII.


85


she had been ruling in his place, that constitution would never have
been granted; that she would have shown the American party and the
world who was the ruling monarch of Hawaii.
Her time, too, came, and she fulfilled her own prophecy, with what
result the people already know. She had one great obstacle with which
to contend, which, to her brother, was but a coming event overshadowing the future. What was this?
The power of wealth. Where, years ago, her opponents were many
of them on the verge of bankruptcy, they now were rich and prosperous; out of debt at home, and with liberal credit abroad, they felt that
independence which the full purse only can give.
It is strange with what unerring accuracy intuition at times takes
the place and renders the service of reason or education. When, in
1867, I listened to the debate in Parliament on the reciprocity treaty, I
noticed a great timidity on the part of the native members to commit
themselves in its favor. And why?  Because they regarded it as a sort
of first lien on the nation, by which their country was mortgaged to a
stronger power - a power which would not hesitate to take the pound of
flesh, and would rejoice to draw therewith the blood of Hawaii.
It took all the Websterian phraseology of IHon. Stephen II. Phillips,
seconded by the fiery eloquence of the half-caste interpreter, Ragsdale,
to persuade the native that the reciprocity treaty was to the advantage
of the kingdom; even then, it was not until 1875 that it went into force.
Its effect on the mercantile world of Honollul was instantaneous. Men
who had scarcely known what the future had in store for them, now
found themselves acquiring financial, and, consequently, social strength.
They no longer were ground down by that dependence on circumstances
which comes with a consciousness of limited means. They had vastly
more at stake, and they had more power and ability at command by
which to defend their all. Government is organized for the protection
of life and property; only good government can accord such protection.
They claim this as a right, and that no law, human or divine, obliges
them to abandon hearth and home, to desert the fruits of a life-work,and for what? That a nation may return to the heathenism and wickedness from which it has been redeemed by American blood. Will it do
this? Most certainly, they reply. If, in an instant, the influence of
the descendants of the missionaries could be obliterated, if the ex-Queen
should be taken at her word, and all that element which has opposed
her should be deported, it would not be one generation before the last
state of this people would be worse than the first, and this paradise of




86


HAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


the Pacific would become a hell of bad passions. The question of their
confiscated property needs no consideration; the Queen and her followers would soon lose it all. Her brother, with enormous revenues,
left $250,000 in private debts.
We have fought for annexation, in order to be sure that no such
catastrophe will ever befall the human race; for it is not only Hawaii
that will suffer in the event of our failure, but the whole fraternity of
civilized nations.  Have not the American people encouraged us to
believe that we would be admitted to the Union?  We do not claim
any treaty obligations on the American side; but have not Webster,
Frelinghuysen, Blaine, and other statesmen, by their public utterances
plainly manifested this intention? If you lead a person to believe that
you mean to do a certain thing, is he not justified in acting under the
impression that when the time comes you can be depended on to do it?
This is just what we did when we assumed that the executive power in
front of us for the future would not be the fiat of one unreasonable
woman, but rather that central government at Washington which we
had respected from our infancy. We have told you the representations
which we believe justify our faith in annexation; can you point out to
us one public or official utterance prior to 1893 which discourages this
hope and expectation on our part?
Mr. John L. Stevens, when United States minister, encouraged and
advised annexation, so it is said. For the sake of argument, let this be
admitted as truth; what does it prove, save that Mr. Stevens was in
accord with all his brother statesmen who have studied the relations
between Hawaii and the IUnited States?
As a fact, however, had Mr. Stevens been in town a day or two earlier,
it is probable that the ex-Qucen would still be on her throne; for he
stated at that time that all the weight of his influence, personal and
official, joined to that of other foreign ministers, would have been given
to the effort to persuade the Queen to desist from those extreme measures which precipitated the revolt.  That this would have been the
course of Mr. Stevens, that he would have had a fair chance of success,
I cannot doubt. Of the former I feel absolutely sure, because direct
testimony of those to whom he expressed that determination is at my
command. Then, Mr. Stevens insists that he did not aid and abet the
revolt, and does the public realize the circumstances under which the
late American minister's account of himself was written?
Far be it from me to do more than to gently lift the veil which shrouds
a fond parent's sorrow, yet the simple fact may be stated here. Full




TIlE GOVERNMENT OF HAWAII.


of life, hope, and daring, a talented daughter was his when the morning sun lit up the mountain-tops. Claimed by grim death as his own,
unchanged by any illness and unmarked by any disease, the form from
which the spirit had fled rested through that night in the adjacent
chamber to that in which the minister was writing to his government
his account of the Hawaiian revolution. And through the long, silent
night, when his fingers were wearied by the pen, or his eyesight dimmed
over the manuscript, a walk into the next room, with a look into the
quiet face of the dead girl, gave Mr. Stevens the strength to go on with
his work. There are certain places on the islands where there is no
landing for a small boat, so the coasting-steamer approaches the crag
from which, by cage or basket, the passenger is lowered from the overhanging precipice, and landed on deck. It was by such attempt that
Miss Stevens lost her life. The body was recovered almost instantly,
but the soul had fled.
"I tell you," exclaimed the naval officer, from whom I heard the
touching story, " that under such circumstances a man is very likely to
tell nothing but absolute truth."
And thus it was that, with nothing to extenuate, and nought to set
down in malice, Minister Stevens told to the American people the first
tale of his own agency in the revolutionary movement at Honolulu. I
have faithfully reported in this article the strongest arguments of those
in full sympathy with the cause of annexation, which he -more than
any other one American- represents.




88


HAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


AMERICA IN HAWAII.
" A LITTLE; leaven leaveneth the whole lump " is a proverb that may
well be applied to the city of Honolulu, if not to the whole Hawaiian
nation. This leaven is Americanism. The latest instance of this was seen
in the celebration of Washington's Birthday. The speeches were excellent.
They would have done credit to a like celebration had it been held in Boston.
There were some indirect allusions to the parallel between two situations
and the Hawaiian crisis: those of 1776 and revolt against George III. and
the French Revolution. Taxation without representation was contrasted
with the refusal of the planters to submit to disfranchisement while
still paying nine-tenths of the cost of the support of government; yet
little was publicly said to which any person of contrary sympathies
could take exception. There was a general suspension of business;
stores closed at one o'clock; the evening newspaper of provisionalist
faith was not published. At the celebration, both President Dole and
Minister Willis forgot their diplomatic difficulties; the war-ships were
gayly decorated, and fired national salutes. In a word, the occasion
was made a day of the exaltation of patriotism, love of liberty and
hero-worship, and there was not a jar or discord to mar its harmony.
The community here has nothing to learn should it ever become a part
of the American Union; for, although the Americans are numerically
in a hopeless minority, they are in an immense majority in influence
upon their associate residents. For example, who but those still Americans would have thought of the custom of holding a mock election on
the day of our presidential election? Yet this has been done in Honolulu
for years, and sometimes as many as a thousand votes are cast. One
of the best jokes I have heard is that, according to this plebiscite,
President Cleveland is now the choice of those who are reviling him.
It seems that, at his first candidacy, Blaine was elected, because he had
favored reciprocity and annexation. Wily diplomate that he was, his
speeches may be quoted on both sides of the question. I have seen
paragraphs taken from them which would appear to be for non-interven



AMERICA IN HAWAII.


tion, and, on the contrary, since I have been here a two-column article
has been printed, entirely from him, as an annexation document. But
Mr. Cleveland was elected in spite of the Hawaiian vote. It is contested by few that he made a good record as an Executive and deserved
another term, so at llis last nomination the American vote in Hawaii was
given to our present honored Chief Magistrate; but there are few here
who like to have this fact repeated, nor would he now get a vote.
The first move toward a permanent government has been made by the
aplpointment of a committee to prepare a draft for a constitutional convention. The plan can only be outlined at present, but it will probably
be something like this: The first principle of all public movements
here at this critical epoclh in island history is, that no person not in full
sympathy with the existing government can have much to do with
private affairs, and nothing at all with public matters. This, it is
asserted, is in perfect harmony with the course of Britain tnder the
Commonwealth, after the deposition of King Charles, or America under
Washington after the rupture with George III. So the delegates to the
Hawaiian convention will not be chosen by the people. The annexation
clubs throughout the land, or organizations of their principles, will send
delegates to the seat of government, and, even when organized, the
convention will have no more than an advisory agency in the work.
The work of constructing a nation will be done by the nineteen men
now holding the reins of l)ower. Thus it will be seen there can be no
counter-revolution, for tlhe lpresent government will condemn or )approve
each measure, and there will be no appeal from its absolute fitt. This
policy will be continued in admitting the people to suffrage; Chinese,
Japanese, all who neither read nor write the English language, and
those below a certain property (llalification (say, an income of $600 a
year, or the possession of property to an amount not less than $1,000)
being excluded. But the limitation will not cease there: an oath of
loyalty to the existing government will be a condition precedent to
registration as a voter. After throwing out the votes of the aboveexcluded classes, it will be readily seen that the total vote of the whole
HIawaiian nation, of a )pop)ulation of ninety thousand souls, will be
reduced to its lowest terms. Were I to guess, I should putt the extreme
limit of registration at three thousand ballots, and certainly at the lirst
election all ballots cast will be by the missionary party.
I have used the term "missionary party" because it designates those in
sympathy with American rule.  Like many other terms in popular use,
it is absolutely mistaken languagre, and conveys a false impression to




90


HAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


those without full knowledge of the community. The first persons who
settled here were, beyond dispute, missionaries, nor is there essential
error in the application of the same word to those not strictly preachers
who came with them, such as printers, supply agents, physicians, and
others, who had the missionary spirit but not the theological education.
These were at first under appointment from the American Board, were
responsible to it, and early historians cannot be blamed if they failed to
recognize any difference between them and their ecclesiastical brethren.
Many, nay, most, of the so-called missionary party of to-day are not in
any relation whatever with missions.
But the original missionaries being, with scarce an exception, married,
large families grew up around them; their sons and daughters intermarried. These children, two generations removed from the ecclesiastics,
engaged in ordinary mercantile affairs: they became doctors, lawyers,
sugar-planters, or importers; they invited accessions to their number
from their families or friends at the East. It is now seventy-four years
since the first missionaries came, but to this day the term is universally
applied to that part of the community who, by the remotest connection
of blood, business alliance, or even natural sympathy, recognize the
worthy calling of the first emigrants.
The largest landed proprietors on the Hawaiian islands not only
had nothing to do with the mission, but are not in sympathy with the
faith or politics of most of their descendants.  The land tenure of
Hawaii was, up to 1846, very peculiar in character. The king, then
Kaniehameha III., owned all the land; under him, the chiefs held tracts
after the old feudal manner. But he, with consummate wisdom and
natural love for his people, voluntarily announced a revolution in land
tenure. He gave about one-half of all the lands of the kingdom in small
holdings to the natives, reserving the moiety for the purpose of creating
a national revenue. This is the starting-point to the titles to real estate
in the domain unto this day. It did not accomplish all that the good
king hoped. The native did not become a thriving peasant, nor seek,
like the hardier races, to build a home for himself and his children.
He sold his birthright for a mess of pottage, that traditional term being
represented by a horse, new raiment, a feast to his friends, or any
other transient gratification; if the sale was not absolute at first, it
became so by default in a mortgage, of which he only thought when he
signed it and received the consideration. The white residents were
importuned with prayers and tears to advance money to the simple
people, for whose convenience they often waited, not months, but years,




AMERICA IN HAWAII.


91


thereafter, without receiving a dollar of principal or interest. Finally,
in the course of a half-century, the land of the domain is mostly held
by the white race, and little by the native. But it is in spite of all that
has been done for the Hawaiian people, and not on account of it. Yet,
as most improvident persons condemn, not themselves, but others, so,
through ignorance, the native race point to the prosperity of the missionary descendants on the one side, and their own penury on the other,
as instances of the oppressor and the oppressed. And those who might
learn better if they would but take the pains to talk as I have with the
land conveyancers or others familiar with the transactions, as recorded
officially for forty years, those politically opposed to Americans take
up the cry and speak of the land-grabbing missionaries- an inexcusable
blunder, if not a base slander. The largest land-holder in the kingdom,
who acquired immense tracts by at least questionable means, Claus
Spreckels, is a pronounced royalist, does little or nothing for the native
race, and will not be suspected of any alliance with missionaries. That
which is true of Mr. Spreckels is true of others in sympathy with his
views. Not that he or men like him do any wrong to the natives, but
their benevolence, if they have it, takes no active form; they, let us
agree, keep the commandments. But the very persons whom they
accuse of conveying to a foreign power the nationality of Hawaii, without its consent, have not relaxed that noble effort for the good of their
dark-skinned neighbor which inspired the little band sailing from Boston
in 1820.
At one end of the city is the Kamehameha School for boys of the
native race, founded by the late Mrs. C. R. Bishop, a daughter of that
royal race, and munificently endowed by her husband, who may well be
styled the George Peabody of Hawaii. The entire property of this lady
(and she was heir to immense estates) was bequeathed by her to the
establishment of training-schools, and the one already erected is for
boys. It is a building which would do honor to any community, and,
with its workshops, dormitories, and pleasure-grounds, occupies an area
of fifty acres within half an hour's ride of the centre of the city.
There are ten instructors and a little over a hundred pupils. The charge
is merely nominal, forty-two dollars a year covering tuition, board, and
all necessities of the manual training. When the boys leave, they are
fitted to earn at once full pay in their chosen mechanical art.
Kawaiahao Seminary for girls is at the other end of the city, is under
the auspices of the American Mission, lhas alout the same average number of attendants, and for the reason that this was doing so much for




92


HAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


Hawaiian girls, that part of the will of Mrs. Bishop relating to the
education of native boys was first executed by her husband, who has
royally endowed, by his independent means, the Kamehameha School.
These are but instances of the results to the native race of the work
of the missionaries. I might go on and enumerate Oahu College,
founded by the missionaries in 1841, for the education of their own
children, similar institutions on the other islands, or the general system
of common schools similar to our own, by which there is no district so
remote but what gives to thepoorest child the advantages of a common
school education absolutely without charge.
But this brief notice of education is made for one purpose; namely,
to say that very many of those in the manual training-school, at the
girls' school, or in other educational institutions, are supported by the
men who are charged with enmity to the native race, and with profiting
by their decline. But that it has been my policy to avoid the mention
of names, I could speak of citizens who thus educate six, ten, even
twelve Hawaiian youths, with absolutely no motive save that which
brought their ancestors to these shores.
All men are human. If they do their best, it is often to find themselves victims of their faults or their virtues. The missionaries should
not be judged by their blunders, if they made such, but by their aims.
They, their children, their associates, loved the native race, sought their
elevation and improvement, and they have never relaxed their efforts for
the good of this people.




