Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen (30 page)

A
NYTHING
like an extended criticism of the proposed treaty will not be attempted here. The first articles convey nothing, and do not even profess to convey anything; would not any capitalist, anticipating an investment of four millions, and a contingent liability of as much more, demand an exact schedule of the property for which he is paying, and a warrant of the legitimacy of the title?

Suppose that the claims of foreign governments for indemnification for acts of outrage and imprisonment committed under the rule of the Republic, the Japanese indemnity, and the value of the crown lands, should raise the debt limit to eight millions, do the parties ceding this territory come under personal obligations to pay the overplus indebtedness?

In regard to the crown lands, even the best-informed citizens of the United States do not understand the difference between these and the lands of the Hawaiian government. Originally all territory belonged to the king, by whom it was apportioned for use only, not for sale, to the chiefs, who in turn assigned tracts, small or large, to their people; an excellent system for us, by which the poorest native had all the land he needed, and yet it could not be taken from him by any designing foreigner.

But about fifty years ago there came, in place of our own method, the land system, delivered to us by the missionaries. In effect this divided the territory of the Islands into three parts, not necessarily equal, although nearly so. One-third was devoted to the use or expenses of government; one-third was apportioned to the people; and the remainder continued, as from all ages, the private property of the chief highest in rank, — in other words, the reigning sovereign.

That part of Hawaii given by the king to the people has almost entirely left them, and now belongs to the missionaries and their friends or successors. Of the portion reserved to the government nothing need be said. If the present rule may be called a government, it probably has the right to the income of these lands. But one of their commissioners, Mr. Kinney, made a public statement through the press that it would be as well for an ex-president to claim the White House as for me to claim my income in the crown lands.

Mr. Kinney could scarcely have chosen a more effective method to prove his ignorance; and in response I have had the following brief statement prepared by one who thoroughly understands the matter : —

B
Y
M
R
. K
INNEY
. — "The fealty of the native Hawaiian to his chief knows no limit. Such loyalty exacts corresponding devotion; it was to meet this necessity that the chief highest in rank was never divested of the crown lands or private purse."

R
EPLY
. — "The White House and other official estate form an investment made with the money of the American people for the use of their chosen executive. The crown lands were never the property of the people, no, not even of any monarchical government. Not citing the testimony of ages, when all the lands belonged to the chiefs, in 1848 the ruling king reserved these very lands as 4 his private estate,' and the legislature confirmed this act ' as the private lands of His Majesty, his heirs and assigns forever.
¹
In 1864 the Supreme Court decided that 'each successor' could regulate and dispose of the same according to his will and pleasure as private property.

" In 1865 payment was made to Queen Emma in lieu of dower in these lands, although she had not been on the throne, but was the widow of a monarch deceased two years previously. In 1880 Mr. Spreckels paid the Princess Ruth $10,000 to release her claim to a small tract of these lands, although she had never ascended the throne. The act of the legislature by which these lands were made 4 inalienable, to descend to the heirs and successors of the Hawaiian crown (Ν. B., not of any Kamehameha) forever,' has never been reversed, the constitution expressly confirming this by the words, the 'successor elected shall become a new stirps for a royal family, regulated by the same law as the present royal family.'

" Were Kalakaua, Liliuokalani, or Kaiulani, of another race (instead of having, as they most certainly have, the blood of Kamehamehas), it would still be true that no intelligent lawyer would invest the money of his client in a tract of hereditary crown land unless the living representatives were to join in the deed. It is just possible that the lawyers who have visited Washington know these facts, as the first two articles of their conveyance to us by treaty are only quit claim deeds; they expressly limit the grantors' warrant to that which at this date belongs to them. Any person could execute such a conveyance to the White House estate, and it would not convey anything, nor even pretend to put the grantee in possession of anything. Will American capitalists invest at their own risk in land which constitutes one-fourth of the whole proposed territory of Hawaii? "

But it is in the sixth article that the missionary party show their determination to keep the same position under the flag of the United States that they have held at the Islands ever since the revolution of 1887. By this,
which is made part of the treaty, and so, if it should be ratified as it stands, it can never be changed, not even by Act of Congress,
the President is to appoint five commissioners,
two of whom shall be residents of the Hawaiian Islands
;
by these all legislation in regard to that territory is to be recommended to Congress.

