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Mr. Stevens. Yes; we were there probably two hours.
The Chairman. Was any representative of a foreign government missing on that occasion ?
Mr. Stevens. I do not remember any.
The Chairman. You can state that it was a general conference.
Mr. Stevens. Oh, they invited the whole of them.
The Chairman. Who invited them?
Mr. Stevens. The invitation to come came from the clerk of the new minister of the interior, who got alarmed.
The Chairman. Who was the minister of the interior?
Mr. Stevens. I do not positively remember, but I think Colburn.
The Chairman. And the invitation came from Liliuokalani's minister of the interior to you?
Mr. Stevens. Yes; the chief clerk, Mr. Hassinger, who had been there for years, brought it to me at the legation.
The Chairman. Did he ask you to come to the Government building?
Mr. Stevens. Yes.
The Chairman. Did he tell you that there was an assemblage of the foreign ministers at the Government building?
Mr. Stevens. I am not sure; but I think he did.
The Chairman. Well, when you got there---
Mr. Stevens. One or two came in after I arrived; but we all left about the same time. We waited for the denouement at the palace, but two of the new ministers were afraid to go back to the palace.
The Chairman. What two ministers were afraid?
Mr. Stevens. Colburn and Cornwall seemed to be alarmed.
The Chairman. What made you think they were alarmed?
Mr. Stevens. Their appearance, and in sending for us. Then it came out that they were afraid to go to the palace. Their manner showed it.
The Chairman. Was there anything that indicated it?
Mr. Stevens. Only their sending for us and their general appearance— their going backwards and forwards from and to the palace.
The Chairman. Were they passing backwards and forwards between your meeting and the palace?
Mr. Stevens. Not between us. Finally, when Cornwall and Colburn left us, the message came from Mr. Parker, the minister of foreign affairs, and they left us and went to the palace, and I waited perhaps an hour or more and I went back to the legation and remained.
The Chairman. On those occasions when Liliuokalani's ministers were present, was any intimation given or proposition submitted to the foreign representatives in respect of the protection that should be extended to American citizens or anyone else?
Mr. Stevens. They made no intimation to us. They asked us at first to come there. We went there and waited, and did not confer with each other what to do.
Senator Butler. What day was that?
Mr. Stevens. That was on Saturday afternoon, January 14, the same Saturday afternoon when the Queen was present at the palace with the mob and the Queen's guard around it, and the chief justice was with her.
Senator Butler. That was the day the Boston returned?
Mr. Stevens. Yes.
Senator Butler. That was the day before this public meeting of which you spoke?
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Mr. Stevens. Two days before.
The Chairman. You spoke of a mob about the palace. Do you mean a disorganized body of men?
Mr. Stevens. Disorganized body of natives; retainers who had been dressed up respectably, and their leader had a constitution on a velvet cushion.
The Chairman. I am going into the inquiry whether, in the American acceptation of the word, that was a mob or an assemblage of the Queen's supporters.
Mr. Stevens. That was, in the general acceptation of the word, a mob; you may call it an assemblage.
The Chairman. Was there any mob violence?
Mr. Stevens. The information came to me direct that when the Queen was baffled, when they learned that the Queen would not proclaim that constitution at that time, they swore they would kill her. I suppose that was a temporary outbreak. While I was not in that crowd, I received more reliable information from the chief justice of what took place, and of the wrangle between the Queen and Peterson about the constitution—of the Queen turning upon him and stating, "You have had that in your pocket for two or three weeks." I am not positive that I received these words from the chief justice. It came to me in such a form that I took it as correct.
The Chairman. Who was it informed you?
Mr. Stevens. Several parties.
The Chairman. Can you name them?
Mr. Stevens. The strongest testimony came from the chief justice. Whether he used that specific language or not, or I received that specific language from the chief justice, I could not say, because there were so many talked to me on the subject. But information as to the scenes in the palace and the revolutionary state of things came from the chief justice, who was there four hours.
The Chairman. All of which transpired before you went to the palace?
Mr. Stevens. No; all that transpired while we were over at the Government building and after we had left.
The Chairman. Before you went to the palace?
Mr. Stevens. I did not go to the palace that day. The officals were at the palace at 12 o'clock.
The Chairman. At the palace?
Mr. Stevens. Where the scenes took place.
The Chairman. I was going to ask the question, where the mob was assembled?
Mr. Stevens. Yes. It was at the palace that this constitution was expected to be proclaimed.
The Chairman. You did not enter into that crowd?
Mr. Stevens. Not at all. I went home to dinner, and this invitation of the minister of the interior was for us to come at half-past one. We went over to the Government building, and were there from one to two hours.
The Chairman. My point is that you did not go to the palace that afternoon.
Mr. Stevens. No; I attempted to go, but failed, as I have before testified, owing to it being too late.
The Chairman. Are you able to state from information that came to you, beside that from the committee of safety, that you would be
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