HAWAIIAN ANNEXATION.


93


IAWAVIIAN ANNEXATION.
THESE articles, as hitherto published, are not, as a whole, a statement
of my sentiments; they are the reflection of the views of those with
whom I have been brought in contact. Besides an extensive acquaintance gained by means of four visits to the Pacific, two years' residence
at San Francisco, andl nearly half a year's residence in Honolulu, I
brought thirty-five letters of introduction to the latter city, most of
these being to those in sympathy with the present government. Dr.
John S. McGrew, one of the first persons I met when here before, with
that hospitality to the stranger which nowhere in the world is to be
found so universally as in Hawaii, gave me a cottage in his private
grounds the very day of my arrival. It is to be supposed, therefore,
that I am not ignorant of all that can be said in favor of annexing
Hawaii to the American Union. For whatever I say on this subject
now, I desire to be personally responsible, as expressing my own mature
judgment.  Let us not impeancl the good intent, the loyalty to republican institutions, or the patriotism of those who now seek to make this
alliance; but, like the maid who would avoid an ill-assorted marriage
with one she respects but does not love, let us be firm in our refusal.
Let us have no more words about Minister Stevens.  It is petty,
partisan warfare. Grant, just for the moment, if you wish, tliat fault
can be found witl his acts, what one of us is free from liability to err?
Minister Stevens was a good, 1onlest, patriotic American, doing as lie
thought best for tle honor and glory of his country. If he made a
mistake in judgment, let us simply make no more.
The idea of annexation did not originate with him; but if there is one
man to whom it should be assigned, that man is Ir. J. S. McGrew.
Twenty years before Mr. Stevens ever saw HIawaii, I)r. MeGrew stated
in the strongest terms to me, as he did to about every person who would
talk on the subject, that these islands should be, and( would be, a part of
the United States. This is so notable a fact that in an island edition of
a commercial journal given to me bly Hon. Gorliam I). Gilman of Boston,
but published in San Francisco, May 1, 1892, I find these words:



94


HAWAIIAN CORRESPONI)ENCE.


"Dr. McGrew is by no means backward in expressing the hope that
he will yet see these lovely islands a part of the United States, and live
under the protection of the starry banner. He believes that this country
rightfully belongs to America, and if the question of annexation ever
becomes a political issue, he will undoubtedly be looked to to take a
decided part in the movement."
The last few words simply show how dangerous it is to prophesy. He
continues to this hour his constant policy since here: which is to take
no part whatever in politics, attend to his practice, and care for his
fortune. The former is extensive and the latter large, so he has plenty
to do.
But in a former article I have told something of his life. His name
is again introduced for the purpose of saying that President l)ole and
all his executive council were anti-annexationists; perhaps would be so
still had it not been for l)r. McGrew's persuasive powers. When the
committee originally invited Mr. Dole to take the position he now
occupies, he said: " How can I, when I do not believe in annexation?"
The result now shows how much can be done by one man of education,
firmness in opinion, and independence of character, in impressing his
ideas on a nation. If lie but keep his temper in discussion, the influence
of one such man is immense. Dr. MeGrew would take no oaths of
allegiance, and hold no office, yet he is justly styled by those who know
" the father of annexation."
For the good of the American people it is to be trusted that his child
will die before it is four years old. That people of whatever political
creed owe President Cleveland an enormous debt of gratitude, a statue
next in height to that of Lincoln, that lie had the wisdom and courage
to instantly recall that annexation treaty, and that whatever else he
may have done, he is, and has been, firm on no annexation for Hawaii.
Let all who love our country rally, forgetting other differences, and
support him in that position with unbroken front to the end of his
administration.
The one subject which is of equal interest to the planter or the cigarvender of American afliliations here is this: ]had it not been for this,
the revolt would never have occurred. These people had talked it over
to each other so incessantly that the wish had not only become father to
the hope, it had clad the delusion in the garment of reality, and bitter
was the disappointment when, while the political storm  pelted them
mercilessly as the surf might beat a distressed vessel on these coral
reefs, they saw the light beam from the cheerful door of the maternal




IAWAIIAN ANNEXATION.                    95
mansion, signalled to it, and were answered that the prayer of the
daughter must receive the same answer as the demand of the pirate. I
pity them, but it was justice and righteousness to give them this answer,
and again, I say, let us never yield them one iota.
The American people are deceived; they have been. They are blinded
and falsely advised by every mail which leaves these shores. Is it to be
expected that revolutionists who will seize the reins of government, turn
gatling guns against a constituted monarchy, confiscate all copies of the
New York Herald addressed to private citizens in the post-office, or
deliver these latter with the page torn off containing special correspondence unfavorable to them, will stop at such a trifle as the inspection of
all press despatches?
It must be remembered that San Francisco journals are in harmony
with the annexationists. A man was sent from that city to prepare the
general press despatches to be printed there and repeated East. What
were his instructions? " In every line you send must be annexation."
He remained here three months and carried out his instructions, then
left, delegating his powers to whom? To the person who, for twelve
months, edited the leading annexationist newspaper, and the journal of
the widest influence to-day with the provisionalists.  He holds that
position to this moment. Who is the only other person by whom the
general news of this community are furnished to the whole confraternity
of newspapers of the United States? A  clergyman without ollicial
charge, born on the islands, pledged heart, soul, and strength to the
missionary party; a man who has said in public such unclean, unkind,
uncharitable things of the Queen (and equally so of the poorest
Iawaiian) that I would not sully the paper of the Transcript by repeating them in its columns. The above is not guess-work. That is the
exact truth in regard to the source of supply, save an occasional special
from a correspondent who comes here on one steamer and returns on the
next, in his brief stay perhaps going to those very persons for the
news. A journal of large circulation in a leading city sent a correspondent out here comparatively free, but his despatches commended the
President. It became necessary, in the opinion of the managers of that
newspaper, to attack Mr. Cleveland. The correspondent was notified
of the color which must be given to all matter sent by him in future.
He replied that he could not sell his conscience. His commission was
revoked. A man who knew nothing whatever of his subject, but an able
reporter, was substituted, and carried out the wishes of his principal.
The first had lived here six months.




96)


H-AWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


An illustration of this is to be found in the columns of the Transcript
of February 10th. In my despatch of the 23d of January, I asserted
that discontent pervaded the rank and file of the very party in power;
that the leaders would be forced to announce a policy within sixty days.
Underneath was the press despatch containing these exact words:i" A feeling of confidence and satisfaction prevails; an interview...
made it clear that no movement toward constitutional organization
~.. is at all likely to be taken up for the present," etc.
What has been the result?  Very recently a committee was appointed
to make the first draft of a call for constitutional convention. On the
16th, President Dole outlined in an interview the nature of the permanent organization which, in January, -lest it might injure the prospect
of annexation, -he had, through the medium of the general despatches
from Hawaii, denied.
The first move towards permanent government has been made by the
appointment of a committee for the organization of a plan for constitutional convention. It is not likely, however, that this convention will
have anything more than advisory powers, control being still kept by
the nineteen men who at this day govern Hawaii.
The greatest mistake the government has made of late is the estrangemuent of the Chinese merchants, a wealthy and intelligent body of men.
This was a movement to require a special license of each of those of that
nationality doing business in the islands. It excited their deepest indignation. A mass meeting was held where armed resistance was suggested,
and posters are now displayed on the streets warning all Chinese to do no
further business with the business house of the member of the council who
was in a degree responsible for the measure. The move was inaugurated
to please the American League land the Portuguese. The government
needs the votes of the former, and the latter have been furnished with
arms as a body of minute-men should their services be required.
Two large shipments of ammunition, say, twenty-five thousand rounds
of cartridges, arrived by the last steamer. These were consigned to
Castle & Cooke and to the Hall Company, both houses having dealings
with the government for whom these warlike materials were imported.
Uneasy lies the head in the provisionalist's night-cap. Having failed
to connect Mr. Theo. I:. Davies with the importation of royalist armymaterial on his line of Vancouver steamers, the government feels sure
that soldiers to take the plart of the Queen are being imported by somebody. In the ollicial organs, attention is called to the number of single
men of martial step and bearing, with money in their pockets, who have




HAWAIIAN ANNEXATION.


97


been seen on the streets since the arrival of the last Vancouver's Island
steamer, and it is even rumored that there was a special consultation of
the council on this subject yesterday. It is certain that little general
business occupied this body at its weekly meeting, from which the spectators were all excluded in three-fourths of an hour after it was called
to order, the remainder of its session being held behind closed doors.
There are already two political parties in the field; one calling itself
the Union Party is virtually the annexation clubs under another name,
and to affiliate therewith a member must forswear monarchy, declare
his allegiance to the present government, and belief in annexation. The
other styles itself the American Party, and is the child of a secret
society opposed to missionary rule, Chinese immigration, and the capitalists. Its positive sins are not as well known at this writing as its
negative. Besides these, the little community is split into numberless
cliques and cabals, each having an infallible specific for the restoration
of permanent government. The royalists are not even accused by their
enemies of organization.
At the last meeting of the councils, before the sailing of the steamer
of the 3d, two most stringent statutes were enacted, both directed
against those not in sympathy with the Provisional Government. The
first of these restricts immigration.  Besides excluding the classes
usually considered undesirable, the examination of any alien touching
his right to land is authorized, such examination to be made under oath,
and the decision of the officer is to be final. If the passenger is not
wanted, he must be returned on the vessel by which he came. But a
more extraordinary statute still is that giving the government the power
to send any person into banishment in relation to whom there is p)robable cause for believing that he entertains intentions that are hostile to
the established system of government, the burden of proof being by
the law put upon the accused, who shall not be admitted to bail; and
if such presumption is not disproved, he shall be sentenced to expulsion
from the Hawaiian islands. By these statutes an unfriendly press correspondent may be prevented from landing, or any person here may be
exiled, simply because his presence is not desired by the provisionalist
authorities.
A prominent Chinese told me to-day that he felt no security in his
business here now. It is certain that just in proportion as the government has swerved towards Republicanism, the lot of the Chinaman has
become more burdensome. "t Queen very good, very good to Chinaman," he sorrowfully repeated, shaking his head with the utmost
gravity.




98


HAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


NO ANNEXATION OF HAWAII.
AFTER having resided here nearly two months, listening patiently to
each person who had an opinion and showed a willingness to express it,
I am unable to assign, even on the authority of another, a single good
reason why the government of the United States should vary in the
least from that conservatism which - excepting only Alaska - has governed its policy as to colonies during the first hundred years of its existence. These are not an addition to national strength; they are, on the
contrary, the sappers and miners of the national fortress.
The first reason is invariably proximity to our shores. But do the
people realize that Honolulu and San Francisco, by the regular schedule
time of the mail steamers, are exactly the distance apart that exists
between New York and Queenstown? And, granting that the same
steamer was to make the two passages, that the limit of her speed was
350 miles per day, there is then but two days' sail in favor of these
islands as compared with Ireland. Suppose some of the Fenian movements had been as successful as the revolt of 1893 in Hawaii, would
the American people have even allowed the introduction of a resolution
into Congress favoring the absorption of Ireland into our Union?
" But these are American people, holding sixty millions of American
property," interrupts my antagonist.
Let us dissect that statement. Nationally, this people is not nearly
as closely allied to us as are the inhabitants of the Emerald Isle. There
is scarcely a hamlet in the latter island from which a representative has
not been sent, not to one city, but to every part of our Union. The
Irish fought our battles in the rank and file, or as Sheridan, Sherman,
Collins, Kearney, commanded our armies. Have we not more reason
to ally ourselves with them than with Hawaii? They are of one blood;
we have found them easily educated to our institutions. Of the two
islands, my judgment would be largely in favor of annexing Ireland.
Now, as to those who call themselves Americans. They are numerically, by the last census, 2.14 per cent. of the population, or about five




NO ANNEXATION OF HAWAII.


