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Then, page 487 of Executive Document 48:
- "Sir: You will take command of the battalion and land in Honolulu
for the purpose of protecting our legation, consulate, and the lives and property of American citizens, and to assist in preserving public order. Great prudence must be exercised by both officers and men, and no action taken that is not fully warranted by the condition of affairs, and by the conduct of those who may be inimical to the treaty rights of American citizens. You will inform me at the earliest practicable moment of any changes in the situation.
- "Very respectfully,
- "G. C. Wiltse,
- "Captain U. S. Navy, commanding U. S. S. Boston.
- "Lieut-Commander W. T. Swinburne,
- "Executive officer, U. S. S. Boston."
The affidavits I have are as follows:
STATEMENT OF A. F. JUDD, CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS.
A short sketch of my life and antecedents may, perhaps, give more credence to what I may say. I was born in Honolulu on the 7th of January, 1838. My father, Dr. Gerrit P. Judd, came with my mother to these islands in 1828. My father was physician to the American mission that had been established here eight years before his arrival here. His profession necessarily brought him into close and confidential relations with the Regent, Kaahumanu, the young King, Kamehameha III, and the high chiefs, who were then a large and influential class. At their earnest request, my father left the mission in 1843 and took office under Kamehameha III, first as interpreter and as a member of the treasury board, and later as minister, which office he held till 1853. We lived for three years on the palace grounds, and for many years I, with the rest of my brothers and sisters, were in intimate companionship in school and out of it with the young chiefs.
I attended the first royal school for a while in which were the sons of Kinau, who became Kamehamehas IV and V, their sister, Victoria Kamamalu, who was Kuhina Nui under her brother, Kamehama IV. At the same school were Queen Emma, Mrs. Bernice Bishop, David Kalakaua, his brother, James Keliokalani, and Liliuokalani, whose name at that time was Lydia Kamakaeha Paki. Several of these went later with me to the second royal school, under Dr. Beckwith. I learned to speak Hawaiian, and have lived continuously in these islands to the present time, with the exception of four years spent in the United States at Yale College, where I graduated in 1862, and at Harvard, where I studied law, returning to these islands in 1864. I have also made several visits to the United States and one to Europe.
My father's record in doing as much as anyone towards the creation of the Hawaiian Government and preserving its independence against the efforts of Great Britain and France are matters of public history. From my association with the Hawaiian people, my frequent visits to all parts of the group, I consider myself well acquainted with the Hawaiians, and admire and love such good qualities as they do possess. I have not spared myself in efforts to enlighten them, having carried on for years temperance and religious work among them. I
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was secretary to the constitutional convention of 1864, and witnessed the debates of that body which led to Kamehameha V abrogating the liberal constitution of 1852 and promulgating that of 1864. In 1868 I was elected a member of the Legislature without visiting the district that returned me, and I was again elected in 1872, this time from Honolulu. Kamehameha V having died after the Legislature closed, at a special session I voted for Lunalilo in 1873 (January 7), and was appointed his attorney-general, which office I held until Lunalilo died.
The election of a King again coming to the Legislature in February, 1874, I voted for Kalakaua as the best available candidate. He was unpopular with the natives, and if the members of Lunalilo's cabinet, Messrs. C. R. Bishop, E. O. Hall, R. Sterling, and myself, had thrown our influence, with other prominent whites, in favor of Queen Emma, who was the people's favorite, she would have been chosen in spite of Kalakaua's efforts and bribery. But we felt that the influences surrounding Queen Emma were such that English sentiment and ideas would control. We were threatened with a state church, and feared that all the court atmosphere would be adverse to the cultivation of closer commercial and political relations with the United States, which, owing to our geographical position and growing commerce and the character of our white population, were essential to our progress and prosperity. Kalakaua was elected, and a riot occurred, in which the court-house where the election was held was sacked, native members of the Legislature were attacked and beaten, and the town was at the mercy of the mob.
