384 



HAWAII. 



stance of a committee of safety without notice 

 to the existing Government. Mr. Stevens has 

 denied that he sent a reply to the committee, 

 and denounces as false the statements that he 

 had agreed to land troops or ever promised to 

 protect the revolutionists. Mr. Blount found 

 that the great body of the natives and a large 

 proportion of whites were opposed to annexation. 

 He found no annexationist who was willing to 

 have the matter submitted to the popular vote. 



The Provisional Government. The officers 

 of the Provisional Government were named in 

 the proclamation of Jan. 17. Sanford B. Dole 

 was made President. The Cabinet or Executive 

 Council consisted of Mr. Porter, Minister of Fi- 

 nance ; Mr. King, Minister of the Interior ; and 

 W. 0. Smith, Attorney-General. President Dole 

 assumed the duties of Minister of Foreign Affairs. 



Early in February S. M. Damon was chosen as 

 Vice-President of the Provisional Government. 



Commissioners were appointed to proceed to 

 Washington to negotiate a treaty of annexation 

 to the United States. Their chairman was Lorrin 

 A. Thurston, his associates being W. R. Castle, 

 Joseph Marsden, C. L. Carter, and W. C. Wilder. 



On Jan. 20 President Dole issued a proclama- 

 tion announcing that all powers and duties be- 

 longing to the Sovereign of Hawaii were vested 

 in the President of the Provisional Government, 

 and that the Executive Council would perform 

 the duties of the Cabinet. Another decree fixed 

 the punishment imprisonment for not less than 

 six months nor more than six years for any per- 

 son who recruited soldiers or sailors to engage in 

 hostility against the Provisional Government or 

 acted in any other treasonable manner. All per- 

 sons in the employ of the Government were re- 

 quired to take the oath of allegiance within 

 twenty days. It was decided by the vote of the 

 Executive and Advisory Councils to organize a 

 national guard of 4 companies. John II. Soper 

 was appointed commander of the forces, with the 

 rank of colonel. W. G. Ashley was appointed 

 marshal. Martial law was continued. 



The Executive and Advisory Councils of the 

 Provisional Government formed together the 

 Legislature. One of its first acts was to repeal 

 the lottery franchise act. Another prescribed an 

 oath of allegiance to the Provisional Govern- 

 ment, the takers of which were required not to 

 renounce, but expressly to reserve, all allegiance 

 that they might owe to any foreign country. 

 Another act prohibited the importation of fire- 

 arms, ammunition, dynamite, or any explosive 

 except by the Government. On Jan. 30 Col. 

 Soper issued an order requiring all citizens to 

 declare what arms they had in their possession. 

 The Government buildings were converted into 

 barracks for the volunteer forces. Later, alien 

 and sedition laws were enacted, permitting the 

 expulsion or imprisonment of seditious non- 

 citizens, and supplementary measures provided 

 for the imprisonment without bail of persons 

 suspected of plotting against the Government, 

 and the suppression of newspapers expressing 

 disloyal sentiments and the imprisonment of 

 their editors. A law was made requiring that 

 the names of the proprietors and editors of every 

 newspaper should be conspicuously printed in 

 its pages, in order that they might be held ac- 

 countable for what was published. This meas- 



ure was directed specially against a paper printed 

 in Hawaiian and English, to which the Queen 

 was suspected of giving pecuniary support. The 

 principal native journals were suppressed by 

 such measures. One of the early laws decreed 

 that any one found talking against the Pro- 

 visional Government or against the character 

 of any of the Executive or Advisory Councils 

 should be punishable by a fine of $100 and im- 

 prisonment for thirty days. 



By another act, any person having cause to be- 

 lieve that arms or ammunition were secreted for 

 purposes of insurrection, or any seditious pur- 

 pose, might swear out a search warrant and have 

 the munitions confiscated, if any were found. 

 Up to Feb. 1 the sessions of the new Govern- 

 ment were held with closed doors, after which 

 newspaper reporters were admitted. The opium 

 law was repealed. The Board of Health was re- 

 organized, and efforts were made to carry out 

 thoroughly the law requiring all lepers to be 

 taken to the settlement on Molokai Island. One 

 officer was shot by a band of lepers who lived 

 as outlaws in a mountain glen. After the 

 American flag was hoisted over the Government 

 building a guard of marines was stationed at 

 its doors. By act of the Legislature a loan of 

 $750,000 was authorized. lolani Palace was 

 stripped of its furniture and treasures soon aft- 

 er it was vacated by the Queen. The ordinary 

 household furnishings and ornaments were given 

 up to Liliuokalani and the Dowager Queen 

 Kapiolani. The gorgeous feather cloaks, the 

 regal crown, and other insignia of royalty, relics 

 of the Kamehamehas, portraits, and state furni- 

 ture, were retained as the property of the Govern- 

 ment. The Provisional Government took pos- 

 session of the Crown lands, denying the title of 

 Lilioukalani or other claimants, and some of 

 them were disposed of in small holdings to na- 

 tives and whites. The military force of the 

 Provisional Government, which was increased 

 by constant enlistments, stationed sentries in 

 the. streets. The troops of the " Boston " re- 

 mained on shore and paraded three times a day 

 through the city. On May 22 Charles Nordhoff 

 was summoned before the Executive and Advi- 

 sory Councils to answer a complaint of having 

 committed a criminal malicious libel, in having 

 published in his letters to the New York " Her- 

 ald " a statement defamatory of the members in 

 alleging that most of them had signed petitions 

 for the lottery bill. The same day a guard was 

 placed before his door because annexationists had 

 threatened his life. He took the summons to 

 Minister Blount, who told him not to appear or 

 reply, because an American citizen could not be 

 prosecuted criminally in Hawaii for what he pub- 

 lished in American papers. On June 23 T. B. 

 Walker, Archie Sinclair, and E. C. Crick were ar- 

 rested by Marshal Hitchcock, Ashley's successor, 

 for a conspiracy against the Government. Some 

 days before dynamite bombs had been found in 

 the garden of the Queen's house. 



When Mr. Porter resigned the Ministry of 

 Finance, in the latter part of May, S. M. Damon 

 was appointed as his successor. F. M. Hatch 

 became Vice-President of the Provisional Gov- 

 ernment. 



Attempted Mediation of President Cleve- 

 land. In Secretary Gresham's report to the 