99


per cent. of the registered voters; this is their total strength, allowing
each American to be a provisionalist and an annexationist: 637 voters;
population, 1,928; total registry, 14,000; total population, 90,000 last
official census. Is there longer wonder why political questions are not
submitted to popular vote?
It is, perhaps, necessary for me to define the term "American capital: 
by it I mean funds belonging to those resident in tile United States,
voters in the American Union, who might send money to be invested in
Hawaii, just as our Eastern capitalists send funds out \West for investment in railroads or mortgages. There are merchants in Boston and
in San Francisco who have for years been interested in the HI:awaii'an
trade. Their resident partners in Honolulu hold land unrer lease, or
even in fee; they have stock in the sugar plantations: but all this wealth
has been acquired under Hawaiian statutes, by means of the reciprocity
treaty, by the action of the Hawaiian monarchy in encouraging contract
labor; it is not money remitted from America, and has no claim to the
name of American capital. This can be best understood by the further
statement that, at the time of the initiation of the reciprocity treaty,
the very men who now call this American capital were on the verge of
bankruptcy.
To those who do not know the facts, these people delight to say:
Sixty millions of American capital invested in the Hawaiian islands, ten
millions American trade annually. Look at these statements under the
light of truth. Save the proportion of the above represented by the
Spreckels firm, and they are loyal to the monarchy, hardly one dollar
of American capital is to be found here, the great fortunes now held by
the planters being accumulated by successful business under the Hawaiian flag. Trade will always go where it can be made the most profitable, so if we bid for it we shall still have our proportion of that ten
millions. We ought to bid for it. How? By opening our ports to all
vessels flying the American or Hawaiian colors, and admitting all importations under those two flags absolutely free of duty. We should, in
return, receive the same preference from the new nation, whatever its
form of government. This would accomplish many of the advantages
of annexation without its disadvantages.
But they are not Americans in anything but sentiment; they have no
right whatever to the name. Mr. Blount Nerved one of them just right
when the Hawaiian-born white citizen called on him, and, after other
inappropriate and disrespectful language, said: "But you have hauled
down our flag."




100


HAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


" I never have touched your flag. There it is," pointing to the ensign
of Hawaii. " That is the flag under which you were born. You are an
old man now. That is the flag under which you have always lived, and
there is the door."
That is the best thing I have ever heard of Mr. Blount, and is just
the way Mr. Thurston should be treated at Washington when lie talks
about  our flag."
What proportion of our pension list do these men pay?  Where are
their tax bills?  Where their contributions to the cost of the white fleet,
the whole of which it will take to half defend their sea coast?  They
will bring us a debt of about four millions of dollars, but when have
tlhey contributed a mill on the other side of the public ledger?
In one respect, and but one, they can claim to be Americans. Personally, and in private life, the most hospitable, kindly, moral, and
Christian persons, charming to meet in the drawing-room or on the
veranda; as an association in public life, they could give points to
Vanderbilt, Astor, Fisk, and Gould in their dictation to the public and
to government, andt then throw the monopolies and the financial arrogance of tlie great millionnaires into insignificance. Why?  Because
from very boyhood tley have been taught by tradition and by experience not to be ruled by any government, but to dominate the monarchy.
They have always placed their foot on the neck of the king. They have
treated these monarchs as but the servants of their united wills, the
hewers of the wood and the drawers of the water by which their sugarmills shoulld be run, a1nd they wish to appear in Washington to (lenand
greater privileges of thle American people. Woe, woe to the political
party in years to comle, on which tle responsibility can be justly laid of
introducing them into our politics. We can live easily witll them on
terms of reciprocity and free trade, but by all tihat is dear to us in
domestic peace, by all whilch some of us remember of national dissension and bloody strife, let us never cherish the notion that union with
them will be any inore pacific than that with the South before the war;
for they are, and will be, far more exacting than the Southerners at the
acme of their power. Wlhen they saw that they could no longer rule
the Queen they had sworn to support, they hurled her from her tlrone,
and shipped tits and the rest of her royal belongings out of the country.
This is a fair sample of wlhat tlhey are calpable of when opposed. Our
position now is that of parties who live in amity until some zealous
but short-sighted person induces them to marry; thlus friendship is
destroyed, and nothing takes its place save the bitterness of continual
~Vuur\/v~~ ~  r-r,~\l rvv~-r zn




NO ANNEXATION OF HAWAII.


101.


contention. There is yet time for all good men to unite against such
ill-assorted union. Mr. Dole, Mr. Damon, many others of the provisionalists, have not the least claim to the name of American. They
were born under a foreign flag, held office, acquiring all their private
property under, and swore allegiance to, a foreign government, and
should be treated exactly as Mr. Blount treated the man who came to
his office and demanded to be informed in advance what would be the
commissioners' report to PIresident Cleveland. The American people
must consider the source from which general despatches emanate, and
disabuse their mind entirely of the idea that the Hawaiians of American
ancestry are of their name and nation.
" But only think of the advantage of the islands as a coaling station,"
is frequently said.
Well, let us think of it. Of what possible advantage is it to us to
establish coal-pockets in the midst of the Pacific Ocean, over two thousand miles from our coast, and then despatch steamboats from the latter
place to reload the carbon and burn it?  Under the reciprocity treaty of
1874 we have had an exclusive privilege at Pearl Iarbor, some twenty
miles from Honolulu, for nineteen years. Had we obtained this " in
consideration of one dollar," that sum might as well have been sunk
into the deep sea, for no vessel flying the stars and stripes has ever been
near this invaluable concession.
IBut suppose there had been war with England?
That contingency is so remote as scarcely to merit a line. I)uring
experiences the aggravating character of which can never be exceeded,
we have enjoyed uninterrupted peace with our mother-country for a
period of eighty years. It is not likely that we shall unlearn the lesson,
unless these very islands, having tbecome a part of our country, succeed
in introducing the absurd old feud of 1783 and 1812 into our national
deliberations. They will try, if for any reason it seems best to the
six hundred of American ancestryi ere, to drive out the five hundred
of British blood. Behold another danger which it becomes us to avoid
while yet there is time.
Why, the very men who now proclaim the misrule in public and the
vice in lrivate of the Kalatkanla dynasty created that family ruling
monarchs. When the king (lied who preceded Kalakaua, there was
another candidate for the chair of royalty. This was Queen Emma,
one of the noblest and best women who ever breathed. Her virtues,
public and private, were never so much as questioned. On the other
side was Kalakaua, a weak man, supported first by those who thought




102


HAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


they saw in him a willing tool. What side did the missionary party
take? Emma was of British blood; further, she had visited the country of her paternal ancestry, and, worse yet, she had invited the Anglican Church to Honolulu, and was herself one of its communicants.
This was her sole offence, and the Calvinistic ministers and their congregations united with the other extreme of society, and placed on the
throne of Hawaii David and Lydia, Kalakaua and Liliuokalani, against
whose characters those very persons are now so virulent. Do we want
any such spirit of religious bigotry and national jealousy to get a foothold in our national politics?
But, solely for argument's sake, let us suppose that it should, and
that Congress, listening to the sugar barons, declares war with Great
Britain. Now, if never before, shall we sadly find our new colonies a
source of weakness; now, if never before, comes the reproach to that
party which has yielded to their desire for union. Being the owners of
the group, we must defend our domains and the inhabitants from the
British fleet.  The captain of the British war vessel " Champion"
agrees perfectly with me that this would be a most difficult if not
impossible thing for us to do. Surrounded by water deep enough to
allow a vessel of the most formidable type to steam close to the shore,
village after village, plantation after plantation, could be destroyed by
the enemy, while the frequent channels between the fourteen islands
would make a swift cruiser as difficult to catch as a monkey who goes
aloft in a square-rigged vessel. Let us 1)tpt our Pacific coast in a state
of defence, buiilding, if we must, monitors and turret-ships for the protection of its harbors; but if there is the least chance of war, by all
means avoid adding to our responsibilities spots some two thousan(l
miles away, on which there is not one fortification, not a single heavy
gun, no vessel capable of firing a common shell from its mortar. Perhaps tile American people wish to be taxed for the necessary change
of these conditions, for the establishment of forts, lighthouses, coast
and harbor defences for Hawaii, but no man in his senses would ever
seriously consider such an absurdity.
Arguing, therefore, on the presumption of war, there is no reason
whatever for annexing Hawaii, and every reason for denying the islands
admission to our 1Union. In time of peace there is one line of steamships,
one-half under British and one-half under American colors, which ply
between San Francisco and the South Seas. Tils is equally true of the
steamer lines for China and Japan. They keep their coal supplies at
Honolulu, and save that were this an American port, they would pay




NO ANNEXATION OF HAWAII.


103


a duty on this coal, the annexation of these islands would make no
difference whatever to these ships. This disposes forever of that muchused, little-understood, term " coaling station." It would be far better
in time of war to have the fleet on our Pacific coast, which would be
drawn off to defend these islands were they American territory. In time
of peace our vessels will have the same advantage here which has ever
been at their command when they were manyfold more numerous than
they are to-day.
Those who quote the statesmen of years gone by forget to take into
consideration that there were then here at times as many as two hundred
sail of whaleships on board of which, from master to boy, American
families were represented; steam  communication across the Pacific
was not opened, and the harbor of San Francisco was filled with noble
clippers under the stars and stripes. Even then the place was just as
economical, just as safe a port of call as if it had been on American
soil. But now, whaler and clipper, master and man, are equally amongst
the things which were and are no more; they perished years ago, and
none arise to fill their places. What need have we of a commercial
centre in the midst of the Pacific?  Of what use to us is the key of the
Orient? It opens to us nought but an empty coffer; we shall receive no
return for the very gold we melt in the crucible at which we gild a useless symbol of a commerce which our own foolishness has annihilated.
'But suppose another power should become the owner of these
islands?"
There are but two with whom it is at all possible for Hawaii to make
union. France has about one hundred and fifty voters in the kingdom;
she takes little interest in anything not within her own borders, and any
proposal to her would doubtless be met with a negative.
Japan would entertain the proposition; she has a surplus population;
she aspires to position with the great powers whom she loves to imitate;
this would be to her a step toward the rising sun, a colony within easy
and safe distance from her capital city, say, 3,500 miles from the seat
of central government. Nor would this be at all objectionable to other
nations; it insures the neutrality of Hawaii in case of that excessively
remote contingency becoming reality, or the outbreak of another war.
Lastly comes Great Britain; she is thought to cast her covetous
glances towards each spot of desirable territory, to be willing to raise
thereon her flag at the least invitation, or indeed at the cost of overcoming the most determined opposition. She cannot be uninformed of
the title under which the few self-nominated, self-elected men in power




104


HAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


claim to have the right to convey away a kingdom; she cannot ignore
her compact with France in 1843, but allowing she would accept a
cession made by a petty minority, and leaving her to adjust as best she
could her compact with France, what possible objection can there be to
her acquisition of another colony? I can see none at all. For years our
interests, life, and property have been safe at the mouth of the Canton
River, because she holds Hong Kong. They would be equally respected
here.
For us the race problem is a serious question. Perhaps in the midst
of our tariff debates we desire to see the floor gained by the member
from Molokai, who maintains in a three-hours' speech that the settlement of lepers, 1,200 in number, have not received their share of the
funds in the appropriation bill. In the negroes at the South, the Indian
in the West, the Chinese on the Pacific, have we not enough race
problems to tax our philanthropy? Do we covet another set of national
wards?  Must we add to these another of the dark-skinned races, to say
nothing of the Asiatics, the Portuguese, and the difficult questions of
contract labor and the employment problem?
In these matters it is different with Britain: she is mistress of the art
of governing people of diverse races collected into a single community.
She has tried it in India, in China, in Egypt, in the islands of the Indies,
East and West. Why not allow her to try it in Hawaii? We have no
occasion, save for an occasional scientific mission, to send any naval
vessel to foreign parts; she but rests here on her voyages to Australian,
Chinese, or Indian possessions. A naval station equidistant from these
is an advantage to her: it completes the girdle already put by her enterprise nearly around the globe.
To Hawaii, the cession to Great Britain would mean good government,
firmly, honestly, and permanently administered. There would be a solidity
and stability to business investments here which can be attained in no
other way. British capital is cheap; it would probably seek investment
here to a greater extent than ever; and, while there would be no general
emigration, a second son of a young lord disappointed in love would now
and then stray into these islands and add his name and patrimony to the
Commonwealth. Were I settled in Hawaii, I should be glad to see the
day when, under universal consent of the greater powers, the British flag
should float over all these islands.




TELEGRAPHIC ADVICES.


