Jere Krischel at 10:22, 18 December 2005

2005-12-18T10:22:14Z

Jere Krischel at 04:17, 9 December 2005

2005-12-09T04:17:50Z

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The control given to Mr. Trist over the military operations in Mexico,
when war was flagrant, was far greater than that which was confided
to Mr. Blount. The secret orders given to the commanders of the
Army and of the ~Snvy on that occasion are set out in the appendix to
this report.
When Mr. Willis arrived in Honolulu he was received by the Provisional
Government, to which he was accredited, and an interchange
of the usual courtesies was had between them. He carried instructions,
as minister of the United States, which did not concern the Government
of Hawaii until they had been attended with a certain result
which he endeavored to bring about. That result was that Liliuokalani
should agree that, in the event of her restoration to the throne, not by
the action of the President of the United States, but in any other event,
or by any agreement, she would bind herself to grant full and free
amnesty to all persons who had been engaged in opposition to her
alleged authority. When that agreement had been obtained Mr. Willis
was instructed to submit it to the Provisional Government and ascertain
whether they would agree to restore the Queen to the throne under
those circumstances and upon those conditions. If this was intervention,
it was in the interest of Americans in Hawaii. It was an
exaction upon Liliuokalani which would forbid, under the penalty of war,
that should she acquire the throne by whatever means, that she should
openly disavow any purpose to inflict any pains and penalties upon
those who had supported the Provisional Government. Liliuokalani,
after several efforts on the part of Mr. Willis to obtain her consent
to this proposition, finally signed it without the assent of her ministers,
and it was attested by Mr. Carter, who was a personal and
political friend. Her declaration or agreement thus signed and delivered
to Mr. Willis was by him presented to the President of the Provisional
Government (who was also minister of foreign affairs), and
the question whether or not it would be accepted by the Government
of Hawaii was submitted to him. Whereupon the President of the
Provisional Government declined to accept the proposition; declined
to yield the power which had been vested in him as the chief executive
of Hawaii; and nothing more was done either to induce him, or to
compel him, to consent to, or to assist in, the restoration of Liliuokalani
to the throne or the restoration of the Monarchy.
If, in this course of proceeding, the President of the United States
had intended to compel obedience to what is termed his " decision " in
the matter by using the force of the United States to assist the Queen
in being enthroned, that would have been an act of war, entirely beyond
his power, and would not have received the sanction of any considerable
part of the American people, and would have no warrant in international
law. But such was not the intention of the President, as is
shown by contemporaneous acts, by his declarations, and by his subsequent
treatment of the subject. Therefore, the question between the
United States and Hawaii touching the propriety of an intervention in
the domestic affairs of Hawaii to the extent of gaining the final decision
and agreement of both parties upon these propositions is one that
is strictly within the accepted right or authority of a sovereign to tender
his good offices to reconcile the conflicts of two or more factions,
or parties, that may be opposed to each other within any country. The
tender of good offices has often been voluntarily made in the interest
of humanity, of peace, of law, and of order, or at the suggestion of one
of two belligerent powers actually engaged in war. Sometimes it has

been made at the suggestion of that party in a government, engaged
in actual hostilities, which had the evident power to crush its opponent
by prosecuting the war to extremities. In such cases the intervention
has often been accepted as a merciful interposition, and it has been con
sidered an honor by other governments that they should be requested,
under such circumstances, to exercise their good offices in favor of procuring
peace through a submission to inevitable results. When the
tender of good offices is made at the request of both of the contending
parties it is difficult to conceive how any sovereign of a foreign country
could refuse to act in such matter.
In the public act by which the Provisional Government of Hawaii was
established there was a distinct declaration that that Government was
to continue until Hawaii was annexed to the United States. That
declaration, apart from every other consideration, would have justified
the United States in an interference for the protection of the Provisional
Government which would not have been tolerated under other
circumstances. That declaration created an intimacy of relationship
between the United States and the recognized Government of Hawaii
which is entirely exceptional, and which placed within the reach and
control of the United States very largely, if not entirely, the disposal
of those questions collateral to that of annexation which might have
interfered with the peaceful and appropriate solution of any difficulty
which might arise in its execution. So that the Provisional Government
of Hawaii, having thus thrown itself into the arms of the United
States in the first declaration of its existence, can not justly complain
that the United States should scrutinize, under the authority thus
given, all its pretensions of right thus to dispose of an entire country
and people. And Liliuokalani, having reference to the same project of
annexation, of which she was fully cognizant, made complaint that the
United States had assisted in driving her from her throne by bringing
its troops on shore in military array at a time when there was no necessity
for it, distinctly announced at the moment of her final and avowed
abdication that she would abdicate provisionally and would await the
decision of the United States as to whether that abdication and the
destruction of the Kingdom and the annexation of Hawaii to the United
States should become completed facts. Under such circumstances the
President of the United States, believing that the information then in
possession of the Government was not sufficient to justify summary
annexation, could not have done justice to himself, to his country, to
the people of Hawaii, to the Provisional Government, or to Liliuokalani,
without having made an effort to use his good offices for the purpose
of ascertaining whether it was practicable that the Queen should be
restored to her authority, leaving the question to be determined by the
people interested in Hawaii whether such restoration would be acceptable
to them or not. If Liliuokalani had been restored to her throne
by the consent of the membership of the Provisional Government, upon
the terms and conditions of the proposition which she signed and
delivered to Mr. Willis, the President of the United States would not
have been in any sense responsible for her restoration, would not have
espoused the monarchy, nor would he have done anything that was
contradictory of American sentiment, opinion, or policy. He would
only have been the mutual friend, accepted, really, by both parties,
whose intervention would have secured, with their consent, the final
solution of that question. In the absence of such committal on his
part to the claims of Liliuokalani or resistance on his part to the

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 The control given to Mr. Trist over the military operations in Mexico,
 when war was flagrant, was far greater than that which was confided
 to Mr. Blount. The secret orders given to the commanders of the
-Army and of the ~Snvy on that occasion are set out in the appendix to
+Army and of the Navy on that occasion are set out in the appendix to
 this report.
 When Mr. Willis arrived in Honolulu he was received by the Provisional
 Government, to which he was accredited, and an interchange
@@ Line 36: / Line 38: @@
 compel him, to consent to, or to assist in, the restoration of Liliuokalani
 to the throne or the restoration of the Monarchy.
 If, in this course of proceeding, the President of the United States
-had intended to compel obedience to what is termed his " decision " in
+had intended to compel obedience to what is termed his "decision" in
 the matter by using the force of the United States to assist the Queen
 in being enthroned, that would have been an act of war, entirely beyond
@@ Line 54: / Line 57: @@
 of humanity, of peace, of law, and of order, or at the suggestion of one
 of two belligerent powers actually engaged in war. Sometimes it has
+{{p|389}}
 been made at the suggestion of that party in a government, engaged
 in actual hostilities, which had the evident power to crush its opponent
 by prosecuting the war to extremities. In such cases the intervention
-has often been accepted as a merciful interposition, and it has been con
+has often been accepted as a merciful interposition, and it has been considered an honor by other governments that they should be requested,
 under such circumstances, to exercise their good offices in favor of procuring
 peace through a submission to inevitable results. When the
@@ Line 65: / Line 67: @@
 parties it is difficult to conceive how any sovereign of a foreign country
 could refuse to act in such matter.
 In the public act by which the Provisional Government of Hawaii was
 established there was a distinct declaration that that Government was

Template:388-389 - Revision history

Jere Krischel at 10:22, 18 December 2005

Jere Krischel at 04:17, 9 December 2005