Which means that the missionary party shall continue to control all measures enacted in regard to Hawaii and the Hawaiians; that there shall be no essential change in their greedy and deceitful policy, that they shall still coin money through the manipulation of the sugar interest and the management of the plantations and the labor question. And what advantage or return will the United States Government ever receive from such a territorial administration as that? The President and Secretary of State having agreed to such enactment, it only remains for the needed two-thirds of the Senate to ratify it to make it the law of the land.

The voters of this great and good nation are too free from suspicion. They have no idea how they have been deceived, how much more they can be deceived. The poor Hawaiians, strangers on their native soil, excluded from their own halls of legislation, have had their experience; alas, a bitter one. The Japanese, urged and inveigled and bought to come to Hawaii while they were needed to increase the foreigners' gold, have had theirs; but the American people have theirs yet to get. The Hawaiian sugar planters are having theirs from the drain on their pockets to support Thurston and those he employs in this country.

Here I may state that seldom or never had the Hawaiian government, during the days of monarchy, been known to place itself in such a position as it has fallen into since in the hands of this missionary oligarchy. It has had to borrow money several times from the two banks in Honolulu, and to ask funds from the planters. When in prison in 1895, Mr. Wilson told me, in the presence of his wife, that that year's taxes had been mortgaged to the amount of $800,000 to Mr. C. B. Bishop. Under the monarchy there was always enough from its own revenues to pay all expenses until the time came when such enterprising people as wanted to make money for themselves came into office, and prevailed on the government to make
new improvements
;
from that time the government became indebted.

There is one more bit of political history of which I will speak, and I shall then have said all that it is my intention to give to the public for the present. Soon after the inauguration of President McKinley, it was my hope to assure him in person of my kindest wishes for a happy and successful term of office, but more especially to present to him, as the representative of my people, certain documents and petitions which had been sent to me for the purpose; then my duty in the case would have been done.
¹

No attempts of any kind or nature were ever made in my behalf by any person whomsoever, to arrange an interview between the President and myself. No public man in Washington, whoever he may be, has ever declined to see me or any one of my party. The despatches which the press have published on that point have not a basis of truth. Events transpiring at the capital made it inexpedient for me to carry out the wishes and requests of my people.

The President was so overwhelmed with pressing business, so beset by office-seekers, his time so filled with matters requiring his direct attention, that he could not be expected to give consideration to any subject outside of the administration of the affairs of the United States government; which, there being no annexation movement above board at that time (the first week in March), was certainly the case with the matter intrusted to me by my people.

On the 10th of July I bade adieu to the beautiful city of Washington, where I had spent such a delightful half-year. I had called at the Capitol two or three times, not with any petition or request, but simply to thank those gentlemen who had kindly taken an interest in me and in the Hawaiian people. I had also left my card for those Senators whose families had been represented among my callers, and made a few parting visits to my friends in the city.

On Saturday afternoon I arrived in New York, and remained at the Albemarle two weeks, visiting the places of interest, attending the opera, and receiving the visits of a few of my friends who lived in that city
or
its immediate vicinity.

But while there, I received further information from the patriotic leagues, the members of which organizations expressed much regret that I had not presented the documents in my hands to President McKinley, and urging me to do this at once. Accordingly on Saturday, the 24th of July, with my whole party, I returned to Washington, this time taking rooms at the Ebbitt House. On Monday morning I sent the papers to President McKinley, by the hands of Mr. Joseph Heleluhe, and Captain Palmer, who accompanied him.

