Template:750-751 - Revision history

Jere Krischel at 08:43, 20 December 2005

2005-12-20T08:43:13Z

Jere Krischel at 08:42, 20 December 2005

2005-12-20T08:42:05Z

Jere Krischel at 04:42, 12 December 2005

2005-12-12T04:42:13Z

New page

750 HAWAIIAN ISLANDS.
Now, Mr. Chairman, there is one statement that this observation
does not apply to, and as you have invited my attention to the matter
I think it proper to say this. You will find a statement there in the
form of a colloquy between W. O. Smith and Mr. Cooper and Mr. Cassell.
The circumstances about that I wish to state. On one occasion I
said to the President and members of his cabinet, " I Would be very
glad to have the statement of you gentlemen at any time if it is agreeable
to you."
The CHAIRMAN. You are referring now to President Dole and his
cabinet1?
Mr. BLOUNT. Yes. "I can conceive of reasons why you might not
desire to do it." I did not state what they were, and they made no
response and gave no indication of a desire to be examined. The
attorney- gen eral
The CHAIRMAN. Who was he?
Mr. BLOUNT. W. O. Smith. He came one day, as he did often, to
the house where I stopped, and I said to him, " I would like to examine
you." He agreed to it.
Senator GRAY. He agreed to it.
Mr. BLOUNT. He agreed to it. The time came for him to b e examined
and he said, " I would rather not be examined. I will br tng you
a paper, which is the history of the revolution, prepared by. mys elf and
some other gentlemen, and I will hand that to you." He brought this
paper. He said it contained most of the history of the revolution,
some unimportant matters only were omitted. I said, "Would you
object to my seeing those?"
Senator CRAY. Seeing what?
Mr. BLOUNT. The unimportant matters. It was something left out.
He hesitated and said, " Well, 1 will speak to Mr. Dole about it." I
afterwards mentioned it to him again, and he answered he had not. I
think that was about it. I did not pursue the matter further. You
can readily understand my relations to the Provisional Government;
they were of very great delicacy. Mr. Cooper, another gentleman in
this colloquy, i invited to be examined. He came at a time when somebody
else was being examined. I was a good deal crowded by lack of
clerical force, and said to Judge Cooper, "Won't you sit down and
write me out carefully a statement of the facts of this revol ution ? " He
said, "Yes." Well, he apologized for not doing it once or twice on
account of his court. But this paper never came. He never alluded
to the matter again.
The CHAIRMAN. Did he not bring the paper to you or send it to you ?
Mr. BLOUNT. Mr. Smith brought a paper.
The CHAIRMAN. After that Judge Cooper never made any statement
to you ?
Mr. BLOUNT. Never made any statement.
The CHAIRMAN. I want to ask you whether opportunity was accorded
by you to all the members of that Provisional Government to make their
statements of the history of the transaction ?
Mr. BLOUNT. AS I have already stated on my own motion, I said to
the President and cabinet together, I would be very glad to examine
you gentlemen.
The CHAIRMAN. And what you have put in your report is all you
have received in reply to that suggestion?
Mr. BLOUNT. Everything in the world.
Senator BUTLER. I see in some criticisms of the testimony which
you have taken, quite severe attacks upon the character of some of the
witnesses. Did you adopt the usual method of ascertaining the qual-
HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 751
ity of the testimony, if I may use that expression, examine such witnesses
as were available?
Mr. BLOUNT. Before I examined any witnesses I received everybody,
heard what everybody said, and saw a good deal of the people, and
judged as best I might as to the character of the witnesses. You can
readily see that with this statement I could not pursue the methods
that 1 would pursue here. If I were to go into the matter of the examination
of the witness, say of the royalist side, and his statement
was made known to the public immediately, you would find an outcry
perhaps in the press about treasonable purposes, about opposing the
Covernment, etc. There was an intense amount of feeling, and therefore
I could not, on the ground of these attacks, do as suggested. If
they had not been made in the press, I knew these feelings existed.
Whom could 1 call on to say would you believe this man on his oath?
I never allowed, so far as 1 could govern it, any one to know whom I
had examined. I never allowed an annexationist to know I had examined
a royalist, and never allowed a royal i st to know I had examined
an annexationist. The secrecy of my examination was the only way
in which I could make a full investigation.
Senator BUTLER. In other words, you availed yourself of the best
testimony you could get under the circumstances ?
Mr. BLOUNT. I did.
The CHAIRMAN. The communications that were made to you, I understand
from your statements, you kept entirely secret?
Mr. BLOUNT. Nobody saw them until they were seen in this country,
in this Capitol, besides myself and my stenographer.
The CHAIRMAN. I will ask you, in the disturbed state of affairs in
Hawaii, whether it would or would not have been impracticable to
have obtained a full statement, frank statement, about the participation
of these men in the revolution on the one side or the other, because
of an apprehension in certain events they might be held responsible by
whichever Government proved to be the permanent Covernment?
Mr. BLOUNT. Possibly so. I am quite sure that that was true in
reference to the people who were not in power, and I rather think the
President and cabinet preferred not to be examined, because of the
changes that might occur. But 1 could not say that I could give you
tangible, substantial reasons for it. It was that I had in mind—I did
not tell them so—when I said, "I should like to have your testimony; I
can conceive of reasons why you might not want to testify."
Senator GRAY. Your feelings and theirs both were ones of delicacy?
Mr. BLOUNT. Yes.
The CHAIRMAN. And on the other hand there might be apprehension
in the change of government of criminal prosecutions, because of the
information they might give to,you?
Mr. BLOUNT. What their reason was I might conjecture, and it
would not, perhaps, be the correct one.
The CHAIRMAN. I was asking you what your conjecture was—an
opinion was—on that proposition, and whether that made it necessary,
in your judgment, that you should observe this very conservative course.
Mr. BLOUNT. That is what guided me in my approaches to the subject.
The CHAIRMAN. When you got to Hawaii, to whom did you report,
to what Government?
Mr. BLOUNT. To the Provisional Government.
The CHAIRMAN. Did you exhibit your letter of authority to the Provisional
Government?
Mr. BLOUNT. NO.
The CHAIRMAN. Did you inform the Provisional Government of the