Owing to the timely assistance of troops from the two United States ships then in port and also from the British vessel the riot was quelled. Kalakaua took the oath of office, stating at the time (which I interpreted) that he had intended to promulgate a new constitution, but the riot had prevented it. The Government went on. I was appointed second associate justice of the supreme court February 18, 1874, promoted to first associate 1, 1877, and on the return of Kalakaua from his tour of the world was by him appointed chief justice November 5, 1881, which office I now hold. Having my chambers in the Government building I have been familiar with the political changes that have taken place during the past twenty years, have known all the twenty-six cabinets during Kalakau's reign, and have been kept informed of all important matters of state.
Our law reports and our published opinions will show nothing that would indicate on the part of the supreme court any aversion to a monarchical form of government for these islands. We maintained the personal veto of the sovereign as a constitutional right against much public pressure and under like circumstances of pressure declared in favor of the Queen Liliuokalani's right to appoint her own cabinet on her accession. It was my wish and hope that the autonomy of this archipelago should be preserved for many years to come. That we would lose it eventually was a belief shared by all—English, Americans and Hawaiians—owing to the fading of the native race and the want of material to make kings and queens of.
The justices of the Supreme Court were kept in ignorance of the league which resulted in obtaining from Kalakaua the constitution of 1887. Just before its promulgation Justice Preston and myself were invited to assist in its revision, which we consented to do under a written protest that we did not approve of the method of its promulgation as being unconstitutional. I think that both the coup d'etat of Kamehameha V and the revolution of 1887, though both were accomplished
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without bloodshed, lessened the respect of the Hawaiian for the constitution and encouraged the attempt of Robt. Wilcox, in June, 1889 to rebellion and the promulgation of a constitution that would restore the lost prerogatives of the King.
I tried Wilcox for conspiracy to commit treason and had to discharge one Hawaiian jury for violent conduct while in the jury box. The second jury acquitted him in spite of his own testimony admitting all the acts which constituted conspiracy. The testimony of that trial showed that Kalakaua was a party to the conspiracy, and only because he was afraid that it would not be successful he failed to go to the palace and promulgate the constitution. The native soldiers were in sympathy with Wilcox's plans, as also many of the native police, and Wilcox also relied upon V. V. Ashford's promise that the Honolulu rifles which he commanded would not help against him.
Mr. Ashford was very lukewarm in his efforts to dispossess the rebels of the Palace grounds and the Government building. I was a personal hearer of the altercations between him and his brother, C. W. Ashford, who was then Attorney-General. The Attorney General would urge one plan and another, always to be rebuked by Col. Ashford with the statement that it could not be done, or that he, the Attorney-General, knew nothing of such matters. It was mainly owing to the volunteer citizens soldiery who rallied to the support of the Cabinet that the rebellion was put down by force in which seven Hawaiians were killed and others wounded. Liliuokalani disavowed to me her knowledge or connivance with Wilcox's plans, but the fact that the armed party under Wilcox assembled at her own house in the suburbs and started from there to the Palace, gives credence to the belief that she knew of it.
At Minister Merrill's request marines from the U.S.S. Adams were landed and stayed all the afternoon and night at the legation, which was in one of the cottages of the Hawaiian Hotel, and close to Col. Ashford's headquarters. This went far to quiet apprehension of mob violence that night. The U.S.S. Boston troops were accustomed during their stay here to land weekly for drill and parade. We have for many years been accustomed to this spectacle from other ships of the United States Navy and occasionally from ships of other nationalities. As I have said, twice before the l6th of January, 1893, when the Boston troops landed, have we seen them land to protect American life and property. I knew Capt. Wiltse intimately. He often came to my house and often assured me that his instructions were to remain passive and only to use his forces for the protection of American life and property.
