Template:924-925 - Revision history

Jere Krischel at 07:26, 23 December 2005

2005-12-23T07:26:43Z

Jere Krischel at 04:57, 12 December 2005

2005-12-12T04:57:22Z

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924 HAWAIIAN ISLANDS.
is what I referred to. Mr. Cummings is in it, and Mr. Nawahi. It ran,
to some degree, all over the islands. But I can not say that it exists
to day.
The CHAIRMAN. I want to know now whether any of these foreign
people who are not Americans had any organization or association,
within your knowledge, to oppose the Provisional Government of
Hawaii, with a view to diverting Hawaii from the control or influence
of the United States, either in the conduct of its current affairs or in
the ultimate purpose of annexation ?
Mr. STEVENS. I will begin with the Portuguese first; I will take
them seriatim.
The CHAIRMAN. No; answer the question.
Mr. STEVENS. No, I could not give any information to which I could
testify. If you want to know the attitude of these different populations
I will give it to you.
The CHAIRMAN. I have understood that some Germans are for us
and some against us ?
Mr. STEVENS. AS you have asked the question, let me answer it in
a way that will enlighten it.
Senator GRAY. The question is, whether you have any knowledge
or information of any such association or combination?
Mr. STEVENS. I will begin with the Portuguese, which were far the
more numerous Caucasian population there; the Germans and English
were smaller in numbers. The Portuguese number from 9,000 to 10,000.
They are nearly, if not quite, a unit for America and for annexation.
Why is it so ? The young men have been educated in American schools,
which are as positive in their American character as you can find in
any of our American cities. Nearly all these Portuguese came from
the Azores and Madeira poor. They saw the energy and vim of the
Americans, and are largely employed by Americans. Then there is
some antagonism between the Portuguese and the natives. I have
stated the principal causes, and the Portuguese are a unit with us.
When you come to the Germans, a very large majority is with us, except
such Germans as may (and they are not very many) gather around
Claus Spreckels. I will mention two German houses, at the head of
which are men who have been there a long time. Their children were
born there, and they expect to die there. Both those houses, and they
are heavy houses, are with America, just as the English merchant is in
New York—they know that their business and their future interests
are entirely with us. They all talk English, and they are like Americans.
Take the English. A majority of the English affiliate with us.
Why? For the reason that they do all their business with California,
Washington, and Oregon. They go to American schools, and many of
them have married in American families. There is Mr. Davies. He is
one of the heaviest merchants, but is opposed to us having Pearl Harbor,
and is very hostile to American predominance in Hawaii. With
the exception of what gathers around Mr. Davies and Mr. Wodehouse
(which is a very marked minority of the English), the English are with
us as much as the Portuguese. When you come to the Norwegians,
whose number is small, you may say it is a unit for us. Reduce the
opposition to the Provisional Government to the white population, and
you have the men whom the lottery and opium rings have had in their
power, and who will respond to the beat of the political drum. Any
one familiar with the political organizations in the cities of the United
States knows what that is.
HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 925
They have what is called the hoodlum element in Honolulu. Pay
them and you will have them. But what are called the missionary
people are not persons to bribe voters, and if a man were to throw in
$50,000 to carry a project against the missionary element, he could buy
up the hoodlums, just as they bought the votes in the Legislature with
lottery stock, and those who would not have lottery stock got cash
down.
The CHAIRMAN. YOU have made that statement. Do you know anything
of the payment of lottery stock or money to carry through the
lottery scheme?
Mr. STEVENS. I will answer the best I can. The facts are as notorious
as they would be in any American capital where anything of the
kind had been going on for years. I will give you this fact, and I will
give you the name. Mr. Emuleuth, who is a native of Ohio, but who
has been out there fifteen years, an enterprising and respectable man so
far as I know. He is a member if the Provisional Government. The
day before the lottery cabinet was appointed, which must have been
the day before the coming back of the Boston, Emuleuth went into a
commercial house in Honolulu, and as he was going upstairs, he heard
Peterson and Colburn talking. Peterson did not want to put Colburn
in the cabinet. Colburn had been the man who raised the money; and
Emuleuth heard this as he stopped on the stairs. Colburn wanted to
go into the cabinet, and Peterson was trying to reason him out of going
in. Peterson knew Colburn was a hard man to carry, and it ran in
this way: "Peterson, I paid this money, and if you don't put me in
the cabinet, I will join the other side and blow you to hell."
The CHAIRMAN. Emuleuth gave you this information?
Mr. STEVENS. Emuleuth.
The CHAIRMAN. When ?
Mr. STEVENS. He gave that to me some days after the overthrow
of the Government.
The CHAIRMAN. When?
Mr. STEVENS. A week or ten days after the overthrow; merely as a
historical fact, he gave it to me.
The CHAIRMAN. Prior to the time of your leaving Honolulu on the
Boston, to go down to Hilo, did you have any information or reason to
suspect that such influences were to be employed in favor of either the
lottery or opium bill?
Mr. STEVENS. No; just as I stated in my opening, after the Wilcox
and Jones defeat of the lottery bill and the opium bill, I thought the
fate of those bills were settled, and the cabinet would be carried over
for eighteen months.