@@ Line 9: / Line 9: @@
 to you."
-The {{Chairman.}} You are referring now to President Dole and his
+The {{sc|Chairman.}} You are referring now to President Dole and his
 cabinet?
@@ Line 17: / Line 17: @@
 attorney-general---
-The {{Chairman.}} Who was he?
+The {{sc|Chairman.}} Who was he?
 Mr. {{sc|Blount.}} W. O. Smith. He came one day, as he did often, to
@@ Line 49: / Line 49: @@
 to the matter again.
-The {{Chairman.}} Did he not bring the paper to you or send it to you?
+The {{sc|Chairman.}} Did he not bring the paper to you or send it to you?
 Mr. {{sc|Blount.}} Mr. Smith brought a paper.
-The {{Chairman.}} After that Judge Cooper never made any statement
+The {{sc|Chairman.}} After that Judge Cooper never made any statement
 to you?
 Mr. {{sc|Blount.}} Never made any statement.
-The {{Chairman.}} I want to ask you whether opportunity was accorded
+The {{sc|Chairman.}} I want to ask you whether opportunity was accorded
 by you to all the members of that Provisional Government to make their
 statements of the history of the transaction?
@@ Line 66: / Line 66: @@
 you gentlemen.
-The {{Chairman.}} And what you have put in your report is all you
+The {{sc|Chairman.}} And what you have put in your report is all you
 have received in reply to that suggestion?
@@ Line 101: / Line 101: @@
 Mr. {{sc|Blount.}} I did.
-The {{Chairman.}} The communications that were made to you, I understand
+The {{sc|Chairman.}} The communications that were made to you, I understand
 from your statements, you kept entirely secret?
@@ Line 107: / Line 107: @@
 in this Capitol, besides myself and my stenographer.
-The {{Chairman.}} I will ask you, in the disturbed state of affairs in
+The {{sc|Chairman.}} I will ask you, in the disturbed state of affairs in
 Hawaii, whether it would or would not have been impracticable to
 have obtained a full statement, frank statement, about the participation
@@ Line 126: / Line 126: @@
 Mr. {{sc|Blount.}} Yes.
-The {{Chairman.}} And on the other hand there might be apprehension
+The {{sc|Chairman.}} And on the other hand there might be apprehension
 in the change of government of criminal prosecutions, because of the
 information they might give to you?
@@ Line 133: / Line 133: @@
 would not, perhaps, be the correct one.
-The {{Chairman.}} I was asking you what your conjecture was—an
+The {{sc|Chairman.}} I was asking you what your conjecture was—an
 opinion was—on that proposition, and whether that made it necessary,
 in your judgment, that you should observe this very conservative course.
@@ Line 139: / Line 139: @@
 Mr. {{sc|Blount.}} That is what guided me in my approaches to the subject.
-The {{Chairman.}} When you got to Hawaii, to whom did you report,
+The {{sc|Chairman.}} When you got to Hawaii, to whom did you report,
 to what Government?
 Mr. {{sc|Blount.}} To the Provisional Government.
-The {{Chairman.}} Did you exhibit your letter of authority to the Provisional
+The {{sc|Chairman.}} Did you exhibit your letter of authority to the Provisional
 Government?
 Mr. {{sc|Blount.}} No.
-The {{Chairman.}} Did you inform the Provisional Government of the
+The {{sc|Chairman.}} Did you inform the Provisional Government of the