I do not deny that both Minister Stevens and Capt. Wiltse were not in sympathy with the disgraceful plans of those in the Legislature and out of it who would force a national lottery upon us that the history of Louisiana proved to us would, in time, have captured the entire Government, and that they both wished for purity in government in our community and for what all good Christian Americans would desire for this country and for their own. Such gentlemen could not from their nature sympathize with what was corrupting or vile. But I affirm that not in all my intercourse with these gentlemen have I heard any expressions from either of them that would lead me to hope or expect that they would use the forces of the United States in any violent act against the Queen's forces or in aid of any insurgents. The constant presence of ships of the United States Navy for years and years past has assured us that they would protect American life and property, and this assurance was the same whether the troops were landed or
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kept on board. Let others who were of the committee of safety and leaders of the movement of January 17 speak for themselves of their actions not known to me. My narrative is what came to my personal knowledge.
During the first part of the Queen's reign she was very friendly with the moral and Christian portion of our community, attending social and religious gatherings of the ladies in their various societies and contributing to their benevolent work. I felt that she was sincere in her intentions to rule wisely and well and to leave government to her cabinet, and I did all I could to make my friends trust her. On one occasion, owing to the public scandal created by her having around her in the palace women of bad repute, and both men and women of doubtful reputation invited to the palace balls, I had had a long conversation as to the necessity of purifying the atmosphere about her. She expressed sympathy with my views. But I knew from others that she was dissatisfied with the constitution of 1887; that she thought Kalakaua had yielded too tamely to the pressure and that she would not.
I knew from the native newspapers that the politicians were persuading the Hawaiians that the property qualifications of a voter for nobles being too high for the mass of them, practically deprived them of rights which they thought they ought to have and gave them to the white man. I was well aware that when the common native has his race prejudices excited on the stump and in his newspapers he is apt to think that all his ills and all his poverty are owing to the supremacy of the white race in this country. But Liliuokalani had been educated in Christian schools, had had advantages of association with the best people of our communities and with the cultured of all nations here as visitors, and I did not think that all this would go for naught when the time, as she thought, had come for her to assert herself as Queen of the native race alone. I had been frequently told that she disliked me and my influence, but I have never received any personal indication of it.
It was not until the Legislature was well along that her friends, I among them, began to fear that she was insincere. It could not be understood why she kept the appropriation bill so long after it passed the Legislature, or why she postponed the prorogation of the Legislature beyond the time set for it by the Legislature. The session had been long and fatiguing. The lottery bill had been the subject of most intense feeling in the community and of discussion in the newspapers of this city, and its adherents were shamed out of its advocacy. It was considered a dead issue. The act to reorganize the judiciary department was approved by the Queen only on condition that the cabinet propose an amendment that the district magistrates should be commissioned by the sovereign on the nomination of the cabinet in place of the law as it had stood for many years, whereby the chief justice, with the approval of the other justices, should commission them on the nomination of the cabinet. The cabinet yielded for the sake of peace.
This was to my mind the first open indication that she was desirous to regain the power that Kalakaua had either surrendered or which had been taken from him by statute. The appointment of 26 magistrates of her adherents all over the islands would give her great power. The next step she took was to refuse to commission Mr. Frear as circuit judge under the new act. Mr. Frear was in all respects the best available man for the place. I took the liberty of advising her to
S. Doc. 231, pt 6----51
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appoint him and used every argument that the facts justified. She wanted to appoint Mr. Antone Rosa. I told her of facts that unfitted him for the place, but they had no effect, and it was not until her adherents, among them Paul Neumann, told her that if she had promised her cabinet to appoint Mr. Frear that she must do so, that she signed the commission.
The paper-money bill having been defeated, and the lottery bill being considered dead, and a ministry possessing the confidence of the men of character, wealth, and intelligence of this country—G. N. Wilcox, M. P. Robinson, P. C. Jones, and Cecil Brown—having been appointed, the appropriation bill having been signed (usually the last act of the Legislature), the community were generally relieved and confidence was being restored, when events occurred which explained the Queen's delay in the matter of the appropriation bill and the postponing of the prorogation. Six among the best members of the Legislature had left town, some for the other islands and some for the United States, and one to England. The justices of the supreme court had shortly before this in a reply to the Legislature expounded the constitution to mean that to oust a ministry on a vote of want of confidence it would require the concurrence of a majority of all the members of the Legislature, exclusive of the cabinet; that is, 25 votes were essential.
