382 



HAWAII. 



In conclusion, the message declared that no 

 Government had protested against the projected 

 annexation. Prompt action was desirable, and 

 legislation on the subject should be character- 

 ized by great liberality and a high regard for the 

 rights of natives and foreigners. 



Secretary Poster had received assurances from 

 the representatives in Washington of the leading 

 powers and from American ministers abroad, 

 that convinced him that annexation on the part 

 of the United States would be regarded with 

 satisfaction, or at any rate would meet with 

 ready acquiescence. The statement in the mes- 

 sage that " the overthrow of the monarchy was 

 not in any way promoted by this Government " 

 was based on the dispatches of Mr. Stevens. 

 The statements of the Hawaiian commissioners 

 were authority for the following passage : 



At the time the Provisional Government took pos- 

 session of the Government buildings no troops or 

 officers of the United States were present or took any 

 part whatever in the proceedings. No public recog- 

 nition was accorded to the Provisional Government 

 by the United States minister until after the Queen's 

 abdication, and when they were in effective posses- 

 sion of the Government buildings, the archives, the 

 treasury, the barracks, the police station, and all the 

 potential machinery of the Government. 



After President Cleveland assumed office he 

 withdrew the treaty from the Senate for further 

 consideration, March 9. The Hawaiian com- 

 missioners returned to their country, all except 

 Mr. Thurston, who in May was commissioned 

 Hawaiian minister at Washington, succeeding 

 J. Mott Smith, who had been recalled. 



The Mission of Commissioner Blount. 

 As a protest from the Queen accompanied the 

 treaty, stating that she yielded to the force of the 

 United States and reserved her case for the de- 

 cision of the President of the United States, and 

 as doubts were raised regarding the agency and 

 effect of the presence of the United States troops 

 and the prompt recognition of the Provisional 

 Government by the United States minister, also 

 as to whether the Queen had committed an ille- 

 gal act, and whether annexation and the Pro- 

 visional Government had the support of the 

 great body of the Hawaiian nation, President 

 Cleveland, on March 7, three days after his in- 

 auguration, sent James H. Blount, of Georgia, 

 long chairman of the Committee on Foreign Af- 

 fairs in the House of Representatives, to Hawaii 

 as a special commissioner, to investigate the facts 

 attending the subversion of the constitutional 

 Government and the installment of the Provi- 

 sional Government, and to report as to the ex- 

 pediency of annexation. His open instructions 

 from Secretary Gresham, dated March 11, were 

 as follow : 



You will investigate and fully report to the Presi- 

 dent all the facts vou can learn respecting the condi- 

 tion of affairs in the Hawaiian Islands, the causes of 

 the revolution by which the Queen's Government 

 was overthrown, the sentiment of the people toward 

 existing authority, and in general all that can fully 

 enlighten the President touching the subject of your 

 mission. 



To enable you to fulfill the charge, your authority 

 in all matters touching the relations of this Govern- 

 ment to the existing or other government of the 

 islands and the protection of our citizens therein is 

 paramount, and in you alone, acting in co-operation 

 with the commander of the naval forces, is vested full 



discretion and power to determine when such forces 

 should be landed or withdrawn. You are, however, 

 authorized to avail yourself of such aid and informa- 

 tion as you may desire from the present minister of 

 the United States at Honolulu Mr. John L. Stevens 

 who will continue until further notice to perform 

 the usual functions attaching to his office not incon- 

 sistent with the powers intrusted to you. An in- 

 struction will be sent to Mr. Stevens, directing him 

 to facilitate your presentation to the head of the 

 Government on your arrival, and to render you all 

 needed assistance. 



The withdrawal from the Senate of the recently 

 signed treaty of annexation for re-examination by the 

 President leaves its subject matter in abeyance, and 

 YOU are not charged with any duty in respect thereto. 

 It may be well, however, for you to dispel any possi- 

 ble misapprehension which its withdrawal may have 

 excited touching the entire friendliness of the Presi- 

 dent and the Government of the United States to- 

 ward the people of the Hawaiian Islands, or the ear- 

 nest solicitude here felt for their welfare, tranquillity, 

 and progress. 



Historical precedents and the general course of the 

 United States authorize the employment of its armed 

 force in foreign territory for the security of the lives 

 and property of American citizens and for the sup- 

 pression of the lawless and tumultuous acts threaten- 

 ing them, and the powers conferred to that end upon 

 the representatives of the United States are both 

 necessary and proper, subject always to the exercise 

 of a sound discretion in their application. In the 

 judgment of the President, your authority, as well as 

 that of the commander of the naval forces in Hawai- 

 ian waters, should be and is limited in the use of 

 physical force for such measures as are necessary to 

 protect the persons and property of our citizens, and, 

 while abstaining from any manner of interference, to 

 use your friendly offices in the interest of a peaceful 

 settlement of the troubles within the limits of sound 

 discretion. 



Should it be necessary to land an armed force upon 

 Hawaiian territory on occasions of popular disturb- 

 ance, when the local authority may be unable to give 

 adequate protection to the life and property of citi- 

 zens of the United States, the assent of such authority 

 should first be obtained, if it can be done without 

 prejudice to the interests involved. Your power in 

 this regard should not, however, be claimed to the 

 exclusion of similar measures by the representatives 

 of other powers for the protection of the lives and 

 property of their citizens or subjects residing in the 

 islands. 



While the United States claim no right to interfere 

 in the political or domestic affairs or in the internal 

 conflicts of the Hawaiian Islands otherwise than as 

 herein stated, or for the purpose of maintaining any 

 treaty or other rights they possess, the Government 

 will adhere to its consistent and established policy in 

 relation to them, and it will not acquiesce in domestic 

 interference by other powers. 



Commissioner Blount was conveyed by the 

 United States revenue cutter to Honolulu, where 

 he arrived on March 29. He declined receptions 

 tendered both by the Hawaiian Patriotic League 

 and the Annexation Club. The latter, number- 

 ing 1,200 members, was formed as soon as it be- 

 came known that the treaty had been shelved. 

 Members of the American colony tendered the 

 American commissioner the use of a mansion, 

 with furniture, carriages, etc.. which Minister 

 Stevens strongly urged him to accept, but he 

 preferred to remain at a hotel. This rejection 

 of an intended courtesy threw the commissioner 

 into the company almost solely of the Royalists, 

 who made headquarters at that hotel. On the 

 day after his arrival he was introduced by Mr. 

 Stevens to President Dole, and presented Presi- 



