620-621
| Previous Page | Next Page |
|
on our business it would be necessary to have some advantage, just as the State of Louisiana has some advantage, because she has to pay more for labor than is paid in other sugar-producing countries.
The Chairman. How are the men in this present Government?
Mr. Spalding. The four men in office there are four as good men as we have in the country.
The Chairman. You mean the advisory council?
Mr. Spalding. The advisory council is made up of as good men as are in Honolulu.
The Chairman. Who are the four men?
Mr. Spalding. The executive officers.
Senator Frye. You can not find better in any country?
Mr. Spalding. No. Dole is a man; a lawyer of ability. He was upon the supreme bench for years, and is a man of integrity and character.
The Chairman. Your supreme court, how is that?
Mr. Spalding. The chief justice is a son of Dr. Judd, who was one of the early missionaries to go out there. He belonged to what we call the lay missionaries. He was not a minister. Old Dr. Judd, as he was called, was the private adviser of King Kauikeaouli in his questions with Great Britain; and this chief justice is the son of that man.
The Chairman. Is the chief justice a man of ability?
Mr. Spalding. Of ability, and has always given good satisfaction. If anything, he has a leaning to the native population. He has always been considered, perhaps, the greatest friend, the most consistent, the best friend of the native population of any white man in the country. He has been noted for that.
The Chairman. Take the conduct of these men called missionaries and of those who were their associates in the Government, would you say that their motives, as indicated by their acts, were in favor of building up enlightenment and the establishment of all the higher virtues in the people of Hawaii, the Kanakas, or were they in the other direction?
Mr. Spalding. I should say they were more in favor of the development of the best interests of the country, and especially of the native population.
The Chairman. Is there any sentiment of hostility amongst those people toward the native population?
Mr. Spalding. Among the missionaries?
The Chairman. Yes.
Mr. Spalding. Quite to the contrary. They have not only been the most intelligent and most business-like men that we have had, but men of the highest integrity.
The Chairman. You have not been connected with the church in any way.
Mr. Spalding. No; I have not been considered as belonging to the missionary element, but I have always had a high respect for the work that has been done there.
The Chairman. I suppose the fact is that the missionaries have done all the work that has been done there.
Mr. Spalding. Yes. Some of the others have gathered in without scattering so much; but the missionaries have always done everything in their power to benefit the native population.
Senator Gray. You went out there in 1867 as the special agent of the State Department, under Mr. Seward?
Mr. Spalding. Yes.
|
Senator Gray. Was that before the treaty of reciprocity?
Mr. Spalding. Before the treaty of reciprocity.
Senator Gray. And your instructions were verbal?
Mr. Spalding. My instructions were verbal. I went out as a bearer of dispatches, ostensibly.
Senator Gray. You say you had a general letter; of what kind?
Mr. Spalding. I had a general passport from the State Department allowing me to go anywhere over the world.
Senator Gray. Had you any special instructions to the Minister?
Mr. Spalding. I had only to carry to the Minister the key of the State Department code. That was the ostensible mission on which I was sent; but the real mission was to inform the Secretary himself, not the State Department, what the feeling of the country was and what effect this reciprocity treaty would have upon the two countries. I reported adversely to the reciprocity treaty on the ground that I thought it would perhaps impede or prevent annexation of that country in the near future. But in one of my letters from the Secretary he told me that the plan which I had suggested could not be followed by the United States at that time, as the public mind of the American people was dwelling too much upon the settlement of the matters growing out of the civil war, and they refused at that time to take up the annexation of any foreign country.
Senator Gray. Did you return in person with your report?
Mr. Spalding. I came back to Washington to settle my accounts after I gave up the consulate. I was appointed consul while I was out there; in fact, I was left with the consulate and legation both, before I was appointed consul.
Senator Gray. Then you returned and made your business arrangements?
Mr. Spalding. I came back to Washington and settled my accounts. That, I think, was in 1870. But I had already made my arrangements for starting in the sugar business, starting my plantation, and I have been in it ever since.
Adjourned until to-morrow, the 3d inst., at 10 o'clock a. m.
| Previous Page | Next Page |