Jere Krischel at 09:40, 20 December 2005

2005-12-20T09:40:12Z

Jere Krischel at 04:43, 12 December 2005

2005-12-12T04:43:44Z

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766 HAWAIIAN ISLANDS.
matter, because in the press it has been charged that you expressed an
opinion.
Mr. BLOUNT. Yes, I understand you.
Senator DOLI'II. YOU think you did not express an opinion?
Mr. BLOUNT. I think not, because I did not have any.
Senator DOLPH. You were here during the inauguration of President
Cleveland?
Mr. BLOUNT. Yes.
Senator DOLPH. Did you call on the President before you left the
city?
Mr. BLOUNT. I did not.
Senator DOLPH. Or Secretary Gresham?
Mr. BLOUNT. No; I did not see Secretary Gresham. I knew him
when be was Postmaster-General.
Senator DOLI'H. What time did you leave Washington?
Mr. BLOUNT. I do not recollect; I stayed here three or four days.
Senator DOLPH. After the inauguration?
Mr. BLOUNT. Yes; there was a crowd, a jam, and I did not care to
start home because of the liability to accidents, etc.
Senator DOLPH. Can you recall any conversation with either of the
gentlemen to whom you handed a copy of that letter?
Mr. BLOUNT. lean not. I handed it to them; and I may possibly
have said to them, " I am not satisfied to make any effort on this paper;
I do not think there is information enough."
Senator DOLPH. HOW many times did you see Mr. Gresham, the
Secretary of State, before you left for Honolulu—when you came here
in response to the telegraphic request of Mr. Smith?
Mr. BLOUNT. I arrived here on Sunday morning, I think. I went
with the Secretary of the Interior to the State Department. I met,
casually, the Secretary of the Navy in the office of the Secretary of
State. That is the first time I met the Secretary of State.
Senator GRAY. The first time?
Mr. BLOUNT. Yes.
Senator GRAY. The first time you met Mr. Gresham since you knew
him as Postmaster-General?
Mr. BLOUNT. Yes. And the next time I met him was the next day.
I went over to his office, and he took me into a little room—you recollect
where the foreign ministers are received?
Senator BUTLER. For consultation ?
Mr. BLOUNT. Yes. He had the clerk read the instructions over, with
the view, rather, of putting them in a more tasteful form—criticising the
instructions. That was the second time. And I possibly met him a
third time.
Senator DOLPH. How many conversations did you have with Secretary
Gresham that second time?
Mr. BLOUNT. I can not really tell you.
Senator DOLPH. Was that the time that he told you that he knew
of no principle of international law which justified the raising of the
United States flag in Honolulu?
Mr. BLOUNT. I can not say exactly what time it was.
Senator DOLPH. YOU are not certain?
Mr. BLOUNT. NO. It may have been then or at a later conversation.
Senator DOLPH. Did he not couple with his remark about the raising
of a United States flag one about the landing of the United States
marines and the assumption of a protectorate over the islands ?
Mr. BLOUNT. Perhaps so.
HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 767
Senator DOLPH. IS that all ho said? Please give that conversation
as nearly as you can recall it.
Mr. BLOUNT. That would be a very difficult thing to do. At the
time I just recollect the general impression that I had that he did not
think the flag ought to be there or the troops on shore.
Senator DOLPH. He did not think the flag ought to be there and
the troops on shore?
Mr. BLOUNT. That was his expression. But the instructions
Senator DOLPH. Did you understand that, while he left it to your
discretion, unless the facts showed that it should not be done, the flag
should be haulded down and the troops ordered off the island?
Mr. BLOUNT. My impression is that he thought that ought to be
done. But the islands* were a long way off, and it was a matter in
which I was to bo guided very largely by circumstances. There was
to be carefulness lest there should be bloodshed growing out of it—
disorder. He could not tell.
Senator DOLPH. Was anything said about the annexation of the
islands at that time in your conversation, or at any other time?
Mr. BLOUNT. Not that I recollect.
Senator DOLPH. What was said, if anything, as to the time when
these troops should be landed—as to whether there was any exigency
for that, calling for the landing of the troops?
Mr. BLOUNT. Nothing that 1 can recall.
Senator DOLPH. Could you give the substance of that conversation?
Mr. BLOUNT. I think I have given you the substance.
Senator DOLPH. HOW long was the conversation?
Mr. BLOUNT. That I do not remember. It has been some months
ago.
Senator DOLPH. Were you there an hour or minute?
Mr. BLOUNT. Well, I might have been about the office—not with the
Secretary—a half hour.
Senator DOLPH. How long were you with the Secretary?
Mr. BLOUNT. During the reading of that paper and criticizing the
language. The time was. occupied in that way. There was very little
said.
Senator DOLPH. If you saw the Secretary again before you left for
Honolulu, state where and when it was.
Mr. BLOUNT. My recollection is that I went over to the office, and
by arrangement went back there and got the instructions, as they had
been Anally prepared and agreed on, and I went with the Secretary
over to the White House, the expectation being t h a t l would go in and
talk with the President and Cabinet. I mean to say that was his idea.
When I got over there I was not invited in until they had concluded
their deliberations. I was introduced. Of course I knew the President
and some members of the Cabinet. 1 was introduced to some others.
The subject of the islands was not mentioned at all. I only staid a
minute or two; in fact, I could not see why I was taken in there;
nobody said anything to introduce a topic of conversation. I went to
the President and said, "Mr. President, 1 shall try not to make any
mistake under my instructions down there." He said, " I do not think
you will." As I passed the table going out, the President said, in a
careless way, " Blount, you will let us hear from you." I said I would,
when there is anything worth writing about, and that is all that
occurred. I called to pay my respects on Sunday morning.
Senator Doupn. I thought that was to the Secretary.
Mr. BLOUNT. NO.

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Jere Krischel at 09:40, 20 December 2005

Jere Krischel at 04:43, 12 December 2005