Ken Conklin at 07:35, 11 January 2006

2006-01-11T07:35:50Z

Jere Krischel at 09:57, 20 December 2005

2005-12-20T09:57:46Z

Jere Krischel at 04:44, 12 December 2005

2005-12-12T04:44:44Z

New page

772 HAWAIIAN ISLANDS.
and myself; and no man ever knew from me what anybody had testified
to.
Senator DOLPH. I suppose you talked with a great many persous
about this subject?
Mr. BLOUNT. Oh, they talked to me; but I never communicated my
views.
Senator DOLPH. You were told a great many things on both sides of
this question by persons who had called upon you?
Mr. BLOUNT. YTes.
Senator DOLPH. And you never felt it incumbent upon you to make
any record of what was said to you, or any report of it, except it was
something which, in your judgment, ought to be taken down and
reported? That is, you exercised your own judgment as to whether
anything said to you should be made a part of your report; did you
not?
Mr. BLOUNT. If I were to answer that directly, without any qualification,
perhaps I would not convey a correct impression. I saw people
and they would talk to me. For instance, a man would come in and
say he was a royalist, and he would commence to abuse Mr. Stevens.
I would say nothing at all. I could not communicate to him, and did
not encourage the conversation. And so somebody else on the other
side would abuse the royalists. I could not help those things. Those
were the things that occurred. I never indulged in conversation with
people about affairs there, as a rule.
The CHAIRMAN. At what time did you send your report to the Secretary
of State as to the condition of affairs in Hawaii?
Mr. BLOUNT. The final report, I think, was in the month of July.
But the record discloses that. I can not remember it.
The CHAIRMAN. Was it after you were appointed minister?
Mr. BLOUNT. Yes.
The CHAIRMAN. It appears that you were appointed minister on the
22d of August; that is, a letter informing you of your appointment
on that date, with various items of inclosure and instruction, was sent
to you as minister of the United States. On that appointment you
took the oath of office?
Mr. BLOUNT. Yes.
The CHAIRMAN. Did you then communicate your appointment to the
Dole Government?
Mr. BLOUNT. Oh, yes.
The CHAIRMAN. Did you make any communication of that to the
Liliuokalani cabinet?
Mr. BLOUNT. Not the slightest. I had nothing to do with Liliuokalani
at all; it was not a proper thing, I did not think.
The CHAIRMAN. And you continued in that office until. you were
asked to resign and came home ?
Mr. BLOUNT. I sent my resignation by the vessel that brought the
appointment. I expected to leave when I got through the investigation.
My private business was not satisfactory, and I wanted to
get home. I was worried about it. I thought it might be childish in
me to send an absolute resignation, and I did not put it in that form;
but I did take occasion in some correspondence to assure the Secretary
that I did not want the place at all. As I said, my private business
required that I should be at home.
The CHAIRMAN. The question is whether, while you were minister,
the instructions of the Government to you in regard to Hawaiian affairs
had been in any wise altered ?
HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 773
Mr. BLOUNT. NO.
Senator DOLPH. I do not think you understood my quesdon a few
minutes ago, that you did not consider it incumbent upon you to make
any record of these statements made by the numerous persons who
called upon you and talked about the situation in Hawaii or include
them in your report.
Mr. BLOUNT. NO. If you will allow me to state, you will very readily
see that I could not trust memory about those things, and hence I
resorted to the plan of taking the statements in the form of interrogation
and answer by the stenographer. I thought I would be enabled
after the examination of witnesses on both sides, leading persons, to
get at the condition of affairs; and, therefore, I did not trouble myself
with every person whom I would meet who wanted to talk with me.
Senator DOLPH. You exercised your own judgment and choice as to
which of the persons you came in contact with you would examine?
Mr. BLOUNT. I felt that I was there to conduct the examination,
and I determined that 1 would conduct it according to my best judgment
for the purpose of eliciting the truth. On one occasion, for
instance, there was a committee came to me from the Annexation Club
and said they had been appointed for the purpose of furnishing witnesses
to me for the purpose of being examined. I was not pleased
with it. That club was made up of people of all nationalities. I said
to them, "Gentlemen, you do not understand my relation to you, or I
do not. I am not a representative of any body in Honolulu; I am not
under the control of any body in Honolulu; I am here to make an
investigation for the Government of the United States, and while, perhaps,
I will examine some persons you want examined, as a rule I
want to direct these examinations and say whom I will examine and
whom not."
Senator DOLPH. YOU indicated plainly to them that you would not
hear any witnesses?
Mr. BLOUNT. I did not intimate anything of the kind.
Senator DOLPH. What did you say in regard to the proposition of
this committee to furnish witnesses on the question?
Mr. BLOUNT. I said to them I would perhaps examine some of their
witnesses; but I did not consent to the idea that the Annexation Club
or anybody else was to furnish witnesses to me.
Senator DOLPH. Did you examine any witnesses furnished by that
committee?
Mr. BLOUNT. Oh, I examined—the only name they ever mentioned
to me was Mr. P. C. Jones.
Senator GRAY. Tell about P. C. Jones's examination. Did you examine
him?
Mr. BLOUNT. NO; I did not—regretted that I could not. There were
other persons whom I would like to have examined. There was quite
a mania on the part of the people on both sides to be examined when
they saw the testimony was going into a public document. I would
have gratified many of them if there had been an unlimited clerical
force at my command; but I did not have it, and I did not believe it
was going to elucidate anything to multiply witnesses.
Senator GRAY. Did Mr. Jones proffer himself as a witness?
Mr. BLOUNT. Oh, no. A young man came in there by the name of
Wilder, a boyish sort of fellow, with this statement.
Senator GRAY. About Mr. Jones?
Mr. BLOUNT. About the wishes of the Annexation Club—a person
whom I did not consider proper to take counsel with. I do not mean

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 this question by persons who had called upon you?
-Mr. {{sc|Blount.}} YTes.
+Mr. {{sc|Blount.}} Yes.
 Senator {{sc|Dolph.}} And you never felt it incumbent upon you to make

Template:772-773 - Revision history

Ken Conklin at 07:35, 11 January 2006

Jere Krischel at 09:57, 20 December 2005

Jere Krischel at 04:44, 12 December 2005