105


TELEGRAPHIC ADVICES.
VERY LIMITED SUFFRAGE.
HONOLULU, March 3, 1894.
WHATEVER is said in general despatches, these being all prepared by
government supervision, no harmony whatever exists in Hawaii. When
the original revolt occurred, the white residents were united in a desire
for a better government. They are now split into two openly organized
political parties, and subdivided into numerous factions. Bloodshed
was prevented at first through the fixed determination of the Queen that
no appeal should be made to arms, she fully believing that her case was
referred to President Cleveland.
Neither party has yet given up, although the annexationists concede
that there is little hope for them under Cleveland's administration. It
is quite pathetic to notice the confidence which the poorer class of
natives, especially on other islands, still cherish that President Cleveland
will restore the Queen. These are intensely bitter against the missionary party, as, without reason, they call all provisionalists.
A committee is now at work drafting plans for a constitutional convention, confirming my despatch to you of January 23d. No details
have been made public yet, but the movement will practically disfranchise the whole population, ninety thousand, save the three thousand in
sympathy with the government. The following will be excluded from
the convention and from franchise: All below certain property qualifications, all Chinese and Japanese, all who do not read and write English,
and all who decline taking an oath of unqualified allegiance to the Provisional Government. Even thus, no person is eligible to a seat in the
convention, unless nominated by annexation clubs. To further guarantee the present government absolute power, the convention will be
only advisory: that is, to recommend measures to the President and his
council. Every article will be accepted or killed on a vote of these
nineteen men, because there will be but eighteen delegates-at-large.
These details have never before been published, but my authority is
unquestionable.
The landed proprietors on the outside islands are disaffected because
no appropriations of public moneys are made to them; but the treasury




106


HAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


cannot do anything for them since the expenses of government are
enormous. The provisionalists have spent in one year $31,000 more
than the Queen spent in two years. They publicly announce that she
was paid $80,000 a year. This is false. She received in cash $10,000
a year from the treasury. The remainder was her income from crown
lands provided by the Kamehamehas expressly for the support of the
royalty. They have seized these now. Taxes, by reason of that foresight of monarchs, nearly half a century ago, have been lower here
than in any part of the world. They increased this year by one-third,
and will augment annually. The government debt is three and one-half
millions, and daily increasing, mainly due to British capitalists. This
fact, should anarchy ensue in Hawaii, may cause England to take part
in the quarrel, otherwise she would doubtless prefer to keep out. All
Americans, of whatever party, should unite against annexation. Only as
a conquered race will the Hawaiians ever submit to the loss of nationality.
In peace, these islands offer no advantage which cannot be gained by
reciprocity; in politics, the eighty millions capital of arrogant sugarplanters will make us more disturbance than we had from the South.
At the other extreme of social life we shall have a race problem as
troublesome as that of the Indian. Thirty thousand Asiatics will also
make trouble. Appropriate fortifications, leper settlements, and a naval
fleet are additional problems requiring heavy outlay for solution. In
war, this colony would be a source of weakness, - bold shores, deep
channels, large coast, and small interior would give gunboats a chance
to burn villages, plantations, and escape with impunity. It would take
our entire white fleet to half defend these islands. This is my judgment, confirmed by naval authorities not Americans.  These latter
are prohibited from expression of opinions on politics.
The provisionalists are much disturbed about the arrival here, by every
Vancouver steamer, of able-bodied men. They accuse the royalists of
importing an army, and openly advocate restricted immigration and
deportation of all who do not satisfactorily explain their business. Two
large shipments of ammunition and arms, consigned to houses of missionary ancestry, arrived here by the last California steamer. The army
supporting the provisionalists is composed entirely of aliens, hirelings,
and soldiers of fortune. They serve simply for what they are paid, and
must not be confounded with those who, at a crisis, might volunteer
from patriotism. There are none of the latter in service now.
But the government proposes to exclude from the islands all who will
not support it. A law is published which allows examination, under
oath, of any alien coming here, and his immediate banishment without
power of appeal, if his explanation of business is unsatisfactory.
Another statute introduced goes far beyond this. It suspends or violates




TELEGRAPHIC ADVICES.


107


the Hawaiian constitution, and allows arrest of any person whose intentions are hostile to the provisionalists. Unless he disprove such presumption, he must go into exile. It expressly says that there shall be
no appeal, that he may not be bailed, that probable cause is sufficient
ground for arrest, and that the burden of proof shall be on the accused
to establish his innocence.
HAWAII TO BE A REPUBLIC.
HONOLULU, March 8, 1894.
The "Mariposa" sails before the conclusion of meeting of councils,
but the bill for the organization of the constitutional convention will pass
its first stages. It is less rigorous than at first designed. Eighteen
delegates will be chosen to sit with the present council, making one
hcuse of thirty-six members. Excepting Asiatics, all who will take oath
to the Provisional Government can vote. Cumulative voting will be
tried, which means that, there being six delegates from Oahu, any voter
may give six votes for one, or one vote for each of the six. The convention will assemble at the call of President Dole. No time is fixed.
He will have no power of veto on its motions, but will be the presiding
officer.
The new constitution organizes a permanent government on republican
lines. At a second reading any act can pass, but, say the royalists,
Hawaii will not have, in any case, a representative government, because
no considerable number of the I-awaiians will forswear allegiance to
their Queen. They allege that the only equitable course would have been
to act under the present constitution, giving each man a vote who could
vote prior to the revolt, then let the question of a republic or a monarchy
be decided by the fourteen thousand voters now registered. The provisionalists, however, would not dare do this, for their party would be
voted out of power by an overwhelming majority. If note be taken of
the small number of ballots cast, the great powers will see that the new
government in no way represents the Hawaiian people. At most it cannot be more than three per cent. of the population, and it deserves and
will receive no recognition from foreign ministers.
Thus far the royalists have been prevented from using force because
they have never lost faith in President Cleveland's purpose to restore the
Queen. The provisionalists have also avoided a clash, because they feel
equally sure of annexation, and desire to keep the peace until the strong
arm of the United States can sustain them. From widely different
motives both parties are careful not to quarrel. What the result will be




108


HAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


when these restraining influences shall fail, no one can predict. Rumors
are plenty, but no statement of future plans worthy credence can be
made. The government found itself forced to conciliate the Chinese at
the expense of the friendship of the American league. The latter, a
secret society, is composed of sixty per cent. new arrivals. Its principles
are those of the California sand-lot orators. Just in proportion as the
domain has drifted from royalty, just so have the Chinese been threatened
in their property or person.  A proposition to oblige the Chinese
merchant class to register and pay a special tax drew forth the fact that
these would furnish a military contingent to defend their rights by
means of reseating the Queen, and this rumor probably brought the
provisionalists to reason.
No person is now allowed to land from foreign parts until he can show
that he has fifty dollars and satisfactorily explain his object in coming
here. Further, any objectionable person can be arrested and deported,
the law presuming guilt until he can prove innocence of sentiments
inimical to the government. This act has one clause which is an
anomaly in legislation. It provides that if its provisions be in any way
at variance with the existing constitution, the statute shall be valid notwithstanding this conflict. At the hour of the steamer's sailing a vote
had not been reached, but I am assured by those in the council that the
act will certainly become a law. Thus in the first year of its existence
the government has been obliged to violate the constitution, or do, itself,
that for which it was claimed the Queen should be deposed. Martial
law may be declared at any moment, for the provisionalists are very
uneasy. The "Mariposa" was the first ship subjected to the former
provision. Business is suffering severely, and the shopkeepers complain
bitterly.
My recent interviews with her Majesty and with President Dole disclose nothing of great importance, more than what has been already sent
you. The Queen remembers her Boston friends very kindly, and sends
her greetings to them all, naming especially Mrs. Hemenway, Mr.
Gilman, and Mrs. Lee. Mr. Dole shows evidence of the terrible responsibility he carries. He and Damon, more than any other two, give
character to the party in possession. It does not seem to me that the
latter could hold sway without them. The rumor that Minister Thurston
is on his way back and that Minister Willis will go, discloses the fact
that by his moderation, courtesy, and urbanity, Minister Willis has fairly
won golden opinions, thereby displacing the coolness with which he was
received. Even the provisionalists, who at first regarded him as the
impersonation of Cleveland, would be very sorry to see another substituted for the present minister.




THE QUEEN OF HAWAII.


109


THE QUEEN OF HAWAII.
I HAVE had my final interview with her Majesty, have left on the
hand of royalty my kiss of adieu. Arriving here open to conviction,
not the least evidence has been presented to me that Liliuokalani was
unworthy the respect due to a good woman by a man of gallantry. On
the contrary, I have by personal investigation proved some of the
ridiculous rumors circulated against her to be absolutely false, put into
form for political effect. She is guilty of no heathen practices; her
charity for fatherless children was never misconstrued until it was
necessary to find something of ill report to say about her; and whatever
her political mistakes, they never were occasioned by personal greed,
but always from her desire to benefit her people. The lottery bill,
suggests some one. Yes, it has been shown by me that this measure
was carried through both Houses, indorsed by the ministry; in fact,
made a law contrary to her wishes. The very people who now blame
her had deprived her of the power of absolute veto under the constitution of 1887. But they do not say that in their accounts of events.
They do not say that, actuated by the desire to use the license money
in the employment of the idle on public works, the Queen acceded to
their petitions.
But why not let her speak for herself on a few points? As usual,
she accorded me a most gracious reception, perhaps treating me with
more consideration because the only other person present was a lady
who had been her friend and associate from childhood; for this reason
she relaxed entirely her official dignity, using the first person singular
when speaking of herself, and expressed her views with perfect freedom.
But in one respect she observed that delicacy which is natural to the
Hawaiian people; not a single name of any person in rebellion against
her passed her lips. She now and then spoke of their principles, never
of them as individuals. I was not so cautious, and mentioned the name
of a lady of missionary ancestry, who had herself told me that she
never had allowed any one to speak a word against the character of the




110


HAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


Queen. ' This lady," said Liliuokalani, "belongs to a family I have
always known and esteemed. She lived next to the house of my own
husband. We had been playmates together; we never ceased to know
and love each other when we grew up; we lived as is the custom among
Hawaiians: she ran into my apartments, or I went into her house, just
as we felt inclined, always unannounced, always made welcome by each
other. I have been very sorry to learn that her business affairs are not
prosperous, and it is still more unfortunate that she should be forced to
try and straighten them out at such a time as this. It is not a favorable
time for making settlements."
' No," I suggested. " I have already called attention in my printed
writings to the great prosperity enjoyed by these very men in revolt
during the reigns of your Majesty and your late royal brother. I have
further told them that, in any event, they could never expect to enjoy
for the next twenty years that substantial prosperity which has been
theirs in the past."
The Queen's large eyes opened, and I realized that she was about to
dissent from this sentiment.
4"I am sure I do not see why not," she replied. "I think, on the
contrary, that they might expect just such a return, were they only to
take the proper means to secure it."  She alluded to restoration.
I explained to her that I had for the moment put restoration and
annexation out of the question. She said little about the former, but
enough to convince me that her faith in President Cleveland has never in
the least degree wavered, and a further remark from her side led me to
infer that she would like to hear my views on the ideas current in the
United States respecting annexation. I gave them to her, substantially
the same as they have been already stated by me in the Transcript, and
to the effect that no advantage whatever would accrue to my own nation
by a union with hers. She paid the strictest attention to my remarks,
even accepting with good nature my asseveration that, were she and the
people of her own blood to desire annexation, they would still receive the
same refusal which had been given to other colonies during the past
hundred years.
Then, changing the subject, she spoke of my native city, expressing
the warm interest she had always felt in Boston, and for the first time
she voluntarily made use of a name.
" Do you know Mrs. Lee?" she asked. "Her husband was a classmate of my husband, and is a publisher. Lee & Shepard is the name
of the firm."  I replied that I had met Mr. and Mrs. Lee at the time of




THE QUEEN OF HAWAII.


111l


their marriage, and offered to be the bearer of any souvenirs which her
Majesty might wish to send to that lady.
'1 Thank you," replied Liliuokalani; " I hope she already has them. I
sent her a large bundle of photographic views, and on the back of each
card I wrote myself something about the picture; they made quite a
package for the mails, and of course I cannot say whether those in charge
of the post-office allowed them to pass without inspection; in fact, the
doubt on this point has rather prevented me from writing Mrs. Lee. She
had heard among other things that I had become a Mormon!"
And not in the least permitting her temper to rise, the Queen laughed
pleasantly at the idea, and went on to explain how the rumor originated.
" I was in the habit," she said, " of visiting all the churches. I went
to the Episcopalian Church, to the Roman Catholic, to the Mormon, hut
only as a visitor. My own church is the old stone church of the missionaries; there is where I was educated, there I have always worshipped,
and my faith is just the same as it ever was."
I thought it rather worthy of note that the Queen should avow her
constancy to the missionaries and their form of Christian worship, when
some of her adherents assign her troubles to these very men, and say
that they will have no more to do with their churches. She showed,
however, in speaking of the missionary families, not the smallest degree
of resentment; indeed, her whole bearing, and the tone of her remarks,
as well as the substance, bore remarkable evidence of her Christian
character.
" I don't know whether Mrs. Lee will write to me again," she went on;
" she has heard that I am such a horrid creature," and the Queen again
gave a quiet laugh. " But you might call on her for me, and tell her
that I remember her with pleasure. Then there's Mr. Gilman, too,Hon. Gorham D. Gilman. Do you know him?"
I replied that I had the pleasure of an interview with the gentleman
named just before leaving Boston.
"He always seemed like a brother to me," continued her Majesty.
" I was living as an adopted member of the family of the celebrated
chief, Paki, with his' daughter, who afterwards became Mrs. C. R.
Bishop. We were always the same as sisters together. Mr. Gilman, then
but eighteen years old, was in and out as one of the same family. If
you see him on your return, do not forget to assure him of my remembrance. Remember me also to Mrs. Hemenway."    (She had not heard
of the death of this estimable lady.)  On questions of state or government the Queen spoke freely, and far more fully than I shall presume




112


HAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


to report; but there was not the slightest malice or desire for vengeance
either in her words or her manner. She found fault with no one, blamed
no organization or association, and in all respects conducted the conversation as a high-minded, dignified, and courtly lady. I could not
but think that if a committee of the very persons who have so ruthlessly slandered her had only been in an adjoining room listening to
every word that proceeded from her lips, they would scarcely have been
worthy the name of gentlemen had they not knelt at her feet to implore
the forgiveness of the lady, even if they would not ask pardon of the
sovereign.
The interview was exceedingly valuable to me as confirmatory, by the
Queen's own lips, of many of the facts and opinions already noted in my
letters; and it must be remembered that it was not the conventional press
interview, but a family chat, where the only witness was a lady of
Hawaiian blood; that there were no observers any more scrutinizing than
the two provisionalist spies who paced to and fro on the opposite side
of the street, putting down in a note-book the hour of my entrance, and
again noting the time of my exit.




TELEGRAPHIC ADVICES.


