Saturday press. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1880-1885, 1881-09-17

amer q love and OF the exalted position to
which the projected alliance would elevate
hor, she awaited with becoming patience
yet with much concern, the disposition of
her royal betrothed to fulfill the engage.
ment His orgies had delayed the nup-
tials still he was devoted to her, and
mcasurabIy influenced by her wishes
From proper sefpride aud self.concern-
mont, she was averse to the treaty and in
this she WINS strenuously urged by her
father, who, ms a loyal Englishman, ms well
as an adopted Hawaiian, vehemently OPP
posed the project, in common with all of
his countrymen of the islands.
But there was, besides these influences
still another and more powerful in laboring
and scheming to defeat the annexation.
| This was the American whaling and mer-
chant element Of the population, com.
! bined generally with the missionary estab-
! lishment almost wholly from the United
States. The large number interested in
the whale-fishery, and in mercantile pur.
suits in Honolulu, Lahaina, and Hilo, the
three principal ports for whalers and COM
morce, ms well ~ tho missionaries were
| from Boston, Nantucket, New Bedford,
New London, and New York and they
comprised tho wealthest, the most influen.
tial, and the most formidable classes of the
inhabitants. The whnle-ship owners and
agents controlled the financial affairs oPthe
kingdom, because the revenues dcpended
mainly upon that traffic. This element
very naturally dreaded annexation, for the
simple reason that the possession of the
islands by the United States would subject
IN ha nd nF q .
ton of the United States laws in respect
to their ships and crews which arc COM
mon to every considerable seaport of tho
republic The laws of the kingdom had
been SO framed that there was no encour.
agement III any Hawaiian port for the
class of lawyers who prosecute claims for
sailors, and hence there was no difficulty
with crews. The United States consul
heard and decided all casos between the
thip-owners or masters and the men; and
from his judgment the only appeal was to
the commissioner. The consul fixed the
rate at which oil and whnlebone should be
computed in the settlement of accounts be.
tween the ship and the crew and h. deter
mined all other matters of complaint,
grievance, or dispute between the parties.
1t was prompt and simple mode of set
dement, and the cost was inconsiderabe to
the ship.owners, consignees, and masters.
Jack generally came off the loser and
grumbIer. But the system had the virtue
of excluding "shark lawyers from the
islands, and of bringing the sailors to sub.
NIT to that to which they could not success
fully offer resistance. This valuable advan-
tage in money point of view overcame
the patriotic impulse of the whale.fishery
element generally, and led them to prefer
the voluntary expatriation they so profit.
ably endured to the transfer of territory
which shonld bring over them the protect
ing panopy of their native country.
A similar disposition on the part of the
owners and agents of the whaling. fleets in
New England led to the preparation of
letter at that time, by Senator Charles Sum.
ner of Massachusetts, to be used in antng.
onizlng the treaty projected in the Privy
Council, and among the native chiefs. The
letter came in October, 1854. 1t warned
the chiefs and the Hawaiians against any
movement which should bring their king
dom or themselves into the possession OF
jurisdiction of the United States; rs to do
SO would deprive them of thoir lands mud
condition, if not to actual slavery. Mr..
Sumner cited to the Hawaiians the preg-
nant fact that the American people, or the
dominant element at that period, had al.
ways degraded, if they would not euslave,
the races Of darker shades aud he pre-.
dicted similar fate for the natives of the
islands, chiefs as well as commouers, in the
event of annexation. The letter was given
to Lot Pakee, the mighty chief of the olden
time, to use and to read in the Privy Coun.
Gil; and it required all the power and per-
suasion of Mr.. Wyllie and the other advo-
Gates of annexation to overcome the i'm.
preston it created at the outset
Another setback had been given the
treaty negotiations Just about the same time,
and for n while it threatened to break them
off entirely. Filibusteriug had alarmed
Cuba IN 1850. Since then, on the Pacific
coast, there had been expeditions of similar
character, rumored or attempted, against
portions of Mexico and Central America.
California was the rendezvous and starting
point for these expeditions. The Sand.
witch Islanders were n peaceful, inoifensive,
submissive, patient race, averse to turmoil
or war. The Europeans and Americans
resident there had no sympathy with fli-
clustering or violence. The military force
of the islands was ridiculously meager; ,
more for show than for real service al.
though ludicrously feeble and insignificant
in the way of show. There was, however,
very Formidable foreign naval force in the
harbor of Honolulu: the United States
steamships Mississippi and .Susguehanna
aud the sloops.of-war Portsmouth aud ~.
Mary, the British frigates 1'Inconaaiee and
Eurydice, and the French frigate L'Ayte-
mise
During October, the schooner Caroline
T.. Fbo'e arrived Mt Honolulu with about
one hundred passengers, mostly of an adj
venturous, desperate class, and among them,
rs a sort of leader, was tho notorious Girls.
Lilly, prize.tighter and sporting man. Some
turbulence-the natural consequence of SO
large number Of reckless persons suddenly
landed in port such ms Honolulu was then,
where sailors freshly discharged, and ua.
tive women were loosely saunteriug, after
two or three weeks run from San Fran.
cisco, with opportunities to guxzle down
liquor SO long as they had money to pay for
created a good deal of alarm in the city,
aud the Incorporate remarks of some of the