Jere Krischel at 09:39, 5 January 2006

2006-01-05T09:39:06Z

Jere Krischel at 04:52, 12 December 2005

2005-12-12T04:52:38Z

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872 HAWAIIAN ISLANDS.
The CHAIRMAN. So that, in a conflict, native Kanakas under the
leadership of the Queen could not stand against the forces under the
leadership of the Provisional Government?
Mr. OLESON. That would be out of the question. That is my personal
opinion.
The CHAIRMAN. That is what I am after, your personal opinion.
Mr. OLESON. In saying that I do not impute anything against the
natives; it is simply due to the superiority of the Anglo-Saxon people.
The CHAIRMAN. AS I understand your opinion, the Kanakas are not
a military people, not aggressive?
Mr. OLESON. No, not aggressive. They will expose themselves to
danger; are physically strong and able men. They are the reliance of
the industries of that country, so far as the demand is for strength and
daring. The interisland steamers, which require dexterity, courage,
and strength, are manned by the Hawaiians. It is the only force in
the islands to do that work.
The CHAIRMAN. Then you think they would make excellent sailors?
Mr. OLESON. They are. I have met them in New England. They
had been sailors, and they had been all around the world.
The CHAIRMAN. Are they fond of their calling?
Mr. OLESON. Yes. Very much attracted to it.
The CHAIRMAN. Would you say that the Kanaka population, taking
them at large, are what we would call a governing people?
Mr. OLESON. NO; they are not.
The CHAIRMAN. DO you think they would have the requisite skill in
the enactment of laws (if that were left entirely to them) to build up
and maintain good government!
Mr. OLESON. They could not do it.
The CHAIRMAN. YOU think a legislature composed entirely of Kanakas,
without respect to their intelligence, and including the highest
order of intelligence, and a Kanaka cabinet, could not control the Government
of Hawaii?
Mr. OLESON. NO; they could not.
The CHAIRMAN. YOU are perfectly satisfied on that point?
Mr. OLESON. Perfectly satisfied on that point. That is the case. By
a late paper from Honolulu—I do not know whether you would rather
have it or not—I see that President Dole has called upon Dr. Trousseau
to explain certain testimony which he had given against President
Dole, and calls for retraction. It is very brief. If you would like to
have it I will pass it to you.
The CHAIRMAN. YOU can put it in if you think it will reflect any
light.
Mr. OLESON. I think it will show that President Dole was not concerned
in any conspiracy. And another thing, where Dr. Trousseau
said he knew by personal knowledge of these things, in his retraction
he states he got his information from a source which he supposed was
reliable.
The CHAIRMAN. Have you seen any denial of their authenticity by
Trousseau or Dole?
Mr. OLESON. NO. In a later paper he made a retraction to 3 other
men whom he had mentioned in the same connection—4 other men.
Senator FRTE. In reference to the protection of Ameiican life and
property, was the location of the troops at Arion Hall a central location
?
Mr. OLESON. It was a central place for a rendezvous. The two main
streets are at an angle—King street and Nuuanu street—and Arion
HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 873
Hall was a central location from which to scatter the troops in squads
to available points. I do not well see how they could have been better
located for the protection of life and property to better advantage
than there.
The CHAIRMAN. Was there anything to prevent the location of those
troops in Arion Hall when you went out to the Government building
and the proclamation was being read—anything to prevent the loyalists
from making an attack on the men who entered the Government
building?
Mr. OLESON. NO ; the Queen's forces had plenty of ways in which
they could have gotten there without passing by the United States
troops, even if the United States troops had been out, which I do not
admit.
Senator FRYE. But if the United States troops were in their quarters
there was nothing to prevent an attack being made by the loyalists
on the men of the Provisional Government?
Mr. OLESON. NO.
Senator FRYE. Was there anything in those mass meetings which
were held to prevent an attack by the Queen's forces?
Mr. OLESON. No; the nominal Government could have suppressed by
the force they had in their hands that mass meeting; but they did not
dare to do it, because it would have aggravated things so that they
would have gone to their worst.
Senator FRYE. Peterson, andColbnrn, and Neumann, and Bosa, being
then the agents of the Queen and the Queen's cabinet as she formed it
after she had removed the Wilcox-Jones cabinet, were they reputable
men in the islands ?
Mr. OLESON. I never considered any of them to be.
Senator FRYE. Did you have any acquaintance with Mr. Stevens?
Mr. OLESON. Yes.
Senator FRYE. What was your estimate of him?
Mr. OLESON. I had a high estimate of Mr. Stevens as a man who
was exceedingly discreet in his bearing toward events there. I feel
that he was placed in a very difficult position at the time the troops
were landed, on account of the merely nominal hold which the Government
had on the situation—it was practically in the hands of the irresponsible
portion of the community; there was practically no government
that had any respectof the people. 1 haveheard since that Minister
Stevens did not request permission of the Government that the troops
be allowed to land. If he had made any such request and it had been
denied, I do not think Minister Stevens would have been justified in
not landing the troops. There was no government; there was no agree
ment on a plan of action among the leaders of the nominal govern
ment; there were disagreements amongst them; there was no con
fidence, on the part of the intelligent portion of the community, in them,
so that in that sense, while they had nominal control of things, it was
simply a nominal government.
Senator FRYE. Did you at any time, in your investigations and in
your conversations with the men who were connected with the Provisional
Government, obtain from them any idea that they expected
any assistance from United States troops?
Mr. OLESON. NO; not the slightest. I never heard it whispered,
and I was in a way to meet a great many of the men on whom the
fighting was to depend, if there was to be any fighting. They did not
look for any assistance at all.
Senator FRYE. IS it your opinion that it was a fact that the presence

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Jere Krischel at 09:39, 5 January 2006

Jere Krischel at 04:52, 12 December 2005