113


TELEGRAPHIC ADVICES.
LILIUOKALANI'S SIDE.
HONOLULU, February 12, 1894.
I HAVE been favored by the Queen with a most gracious reception.
Her Majesty is the same good woman she always was; this is my judgment, having met her three times in the course of some twenty years.
The Opium Bill was an attempt to regulate a traffic which cannot be
suppressed, on account of the large Chinese population. Smuggling,
bribery, and festering corruption ruled the day. To stop this forever a
statute was introduced based on that of Great Britain in her eastern
colonies. The Lottery Bill was advised by many of the merchants and
first citizens in signed petitions. These men have caused the lists to be
abstracted from the public records and destroyed. Among the signers
was Dr. McGrew, who boasts that he is the father of annexation. This
bill passed both houses, and was taken to the Queen with the unanimous
indorsement of the ministry.  She was told by them that by the
constitution she could not veto it without giving incontestable reasons.
The constitution of 1887 was always objectionable to the natives,
because it gave foreign residents full share in the government while
retaining alien allegiance. The Queen hated it because her brother
Kalakaua signed it under duress. His life was threatened had he refused.
A committee of five Americans had sworn to execute him for the public
good.
An Eastern lawyer arrived by steamer of a month since, believing
absurd stories about her Majesty. He was fully primed with these by a
provisionalist and an annexationist lady. Investigation showed him
that he might as well have taken as his subject the old joke about
" Queen Victoria and her servant Brown."   " There is absolutely
nothing in it," he said to me. "The very persons who talk so have
said within one year that Liliuokalani was the most philanthropic,
upright Christian woman in the city. There is where they spoke the
truth."  She did wish the revolutionists to leave the kingdom, when
questioned by Willis. She thought that, should she officially promise
full amnesty, advantage would be taken by them. Her people would
despise her. Therefore, without condemning any personally, she simply




114


HAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


declared what judgment was due such persons; that they merited the
penalty for treason which would be theirs under Queen Victoria or
Emperor William. She fails to see any difference, because the outrage
took place in her domains.
Annexation is still rampant; the party is not discouraged, but say
that they will now make such terms with other powers as will force
America to take them in as a measure of prevention. They were
delighted with the resolution warning off other powers, and believe compulsion will doubtless bring annexation soon.
Mr. Carter's dismissal from Charles Brewer's company excites universal comment, not always favorable, because in ability and integrity none
stand higher. The company presented him with one thousand dollars,
so it is said. His sin was not of commission but omission. As Queen's
counsellor, his influence was immense with the natives. He was told
that if he would publicly advocate annexation with the Hawaiians, the
company would retain him, otherwise he must go. It would have wonderfully aided the government side had he sold his conscience to them.
It is rumored that Minister Willis returns on the March steamer. His
position here is embarrassing to him, for President Dole will never yield
him an inch. He is considered responsible for the diplomatic slight on
the day of the anniversary celebration. The government would dismiss
the American representative but for fear of injuring the annexation
cause. Personally he is highly esteemed, but is thought to be President
Cleveland's tool. This latter is cordially hated by the seven hundred
voters (out of the registered fourteen thousand) who overturned the
government. Allowing every American voter in the islands to be with
the provisionalists, that figure is their extreme strength, by official
registry.
The younger portion of the community, fearing Puritan rule, say that
if no annexation is possible, they prefer the old regime, for under missionary domination life here would not be worth living: sports, beer,
and enjoyments would be banished, and Sunday laws, prohibition, and
deadness introduced. This new opposition comes from the very men
who shouldered muskets for the government one year ago.
The provisionalists have tried to discipline Hon. Theo. H. Davies,
Kaiulani's guardian. The attorney-general summoned him, and government papers advocate his deportation. He is a British citizen, and has
lived here over thirty years. He is very bold and outspoken in his
sentiments, and a man of great integrity. He interviewed Cleveland
when the Princess came from England. He is a good writer.
The bill to separate the office of minister of foreign affairs from that
of president became a law on the 8th. The salary of the president was
fixed at $12,000.  F. W. Hatch became minister of foreign affairs,




TELEGRAPHIC ADVICES.


115


which leaves a vacancy in the advisory council, which that body will
probably fill by the election of D. B. Smith, who has been named for
the place by a mass meeting dominated by the American League.
Being relieved of the burden of foreign affairs, President Dole will
apply himself especially to the work of maturing a draft of a constitution
which has already received much careful consideration. Before final
action it will be submitted to some form of a constitutional convention,
unless advices from Washington shall hold out a more favorable prospect
than has appeared of late for annexation or for some other satisfactory
form of political union with the United States. The present appearances
are that the revolutionists will maintain themselves in power at whatever
sacrifice of ideal democratic practices.
On the evening of the 14th an immense mass meeting of Chinese
was held for the purpose of protesting against the measure lately introduced into the council to prevent Chinese agricultural laborers from
engaging in mechanical or mercantile occupations.  Resolutions were
passed claiming "no lesser degree of consideration and justice than
residents of other nationalities enjoy."




116


HAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


PAST HAWAIIAN REVOLTS.
THE attentive observer cannot but notice that clash and bloodshed
have been prevented in Hawaii by reason of two considerations. The
Queen opposed all plans of resistance, because she understood that to do
so would be to bring her defenders into conflict with the United States
forces; she submitted because she thought that the commander-in-chief
of those forces would judge between her claims and the acts of those
by whom she had been dethroned. It is not pertinent to the question to
respond that all this was delusion. Of the facts noted above, there is
not the least doubt. A course of conduct can be based on facts which
may subsequently fade into fiction. Such development does not change
in any degree the result of that conduct. It is thus that bloodshed has
been avoided ever since the dethronement. Call it another delusion, if
you will, but from Liliuokalani to her most humble subject, faith in
President Cleveland has never for a moment wavered. By every arrival
from San Francisco they expect and have always expected the mandate
which should direct the war vessels to enforce the decision of the great
executive power of the American nation.
Very slowly indeed can the successors of a feudal system comprehend
the limitations of government by the consent of the people. It is
absolutely impossible for me, in conversing with them, to convince them
that whether he wills or no, the President is limited to just the inactivity
which has marked his line of action. They fail to see why the representative of a power in foreign waters may have for the moment more
absolute power than the central executive arm of that force can have
when it assumes the direction from its seat of government. The conduct
of Admiral Thomas in restoring the Hawaiian flag after a provisional
rule of five months, confirms the Queen and her supporters in the belief
that an American naval officer will yet do likewise. It is an interesting
historical item that every Hawaiian flag having been destroyed by the
government of 1843, the one hoisted and saluted by the British admiral
was by his order made from   bunting aboard his own ship.  Had
President Cleveland conformed to the Hawaiian ideal of justice in
righting a national wrong, his portrait would have adorned the royal




PAST HAWAIIAN REVOLTS.


117


palace, and a public square would have been dedicated to his memory:
such was the manifestation of the nation's gratitude to the British
admiral. The determination not in the least to embarrass their deliverer
has restrained those of political belief loyal to their Queen from any
demonstration which would be a hindrance to the execution of his
supposed intentions.  Such has been the case, nor is this restraining
influence relaxed to this day.
Turn we now to the opposite party. These had an equally strong
motive in avoiding bloodshed or the least approach to violence. There
was one master-motive to their revolt, one object they thought to gain;
this was annexation to the United States. As the Queen's adherents
were determined to do nothing which should in the least hinder restoration, so her disloyal subjects were resolved that by no act of theirs
should the American people say that they were unworthy adoption as
children of the great republic. They have, therefore, arrested no seditionists, banished no royalist, nor confiscated any private property. They
felt that the strong arm of their mother-country would soon be laid on
the children of the quarrelsome family, suppressing with its power all
their bickerings, and maintaining an order in the future more rigorous
than that of the past. Believing, therefore, that the troubles of their
present state were only transient, they bore patiently with them, trusting
to hear by each steamer arriving that some vote of our national Congress
would warrant the assurance that annexation would come in a no distant
future. Nor have they been plunged into despair by this hope so long
deferred. Their hearts are not sick, but full of courage that the American
people will, at farthest in 1897, welcome the territory of Hawaii to the
great union of their aspiration.
Thus let it be understood, annexation and restoration, both of which
for argument's sake we will here style delusions, have by consent of the
Ruler of Nations acted as curbs on the passions of men, the one or the
other holding in perfect check the headstrong of either party. Whether
or no this will be the result in the future cannot be predicted. Let us
now turn to the history of similar movements in the past.
The superficial observer regards the mushroom on his lawn as the
growth of one night; the student knows that it is the result of a long
process, just as truly so as the bunch of grapes on the vine, only in the
latter case the process is above ground and can be watched, while in the
former it is subterranean. Thus it is with the events of history.
Annexation has always been the threat by which one political party
or the other sought to intimidate its opponents. It did not originate
with Minister Stevens, nor is that official at all responsible for the




118


HAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


ancient custom of landing marines on Hawaiian soil with the purpose to
control the passions of men in a political crisis. The two great parties
of United States politics have issues enough on which they may fight
their battles. It will be the part of wisdom to avoid adding thereto any
reference whatever to the Hawaiian islands, any contest whatever over
the ministerial record of Hon. John L. Stevens. United States troops
have in the past taken far more share in the politics of Hawaii than they
took in the crisis of January, 1893. The party now in power, erroneously but persistently styled the missionary party, has hitherto been the
strongest advocate of the preservation of Hawaiian nationality.  For
the facts and evidence I now submit, I am indebted to Hon. A. F. Judd,
now Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of these islands. I had the
honor years ago of a slight acquaintance with him, and knew at that time
far better his honored father, Dr. G. P. Judd, a man of singular
personal humility and almost absolute political power. For years Dr.
Judd held the kingdom in his right hand, as I shall most conclusively
show, yet he was never charged with using that hand for his own profit,
and died without ever having attained even moderate riches. His son,
the Chief Justice, has left my office just as I finish this letter. These
are his exact words, written no longer ago than October, 1880: -
" The Hawaiian kingdom still stands prosperous and respected, making
and executing its own laws, its autonomy preserved.... It presents
to-day the only instance of a nation lifted from the darkness of heathenism to the light of Christian civilization, without the destruction of the
native government."
Yet, the elder Judd once left these shores with such powers as are
rarely committed to the individual; it was in the midst of hot disputes
over national questions with foreign powers. These are now dead issues,
and lack of space must excuse me from reviving them. Suffice it to say
that on September 11, 1849, Dr. Judd, having under guardianship two
princes of the royal line, sailed for San Francisco. He was empowered
to convey away the kingdom, as will be seen by the ensuing copy of the
original document: -
Kamehameha, by the grace of God, of the Hawaiian islands, king, to our trusty
and well-beloved subject, Gerrit Parmile Judd.
SECRET INSTRUCTIONS.
In case our independence he not fully recognized by the acts of any other
government, or our sovereignty in peril, or rendered of no value, our Royal
Domain being exposed to further hostile attacks without just and good reasons,
or if from any other cause you may find these instructions necessary;




PAST HAWAIIAN REVOLTS.


119


These are to command and empower you on our behalf to treat and negotiate
with any king, president, or government, or agent thereof, for the purpose of
placing our islands under foreign protection and rule.
And you are hereby further commanded and empowered to treat and negotiate
for the sale, and to sell our sovereignty of the Hawaiian islands, if for reasons
above mentioned, or for other good cause, you may deem it wise and prudent so
to do, reserving in all cases unto Us the ratification of any treaty or convention
you may sign on our behalf. And you are hereby further empowered to sell all
our private lands and those of our chiefs subject to our ratification and the free
concurrence of our chiefs.
Done at the palace, Honolulu, Oahu, this 7th day of September, A.D. 1849.
R. G. WYLIE.                                     KAMEHAMEHEA.
KEONI ANA.
Had the missionary party desired union with us, it could have been
easily effected at that date, for the United States as then constituted
had far more interest in Hawaii and in commerce than we have to-day.
When California was first settled a force of men was supposed to be on
the eve of embarkation for Hawaii, and it was proposed here to organize
an army of defence; but the United States ship " Vincennes " was kept
in port by the American commissioner for the avowed purpose of sustaining the Hawaiian Government.
A year later the disaffected organized a committee of thirteen, revolutionized the government, turned out of office both Dr. Judd and Mr.
Armstrong, the avowed purpose being annexation. July 4, 1854, was
celebrated as Annexation Day. A triumphal car, with a young girl
dressed in white representing each State, towing another on which was
Hawaii represented by native lads, was drawn through the principal
streets. Arriving at the great stone church, the American minister
received the procession and made an eloquent speech, welcoming the
new star to our national constellation. A statute passed both houses
authorizing the alienation of the kingdom, and the question of 1893
might have been answered in 1853, had it not been for the sudden death
of the King, which demoralized the movement. Justice Judd, in commenting upon this crisis in 1880, used these words:" For the last twenty-five years no one has seriously desired annexation. An independent native sovereignty has thus far given persons of
all nationalities residing at the islands ample protection, and every
lover of the Hawaiian race must rejoice in the preservation of its
autonomy for these many years past. It would be difficult to find a
country where the sentiment of nationality is stronger than among the
aboriginal Hawaiians."




120


HAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


From the foreign men-of-war in port has always been drafted the
armed police by which the lives and property of the residents ashore
have been protected whenever threatened by domestic revolution. If,
therefore, the " Boston " had taken no part in the revolution of 1893,
that movement would by so much have differed from all precedents in the
prior history of the nation. As a fact, our marines took less part in the
revolution than they had taken in the riots at the time of the accession
of Kalakaua, or the epoch of the concession of the constitution of 1887.
At both these dates they were landed from our ships; they compelled
the natives to recognize the legality of the election of King Kalakaua;
they supported his right to the throne against the partisans of Queen
Emma; then, in 1887, they kept the peace betwixt the king and his
belligerent subjects, forcing the monarch to grant the constitutional
demands of the latter.
If we commission a minister to a nation, we must defer to his judgment as to that which is best for our interests there. I believe Minister
Stevens to have acted according to precedent, to have been notably
conscientious; and although I dissent entirely from his conclusion that
annexation is equally for the good of Hawaii and for America, yet I
would not deny that in favoring the opposite side he has the testimony
of history, of ministers resident, and of American statesmen and naval
officers to support his opinions, which he promptly and honestly forwarded to the power which intrusted its interests to him.