On the 4th of January, 1893, Mr. J. E. Bush, then an adherent of the Queen, though in the early part of the session he was violently opposed to her, introduced a vote of want of confidence in the Wilcox-Jones cabinet. It failed by a vote of 19 to 22, but rumors were thick that it would be tried again. Suddenly, on the 10th of January, the lottery bill was called up and after but little discussion it passed its second reading by a vote of 20 to 17. Only one white man voted for it. It was brought up again on the next day and passed its third reading by a vote of 23 to 20. This was considered as a test vote adverse to the cabinet, and the opposition lacked only two votes to oust the cabinet, twenty-five being the requisite number. On the 12th of January the Queen gave a lunch to the opposition members at noon. The members came into the House looking serious and excited. Two natives who had hitherto voted in favor of the cabinet came in from lunch with yellow wreaths on, which the Queen had given them. I found out that she had begged them to vote the ministry out, appealing to their loyalty to her and to their native land.
Mr. C. O. Berger, a noble (German), had promised that he would not go to the Legislature again, but at noon he was promised that his father-in-law, Judge H. A. Widemann, should form the new cabinet, and he went to the House, and, with W. H. Cornwell (who did not vote for the lottery bill owing to his mother's persuasions, who came to the Legislature and labored with him), the twenty-five votes were secured. The promise to Mr. Berger, was made by Mr. Samuel Parker, who went off as if to the palace from Mr. Berger's office and returned as if he had secured the Queen's consent. The resolution of "want of confidence" was introduced by J. N. Kapahu, member from Kau Hawaii. It expressed no reasons and was put to vote and carried without discussion.
When the lottery bill and the vote of want of confidence were passed the lobbies were full of natives, half-whites, and low foreigners, who gave vent to their feelings of joy by shouts, hurrahs, tossing up their hats, shaking hands, and all rushed out all jubilant as the House adjourned. The feeling all over town was intense and despair was seen reflected on many faces, but as yet all that was done was within the law. Mr. Berger and others tried to get members to coalesce and repair the mischief,
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but it was too late. A quorum was secured on Friday p. m., the 13th January, and the new cabinet came in with their commissions, Parker, Colburn, Cornwell, and Peterson. Mr. Parker had that morning told Mr. Widemann that he could go into the cabinet with himself. (Parker), Peterson, and Colburn. Mr. Widemann told me that he could not go into the cabinet with such a man as Colburn, and declined, and so the office of minister of finance was given to Cornwell.
On Saturday morning the cabinet announced that the Queen had signed the lottery and opium bills, and the Queen at 12 o'clock prorogued the Legislature. I think the Queen approved the opium bill and suppressed the Chinese registration act to please the Chinese, from which class she expected contributions of money, and she approved the lottery bill to please the natives and to get favor with the class of whites who opposed the "Missionaries," besides wishes for the revenue it would yield. Mr. John Phillips, one of the promoters of the lottery bill, said to a friend of mine, when every one was debating whether the Queen would sign it, "She will sign it; there is too much in it for her." That Saturday morning it leaked out to me that Bill White, the member from Lahaina, had said that after the prorogation the natives were all going to the palace and the Queen would proclaim a new constitution.
I went down town and mentioned this rumor to several persons, but only a few believed it. While near Mr. Hartwell's law office I saw Mr. Colburn (the minister) drive up and go into Mr. Hartwell's office, and thought it was a very strange proceeding, as he seemed excited and in a great hurry. Returning to the Government building I met Peterson, who looked very much agitated, and he said he did not expect to remain in office over a day or so. A large crowd of natives was collecting in the Government building premises and there was a general air of expectation. The ceremony of prorogation went off as usual and at the close the chamberlain invited us over to the palace. This was not unusual. I urged my associate, Justice Dole, to go to the palace with Justice Bickerton and myself, telling him my fears that the Queen was going to proclaim a new constitution. Jude Dole had another engagement and declined to go. I then noticed from my balcony that the Hui Kalaiaina, a political association, were marching out of the yard to the palace. They were all dressed in evening dress, with tall hats, banners, and badges, and marched two and two. In the front rank was John Akina carrying a large, flat package in front of his breast, suspended by ribbons about his shoulders. This was the new constitution.
