Hawaii Holomua, Volume II, Number 38, 17 February 1894 Edition 02 — A BOLD ROBBERY. [ARTICLE]

A BOLD ROBBERY.

A Statement of the Case. — As Queen Liliuokalani is a “native” it is not likely lhat htr statoinent will have mueh weight with the jingo press or its eonstituents. Yet even nativ£s have a right to be heard. When she 1 abdicated, she appealed to the peopleof the UuitedStates for juI stice. The appeal is now bofore them, There are some tbings lying far back of this controversy tbat it is well for us all to remember. The white people went 1 to the Hawaiiau islands volunta- ' rily. They knew the couditiom existing there. They knew that thero was a large native popnlaj tion. mueh larger than it is now. These people were living their own lives in their own way, and were happy. Their idea of happiness was not the same as ours, | but still they were happy. The whites eamo—Captaiu Cook fii-sl | —and trouble began at onee. That bold navigator was kil!ed for interfering with tbe govemment. And from tbat day r to . this the whites have been trying < to get control of the is!and. Tbe i aative jealousy of the g , r , win2 foreign infiuence was, and is, cf | ccarso, intens . How con!d ;t be otherwise? With the excep- j tion of the missionaries, the sole i object of the white people was t ] conquest—commercial and political. And to-day', whether Mr. j Stevens is to blame or not, the i i Hawaiian are virtuallv withont a » : conntrv. Crowded ont and cor- * rupted by the w!iites, they see a | whites man’s government set up in their capit»l So far there ean be no dispnte aboot the facts.

Bearing all this in mind, are we not warraneed in beliering the Hawaiian Qneen when she says that the majority of the Legislatnre ‘ had heen elected by Ihe people for the parpose of working for a new constitution‘” The constitntion of 1887, the one whieh it was proposed to modify or do away with, waa a white man'a constitntion, and was intended io give the whites control. 1« it reasonable to aappoee that

; the native—there are yet forty tboosand of them —were in !ove with it? Do peeple nsaally enjoy being raled by ao alien «ee’ ls there any reason for disbelieving tbe Qaeen s statement th.it at the beg : nning of her reign •■petitions were sent from ali parts of the kingdcm ascing fur a new constitation. r ’ It woald l*e strange, indeed, if the Hawaiians did not bielieve in home rule. The Qaeen’s ctFense. then, was in attempting to give the people—other than tbe “raling classes—faller participation in the gorernment. Tbere were conferences between members of the Cabinet and certain gentlemfcn of the reform or revolationan- part —the Qaeeu mentions Tuarston as one of the conferees—aml after tbese talks the Qaeen’s advisers refused to appeod their signatures to tue proj osed constitntion and :: ..■ ; r not ] oiiin;g ' j it. So she loned her pa 'i. Tiiis > :he importaut point. Ou Sacurdav, Januan* 14, she annouu- " | ced to the Cabinet and to the i people that she had yielded to the advice of hc-r ministers, as I they bad promised that ou some future day she could give them a new constitution. i5y Saturday uight the pretext on whieh the revolutionists acted had ceased t0 exist. There was not the sligbtest disturbance Saturday night or Sunday. At 10 o’eloek Monday raorning the Queen says that the rainistry issued an ofiicial notice. Stating that the position I took ar.d the attempt I made to promuigate a new constitution was at the earnest solicitatiou of my people—of my native subjects. They gave assnrauces that any changes desired iu the fandamental law of the land wonld l e songht only by methods provided in the constitutiou itself, and signed by myself aml ministe rs It was inten ded t i reassure the people so tbat they might contint* to maiutain order aml peaee. The Reform party had hekl a meeting on Sunday, and the Qneen probably felt that she would have to do something more to assure tbem that the old eon stitution was to stand. This she did as early as 10 o’eloek Monday morning. So by that time the “royalist revolution’’ was over. And yet at 5 o’eloek that night the marines were landed fr ora the Boston in utter disregard of the protest of the lawful government, aml even before the revolutionis ts tbemselves were quite ready for them. It seems to as that one thing at least is perfectly clear, and tliat is that the ground on whieh the revolutionists originally stood is cut from uuder their feet. They pretemled that tbey were figiiting a despotic efi’ort to !orce a new constitutiou upon the people. lhat attempt was abandoned at lea-l forty-eight houng bciore tlie mar.nes eame asho. e. Whatever taay be tuought of tbe rest of the “native’’ case. this mueh at least i is plaiu. The liberties of the | gentlemen wero not in danger. Thls being so, the whole movement degeoerates into a vulgar grab for power. And whethcr it is trae or not that oar represea- ; tative backed thi.s raid upon an est iblisued and friendly gov- { ernmeut, it certaiuly is true tbat the raidors are not patriots but baccaneers.