352 



HAWAII. 



duty. This arrangement had the effect of 

 pouring capital into the country, chiefly from 

 the United States, although English and Ger- 

 man capital was invested in plantations and 

 sugar-mills. Money became plentiful where 

 it had before been very scarce, and a period of 

 extravagance in private and public expenditure 

 began. This has been followed by a period of 

 depressing reaction. In 1881 Kalakaua made 

 a tour of the world with the object of pro- 

 moting immigration. The only practical re- 

 sult of the mission was a convention with 

 Japan. The tour had the effect, however, of 

 enlarging the King's ideas of government and 

 developing his ambition for power and taste 

 for regal display and military parade, the first 

 outcome of which was the coronation cere- 

 mony of 1883. Since that time extravagance 

 and waste have run riot in the kingdom, at- 

 tended with every form of official corruption 

 and legislative jobbery. The American mis- 

 sionaries, who once controlled a powerful party 

 and were potent in the affairs of the nation, 

 had incurred the reproach of avarice and 

 cruelty, but the politicians who succeeded 

 them were far less scrupulous. The King- 

 in the beginning of his reign, adopting the 

 cry of "Hawaii for the Hawaiians," had 

 dismissed his missionary advisers. He gradu- 

 ally reverted to barbaric customs, revived pagan 

 dances, and fell under the influence of sooth- 

 sayers, while his subjects relapsed into- their 

 old habits of sloth and vice. His Government 

 obtained advances from financial agents with- 

 out difficulty. A royal palace was built at a 

 cost of $1,000,000, which was double the origi- 

 nal estimate. The Government ran into debt 

 to Clans Spreckles, the San Francisco sugar- 

 refiner, for money advanced to defray cnrrent 

 expenses to the amount of $750,000. "When he- 

 refused to lend a larger sum without security, 

 a syndicate of London capitalists was formed r 

 and negotiations for a loan of $10,000,000 were 

 carried on through an intermediary named 

 McFarlane with an English banker whose name 

 was Fruhlung, a member of the syndicate. 

 The Legislature of 1886 was appealed to for a 

 loan bill, and one was approved on September 

 1, authorizing a loan of $2,000,000, of which 

 $300,000 was to be used in converting 7- and 

 9-per-cent. bonds, $250,000 for the encour- 

 agement of immigration, $75,000 for water- 

 works, and $100,000 for sewerage in Honolulu, 

 $850,000 for harbor improvements, $250,000- 

 on streets and roads, $75,000 for a highway 

 across Oahu, $75,000 for a cable between the 

 islands, $75,000 for bridges, $150,000 to repay 

 a special loan, $39,000 to purchase a steamer, 

 and $86,000 to float the loan. The act was no* 

 satisfactory to the agent of the London syndi- 

 cate, and was not acted upon. An amended 

 bill was introduced, and subsequently became 

 law. A proviso limiting the amount of bor- 

 rowing to $2,000,000 was rejected, which led 

 to the resignation of the ministry and the for- 

 mation of a new one by Walter M. Gibson , a 



prominent politician, who came to the country 

 as agent of the Mormons for the purchase of 

 land when they thought of emigrating from the 

 United States, became a large land-owner, and 

 assumed the part of a champion of the rights 

 and interests of the native race. The loan act 

 was changed in its main features and was 

 passed, and on October 15 received the signa- 

 ture of the King. The Legislature, composed 

 lor the most part of Kanakas elected by cor- 

 rupt means, passed also an appropriation bill 

 amounting to $4,552,477, the revenue being 

 estimated at $2,839,924, which was much more 

 than the probable yield. The Cabinet consist- 

 ed of Mr. Gibson and three Kanakas. The es- 

 timated expenditure was $2,830,809, and the 

 ministry was twice changed, Mr. Gibson always 

 remaining in office, before the appropriation 

 act was passed. The last ministry was com- 

 posed as follows : Minister of the Interior, W. 

 M. Gibson ; Minister of Foreign Affairs, R. D. 

 Creighton ; Minister of Finance, P. Kanoa ; 

 Attorney-General, J. T. Dare. The Cabinet 

 and the Legislature were alike subservient to 

 the King, who is said to have conceived the 

 ambition of extending his rule to Samoa and 

 other islands of the Pacific, enconraged by Gib- 

 son and by the vaticinations of a female so th- 

 sayer. Heathen rites were revived, and large 

 sums were squandered on useless and immoral 

 objects, while roads, bridges, and all useful 

 works were neglected. The celebration of the 

 King's fiftieth birthday consumed $75,000, and 

 the funeral of a relative $60,000. Places of 

 trust and emolument were tilled with Kanakas 

 without regard to their character or qualifica- 

 tions. A steamer was bought and fitted out as 

 a man-of-war at a cost of about $80,000, and 

 was sent to convey an embassy to the King of 

 Samoa, to induce him to accept the " tutelage " 

 of Hawaii. The King bought Gatling guns and 

 grape cannon to fortify his palace. The ap- 

 propriation act, besides the civil list of $143,- 

 000 T which does not include $80,000 a year re- 

 ceived by the King and a large income of the 

 Queen from crown lands, contained such items 

 as $35,000 for household expenses, $15,000 for 

 palace stables, $12 r 500 ! for the Board of Gene- 

 alogy, which went into the pocket of theQueen's 

 sister in addition to her salary for a sinecure 

 governorship, $30yOOO for the education of 

 Hawaiian youths abroad. A large proportion of 

 the appropriations were for fictitious objects, 

 the money going to the King and his favorites. 

 The white population, which pays the bulk of 

 the taxes, protested against these proceedings, 

 but Mr. Gibson, depending on the support of 

 the natives, who form the majority of the elect- 

 ors, treated them with- contempt. Dissatis- 

 faction grew and finally pervaded all classes, 

 the natives as well as the whites, excepting those 

 who profited by the general misgovernment 

 and corruption. An attempt to divert to the 

 crown the revenue of lands that had been set 

 aside for public improvements, and the misap- 

 propriation of money that had been voted for 