When I reached the palace the Hui Kalaiaina were already in the throne room in regular lines, constitution in hand, and their president, Alapai, had an address to deliver which he had open in his hand. In their rear were members of the Legislature and the corridors were crowded with natives. We, i.e., the diplomatic corps, justices, Governor Cleghorn, and the young princess, President Walker and staff officers, were stationed in our usual positions for a state ceremony. But the Queen and cabinet did not come. They were closeted in the blue room. We waited and waited. I asked, in turn, Cleghorn, the princess, President Walker, the diplomatic corps, the staff officers, what the delay meant. No one knew. I told them my suspicions. One by one these person's left their positions, some went home, some went to the dining room. We waited.
Little by little we ascertained that the Queen was urging the cabinet to approve the new constitution. Wilson told me in great emotion
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that he had been fighting the battle alone all the morning and that the Queen was determined to proclaim a new constitution. He said the constitution was her own compilation. The members of the Hui Kalaiaina said that the constitution came from the Queen to them. Parker told me later that he staid by the Queen, for he was afraid if left alone she would sign the constitution, take it out to the people, proclaim it from the palace balcony, and say that her cabinet and judges would not approve of it, and tell the people to look out for them. Every one knows how quickly Colburn and Peterson, when they could escape from the palace, called for help from Thurston and others, and how afraid Colburn was. to go back to the palace. I sent messages to her twice to be excused from further attendance, but received answers to wait a little.
The troops, 100 in number, with ball cartridges, were kept all day in line in front of the palace. Finally, at about 4 p.m., the cabinet came in. Parker, in tears, told me the Queen had agreed to postpone the promulgation. Then the Queen came in angry, defiant, and yet under perfect control. Her speech I wrote down that evening and it was published. I asked a good many who heard it if my account was correct, and they said it was. She did not withdraw the constitution, she merely postponed its promulgation on account of the obstacles she had met with, and told the people to go to their homes and wait for it. This was understood by the natives to mean that the ministry had prevented it, for as soon as she had left the throne room, J. K. Kaunamano (member from Hamakua) turned to the people behind him (the room was full of natives) and said in a loud, excited tone, "What shall we do to these men who thwart our desires?" He was quieted by myself and others, and I then left the palace. I feel convinced that the Queen formed the idea of having a new constitution which would make her supreme long before she became Queen. She hesitated before taking the oath to the constitution of 1887, and only because Cummins and others, including Gov. Dominis, her husband, told her she had better swear to it that she did.
The new constitution restored to the Queen the right to appoint the Nobles, which virtually placed the whole legislative power in her hands. The justices of the supreme court were to be appointed for six years, which virtually destroyed the independence of the judiciary. The ministry were to hold at her pleasure, which would make an autocrat of her. This new constitution would have made it impossible for white men to live here. With the Legislature bribed as we know the last one was, and changing their votes at the will of the Queen, and a hostile Queen and a subservient cabinet, there was no safety for us or our property. This justified the revolution.
The mass meeting held on Monday afternoon, the 16th, showed the leaders of the revolution that they would be supported. This made cowards of the cabinet. How could they attempt to use force when they knew their Queen was wrong? They were aware that something serious was planned. It was in the air. Parker knew of it from what he said to me. Being unaware that Wilson's force was insufficient to take and hold the Government buildings it seemed strange to me that he did not take possession during Sunday or Monday. It is very easy to say that the Boston's men overthrew the Queen. They did nothing more than has been done often before—to land with the intention of protecting American interests if imperiled. The Queen's adherents had neither the character nor the ability to resist. Men are not eager to risk their lives in a bad cause.
