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Mr. Reeder. No; I was not in the Government building; I was there in the vicinity.
The Chairman. At what time did you first get the impression that the political movement that had been started in Hawaii or in Honolulu would result in dethroning the Queen and the establishment of a new government?
Mr. Reeder. I had no means of knowing. Things moved along pretty rapidly. I had no means of knowing when that point arrived-when she would be dethroned.
The Chairman. That does not answer my question. I want to know when you first heard the rumor that there was a movement on foot to dethrone the Queen.
Mr. Reeder. I absolutely did not get that impression until Tuesday; it did not develop itself until Tuesday, the 17th.
The Chairman. What was the information which you received on Tuesday, which you say led you to the conclusion that there was a revolution on foot which would result in dethroning the Queen?
Mr. Reeder. On Tuesday the proclamation for a new government was read.
The Chairman. Was that the first information that you had about it?
Mr. Reeder. I had been keeping track of it all along, but that was the first information that I secured that was evidence to me that the Queen was to be dethroned.
The Chairman. I suppose you would say that that was the first time you believed or felt that the movement was really a serious one?
Mr. Reeder. Yes; that was the first time.
The Chairman. Although, I believe from your statements, you bad heard some intimations of it or discussion about it?
Mr. Reeder. No; I heard no intimation.
The Chairman. Nothing at all?
Mr. Reeder. Nothing at all; because the meetings of the committee of safety were kept secret, and at that meeting on Monday afternoon at 2 o'clock there were certain speeches made in which there was not an intimation of any kind that I could gather that they were designing anything of that kind.
The Chairman. You heard those speeches?
Mr. Reeder. Not all of them.
The Chairman. You heard some?
Mr. Reeder. Yes.
The Chairman. Did you mix in the crowd?
Mr. Reeder. I was around and amongst the crowd.
The Chairman. How many English-speaking people did you hear converse?
Mr. Reeder. There were two meetings. You are speaking of the one conducted on the part of the revolutionists?
The Chairman. Yes.
Mr. Reeder. They were pretty much all English-speaking people.
The Chairman. You did not gather, if I understand you correctly, at that meeting, from speeches or conversations that you heard in the crowd, that the movement to dethrone the Queen at the time of that meeting was a serious one?
Mr. Reeder. No; I did not gather that they had determined on that project at that time. In fact, there was nothing said of it in the seven speeches. After the seven speeches, all went along in the line of complaints.
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The Chairman. Of what?
Mr. Reeder. Complaints that the Government of the Queen was not a suitable Government; that she had been refusing all along to keep within bounds of the authority of the constitution.
The Chairman. Of the constitution of 1887?
Mr. Reeder. Of 1887-that there had been, I think they said, seven uprisings in five years of one kind or another-I could not particularize what they were, and that the Government was not a stable one; that she could not give one; that there was too much friction. That was the line of the speeches.
The Chairman. Did you hear any statements made by the speakers, or did the persons in the crowd make any, to the effect that the Queen had attempted to abrogate the constitution of 1887 and substitute for it one of her own ?
Mr. Reeder. I heard nothing except what grew out of the talk. She got up on the portico of Iolani palace----
The Chairman. You did not hear that; you were not there.
Mr. Reeder. You are speaking of what I know personally?
Senator Gray. And impressions that you gathered from actual contact with the people.
The Chairman. In this public meeting, in this crowd in which you mixed, did you hear any statement as to a matter of fact that the Queen had attempted to abrogate the constitution of 1887 and substitute for it one of her own getting up?
Mr. Reeder. Yes; that was the talk in that meeting-that was part of the complaint.
The Chairman. Was there any complaint in those speeches about the opium bill and the lottery bill?
Mr. Reeder. Yes, they were talked of, too.
The Chairman. Was anything said about voting out the cabinet?
Mr. Reeder. Yes, that was talked of, too. That was part of the complaint.
The Chairman. A sort of enumeration of grievances?
Mr. Reeder. Yes. The speeches were not very long. The whole meeting did not last to exceed an hour and a half. They opened at 2 o'clock and adjourned at a half after 3.
The Chairman. That was before you formed a definite conclusion that there was to be a revolution there?
Mr. Reeder. Yes. I was not informed that they were going to overturn the Government. On Tuesday afternoon I came to the conclusion that there was going to be something done. As I understood it, they read from the steps of the Government building this proclamation----
Senator Frye. Were you there?
Mr. Reeder. No; I was not right there.
The Chairman. Were you out in view of Iolani Palace at the time the Queen was up on the palace somewhere, the portico, and presented some constitution and made some speech to her people?
Mr. Reeder. I was near there, but I could not understand the language; she did not present a constitution; she made a speech.
The Chairman. Was there a large crowd about the Queen at that time?
Mr. Reeder. The crowd in both places seemed just about alike as to numbers.
The Chairman. I spoke of that occasion. Was there a large crowd about Iolani Palace at the time the Queen appeared on the portico-whatever you may call it?