THE HAWAIIAN COMMUNITY.


121


THE HAWAIIAN COMMUNITY.
THAT all government exists by the consent of the people is evident
from the position of the provisionalists in Hawaii for over a year just
passed away. Here are less than twenty men, with no constitutional
warrant for their organization or existence, and yet at no time during
that epoch has their authority been challenged. Perhaps that declaration should be qualified by adding thereto, " save for effusions printed
in the daily press."
For, of the four daily papers printed in Honolulu, two are with the
royalist party and two are loyal to the present government. The newspaper of the oldest establishment and widest circulation, the Commercial
Advertiser, is the most valuable ally of the party in power. It is ably
edited, thoroughly American, and, although in the heat of party strife
it is not easy for any one of us who is human to always keep an even
temper, yet it is generally dignified, and entitled to the respect of men of
all shades of opinion.
The most persistent opponent of its position is Hon. T. H. Davies,
an Englishman by birth and affiliations, a man of wealth, education, and
of the highest type of Christian character. To this he adds the official
position of being the guardian of the Princess Kaiulani, or Miss
Cleghorn, niece of Liliuokalani. It was as a member of his family
that this Hawaiian girl visited Boston last year on her way to Washington, where she was most hospitably received by President and
Mrs. Cleveland. Mr. Davies has a son in the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, and is a gentleman of the greatest integrity, whose
opinions, based on a broad experience of the world and the eternal
principles of right, are worthy of respectful consideration.
On January 17, 1893, the present government proclaimed itself in
absolute power; thirteen days after, a statute was made the law of the
land, the very language of which indicates that at that early and enthusiastic date, it was found best to put a bridle on the tongue of its




122


HAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


opponents. From that statute, a copy of which is before me, I make
the following extract: -
SECTION 1. Every one commits a misdemeanor who publishes, verbally, any
words or any document with a seditious intent....
SECT. 3. A seditious intention is an intention to bring into hatred or contempt, or to excite disaffection against the Provisional Government of the
Hawaiian islands, or the laws thereof, or to excite the people to attempt the
alteration by force of any matter established by the laws of the Provisional
Government, or to raise discontent and disaffection against the Provisional Government, or to promote feelings of ill-will and hostility between different classes
of people in the Hawaiian islands.
By both its organs the Provisional Government is urged to proceed
under this statute against Mr. Davies; but the two newspapers are not
in accord as to what should be the penalty, one of them advocating that
provided by the law, - hard labor, fine, and imprisonment, - the other,
believing in making his an exceptional case and sending him into perpetual exile. In the mean time, Mr. Davies continues to use the columns
of the opposition press. His letters are worth reading, being always
dignified in tone, consistent in argument, and free from flippancy or
personality, which cannot be said for those by whom he is attacked. If
the government hesitates much longer, the question will be answered, for
it is Mr. Davies' intention to join his family in England at no distant
date, and it is not probable that he will ever again be a resident of Hawaii.
In spite of its tropical outbursts of revolution, there is probably no
place on the earth where life is so secure from menace, public or private,
or where private property is so safe from intrusion, as it is anywhere on
these beautiful islands. Houses are never locked, by day or by night,
occupied or unoccupied by members of the family. Door-bells and bolts
are to be found at only a few residences, and are then seldom in use.
My cottage has but one tenant, - myself; it has three rooms all on the
ground floor; its doors are wire screens, in order to admit air and
exclude mosquitoes. I retire at night, leaving watch, money, and
diamonds an easy prey to a burglar. I go down to the beach to spend
the night and have a morning swim in tle ocean, or take my daily walks
without in any way closing it against intrusion. If a friend calls in
my absence, he enters, reads the newspapers as though he were in his
own parlor, and awaits my return: such is the custom of the community,
and it is the part of a cosmopolitan to accustom himself to the usages
of the land of his sojourn.
Turning now to the loss of human life as a penalty for disturbance of
the public peace, either by collision between parties or as a punishment




THE HAWVAIIAN COMMUNITY.


123


for sedition, there is no nation whose skirts are so free from stain as
those of the island paradise of the Pacific. To her great reluctance to
permit the least bloodshed her Majesty, Queen Liliuokalani, owes her
deposition. There were those about her who offered their last drop of
blood to defend her constitutional rights. There were gatling guns in
the hands of those who knew how to use them. She had a devoted
and, with his nation, popular commander, who also had a sufficient
strength in his miniature army to have made a stand, at which the
Hawaiian people, who, without regard to the person occupying the
throne, have a most intense love for the chieftain who represents to
them the never-swerving loyalty of centuries, would have enthusiastically rallied around her. But she also had counsellors whose advice was
for peace, and the promptings of her own heart under the influence of
the precepts of its early education, led her to commit her cause to God
and to President Cleveland rather than authorize the least approach to
bloodshed. Although scarcely germane to the subject, it may be asked
just here, why she has subsequently advocated capital punishment. To
this her adherents reply that, first, she did not use the word " beheaded";
second, that she pronounced sentence against no individual, for she had
no constitutional right to condemn or to pardon. She did give it as her
personal judgment that such persons should be treated just as traitors
who seize the reins of power have always been treated. She did fail
to recognize any distinction between the offence committed against the
throne of Hawaii and the same offence committed against that of Britain
or Germany. She did hope, and still hopes, that they will leave the'
kingdom. She did refrain from  giving her personal assurance that
their lives and property would be protected by her should they elect
to remain.
Now, returning more directly to our subject, to what must we assign
the respect for human life, the security of private property, which is so
marked in this community? First, last, and always, to those devoted
men and women who are often made the objects of heartless ridicule
and thoughtless sneers,-to the missionaries; they had plastic material, to be sure, but it was just as plastic in the hand of the devil;
they had in the earlier days the advantage of much isolation, and they
established the community in a righteousness from which it has never
departed. Granted that their ideal was too puritanic, too narrow, too
superhuman, if you will, although I dissent from this view, there was
the ideal, there was the target for the national aim, and without it this
community would never have its present exemption from bloody strife,




124


HAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


its present immunity from anarchy and disorder. Why! was there ever
known a case before in the history of the world where revolt had entered
and revolution occurred, and yet, the ensuing year showed no uprising
of those lawless characters who are ever ready in all communities to
selfishly avail themselves of like confusion for the gain of power or
worldly lucre?  What prevents it here?  They are here and in both
parties, royalist and provisionalist. Why do they not do as in ancient
Scriptural days, when each man did that which was right in his own eyes
and every man's hand was against his neighbor? Because a greater
than Abraham, a greater than Solomon was here; because the principles
of the Sermon on the Mount were made the basis of the laws and customs
of this new nation. All honor to the missionaries, say I. "We have
this treasure in earthen vessels," wrote one of the earliest of their
number when speaking of other associates of his nearly two thousand
years ago, and were they other than men, the work they have accomplished would not be so worthy our admiration.
The China steamer put in here the other day, and a stranger dined
next to me at the hotel, who distributed broadcast evidences of his contempt for the missionaries. " My friend," said I, I have been a sea
captain, and were I to go the voyage now before you, and have an
accident happen to my ship near an island in the broad Pacific, at which
spot I could bring her to an anchor, for my own sake and the safety of
my passengers, nothing would so delight my heart as the sight of a
missionary flag; yes, I don't believe I should pause a moment in my joy
to ask whether it was Roman, Puritan, or Wesleyan. I think the fact
that there were men and women living on that distant spot in the fear of
the Lord, and with the object of teaching his gospel to others, would be
happiness enough for one voyage. What do you think, supposing you
to be one of my imaginary passengers?" He winced, turned away his
head, and changed the subject. Christian missions of whatever denomination are worth to the civilized world every dime or shilling or franc
which has been sent abroad.




CHARITY IN HAWAII.


125


CHARITY IN HAWAII.
FROM what sources do the American people derive their knowledge of
events at Honolulu? and how is their opinion on Hawaiian questions
formed? First, the press despatches from thence, all, or nearly all, of
which are prepared under the supervision of the party in power; second,
from the San Francisco press, this being, from local and selfish reasons,
a unit in favor of the annexationists; third, from private letters, all of
which, going to the United States from the same party, but speaking
as individuals, confirm the testimony of the more public utterances.
Clearly, therefore, whether the provisionalists be right or wrong, the
American people have had little opportunity to form their opinions save
on the evidence of those who caused the revolt.
The fact above stated constitutes the excuse of citizens of the United
States that they have not more generally resented the persistent assumption on the part of the revolutionists that it is American capital which
demands our protection, American interests and property now in jeopardy
here. It is Hawaiian property, wrung from Hawaiian land, which has
been leased at merely nominal rental by the favor of the Hawaiian
Government, cultivated by cheap labor imported by the privileges of
Hawaiian law; the immense accumulations, the enormous dividends,
result from the favoring conditions given by the Hawaiian Government
to the sugar-planters, notably the reciprocity treaty, a measure inaugurated under the brother of Liliuokalani. There lies before me an official
statement of the ten most prosperous plantations; by this it is clear that
an investment of $4,655,000 in sugar produced last year an average
dividend of 22.6 per cent., the highest percentage being forty, and the
lowest thirteen per cent. It is not even hinted that the lives or private
property of these men were in danger. Is not the above sufficient
evidence that their mercantile prosperity has been enormous, and that
they were not oppressed very grievously in their incorporated estates?
They will be happy, indeed, if for the twenty years to come their
confederated wisdom shall succeed in giving to them such substantial




126


HAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


returns as those which have flowed into their pockets under the reigns
of those sovereigns of whom they cannot speak charitably to-day.
Why, then, did they rebel?  Why, indeed?  It was another illustration of the old fable of the goose who laid the golden egg. It was the
old story, and the Royalist Government might have quoted to them their
own Bible where it says, " I have nourished and brought up children,
and they have rebelled against me." It was the arrogance of riches,
and not the turning of the poor worm under the heel of the oppressor.
It was the love of power; it was the greed of gain.
Let us grant that such power would have been wisely used for the
benefit of the Hawaiian, if you will; let us never insinuate that the
gain would have been or is that of the pirate or filibuster; none the less
is it true that love of power and two cents a pound additional profit
caused the revolt more than any other secret spring of action. When
men move together, or when the individual acts, it is from mixed motives;
there may have been those in the provisionalist ranks in whose breasts
patriotism (as they understood it, which means here devotion to the
land of their ancestors, not to the land on which they were born)
aroused them to action; but the master-motive of the movement proceeded from the arrogance of capital, - associated capital, which brooks
no opposition, and, like Alexander, is not satisfied with the world it
has already conquered.
These men, in private life, are the very cream of the world; they are
hospitable, even where the stranger has at times entered their doors but
to betray the faults and foibles of their family circle; they are moral
and religious, offering to the God of their fathers their daily lives in
humble effort to follow that of his Son; they are charitable, using that
term in application to a desire to bless and help others, so that most of
them do something for the education and support of Hawaiian youth.
This is the individual life; now, would that the same could be written
of the associated life of the community, but, in truth, it cannot. It is
no easier for them to make this the kingdom of heaven than it was for
the rich man to enter it burdened with his wealth in the days when the
Teacher of Nazareth stated the difficulty. And therefore we find them
lacking in that charity which thinketh no evil, beareth all things, seeketh
not her own, and believeth all things.
That which they have said of their Queen, the stories they have
circulated of the private life of some of her adherents, could be readily
reciprocated in kind. Let the royalist, the Hawaiian, have this to his
credit: he has never descended to that kind of warfare. But is it not




CHARITY IN HAWAII.


