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understood, contrary to the attitude of the Government of the United States at that time?
Mr. Stevens. Yes. And he thought that the whole thing was a mistake; but when he was conferred with by some of the citizens he denied it. So that I could not say what his real position was.
The Chairman. We do not want to go into that. When Mr. Blount arrived, did he communicate to you any of the special instructions that he had received?
Mr. Stevens. Not his instructions; but he gave me a copy of the instructions from Washington, by which his authority was paramount over mine, and that I should keep on with the ordinary duties of the legation. But he never showed me his instructions nor gave me a hint as to what they were.
The Chairman. You had only a conjecture as to what they might be?
Mr. Stevens. Only a conjecture.
The Chairman. Mr. Blount was cautious in withholding his instructions, was he? Did you ask to be informed of his mission there?
Mr. Stevens. Oh, no; I introduced him to the Provisional Government, and was courteous as I could be to him.
The Chairman. Did you demur, dissent, to his coming there as minister of the United States with authority paramount to your authority there?
Mr. Stevens. No. I kept that locked up in my breast.
The Chairman. So that, whatever his mission was, it was not a matter to arouse your antagonism?
Mr. Stevens. Not the slightest. On the other hand, I treated him with the utmost kindness. I knew that he came with a great deal of prejudice, and I was careful---
The Chairman. How do you know that he came with prejudice?
Mr. Stevens. By his conduct. It was very brusque with me in the start. It was brusque in his refusal to accept the offer of the American citizens that he should take a house rather than go the royalist hotel.
The Chairman. That offer was made by whom?
Mr. Stevens. That was a committee of American citizens. I can give you who they were and what they were.
The Chairman. Was it the committee of safety?
Mr. Stevens. They were not members of it. The chairman of it was Judge Hartwell, who had nothing to do with the revolution whatever, and the next member was Mr. Scott, a Kentucky gentleman, who has had charge of the high school for many years—not connected with the Government or even with politics.
The Chairman. How came the citizens to provide a house for Mr. Blount any more than for you as minister?
Mr. Stevens. For the reason that they knew that the Hawaiian Hotel was organized in the interest of the Queen's supporters and organized in a very corrupt way.
The Chairman. Was there no other hotel there except the one at which Mr. Blount stopped?
Mr. Stevens. That was the principal hotel. There were other good hotels.
Senator Gray. That was the principal hotel?
Mr. Stevens. Yes. There were other hotels.
Senator Gray. Mr. Blount says he went there because it was the leading hotel, and that he never saw its proprietor to speak to him for many weeks after he had been there, and he saw no men who were
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royalists, except they came for the purposes of examination. Do you know anything to the contrary?
Mr. Stevens. I know altogether to the contrary. The Hawaiian Hotel had been for many months as complete a lodge for all the Queen's supporters, to the extent that they watched every boarder who was brought there. The man who kept that hotel was of a firm that cheated the Government out of $80,000. One of the firm was sent to Washington as Kaiulani's counsel. The active manager of that hotel at the time is a graduate from the Oxford University, England. He was divorced from his wife in the United States. He wrote those vile letters in behalf of the Queen attacking me and Judge Dole.
Senator Gray. Do you know that Mr. Blount had any association with those people?
Mr. Stevens. That I can not swear to. I was giving the character of the hotel, the reasons why these citizens suggested that he go to a private house.
Senator Gray. Do you know that Mr. Blount associated with the people whom you have described on terms of intimacy or otherwise?
Mr. Stevens. I think it would be impossible for Mr. Blount to know, because they were strangers to him.
Senator Gray. Do you know that he did?
Mr. Stevens. I know that when I called at the cottage that they were generally there.
Senator Gray. Where?
Mr. Stevens. At the cottage where he stopped, close to the hotel. I found some of those parties were there.
Senator Gray. Who were some of those parties?
Mr. Stevens. Mr. Peterson was one. You asked me why these citizens made this offer. It was because while he was at the hotel he would be under espionage of the royalists.
Senator Gray. Do you say that Mr. Blount when he arrived went to the Hawaiian Hotel, and he there associated intimately or otherwise with those objectionable characters?
Mr. Stevens. I do not believe that he did.
Senator Gray. I will ask you whether or not that hotel is where all American tourists and strangers would go?
Mr. Stevens. More likely to go.
Senator Gray. Did not the tourists all go to that hotel?
Mr. Stevens. More or less. But so soon as they had been there any length of time, they generally left it. A good many Americans left it because of its anti-American character.
The Chairman. Now, as I understand your statement, this body of citizens undertook to provide quarters for Mr. Blount in order to prevent him from falling under what they conceived to be and you conceived to be evil influences?
Mr. Stevens. I will state it my own way. These citizens were of the highest respectability. This lady offered it because it was more convenient to the legation, and where both parties would have access without espionage, as the American citizens knew that they could not go to the royalists hotel without espionage. And I had to caution Mr. Blount that his papers would be seen by the representatives of the royalists. I think he regarded that caution.
Senator Gray. Did he make any objection to accepting the hospitality of any one, or simply that he preferred to go to the public hotel where he could pay his own expenses?
Mr. Stevens. I think he said Mr. Mills had arranged to go to the hotel. At that time he did not mean anything out of the way.