I resume the narration. I did not attend the mass meeting, but had
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conversations all day with many persons of prominence, and some of those who are now royalists were fierce in their denunciations of the Queen. We all felt satisfied that in some way the Queen's policy would be defeated, but just in what way I could not tell. The people seemed determined and were satisfied to leave their cause in the hands of the committee. It was wise not to divulge openly their plan of overturning monarchy. The Queen's proclamation of Monday that she would not attempt a new constitution again and was impelled to the step by stress from her native subjects had no effect. This last statement was untrue. Even Mr. Widemann told me that it was a piece of folly, as it did not announce the resignation of the cabinet and indicate a new one in whom the country had confidence.
It is not true that the new constitution came from the people. It was the Queen's own idea and design, and her adherents had spread her sentiments among the people. It was admitted to me that she had shown this constitution to her ministers, Parker, Peterson, and Colburn, even before their appointment, and that they had promised to support her in it. They were only impelled to oppose her when she was attempting to carry out the scheme by fear of the consequences. Mr. J. O. Carter told Mr. P. C. Jones and myself on Saturday evening, the 14th of January, that both Cornwell and Colburn were in fear of their lives when they escaped from the palace, and were only induced to return and face the Queen again by strong persuasion on his part.
On Monday evening the Boston troops landed. Being then an outsider I knew nothing of the proceedings of the committee of safety. There were many rumors afloat as to what they would do, etc. All I really know is that the troops from the Boston marched up King street past the palace and Government building without pausing and camped in Mr. Atherton's premises, nearly half a mile from the Government building; and it was not until 9 p. m. that they found quarters in Arion Hall. This hall is a low wooden building in the rear of the Opera House and completely hidden by it, and commanded neither the palace, the Government building, nor the barracks. It was the only place convenient for men to sleep in that was available then. Its location was not to my mind significant of any intention on the part of the United States troops to defend any uprising against the Queen's Government. The Boston's men did not move from their quarters all day Tuesday, the 17th, nor did they make any demonstrations of any kind. No one outside of the committee of safety knew definitely what the plan was. It was apparent, however, that something important was to happen. Mr. Parker told me at about noon on that Tuesday that at 4 p.m. they, the cabinet, would be all out. The people were gathering in knots in the business part of the town, especially on Fort street. I heard a shot, saw the smoke of the pistol, saw a wagon dash up street near the corner of Fort and King streets. The crowd rushed up there to hear what it was, and soon the report came that a man in charge of an ammunition wagon had shot a native policeman who was trying to stop him. Soon the crowd swelled to great numbers. Finding the excitement too intense for me to remain longer in suspense, I walked with Mr. Paty to the Government building and saw a small number of persons gathered about the front door and listening to Mr. H. E. Cooper reading a proclamation. It was then near 3 p. m., and the reading was about half concluded.
As I passed the lane between the opera house and the Government building where Arion Hall was, I did not look at nor did I think of the U.S.S. Boston's troops, though I knew they were there. There were
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none in sight. As the proclamation finished I passed through the crowd, recognized my friends as in the movement, saw Col. Soper stripping a towel from a rifle, and at the foot of the staircase saw a man armed with a ritle. I passed upstairs and told my clerk to close up all the rooms and went down again to find arranged in a line from the staircase to the front door a body of armed men in ordinary clothes, and recruits were constantly coming in. I then walked back to the center of the town, which was full of people, all business being suspended and many of the shops shut.
Our fear was that the marshal would attempt to arrest Good, who had shot the policeman, and that this would precipitate a riot. I stood with the crowd and heard all the talk. Soon I learned that the ministers were in the station house with the marshal and a body of armed men with a gatling gun. It was said that when the Americans in the station house heard that the movement was for annexation to the United States they said they would not fight for the Queen on such an issue. We saw the Queen's cabinet go in pairs in carriages from the station house to the Government building and return. Things looked very critical. Some said that Minister Stevens had refused to recognize the Provisional Government, some said that he had or would; no one seemed to know.