127


sad that the scandal and the gossip of this civil strife should have come
from lips on which the notes of prayer have scarce been hushed? that
for real forbearance and that silence which is golden, we must look, not
to the children of the missionary, but to the descendants of the savage
or the family of the unbeliever?
It is not forgotten here that the only detraction from the merits of the
martyred priest of Molokai came from one of their number, after the lips
which had prayed for the dying leper every day for nearly twenty years
were cold and silent. With us this is a dead issue; but since I have
been here two articles have appeared in a native newspaper resenting the
old slander of Father Damien's character. For these Hawaiians feel:
they bear wrong in silence, but the heart is heavy and sore.
" They think we are indifferent," said a full-blooded Hawaiian to me,
— " these people who have tried to barter away our nation; and why?
We do not deny that they have been our friends. We love our friends;
we meet them in private life just as we always did; we try to treat them
hospitably and courteously; we say nothing of the wrong they have done
our Queen; and what is our return? They send word to other nations
that we do not care; that we will cheerfully submit to loss of nationality.
They are utterly wrong; we feel our position, and suffer keenly, sadly,
though silently."
Other testimony at my command most fully confirms the above. No
person ignorant of the Hawaiian temperament can appreciate the intense
delicacy of this people. Oh, how they love their flag! No wonder that
the provisionalist party, having sought to obliterate the nation, now are
considering sundry designs for changing radically the national ensign, -
those colors which were once before hauled down by a foreign power,
but which the native, to his great joy, saw restored after nearly six
months by the same power. Thus there is a precedent for their simple,
honest, Christian faith that the United States will do as honorably by
them as was done by monarchical Great Britain, and the first act of
Colonel Blount gave the color of truth to this inference.
But how did they greet the change of ensigns?  Would any other
nation have allowed a foreign symbol to flutter undisturbed for over
two months?
They bore it until the day came when, by the order of the American
minister, it was to come down; then they assembled to see the restoration of their own. A friend of mine stood by a group of Hawaiians as
the change was made. Down came the American, and up rose the
Hawaiian colors. ' Why don't you cheer?" he asked. Silence was the




128


HAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


answer. ' Why don't you cheer?" he demanded again. His eyes had
been raised aloft, or he would not have questioned them. For, turning
around and looking into the dark faces of the men and women at his
elbow, there were great tears of joy rolling down their cheeks, and
voices would have been drowned in sobs. 1L Besides," said one of the
men to him, "' we would not do anything to hurt the feelings of the
Americans; it is their flag, you know."
That is Hawaiian. It is not our teaching that gave them their
national characteristics. They are children, say those who would be
their guardians. Well, suppose they are, and spoiled children at that.
Who was it that said we must receive His teachings as a little child?
who not only suffered but loved little children? What estimate would
we make of any person who should hate a child, or take the least advantage of its innocent confidence?
What is their national custom when the latter mentioned becomes fact?
Within six months I have answered that question from observations
made in the evening on the streets of London, where the poor outcast
woman wanders in search of bread. What is her fate in Hawaii? As
soon as it is known that she requires the sympathy of her friends, a
couple of good women with whom fortune has been kinder in that each
has husband, home, and humble means, go for her —to reproach and
draw aside their skirts? Oh, no; but to vie with each other in inducing
her to give her child to them to be reared, clothed, and educated as a
member of a legitimate family circle. The poor mother does not lose her
position, and the child is forever ignorant that he is not in the home of
his own parents. Now, the Hawaiian did not learn to cut this broad
mantle of charity from the New England fashion-plate.
This custom is universal; nobleman and fisherman are proud to perpetuate it; and when to a married pair of the humbler class a child is born,
there is no need of anxiety, for the ready hand and hospitable heart
of more than one of the parents' friends not only stand ready, but almost
angrily urge their claim, to receive the little stranger. There was a lady
here in public life who had in her service a most devoted married pair; they
were loyal to her, true to each other, and in one instance nearly paid for
their constancy with their lives. A child was born to them, and as a
delicate reward this noble lady said, " That child shall be mine, in that
I will rear, educate, and clothe it for you; it shall always have the best
and live in plenty." Again, in another part of the island was born
another infant, and some one told the noble lady that her own husband
ought to assume its support. And she resented the imputation? No;




CHARITY IN HAWAII.


129)


she said, " Go and get the new-comer; I cannot do it, but it shall be
placed with a friend of mine, and shall never know reproach or want,
but be fed, clad, and reared as well as any one in the kingdom."
What has been the result to two beautiful, innocent children?
They call the woman who has reared them" mamma."     She is one
whose life has been from girlhood to age free from the least attack of
social enmity. But what was the result to their benefactor and noble
patroness? This woman was Queen Liliuokalani, and in thus showing
her benevolence and conforming to a national custom, making herself
thereby the equal of her humblest subject on the glorious, the divine
plane of that charity which covereth a multitude of sins, she exposed her
own breast to the wicked attacks of her political enemies.
Again would I assert, in terms as strong as language can make them,
that I write not from hearsay, but after personal interviews with the
parties to the above transaction. Charity, like crime, is contagious.
It took all my cooler judgment to control my impulse to conform to
Hawaiian custom, and so beg for myself and Chauncy Hall School the
honor of bringing up one of these island waifs in the institution where
the Queen's husband received his education.
At one end of the city of Honolulu is the missionary seminary for
the instruction of Hawaiian girls. In the temporary penury of the royal
patron I cannot say how many there are now the recipients of her
bounty, but until recently twenty were supported there from her private
purse. That which was true of this institution was also true of others,
where she placed the children of her poorer friends. Further, when the
means of this institution were insufficient, the managers went to her
Majesty; she heard their story, and drew seventeen thousand dollars
from her own funds, which she gave to them for investment, the income
to be used for their good. What was done with this sum? It was put
into construction bonds of a plantation railroad company, from which no
income has been derived, and on which probably not a cent of principal
will ever be paid; and the man who was responsible for the loss to the
Queen of her intended benevolence, and to the seminary for its fund,
was one of the commissioners who hurried to Washington with the
annexation treaty.
When one of the Queen's ministers went into her presence during the
last days of her power, he found her diligently studying the appropriation
bill. He told her that, owing to limited revenues, there must be general
reductions, and, looking at the items, he cut down one after the other.
'"But," she said, "it is going to be very hard on those poor school



130


-IHAWVAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


teachers to have their salaries so reduced; they do not receive any too
much pay now."-    ' I know it, your Majesty," said he, " but it is
necessary; there's only just so much money to go round."  He had
noticed that on the memorandum before her she had written her own
name at the head of her list. " I will tell you," said she, drawing her
pencil through the figures, " begin with me; take off all that item;
that'll help ten thousand dollars; " thus surrendering the sole cash payment which she received from the department of finance, rather than
cripple the means of the instructor of her people.
But what, then, would be her means of support? The rent of the crown
lands reserved from  all time were the income of the sovereign, as
previously explained by me in these letters. These rentals have been
confiscated to the use of the Provisional Government, and notwithstanding this accretion of their revenues to the amount of, say, $50,000, their
disbursements exceed by more than a hundred per cent. the public
expenditure under the Queen; besides which, when she was in receipt
of this sum, a large retinue of the native people were supported from
her purse. Some have placed it as high as three hundred in number.
Now it is paid to send commissioners to Washington, to pay Mr.
Thurston's living there, to support President Dole and his council, and,
further, to maintain the provisionalist army of aliens which are drilled
daily to prevent the Queen's restoration to the throne. The native
Hawaiian receives little or no benefit from the bountiful provision of the
Kamehamehas.




MY HAWAIIAN CONCLUSIONS.


131


MY HAWAIIAN CONCLUSIONS.
SAN FRANCISCO, March 19, 1894.
AT home again! For this city has been to me all which is expressed
by that dear word, and, with the single exception of Boston, is the only
one which I would willingly call by that sweetest of names. From the
side of one of its lofty hills, inspired by its electric air, I look back
across two thousand miles of sea to that unhappy community in which
for two months I have been a sojourner. During the last evening spent
with President Dole and his charming wife, he relaxed almost entirely
his official dignity, and favored me with his opinions of present and
future, so that we talked of matters more after the manner of two friends
in council. And I was sincere when I told him that it was with great
sadness I looked at the situation, feeling that it was impossible for me
to agree with the sentiments and see the justice of the position held by
the party in power. Could there not yet be some compromise, some
conciliation? Were there to he such, it must come from his side. It
could not come from the royalists, or emanate from the deposed Queen.
But, alas! the first step is that which no loyal Hawaiians can take;
namely, an oath, first, of fidelity to the self-elected nineteen; second,
of declaration that never will they assist Liliuokalani to regain her
throne; third, that they will never be party to any attempt to re-establish
monarchy in the land. The Rublicon to be crossed is far too turbulent
a stream, that which may be on the opposite shore is far too uncertain
a goal, to tempt one thus to burn each and every bridge at the start.
As I take leave of this hospitable and amiable people, of kindred
ancestry to my own, I am asked to explain why I commend them so
heartily as individuals, and judge them so sternly in their corporate acts.
Is not this often - too often- in accordance with the facts of history?
Any keen observer of character can point to a dozen men of his acquaintance who in private life are each of them the embodiment of that which
is courteous, kindly, and benevolent; yet organize those same men into
an insurance company, a railroad corporation, or a manufacturing plant,




132


IHAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


even a government, and they will only be another example of the truism
that corporations have no souls. Their course will not be marked by
any conduct the line of which diverges from that of their fellows. They
will stand on legal right, become a tyrannical monopoly, or reduce
wages to the lowest living point, just as unhesitatingly as any of their
competitors.
From the facts and statements which, from all sides and at their strongest and best, have been laid before the Transcript readers, from much
more which has not been written, I will now state my own conclusions,
not, however, citing evidence, for this would be to reopen the whole case.
The revolt was not an impulse; it was not in the least connected with
religion; no such jealousy was present at its birth, and it is kept in
being by no sectarianism. The first error, on their own statement, was
made by the American party nearly twenty-five years ago when they, by
political machination, defeated the accession to the throne of Queen
Emma, who was the choice of the people.   This forced them to a
graver fault in 1887, when they wrested the constitution of that year from
Kalakaua. Gaining confidence, and loving power, they were thus ripe
for that bolder movement which should take, by annexation, the country
entirely away from Hawaiian rule. Once having trampled on the right
of the majority, they fail now to realize the absurdity of their assumption that seven hundred voters have the right to convey away or rule a
nation of ninety thousand.
The Queen was self-willed and arbitrary, yet she was not to be the
personal gainer by any of the measures she proposed, save in the increase
of power under the proffered constitution. Personally she is a good
woman, her public acts being persistently misrepresented, her private
character -of late, and only of late - cruelly traduced for political ends.
None of her measures were of a character to justify revolution, save
the promulgation of the new constitution. When Williams College was
built by lottery, when less than thirty years ago the city of San
Francisco owed its library to the same means, when Great Britain has
found it necessary to regulate the sale of a drug which cannot be
excluded, it is absurd to assume that for the purpose of raising funds
for public works by sale of the lottery franchise, for the purpose of the
better conduct of a traffic in which thirteen thousand of her Chinese
subjects were interested, Queen Liliuokalani, however unwise, committed
any crime against the State by her assent to these measures.
From 1840 to the present day new constitutions have at intervals
been promulgated in Hawaii. The first was voluntarily given to the




MY HAWAIIAN CONCLUSIONS.


133


people by the reigning monarch. In 1887 it was extorted from the
sovereign under threats of assassination by the very party who are now
in power. They did not use that word, however. Twenty were bound
by oath that any five drawn should " execute him for the public good."
They do not use this latter phrase in speaking of the judgment of
Liliuokalani as to the reward due to treason; with her, it is " the bloodthirstiness of the savage." It is not easy for me to see that a public
act which is creditable to one party is a subversion of right if attempted
by another. If it was proper for subjects to change the constitution in
1887, why, then, was it so horrible for the sovereign to propose to the
subjects to make a change in her favor in 1893? She did propose; they
objected. She withdrew her amendment; why revolt?
Granted, nevertheless, that her action was such as to destroy confidence in her wisdom for the future, there was an easy way out of the
dilemma -one that has the authority of historical precedents; namely,
after seizing the reins of government to voluntarily resign on the
abdication of the Queen in favor of the next heir to the throne. As
this would have been to introduce to the Hawaiian people a Queen of
whom any land might be proud, their neglect to do this proves inevitably that their wish was either to betray the country to another nation,
or to secure its direction for themselves. Their revolution had, therefore, for its object either treason by the transfer of a nation against the
will of the people, or the ruling of that nation in violation of its constitution. It was not, therefore, a justifiable revolt.
The action of Minister Stevens, of Captain Wiltse, of the naval forces
of the United States, was in harmony with island precedent. If an arm
is used with good results in many instances, and then in another works
an injustice, we must accept the latter, because in former cases all
parties were bound thereby. I am aware that there was some difference
between the crisis of 1893 and past disturbances; but in an emergency
men must be pardoned if they fail to recognize nice distinctions.
Although taking no active part, the presence of the troops did
intimidate the Queen. Fear is an emotion, not the result of a train of
thought. She feared that to resist would expose her people to great
odds; yet, as a fact, in the event of collision, our forces would only
have prevented the destruction of private property and the slaughter of
non-participants. Such a police force quartered on shore for nearly
three months had a salutary influence in preserving the peace.
There is no manner of doubt that there was a reference on the part
of the two parties to the judgment of the United States. The claim of




134


HAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


President Dole that in agreeing to such, Minister Damon was acting in
a personal and not official capacity, is a lawyer's subterfuge, not in the
line of conduct which should always make any understanding given by
an honest man as binding as the strongest bond. Had the decision
been promptly made, annexation as promptly denied, all before the
provisionalists had intrenched themselves in power and learned to love
their oligarchy, the demand made by Minister Willis would have been
met with assent or by compromise.
Annexation to the United States on the one hand, restoration of the
Queen by the United States on the other, are the two considerations
which have hitherto restrained the two parties from clash; they are
both delusions, but the faith of each party in its own scheme is far
from shaken.
No patriotic American citizen can ever, for a moment, admit the feasibility of annexation; and men of all parties owe to President Cleveland
the greatest debt of eternal gratitude that he had the wisdom and
courage to recall the treaty. Had it been brought to the knowledge of
Benjamin Harrison that the five men who claimed to be treating with
him for the Hawaiian people were in no way authorized to represent the
637 American voters resident in Hawaii, it is scarcely probable that
those self-commissioned ambassadors would have received consideration
until our President had taken means to learn something of the sentiments of the 90,000 people.
But, from all points, Mr. Cleveland's appointment of Colonel Blount
was a mistake. A commission of prominent men of both parties should
have gone, and the decision of that judicial body should have been
enforced, just as in kindred crises the decisions of Great Britain and
France have been emphasized; that is, not by menace, but by opening
the turrets of our naval vessels and demanding compliance. Both
British and French naval vessels have done exactly this in the past;
their action has never been challenged by the other great powers, nor
has any commander been openly censured by superior authority.
It is useless now to try to remedy the blunders of the past. Absolute
non-intervention in all Hawaiian affairs must be our policy. We must
be unmoved by threats of alliance with Great lBritain, because it is the
boast of the annexationists that, by carrying out such threats, they can
and will compel us to admit the domain to our Union. We must reciprocate by assuring them that the sooner they can make terms with any
other power the better pleased we shall be. In the first place, the court
of St. James will not receive officially the tender of a nation made to




MY HAWAIIAN CONCLUSIONS.


