HAWAII. 



343 



States had 93 per cent., and 84 per cent, of the 

 whole was carried in American vessels. The ex- 

 port of sugar in 1892 was valued at $7,276,594 ; 

 rice, $463,052; bananas, $104,945; wool, $32,- 

 185. The chief imports are provisions and gro- 

 ceries, clothing and cotton goods, wheat, timber, 

 machinery, and hardware, nearly all of them com- 

 ing from the United States, to which all the 

 sugar, rice, and bananas are shipped. 



Communications. Steamers connect the 

 port of Honolulu with San Francisco and Van- 

 couver and with Australasian and Asian ports. 

 There is a fleet of 20 steamers and 28 sailing ves- 

 sels plying between the islands. There are 56 

 miles of railroad on the islands of Oahu, Ha- 

 waii, and Maui. The length of telegraphs is 

 250 miles, besides which telephones connect near- 

 ly all the houses and business places in Honolulu 

 and its vicinity. The number of letters, etc., car- 

 ried in the mails during 1893 was 2,276,000. 



Diplomatic Attempt to restore the Queen. 

 Liliuokalani, the deposed Queen, who in her 

 first interview with United States Minister Willis 

 had refused to assent to the amnesty of the revo- 



SANFORD B. DOLE. 



lutionists on Dec. 18, gave a written promise not 

 only to grant a full amnesty, but to uphold the 

 Constitution of 1887, and to assume all the obli- 

 gations and ratify the acts of the Provisional 

 Government. Having secured the pledges re- 

 quired by his instructions, Minister Willis made 

 a formal demand upon the Provisional Govern- 

 ment for the restoration of the Queen, when mean- 

 while President Cleveland, having announced 

 that he could not use force without the consent 

 of Congress, committed the matter to the discre- 

 tion of Congress. 



On Dec. 19, 1893, the United States minister 

 called upon President Dole, and presented a writ- 

 ten communication to the members of the Pro- 

 visional Government, informing them that they 



were expected to relinquish promptly to the de- 

 posed Queen Liliuokalani her constitutional au- 

 thority by the decision of the President of the 

 United States on the appeal of the Queen to the 

 arbitration of the Government of the United 

 States contained in her letter of abdication and 

 President Dole's indorsement of the letter, and 

 in view of the fact that the revolution had been 

 accomplished with the participation of the diplo- 

 matic representative of the United States and 

 by the menace of armed interference, and of the 

 fact that " the Provisional Government was not 

 established by the Hawaiian people, or with their 

 consent or acquiescence ; nor has it since existed 

 with their consent." At the end he demanded 

 " in the name and by the authority of the Unit- 

 ed States " whether they were " willing to abide 

 by the decision of the President. On Dec. 23 

 President Dole sent the reply of the Provisional 

 Government, which was a refusal "to accept the 

 proposition of the President of the United States 

 that it should surrender its authority to the ex- 

 Queen." This document expressed regret that 

 annexation had been refused, and hoped that it 

 would ultimately take place ; denied the right of 

 the President to interfere in Hawaiian domestic 

 affairs; questioned the validity of the decision 

 of the President even if the contention was cor- 

 rect that the Provisional Government and the ex- 

 Queen had submitted their respective claims to 

 arbitration, because no court of arbitration had 

 been held ; asserted that the revolution had 

 been accomplished not by the interference of 

 the United States forces, but "through the 

 representatives of the same public sentiment 

 which had forced the monarchy to its knees in 

 1887, which suppressed the insurrection in 1889. 

 and which for twenty years has been battling for 

 representative government," and claimed that 

 the position of the Provisional Government, 

 though lacking means long ' to resist the forces 

 of the United States in a hostile attack." was 

 " impregnable under all legal precedents, under 

 the principles of diplomatic intercourse, and in 

 the forum of conscience." 



The revolutionists feared and the royalists 

 hoped that marines would be landed to enforce 

 the award of President Cleveland. There was 

 great anxiety and excitement in Honolulu. The 

 dread of civil disorder and an attempted coun- 

 terrevolution Minister Willis had sought to allay 

 a month before by a public declaration that no 

 changes in the situation would be allowed, but 

 that peace and good order would be kept undis- 

 turbed in the interests of humanity. President 

 Dole, after it transpired that Minister Willis 

 had no power under his instructions to use the 

 naval forces of the United States, and after the 

 United States war ship " Corwin " had sailed, 

 wrote a letter on Dec. 27, complaining of the at- 

 titude of the President of the United States and 

 Minister Willis, charging the latter with causing 

 a condition of alarm and strain and a general 

 disturbance of business by his reticence regard- 

 ing the intention not to employ force and by his 

 intimating that he would do some act when the 

 time arrived, and accusing him and the naval 

 commander of diiplicity in making the empty 

 menace of warlike preparations on board the 

 " Corwin," which actions had unfortunately 

 " aroused the passions of all parties and made it 