The CHAIRMAN. What information you gathered from Emuleuth or
any other source in regard to corruption in the Legislature to procure
these votes of want of confidence in the ministry and for the lottery
and opium bills was communicated to you after you returned?
Mr. STEVENS. Yes, and as a matter of history. Colburn knew his
power. Then Peterson said, "if we put you in, will you agree to the
constitution which the Queen is going to promulgate?" Colburn was
opposed to it, but he answered, "damn, it, Pete; whatever you sign I
will sign." Emuleuth said, "those four men were going in that cabinet
for sure." They laughed at him; but when the cabinet was constituted
they went in.
The CHAIRMAN. YOU, as the American minister, were forming opinions
upon the public situation there?
Mr. STEVENS. Public situation.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-HAWAIIAN ISLANDS.
+{{p|924}}
 is what I referred to. Mr. Cummings is in it, and Mr. Nawahi. It ran,
 to some degree, all over the islands. But I can not say that it exists
 to day.
-The CHAIRMAN. I want to know now whether any of these foreign
 people who are not Americans had any organization or association,
 within your knowledge, to oppose the Provisional Government of
@@ Line 9: / Line 10: @@
 of the United States, either in the conduct of its current affairs or in
 the ultimate purpose of annexation ?
-Mr. STEVENS. I will begin with the Portuguese first; I will take
-them seriatim.
+Mr. {{sc|Stevens.}} I will begin with the Portuguese first; I will take
-The CHAIRMAN. No; answer the question.
+them ''seriatim''.
-Mr. STEVENS. No, I could not give any information to which I could
 testify. If you want to know the attitude of these different populations
 I will give it to you.
-The CHAIRMAN. I have understood that some Germans are for us
-and some against us ?
+The {{sc|Chairman.}} I have understood that some Germans are for us
-Mr. STEVENS. AS you have asked the question, let me answer it in
+and some against us?
 a way that will enlighten it.
-Senator GRAY. The question is, whether you have any knowledge
 or information of any such association or combination?
-Mr. STEVENS. I will begin with the Portuguese, which were far the
 more numerous Caucasian population there; the Germans and English
 were smaller in numbers. The Portuguese number from 9,000 to 10,000.
 They are nearly, if not quite, a unit for America and for annexation.
-Why is it so ? The young men have been educated in American schools,
+Why is it so? The young men have been educated in American schools,
 which are as positive in their American character as you can find in
 any of our American cities. Nearly all these Portuguese came from
@@ Line 40: / Line 48: @@
 New York—they know that their business and their future interests
 are entirely with us. They all talk English, and they are like Americans.
 Take the English. A majority of the English affiliate with us.
 Why? For the reason that they do all their business with California,
@@ Line 55: / Line 64: @@
 one familiar with the political organizations in the cities of the United
 States knows what that is.
-HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 925
+{{p|925}}
 They have what is called the hoodlum element in Honolulu. Pay
 them and you will have them. But what are called the missionary
@@ Line 63: / Line 72: @@
 lottery stock, and those who would not have lottery stock got cash
 down.
-The CHAIRMAN. YOU have made that statement. Do you know anything
 of the payment of lottery stock or money to carry through the
 lottery scheme?
-Mr. STEVENS. I will answer the best I can. The facts are as notorious
 as they would be in any American capital where anything of the
 kind had been going on for years. I will give you this fact, and I will
@@ Line 73: / Line 84: @@
 far as I know. He is a member if the Provisional Government. The
 day before the lottery cabinet was appointed, which must have been
-the day before the coming back of the Boston, Emuleuth went into a
+the day before the coming back of the ''Boston'', Emuleuth went into a
 commercial house in Honolulu, and as he was going upstairs, he heard
 Peterson and Colburn talking. Peterson did not want to put Colburn
@@ Line 82: / Line 93: @@
 this way: "Peterson, I paid this money, and if you don't put me in
 the cabinet, I will join the other side and blow you to hell."
-The CHAIRMAN. Emuleuth gave you this information?
-Mr. STEVENS. Emuleuth.
+The {{sc|Chairman.}} Emuleuth gave you this information?
-The CHAIRMAN. When ?
-Mr. STEVENS. He gave that to me some days after the overthrow
+Mr. {{sc|Stevens.}} Emuleuth.
 of the Government.
-The CHAIRMAN. When?
-Mr. STEVENS. A week or ten days after the overthrow; merely as a
+The {{sc|Chairman.}} When?
 historical fact, he gave it to me.
-The CHAIRMAN. Prior to the time of your leaving Honolulu on the
-Boston, to go down to Hilo, did you have any information or reason to
+The {{sc|Chairman.}} Prior to the time of your leaving Honolulu on the
 suspect that such influences were to be employed in favor of either the
 lottery or opium bill?
-Mr. STEVENS. No; just as I stated in my opening, after the Wilcox
 and Jones defeat of the lottery bill and the opium bill, I thought the
 fate of those bills were settled, and the cabinet would be carried over
 for eighteen months.
-The CHAIRMAN. What information you gathered from Emuleuth or
 any other source in regard to corruption in the Legislature to procure
 these votes of want of confidence in the ministry and for the lottery
 and opium bills was communicated to you after you returned?
-Mr. STEVENS. Yes, and as a matter of history. Colburn knew his
 power. Then Peterson said, "if we put you in, will you agree to the
 constitution which the Queen is going to promulgate?" Colburn was
@@ Line 109: / Line 130: @@
 for sure." They laughed at him; but when the cabinet was constituted
 they went in.
-The CHAIRMAN. YOU, as the American minister, were forming opinions
 upon the public situation there?
-Mr. STEVENS. Public situation.