858-859
Revision as of 07:22, 11 December 2005 by Jere Krischel (talk | contribs)
| Previous Page | Next Page |
Reports of Committee on Foreign Relations 1789-1901 Volume 6 pp858-859 300dpi scan (VERY LARGE!)
|
- commercial, and industrial organizations. Under its influence the instruction in all the schools is in the English language. It has its chamber of commerce, its social science association, its historical society, its banks and railroads, and electric lighting, and manual training schools, and benevolent organizations, and elemosynary institutions. It constitutes the intelligent, progressive, patriotic, governing ability of Hawaii. Hawaiian churches and schools, and every good work among them, rely on this foreign population for financial assistance.
- "The best elements among Hawaiians have in the past twenty years uniformly cast in their lot with the white foreigners, and have gratefully accepted their leadership.
- "This foreign population did not possess suffrage rights until 1887. Under the comparatively wholesome reign of the Kamehameha dynasty there had arisen no occasion for foreigners to feel the need of suffrage rights to protect their interests.
- "The career of Kalakaua led to several indignation mass meetings. The first, in August, 1880, protested against the summary dismissal, at 1 o'clock in the morning, of a worthy cabinet, having a majority of twenty-four in the legislature. This cabinet was dismissed at the instance of Claus Spreckels, because it would not permit his acquisition of certain Government water privileges in defiance of public interests.
- "Two days later another mass meeting compelled the dismissal of the infamous Moreno ministry.
- "On June 30, 1887, the patience of the foreign element having exhausted itself, an enthusiastic mass meeting passed resolutions to the effect 'that the administration of the Hawaiian Government has ceased, through corruption and incompetence, to perform the functions and afford the protection to personal and property rights, for which all governments exists, and exacting of the King specific pledges, within twenty-four hours, of future good conduct on the basis of a new constitution.
- "The constitution of 1887, subsequently signed by the King, in conformity with the demands of this mass meeting, made 'every male resident of Hawaii, of American or European descent, after one year's residence, a legal voter.' Other privileges were conferred, distinctly enlarging the measure of Hawaiian citizenship, and effectually removing the throne from interference in the Government.
- "This arrangement deferred to the traditions of the land, retaining the King as a figurehead, while it placed the responsibility for the Government on a cabinet subject to removal by vote of the Legislature elected by the people.
- "Emerging thus from an era of bombastic display and political corruption and gross immorality, for six years Hawaii had a wise administration of affairs.
- "Liliuokalani abhorred the constitution of 1887, and after she came to the throne, at the death of Kalakaua, sought to recover the ancient prerogatives of the throne. January of this year, after being baffled in her attempts for months by the majority in the Legislature, found Liliuokalani ready to resort to drastic measures.
- "She secured enough votes to oust the best cabinet Hawaii had enjoyed, by agreeing on her part to sign the odious lottery bill. She appointed a ministry in sympathy with her desire for absolute power, prorogued the legislature, and undertook in the presence of her armed
|
- troops to abrogate the constitution of 1887 and to promulgate a new one, making her well-nigh an absolute monarch.
- "This lead to the great mass meeting of January 10, 1893, which took steps to organize a new government and to seek annexation to the United States.
- "In all their efforts since 1880 to gain reasonably good government and, having gained it, to retain it, the foreign population have never had the slightest aid from any foreign government, either by force of arms or by stroke of diplomacy.
- "In 1889, when the police and royal troops proved unreliable and the citizens had to rally and suppress a thoroughly organized rebellion, they learned that the forces of law and order were not to expect, even in such crises, the slightest aid from United States troops, although those troops were ashore and under arms all day in close proximity to the scene of conflict.
- "If a timid man, last January, was frightened and hoped for aid and protection from United States troops he had nothing to base that hope upon. The aroused citizens were better prepared to cope with the Queen's forces last January than in 1889, when they so successfully quelled the Wilcox insurrection; and, moreover, the Queen and her cabinet knew it, and discreetly avoided a conflict. Men in the ranks who had the fighting to do knew they must do it themselves. Any other representation is false to facts, which can be amply demonstrated.
- "Granting that Mr. Blount sought an honest and impartial verdict on the circumstances attending the establishment of the Provisional Government, the nature of all the evidence submitted is such that another man, equally just and impartial, could have arrived, legitimately, at a diametrically opposite conclusion, with an abundance of facts to establish it.
- "This foreign population, that has been such a potent factor in the political evolution of Hawaii, has never taken united action except in behalf of good government. It has been moderate in its demands, humane in its action, patient with the frailties of an effete monarchy, and uniformly considerate of the political rights of native Hawaiians.
- "Twenty years of progressive participation in public affairs prepared the foreign population, when the monarchy collapsed, to assume the responsibility for initiating stable and efficient government in the interests of all. This it has courageously undertaken, and with a remarkable measure of success, while awaiting the decision of the United States on the proposal for annexation. It must be borne in mind that the United States was not requested to adjudicate domestic differences in Hawaii, nor was that the ground on which the Provisional Government was accorded recognition by all the civilized nations. Because of its peculiar relations to Hawaii, covering a period of fifty years, this great country was appealed to to provide a basis for progressive, responsible, republican government.
- "Such an evolution as I have briefly outlined has crystallized antagonisms and prejudices which it will take years to dissolve, and which would menace and imperil any purely independent national existence. The liability to political unrest, if not actual revolution, would prove as disastrous to Hawaii as in so many instances it has proved to Central American republics.
- "The situation is so peculiar as to call for the fostering supervision of some strong foreign power under which it would be possible for an efficient and progressive government to grow up, advantageous alike
| Previous Page | Next Page |