Then, learning that it was the regular reception-day of the President, and also the last one prior to his vacation, without consultation with any person, I told the members of my suite that, before leaving Washington again, we would call socially on the President. Arriving at the door of the White House, I requested Captain Palmer to send up our cards, which he did before we entered the East Room; and in response an officer, who had received his instructions, came to us, conducted us to the farther end of the room, and provided us with seats, which we were requested to retain when the President should enter to meet the hundred or so strangers who were standing at the opposite end of the large reception-room.

While we were waiting, one of the President's secretaries came down from his office with a special message from President McKinley to like effect. After the President had finished his official handshaking, he approached the place where I sat. Observing him, I arose and advanced to meet him. We had a most delightful conversation; and I found him to be a most agreeable gentleman, both in manner and in words. He spoke very prettily of his wife's delicate health, alluding to the matter of his own accord, and voluntarily expressing his regret that he could not at once invite me in to visit her. I have been thus particular to describe the facts of my social relations to the White House, because upon no subject has the desire been more frequently shown to prejudice me and my cause in the eyes of the American people.

Strangers have remarked that in no part of the world visited by them have they found the rules of etiquette so exactly laid down and so persistently observed as in Honolulu, when the Islands were under the monarchy. It is to be expected, therefore, that I know what is due to me; that further, as the wife of the governor of Oahu, as the princess royal, and as the reigning sovereign, it was not necessary for me to take lessons in the departments of social or diplomatic etiquette before residing in the national capital of the United States, or making and receiving visits of any nature.

1
After the overthrow of the monarchy, these people had no representation at home or abroad, and such is their condition to this day. Comprising four-fifths of the legally qualified voters, they are voiceless, save those few who, for the purpose of obtaining the necessaries of life, have sworn allegiance to the present government. In this connection, the following statement, which is sent
to me from Honolulu, may be of interest as showing how few now assume to govern a nation of 109,000 persons. The registered voters in 1890, under the monarchy, numbered 13,593 persons.

The registered voters in 1894, under the Provisional Government, for delegates to the so-called Constitutional Convention, numbered 4,477.

The actual voters in 1896, under the so-called Republic, numbered, for Senators, 2,017, and for Representatives, 3,196. In other words, there were qualified to vote for Senators and Representatives 2,017 persons, and for Representatives only 1,179.

From figures already in, it is doubtful whether the total vote to be cast in September next will exceed 2,000.

I
T
has been suggested to me that the American general reader is not well informed regarding the social and political conditions which have come about in the Sandwich Islands, and that it would be well here to give some expression to my own observation of them. Space will only permit, however, a mere outline.

It has been said that the Hawaiian people under the rule of the chiefs were most degraded, that under the monarchy their condition greatly improved, but that the native government in any form had at last become intolerable to the more enlightened part of the community. This statement has been substantially repeated recently by certain New England and Hawaiian "statesmen" in speeches made at the Home Market Club in Boston. I shall not examine it in detail; but it may serve as a text for the few remarks I feel called upon to make from my own — and that is to say, the native Hawaiian — standpoint.

I shall not claim that in the days of Captain Cook our people were civilized. I shall not claim anything more for their progress in civilization and Christian morality than has been already attested by missionary writers. Perhaps I may safely claim even less, admitting the criticism of some intelligent visitors who were
not
missionaries, — that the habits and prejudices of New England Puritanism were not well adapted to the genius of a tropical people, nor capable of being thoroughly ingrafted upon them.

But Christianity in substance they have accepted; and I know of no people who have developed a tenderer Christian conscience, or who have shown themselves more ready to obey its behests. Nor has any people known to history shown a greater reverence and love for their Christian teachers, or filled the measure of a grateful return more overflowingly. And where else in the world's history is it written that a savage people, pagan for ages, with fixed hereditary customs and beliefs, have made equal progress in civilization and Christianity in the same space of time? And what people has ever been subjected during such an evolution to such a flood of external demoralizing influences?

