The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1878-11-30
HAWAIIAN INDEPENDENCE.

The formal recognition of Hawaiian Indepen-
dence by France and England in 1913, which
interesting and important event is annually
celebrated as a national holiday, was brought
about by q foreign mission. the first ever sent
from here, dispatched to the courts of Europe
by King Kamehameha Ill. 1t may be inter
esting to many of our readers to recall the leading
facts. For a series of years previous to the recogni-
tiOn of Independence, the Hawaiian King and
his government had been subjected to frequent
acts of violence and insult from naval COM
manders and commercial agents, both French
and English. At length the King, under the
advice OF DR.. Judd, determined to appeal direct
ly to the governments of those nations, and ac-
cordingly on the 18th of July, 1912, Com
missioners Richards and H~aaliiio-(the first
formerly an American missionary but who had
become an interpreter and adviser to the chiefs,
and the latter n high chieO-were dispatched
to Europe. The result OF their mission, after
long negotiations and many delays, was that
on the 2Sth Of November, 1913, the indepen-
dence of the Hawaiian government was formally
acknowledged and guaranteed, in a brief
document signed at London by Lord Aberdeen
on the part of England, and Count St. Aulaire
on the part of France, wherein they say in
effect that they recognize the existence IN the
Sandwich Islands of a government capable of
providing for the regularity of its relations with
foreign nations, and also agree each with the
other, never to take possession Of the Islands or
any part thereof. Many of our readers will
remember how far this was observed by one of
the high contracting parties in August, 1849. =
Meantime, on the 25th of February, lS43,
nine months before the recognition of indepen-
dence, Lord George Paulet, the commander of q
British war vessel, forcibly seized the islands,
on the ground of alleged grievances of British
subjects, and, establishing a governmental COM
mission of which he was the head, proceeded to
do pretty much as he pleased in the name of
the British government, having lowered the
Hawaiian flag and hoisted the British in its
stead. The King issued his public protest
against this high-handed act, and sent dispatches |
to England by j. F. b. Marshall (now at the
Hampton Institute, Val But before the bearer
of dispatches could reach England, Admiral
Thomas, commander of the British naval forces
in the Pacific, being at Valparaiso in June, and
learning of the condition Of affairs at the Is
lands, sailed at once for Honolulu, arriving here
on the 26th July, " for the purpose as he
said in a letter to the King, to make himself
fully acquainted with all the circumstances, |
and, if possible, the motives which led to such
an unlocked for event" The result was, that
on the 5lst July, after having been deprived of
his government for ONE FIVE months, the King
received back his flag, with dae formality and
honors. 1t must have been notifying TO Lord
Paulet, who had bounced and bullied the King
and pulled down his flag, to be compelled, the
first of the fleet, to salute the restored flag with
81 guns, and man his yards.
Up to the reign Of Kamehameha V, the 3Ist
of July was celebrated as a national holiday,
and rightly considered by the people as a great
day of rejoicing. Its observance was no doubt
discontinued to please one of the then Ministry,
who being an E~nglishman, objected to the
annual reminder of the folly and injustice of one
of his countrymen although he might with
equal if not better reason have remembered that
it also celebrated the prompt act of justice of
another gallant Englishman, the noble admiral
But while England and France acknowledged
our independence in 1913, the United States
had practically done so a year before. Daniel
Webster, Secretary of State, wrote to the Haw-
allan Commissioners, on the 10Th of December,
sFThe United States have regarded the
existing authorities in the Sandwich Islands as
/ government suited to the condition of the
and resting on their choice and the
is of opinion that the interests of all
he commercial nations require that that govern