374 



HAWAII. 



Native party sprang up, raising the cry " Hawaii 

 for the Hawaiians," and disappointed or dis- 

 graced politicians, foreign intriguers against 

 American influence, and speculators more un- 

 scrupulous than any in the Missionary party 

 leagued themselves with the malcontents when 

 they saw that the majority of the electorate and 

 the King sympathized with the movement. 

 When the Native party obtained a majority in 

 the elective part of the Legislative Assembly 

 friction arose between the King and his minis- 

 ters. So long as practical accord had subsisted 

 between the sovereign, the ministry, and the 

 Legislature occasions had not arisen for exercis- 

 ing the royal prerogatives of dismissing minis- 

 ters or vetoing bills, and hence the ministers 

 now claimed that the principle of ministerial re- 



measures for defense. Not trusting the loyalty 

 of the regular troops nor the efficiency of the raw 

 native militia, Kalakaua discreetly submitted to 

 the demands of the revolutionists that he should 

 appoint a Prime Minister of their choice and 

 proclaim a new Constitution that they had 

 draughted. This stripped the King of nearly all 

 that remained of the royal prerogative, by mak- 

 ing the ministers responsible to the Legislature, 

 and requiring every act of the King to be coun- 

 tersigned by one of them. The Nobles were made 

 elective under a high property qualification, and 

 foreign white residents were admitted to the fran- 

 chise. Officeholders were made ineligible to seats 

 in the Legislature. Conspiracies and intriguer 

 for the restoration of absolutism were constant,, 

 and were aided by the ex-Queen Liliuokalani. 



THE GOVERNMENT HOUSE, HONOLULU. 



sponsibility was established by prescription. 

 At last, in 1883, there was an absolute majority 

 of the Native party in the Assembly, and the 

 King cut loose from the Missionaries, and ap- 

 pointed an American named W. M. Gibson as 

 Premier, and 3 Kanakas to the other posts in 

 the Cabinet. The new Government was formed 

 largely of white renegades willing to carry out 

 behests that had become infamous. The Ameri- 

 cans objected most to the creation of an opium 

 monopoly, believing that the importation of 

 opium ought to be prohibited. In 1887, having 

 matured their arrangements by means of a secret 

 political society, and raised and trained a large 

 body of volunteers, the Americans, joined by the 

 better class of natives and foreigners of every 

 nationality, marched uoon the palace. The King 

 and his Prime Ministerhad begun too late their 



When the reciprocity convention with the 

 United States was renewed, in 1887, a supple- 

 mentary section conveyed to the United States 

 the right to use Pearl Harbor, in the island of 

 Oahu, as a coaling and repair station for vessels. 

 To make this capacious harbor available for the 

 purpose it will be necessary to cut a channel 

 through the coral reef at its entrance an opera- 

 tion calculated to cost $700,000, for which the 

 United States Congress has not yet made an ap- 

 propriation. When the American party was 

 again firmly established in authority, in 1889, 

 members of the Native party, secretly encour- 

 aged, it was said, by the King and his sister 

 Liliuokalani, attempted a counter-revolution 

 for the purpose of restoring the old Constitu- 

 tion. On July 2 of that year they seized the 

 and Government buildings, fortified 



