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Senator Gray. Did you judge that that was the de facto Government upon the information that came to you that a Provisional Government had been proclaimed?
Mr. Stevens. Only in part. I judged it from the condition of the town and all the circumstances. I knew that the Provisional Government had been talked of for sixty hours, and I had it from many persons. I was living on the principal street, and they would hear it on the street and tell my daughter about it, and would come by in a carriage and tell me.
Senator Gray. Had you any knowledge of any other fact in regard to the transactions of that afternoon that bore upon the question at all, except the fact that the Provisional Government had been proclaimed?
Mr. Stevens. I knew the fact an hour and a half before. You will see how importantly this fact bears on the situation, the efforts of the Provisional Government to transfer the arms from the store, and the abortive attempt of one of Mr. Wilson's policemen to interfere, and that was all the resistance for sixty hours—--
Senator Gray. Who told you that?
Mr. Stevens. I learned it probably from twenty different sources. I heard the shot.
Senator Gray. Tell me the names of some who told you?
Mr. Stevens. I guess my own daughter told me first.
Senator Gray. Who told you afterward?
Mr. Stevens. That I could not tell, because events passing so rapidly like that, and a hundred men calling on me, it would be impossible to remember who the individual was. But there were many.
Senator Gray. Why did you not wait until the next day before you sent the note of recognition ?
Mr. Stevens. For the reason that a half century of the study of government on both continents and 13 years of diplomatic experience would have told me it was right.
Senator Gray. That was the result of your study?
Mr. Stevens. My study and experience would have told me so.
Senator Gray. And your study and experience told you that it was right to recognize that government within an hour or an hour and a half?
Mr. Stevens. I do not accept it in that form.
Senator Gray. I ask you as a matter of fact whether you did recognize it within an hour or an hour and a half?
Mr. Stevens. I do not think that material; probably within an hour and a half or two hours.
Senator Gray. Whether it is material or not, answer the question.
Mr. Stevens. I do not know the precise time by the clock.
Senator Gray. That is sufficient; you do not know the time; you can not say whether it was an hour or an hour and a half?
Mr. Stevens. It was probably inside of two hours.
Senator Gray. Were you well acquainted with Mr. Thurston?
Mr. Stevens. Pretty well acquainted with him, because he was a minister of the Government when I went to Honolulu.
Senator Gray. Are you well acquainted with W. O. Smith?
Mr. Stevens. Passably well. He lived near me, within half a mile. I never had much acquaintance with him; met him occasionally, and, as Americans, we went to the same church. In the course of a year he and his wife called at our house two or three times. Senator Gray. Did any of these gentlemen, Mr. Thurston, Mr.
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Smith—any of them connected with the committee on public safety— call upon you on Sunday?
Mr. Stevens. I have already stated that Mr. Thurston called a few minutes at my house Sunday. I would not know when a gentleman called on me whether he was on the committee of safety or not, because I would not know until I saw the list. On Sunday they had not been appointed.
Senator Gray. I say, not whom you knew were on the committee of safety, but whether any of these gentlemen whom you knew afterward were on the committee of safety.
Mr. Stevens. I have said that I think that Mr. Thurston called; stopped in five minutes, as he passed down, and I think Judge Hartwell called also. Others called of both parties during Sunday.
Senator Gray. Did Mr. Damon call?
Mr. Stevens. I do not recollect Mr. Damon calling.
Senator Gray. What sort of a person is Mr. Damon?
Mr. Stevens. He is a man of the highest respectability.
Senator Gray. What is his business?
Mr. Stevens. He is a banker. Mr. Damon is the son of an American missionary, who went there forty years ago, and whom our Government recognized officially. He became a clerk to banker Bishop, and a great friend of the natives. He is an excellent financial manager, and largely increased the value of the property of two prominent natives. When the natives get into any financial trouble, Damon is the man they go to to get them out. He is a man of the highest character.
Senator Gray. Did Mr. Damon and Mr. Thurston call on Monday?
Mr. Stevens. I have no reliable recollection in that regard. My acquaintance with Mr. Thurston grew out of the fact that he was minister of the interior for the first thirteen months of my residence in Honolulu. I knew him officially and privately, for he lived in the part of the city in which the legation is situated.
AFFIDAVIT OF JAMES F. MORGAN.
Honolulu, Oahu, ss:
My name is James F. Morgan; I am 32 years old; was born in the city of New York of American parents; came here when I was about 2 years old; was educated and have lived here since; have been in business as auctioneer and commission merchant for about six years; I took the business of E. P. Adams, with whom I had been clerk for about ten years.
I have been a member of the advisory council of the Provisional Government from its formation, January 17, 1893. I have been closely interested in Hawaiian political affairs for many years, and have carefully watched the progress of events. I believe the Hawaiian monarchy came to an end at the time when it could no longer exist; it had survived its usefulness, and with the revolutionary acts of the Queen on January 14 matters culminated, and it was impossible to longer endure such a Government.
I was not a member of the committee of public safety, nor was I present at the meetings at W. O. Smith's office on the afternoon of the 14th; but I knew what was going on. After I was requested by the committee of public safety to become a member of the advisory council, and learning that it was the intention to seek annexation to the
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