Does it make nothing for us that we have always recognized our Christian teachers as worthy of authority in our councils, and repudiated those whose influence or character was vicious or irreligious? That while four-fifths of the population of our Islands was swept out of existence by the vices introduced by foreigners, the ruling class clung to Christian morality, and gave its unvarying support and service to the work of saving and civilizing the masses? Has not this class loyally clung to the brotherly alliance made with the better element of foreign settlers, giving freely of its authority and its substance, its sons and its daughters, to cement and to prosper it?

But will it also be thought strange that education and knowledge of the world have enabled us to perceive that as a race we have some special mental and physical requirements not shared by the other races which have come among us? That certain habits and modes of living are better for our health and happiness than others? And that a separate nationality, and a particular form of government, as well as special laws, are, at least for the present, best for us? And these things remained to us, until the pitiless and tireless "annexation policy" was effectively backed by the naval power of the United States.

To other usurpations of authority on the part of those whose love for the institutions of their native land we could understand and forgive we had submitted. We had allowed them virtually to give us a constitution, and control the offices of state. Not without protest, indeed; for the usurpation was unrighteous, and cost us much humiliation and distress. But we did not resist it by force. It had not entered into our hearts to believe that these friends and allies from the United States, even with all their foreign affinities, would ever go so far as to absolutely overthrow our form of government, seize our nation by the throat, and pass it over to an alien power.

And while we sought by peaceful political means to maintain the dignity of the throne, and to advance national feeling among the native people, we never sought to rob any citizen, wherever born, of either property, franchise, or social standing.

Perhaps there is a kind of right, depending upon the precedents of all ages, and known as the "Right of Conquest," under which robbers and marauders may establish themselves in possession of whatsoever they are strong enough to ravish from their fellows. I will not pretend to decide how far civilization and Christian enlightenment have outlawed it. But we have known for many years that our Island monarchy has relied upon the protection always extended to us by the policy and the assured friendship of the great American republic.

If we have nourished in our bosom those who have sought our ruin, it has been because they were of the people whom we believed to be our dearest friends and allies. If we did not by force resist their final outrage, it was because we could not do so without striking at the military force of the United States. Whatever constraint the executive of this great country may be under to recognize the present government at Honolulu has been forced upon it by no act of ours, but by the unlawful acts of its own agents. Attempts to repudiate those acts are vain.

The conspirators, having actually gained possession of the machinery of government, and the recognition of foreign ministers, refused to surrender their conquest. So it happens that, overawed by the power of the United States to the extent that they can neither themselves throw off the usurpers, nor obtain assistance from other friendly states, the people of the Islands have no voice in determining their future, but are virtually relegated to the condition of the aborigines of the American continent.

It is not for me to consider this matter from the American point of view; although the pending question of annexation involves nothing less than a departure from the established policy of that country, and an ominous change in its foreign relations. It is enough that I am able to say, and with absolute authority, that the native people of Hawaii are entirely faithful to their own chiefs, and are deeply attached to their own customs and mode of government; that they either do not understand, or bitterly oppose, the scheme of annexation. As a native Hawaiian, reared and educated in close intimacy with the present rulers of the Islands and their families, with exceptional opportunities for studying both native and foreign character, it is easy for me to detect the purpose of each line and word in the annexation treaty, and even to distinguish the man originating each portion of it.

I had prepared biographical sketches and observations upon the mental structure and character of the most interested advocates of this measure. They have not refrained from circulating most vile and baseless slanders against me; and, as public men, they seemed to me open to public discussion. But my publishers have flatly declined to print this matter, as possibly it might be construed as libellous.

And just here let me say that I have felt much perplexity over the attitude of the American press, that great vehicle of information for the people, in respect of Hawaiian affairs. Shakespeare has said it is excellent to have a giant's strength, but it is tyrannous to use it like a giant. It is not merely that, with few exceptions, the press has seemed to favor the extinction of Hawaiian sovereignty, but that it has often treated me with coarse allusions and flippancy, and almost uniformly has commented upon me adversely, or has declined to publish letters from myself and friends conveying correct information upon matters which other correspondents had, either wilfully or through being deceived, misrepresented. Perhaps in many cases
libellous
matter was involved. Possibly the press was not conscious of how cruelly it was exerting its strength, and will try, I now trust, to repair the injury.

