Jere Krischel at 04:34, 23 December 2005

2005-12-23T04:34:36Z

Jere Krischel at 04:53, 12 December 2005

2005-12-12T04:53:22Z

New page

8 8 2 HAWAIIAN ISLANDS.
The CHAIRMAN. Who preceded him?
Mr. STEVENS. MacFarlane was the chamberlain when I went there.
The CHAIRMAN. Was Mr. Carter ever chamberlain?
Mr. STEVENS. I think not. The brother of Chief Justice Judd was,
and my impression is that no one was between him and McFarlane.
When Liliuokalani came in she wanted this favorite of hers to be in the
cabinet as minister of the interior, which was an important place, and
he could not get any responsible person to serve with him. Then they
compromised it by allowing him to be made marshal, which is an office
of great power and patronage, under which Chinese and Japanese lottery
gambling can be carried on. It requires a man of great integrity,
lest there be abuses, and the office was one having the most power
under the administration. Wilson wanted that, and he was made
marshal and installed in the palace.
There is a good deal of history between that, and contained in my
despatches, of wrangling, by which the different ones were put in.
I have the legislative votes that took place prior to that. Three cabinets
had been voted out in the course of a few weeks. Parker, Spencer,
Wideman, and Paul Neuman voted out August 30,1892, by 31 yeas to
10 nays. Parker, Maefarlane, Guiick, and Paul Neuman appointed
September 12, 1892, and voted out October 17, 1892, by 31 yeas and 15
nays. November 1, 1892, Queen appointed Cornwell, Nawaki, Gulick,
and Creighton, who were voted out the same day by 26 yeas to 13 nays.
The CHAIRMAN. Have you named all the persons'?
Mr. STEVENS. Peter .C.Jones, W. L. Wilcox, Mark P. Bobinson, and
Cecil Brown. Jones and Wilcox were two strong financial men, worth
more than $200,000 each; were not politicians; but they accepted their
offices as a matter of duty to the country. Mark P. Bobinson was a
prominent business man, and Cecil Brown was a lawyer. All four of
this Cabinet are gentlemen of integrity, having the confidence of the
financial public. We were away from the Hawaiian capital but ten
days.
The CHAIRMAN. Just ihere, if you please. In reference to what expected
difficulty or complication of political affairs in Hawaii do you
speak when you say that it was for the first time safe for you to leave
the islands?
Mr. STEVENS. The first time I deemed it safe for me to be away?
The CHAIRMAN. Yes; why?
Mr. STEVENS. For the reason that there was liable to be trouble.
The CHAIRMAN. DO you mean it was safe for the interests of the
United States? ,
Mr. STEVENS. Safe for the interests of the United States.
The CHAIRMAN. Do you not mean safe for the opposing power to the
then government?
Mr. STEVENS. I mean the American interests in the islands, the commercial
interests. In general terms that means nearly the whole, so far
as commercial interests are concerned.
The CHAIRMAN. Proceed.
Mr. STEVENS. It came to us.
The CHAIRMAN. YOU say it came to us. Whom do you mean?
Mr. STEVENS. Capt. Wiitse and to me. They sent out in boats. We
got into the harbor about half past 10, and it took sometime to get to
the wharf, and they came out in boats.
The CHAIRMA^. Who were the persons who informed you?
Mr. STEVENS. We were informed.
The CHAIRMAN. Any official information given to you?
HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 883
Mr. STEVENS. No official communication, as I remember now.
The CHAIRMAN. Who was your aid-de-camp at that time?
Mr. STEVENS. I had none; there was no person allowed me.
The CHAIRMAN. Did any person come from the legation or the United
States consulate to give you information of the situation there?
Mr. STEVENS. My impression is that Mr. Severance, the consul, sent
a verbal message as soon as possible. And others sent verbal messages.
There would be perhaps twenty boats to come off.
The CHAIRMAN. Was any message sent to you by the United States
consul, Mr. Severance, or anybody else?
Mr. STEVENS. I do not know that there was; but I know that I
received the information at once. My daughter with my carriage met
me at the wharf with the most full information.
The CHAIRMAN. Well?
Mr. STEVENS. In spite of protests and earnest remonstrances by the
Chamber of Commerce and a number of financial men of the country,
the Queen immediately signed the iniquitous bills. Both she and the
ring of adventurers who surrounded her expected there would thus
be established a scheme to rob the people of millions of money.
The CHAIRMAN. Those expressions are intense and liberal. Do you
mean that they are your personal conclusions, based upon your knowledge
of the affairs there?
Mr. STEVENS. Knowledge of the bills before the Legislature and common
rumor that had been going on all winter. The men in the lottery
charter were, one man from St. Louis, another from Chicago, and several
in Honolulu.
The CHAIRMAN. Did you, as the American minister resident in the
Hawaiian Islands, receive any information in regard to the state of
affairs which you have stated, and the purpose which actuated the
Government, upon which you based the conclusions which you as
minister came to as against the Queen's Government.
Mr. STEVENS. The information came to me from all sources. I will
say here that my many years' experience prior to these three years in
revolutionary countries, had taught me that it was absolutely necessary
to keep myself informed, and in order to keep myself informed I had
to have somebody in the different cliques or parties on whom I could
rely to get information. I kept myself constantly posted.
Senator GRAY. And were you in communication with such persons?
Mr. STEVENS. Yes. There was a contest about this lottery charter.
It was controverted in the newspapers for months and months, and all
the facts were as notorious as facts would be in Washington about any
great national measure here.
The CHAIRMAN. In seeking information about these matters, did
you confer also with members of the Queen's Government, or persons
officially connected with the Queen's Government?
Mr. STEVENS. From the time I went to Honolulu to the time I left,
the adherents of the Queen, the royalists, had access to the legation
more freely than anybody else.
The CHAIRMAN. Did you converse with them?
Mr. STEVENS. I conversed with them. Of course, I had to exercise
a good deal of caution in conversing with anybody, and had to pick
out those I conversed with.
The CHAIRMAN. YOU have stated that your conclusions were reached
after conferences and consultations with the persons you have mentioned,
and also from the debates as printed in the newspapers?
Mr. STEVENS. Upon debates. The newspapers published the debates

Template:882-883 - Revision history

Jere Krischel at 04:34, 23 December 2005

Jere Krischel at 04:53, 12 December 2005