I was then quite fatigued with the excitement and lack of food and went home to learn soon after that the force at the station house had surrendered and that Mr. Stevens had recognized the Provisional Government, and that martial law was declared, etc. No one in the crowd, whether sympathizers with the Queen or not, suggested that the United States troops would help obtaining possession by the Provisional Government of the station house. My two eldest sons had gone off to the headquarters with their rifles in the afternoon, one with my knowledge and the other without it. I was informed by President Dole within a day or two that if the station house had not surrendered the building would have been surrounded, and as the men showed themselves, sharpshooters posted on the high building commanding it would pick them off, and, without food or water, it would only be a matter of time that they surrendered.
The committee when they went to the Government building from W. O. Smith's office believed themselves to be in extreme peril. They were not armed. They were exposed to attack by the Queen's troops coming from the barracks through the palace premises, and every man of the committee could either have been arrested as they came up to the Government building or shot down after they arrived, so far as a spectator could see, for there was no force supporting the movement in sight. An exhibition of force on the part of the revolutionists before the proclamation was read might have caused their arrest to be attempted and this would have precipitated a conflict.
It was evident to me that no one of the Queen's party dared to strike a blow, for at that time the indignation against the Queen was intense and nearly universal among the white people. The natives stood in astonishment, not knowing what was going on and saying nothing. If Marshal Wilson and the cabinet ever intended to resist the movement, they had ample time to do so, as they had from Saturday afternoon to Monday evening before the troops from the Boston had landed to attempt to place guards at all the Government buildings, and even to attempt the arrest of the leaders of the intended movement whom, Wilson well knew. I am informed that Chas. J. McCarthy, a man of military experience, and lately the clerk of the Legislature, spent Monday
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night in the Government building expecting a force of 50 or 100 armed men sent to him from the station-house, chafing because they did not come. By Tuesday night the Provisional Government had such accessions of men and arms that they were amply able to cope with any internal force.
I say, further, that my statement to Col. Blount was in response to explicit questions already apparently formulated in his mind and asked by him, and that I did not feel at liberty to volunteer information upon topics not covered by any of his questions and especially upon the matter of the alleged use by Mr. Stevens of United States troops to overthrow the Queen. My interview was on the 10th of May, 1893, and Col. Blount had evidently already settled that matter in his own mind. When I asked him to see some other gentlemen, naming them, he politely told me it was not necessary, but said he would ask Mr. P. C. Jones—but did not.
A. F. Judd.
Honolulu, December 4, 1893.
Honolulu, Oahu, ss.
Subscribed and sworn to before me this 4th day of December, A. D. 1893.
[SEAL.]
Charles F. Peterson,
Notary Public.
AFFIDAVIT OF WILLIAM C. WILDER.
Honolulu, Oahu, ss:
William C. Wilder, being duly sworn, deposes and says: I have been a member of the Legislature of the Hawaiian Islands twice; I was elected in 1888 to fill the vacancy caused by my brother's, Samuel G. Wilder, death; and was elected representative for the first Honolulu district in 1892.
The conduct of the Queen became such toward the end of the session as to lead me to believe that she was determined to regain the powers taken away by the constitution of 1887; things went on from bad to worse until the 14th of January, 1893, when the Legislature was prorouged. When it was reported on that morning that the opium and lottery bills were signed and the Cornwell-Parker-Peterson cabinet came in, the tension of public feeling became most intense; every one felt that there was trouble in the air, but it was not on account of the ousting of the Wilcox reform cabinet. If matters had ended there, there would have been no uprising.
The reform members of the Legislature did not attend the prorogation, more as a protest against the unlawful acts of the Queen than anything else. When, however, after the prorogation, the Queen attempted to abrogate the constitution and proclaim a new one, which would have restored the ancient despotic rights of the throne, and would have trampled under foot all further semblance of liberty in Hawaii, the respectable, conservative, and property interests of the country, without any prior meeting or plans, simply arose in protest and to defend their rights. From what I saw, I have no hesitation in saying that the Queen's act in attempting to abrogate the constitution and promulgate a new one brought about the revolution.
The condition of the country was then very critical, politically and
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