them by a minority in power; in the second place, to be prosperous,
Hawaiian sugar-planters must enter their staple at San Francisco duty
free. If they remain an independent nation, their chance of doing
this is unparalled; if they become a British colony, it is cut off
forever. We could make a free-trade treaty with a country having, like
Hawaii, absolutely no manufactures. It will be a long day before we
make any free-trade negotiations with Great Britain.
We must, in discussion, firmly repel the assumption made by these
men that we owe them political asylum because they are Americans.
No more false impression than this has been given throughout the contest. They are foreigners, -just as truly foreigners in this respect as
the citizens of any other land. Those not born in Hawaii have dwelt
there so many years, have sworn allegiance to foreign governments, have
held office under those governments, have gained all their wealth (on
which they never paid us a tax) under foreign statutes, all to that
degree that they are not entitled to consideration as American citizens,
simply because their ancestors, actuated by pious motives, emigrated
from America over half a century ago, and the children have placed
themselves, by their own fault, in a situation of political danger. There
is scarcely a dollar of United States capital invested in Hawaii. It is
all Hawaiian money gained under the favoring statutes of that monarchy
against which they are now rebels. The single exception to this statement is in the case of the capital controlled by Claus Spreckels, and his
house is loyal to the legally constituted government.
Having thus repelled any assumption on their part that the least legal
claim exists, we should proceed to treat them with that liberality which
is always due from the strong to the weak. If a duty is placed on raw
sugar, we ought to except from the tariff all sugar produced on
Hawaiian soil. We ought to go farther than this: as soon as there is a
legally constituted government, one recognized by the great powers,
whatever that government is, we should lose no time in appointing a
commission to make a treaty of absolute free trade with the new
Hawaiian nation. This treaty could be simplicity itself; it should provide that all merchandise produced or manufactured in either country,
passing between the ports of the two, under either flag, should be
absolutely free of custom-house charges. This would secure to us the
commerce of the islands; it would insure to our flag the carrying trade;
it would give to the Pacific Coast all the advantages of annexation;
while it would spare to the American Union the continual expense of
enormous appropriations (which these provisionalists will certainly




136


IIAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


demand), the disturbance of our national councils by their local questions, the great embarrassment and weakness the islands would be to us
either in time of peace or in case of war.
There are two other perfectly legitimate methods by which we can
help the Hawaiian nation. One of these is by the construction of a
telegraphic cable from our coast to Hawaii. The route has already
been surveyed; the ocean bed is found to be soft ooze in which the
cable will easily sink, thereby being secure against decay and parasitic
influence. The distance is 2,100 miles, the cost $2,700,000, on which,
by government guaranty and private patronage, a dividend of, perhaps,
two per cent. can be paid from the start; and, with the line extending
to Japan or Australia, the income can be doubled. The second enterprise in which the two nations are interested is the Nicaragua Canal,
which should be built, owned, and managed by the United States of
America. Being constructed by the people, it should then be made
entirely free to all vessels under the American flag, and a moderate toll,
say, two dollars a ton, charged to other vessels. By this means, we
help Hawaii to introduce her products into our own gulf ports, and
assist her commerce with Europe; we relieve the Pacific coast of the
tyranny of the railroad systems; and if we add to that the privilege of
the purchase of ships wherever we can get the most for our money, we
shall revive American commerce to a degree unapproached since its
decline. These two measures should receive the support of every lover
of either Hawaii or the United States. Let us thus give to "our
colony," as they wish to style themselves, every mercantile advantage,
but steadfastly refuse to allow ourselves to be entangled in their
politics.
It is not in place for an alien to suggest how another nation ought to
manage its domestic affairs; but as I have been persistently asked
to express an opinion on this point, I will add it to the foregoing
statement.
There are only three courses open to Hawaii; namely, oligarchy, a
republic, or constitutional monarchy; of these, the republic is the least
stable. The attempt to carry on the nation under such rule will probably
subject it to frequent revolution, anarchy, and ultimate chaos. There is,
however, a chance that this prediction will be at fault; but that chance
means that, while nominally a republic, the government will be, in fact,
an armed despotism, supported in the future, as it is to-day, by welldrilled alien troops, thereby guaranteeing its stronghold until insensibly,
after years shall elapse, it may approximate to a commonwealth.




MY HAWAIIAN CONCLUSIONS.


137


It has been well said that there is no party in Hawaii favorable to the
next heir to the throne. This lack of partisanship gives to the present
government its golden opportunity. They should at once make a compromise with their opponents. They should accept the abdication of
Liliuokalani, and support as the reigning sovereign, under a proper
regency, the Princess Kaiulani.  She should be their candidate,
not that of the royalist party; but these would be then deprived of
all excuse for refusing the oath of allegiance. Such a government
would require no recognition from the great powers; it would be at
once constitutional, and its diplomatic representatives  would be
promptly received abroad. The relief to all classes at the Hawaiian
islands would be instantaneous, business would at once revive, and
the country would enter upon renewed prosperity.  This is the only
course open to the provisionalists which will not end in political and
financial ruin.
Such, neglecting unimportant points, are my conclusions in regard to
Hawaiian affairs. I claim for them no infallibility, nor do I defy any
opponent to prove their falsity. I simply say that I had better facilities
for forming an opinion than any other person, because I was most
kindly and confidentially treated by those of all parties.  These
words will be read, doubtless, by those to whom I am indebted for
numerous kindly acts; those at whose tables I have sat as a welcome
and favored guest.  To their always open doors, to their cordial
hospitality and genial confidence, I am under obligations for the opportunity to write of the points at issue. I am certain that my island
friends, whatever their political affiliations,-those of all parties, —will
find something in these pages to condemn. I can only call attention to
the fact that few names, for blame or praise, are mentioned here; that I
have tried to speak of principles; I have not assumed to be a judge of
men. There is certainly no malice in my heart, and I trust none will
be discovered where I express these views as the final judgment of one
familiar with the premises and understanding the residents of the islands.
I offer them with the assurance (of which the Transcript has scarcely
need) that they are the result of a judgment noted my life long for absolute independence. No public journal could have bought my pen to write
upon this question in any other manner than that in which it should be
supported by my own conscience. While believing that neglect to vote
should be a punishable misdemeanor, I never yet voted or acted with
any political party, nor conceded to it the right to make a platform of
my principles.




138


HAWAIIAN CORRESPONDENCE.


While parties may be necessary, a selection of the best names on all
tickets, to be made by the voter at the polls, should be the rule and not
the exception. Thus would each party be nerved to put forward its
best men, while now a man is nominated and, from the start, is sure of
the suffrages of a majority of his party. Party whips should be openly
defied; party allegiance should be a disgrace to any man; then political
bosses would be impossible, and there would be no such circle as a
ruling ring.
Such having been my views, and having acted thereon for thirty
years, any reader can judge how much partisanship there is in my final
judgment on the Hawaiian question.
No. 10 BROAD STREET,
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS,
U. S. A.




INDEX.


PAGE
AMERICA IN HAWAII........    88
Annexation movement of 1854....      119
Anniversary of revolution........    42
Arbitration of the United States.... 53
Bingham, Rev. Hiram..... 5, 10, 83
Blaine, James 0.......22, 27
Blount, Commissioner..   13, 16, 48, 134
Butler, Peter...........  34
Cable, ocean, to Hawaii....... 136
Capital, American, term defined..  99
Carter, Hon. J. 0... 69, 77, 114
CHARITY IN HAWAII....... 125
Chinese mass meeting..... 96,108, 115
Treatment of.......... 97,108
Coaling station, useless...... 101, 102
Constitution, the first....... 11
Changes in.......        132
Present violated....... 107, 108
The new............               107
Convention, constitutional..89,105, 107, 115
Correspondence of newspapers...      95
"Corwin," revenue cutter... 38
Crown lands.......... 106
Damon, Rev. Dr.........            1
Damon, S. C...... 67
Davies, Hon. Theo. H.... 55, 78, 96, 121
DISCONTENT IN HAWAII......          46
Dole, Sanford B.: sketch....... 65
His official salute........ 59
Interview with.......... 61
Dominis, Mrs. Lydia........ 3, 7
Education of natives...              91
Emma, Queen......... 3, 9, 101
Flag, the Hawaiian....... 116, 127
France cannot own Hawaii..... 12, 25
Free trade with Hawaii.......     134
FUTURE OF HAWAII........             15
Gilman, Gorham D........... 111
GOVERNMENT OF HAWAII..              82
Great Britain cannot own Hawaii.. 12, 25
Cession of 1843.......... 24
No alliance probable.......       134
Hawaii for the Hawaiians.......  52
HAWAII TO BE A REPUBLIC....     107
HAWAIIAN ANNEXATION...... 93, 103
COMMUNITY........                  121
POLITICS............   19
REVOLT............      33
SITUATION............ 24
Independence guaranteed by treaty.. 11, 25
January 17, 1894, celebration.     42, 46
Jones, Hon. Peter C...       49, 78
Judd, A.F........... 118, 119
Judd, Dr. G. P......       5, 10, 24, 83,118
His secret instructions....... 118
Kaiulani, Princess.....    17, 18, 55, 137
Kalakaua, King.........72, 84, 102
Land, tenure of Hawaii.....  90
Lee and Shepard.........        110


PAGE
Liliuokalani, Queen: her character, 7, 55, 70,109
Her charity......... 128
Her income.......... 67,106
Interview.....           109
Refusal of amnesty.... 73,123
LILIUOKALANI'S SIDE... 113
Lottery Bill........7,109, 113, 132
McGrew, Dr. John S...... 47, 94
McKinley Bill..... 29
MEMORIES OF HAWAII.                    1
Missionaries: their character... 37, 92, 123
Missionary party, definition of term..  89
Missions, Christian..... 60, 81, 92, 124
Injured............  68, 81
MY HAWAIIAN CONCLUSIONS..... 131
Navy, opinions of........    15
NEW HAWAII'S FIRST BIRTHDAY.. 42
Nicaragua Canal.......   39, 136
No ANNEXATION OF HAWAII..... 98
ON THE WAY TO HAWAII.......          16
Opium Bill.........   113
OUR FLAG IN H-AWAII... 47
PAST HAWAIIAN REVOLTS....  116
Paulet, Sir George.......       5, 19, 24
Permanent government..96
Political parties.........  97
Population of Hawaii... 71
PRESIDENT DOLE AND MINISTER WILLIS,   68
PRESIDENT, TIlE IAWAIIAN....       64
Press despatches......... 95, 125
Profits of sugar-planters......     125
QUEEN OF HAWAII......... 109
Queen. See Liliuokalani.
QUEEN, THE REBEL........ 61
Race problem.........           104, 106
RACE, THE HAWAIIAN........           70
Ragsdale, William...      4, 20, 64
Reciprocity treaty.....85,125
Restrictions on foreigners..        97
Roman Catholic Church.... 5, 11, 81, 75
ROYALISTS, THE HAWAIIAN......  52
SAN FRANCISCO'S VIEW.....           13
SOCIAL LIFE AT IHONOLULU......       57
SPRECKELS AND IIAWAII.......         29
Spreckels, J. D.: his opinion....  14
Statutes, restrictive.. 97, 108,121
Stevens, lion. J...... 17, 49, 51, 87, 93,118
SUGAR BOUNTY TO BLAME...... 14
Telegraphic advices, January 3d, 6th, 11th, 13-15
February 3d, 8th, 12th...61, 68,113
January 23d......... 46
March 3d, 8th..              105, 107
Thatcher, Admiral Ienry Knox.... 3, 9
Thomas, Admiral.....       116
Treaties with United States....      19
Two HAWAIIAN QUEENS.......       7
Two HAWAIIAN ROYALISTS..             77
VERY LIMITED SUFFRAGE.....         105
Voters, number of.........   71
WAIFS FROM TEE PACIFIC...            38
Willis's, Minister, course, January 17, 1894, 45
Popularity..........           108, 114




I
I




BOSTON TRANSCRIPT.
FOUNDED A.D. 1830.
A TRUSTWORTHY, CLEAN, AND INTERESTING
FAMILY NEWSPAPER,
FREE FROM SENSATIONAL AND OBJECTIONABLE MATTERS IN
BOTH READING AND ADVERTISING COLUMNS; OFFERING
TO THE EDUCATED AND INTELLIGENT PUBLIC THE MOST
INSTRUCTIVE AND ENTERTAINING SELECTION OF NEWS,
LITERARY, POLITICAL, FINANCIAL, ART, MUSICAL, AND
GENERAL TOPICS OF THE DAY AND SEASON.
DAILY EVENING TRANSCRIPT.
No Sunday Edition. $9.00 a year.
SATURDAY EVENING TRANSCRIPT.
Sixteen or more pages. $1.50 a year.
BOSTON WEEKLY TRANSCRIPT.
NEW ENGLAND'S HIGH-CLASS FAMILY PAPER.
Devoted to NEWS, LITERATURE, ART, and the SCIENCES. Contains the latest
Telegraphic News from all parts of the world. Published Fridays.
Rate (including postage) to subscribers in the United States, Canada, and
Mexico, $1.50 per annum.
Rate (including postage) to subscribers in countries included in the Postal
Union, $2.50 per annum.
Send for sample copies of either of above to the
BOSTON TRANSCRIPT COMPANY,
324 Washington St., BOSTON, MASS., U.S.A.




i




I~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



*n








THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
DATE DUE




I      UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
II   1ll  lll ll 2flU1 0
i 3 9015 01289 3106




;:i
ibiEIIIlii
ii;s
riil
ii-ipij.
~"Liita
Eli
I; IlliAli
111
eiii;l
ra
riias,
ra:~r~