It has been shown that in Hawaii there is an alien element composed of men of energy and determination, well able to carry through what they undertake, but not scrupulous respecting their methods. They doubtless control all the resources and influence of the present ruling power in Honolulu, and will employ them tirelessly in the future, as they have in the past, to secure their ends. This annexationist party might prove to be a dangerous accession even to American politics, both on account of natural abilities, and because of the training of an autocratic life from earliest youth.

Many of these men are anything but ideal citizens for a democracy. That custom of freely serving each other without stipulation or reward which exists as a very nature among our people has been even exaggerated in our hospitality to our teachers and advisers. Their children, and the associates they have drawn to themselves, are accustomed to it. They have always been treated with distinction. They would hardly know how to submit to the contradictions, disappointments, and discourtesies of a purely emulative society.

It would remain necessary for them to rule in Hawaii, even if the American flag floated over them. And if they found they could be successfully opposed, would they seek no remedy? Where would men, already proved capable of outwitting the conservatism of the United States and defeating its strongest traditions, capable of changing its colonial and foreign policy at a single
coup
, stop in their schemes?

Perhaps I may even venture here upon a final word respecting the American advocates of this annexation of Hawaii. I observe that they have pretty successfully striven to make it a party matter. It is chiefly Republican statesmen and politicians who favor it. But is it really a matter of party interest? Is the American Republic of States to degenerate, and become a colonizer and a land-grabber?

And is this prospect satisfactory to a people who rely upon self-government for their liberties, and whose guaranty of liberty and autonomy to the whole western hemisphere, the grand Monroe doctrine, appealing to the respect and the sense of justice of the masses of every nation on earth, has made any attack upon it practically impossible to the statesmen and rulers of armed empires? There is little question but that the United States could become a successful rival of the European nations in the race for conquest, and could create a vast military and naval power, if such is its ambition. But is such an ambition laudable? Is such a departure from its established principles patriotic or politic?

Here, at least for the present, I rest my pen. During my stay in the capital, I suppose I must have met, by name and by card, at least five thousand callers. From most of these, by word, by grasp of hand, or at least by expression of countenance, I have received a sympathy and encouragement of which I cannot write fully. Let it be understood that I have not failed to notice it, and to be not only flattered by its universality, but further very grateful that I have had the opportunity to know the real American people, quite distinct from those who have assumed this honored name when it suited their selfish ends.

But for the Hawaiian people, for the forty thousand of my own race and blood, descendants of those who welcomed the devoted and pious missionaries of seventy years ago, — for them has this mission of mine accomplished anything?

Oh, honest Americans, as Christians hear me for my down-trodden people ! Their form of government is as dear to them as yours is precious to you. Quite as warmly as you love your country, so they love theirs. With all your goodly possessions, covering a territory so immense that there yet remain parts unexplored, possessing islands that, although near at hand, had to be neutral ground in time of war, do not covet the little vineyard of Naboth's, so far from your shores, lest the punishment of Ahab fall upon you, if not in your day, in that of your children, for "be not deceived, God is not mocked." The people to whom your fathers told of the living God, and taught to call "Father," and whom the sons now seek to despoil and destroy, are crying aloud to Him in their time of trouble; and He will keep His promise, and will listen to the voices of His Hawaiian children lamenting for their homes.

It is for them that I would give the last drop of my blood; it is for them that I would spend, nay, am spending, everything belonging to me. Will it be in vain? It is for the American people and their representatives in Congress to answer these questions. As they deal with me and my people, kindly, generously, and justly, so may the Great Ruler of all nations deal with the grand and glorious nation of the United States of America.