The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1890-06-07
THE LEGISLATURE.
THIRTEENTH DAY.
FRIDAY, June 6.

CON- " SION OF MINISTER TlltRSTDN
STATEMENT.
! would next deal with the rea-
sons why the Government distrusted
V. V. Ashford and suspected he
was trying TO create disturbance. !
will not go back of July 30 FOR his
record. Shortly after the disturb
ance of July 80 there began to cir
culatr runOrs and statements in the
community that, although '. '.
Ashford was commanding The Gov
eminent forces that day, he knew
something of the matter, and that
his heart WAS not altogether with the
Government. AT first did not
take much stock in this statement.
People will talk in IIonOlulu about
as bad a. in any place in the world.
When / heard later that there was
some truth in these rumors thought
it was proper to investigate. |
naturally did not consult with the
Attorney-General, because he is his
brother, and blood is thicker than
water. Although | would state that
ut that time ! had implicit conf
dence in the Attorney-General. AS
to the result of my Investigations |
obtained statements of men favor
able to the Government, opposed to
the Government, and neutral TO the
| Government. Some of their state
ments | have in writing. state
unhcstatngiy that V. V. Ashford
assisted that disturbance and coun-
SEIZED and advised it, saying that
the King and the Cabinet were
at loggerheads on some matter,
and that now is the time to act.
Matters quoted down after the 30th
| of July 50 far rs he was concerned,
except that Y. V. AshfOrd's conduct
was characterized by the vilest de-
| nunciation OF the Cabinet. unit! one
of the members Of the diplomatic
corps came TO the Cabinet and adj
vised it that it was not wise for the
| Cabinet to have confidence in q man
who could denounce it in such
way.
V. Y. Ashford's dcnuncation Of
the Government went on. He be-
came one of the chief contributors
TO the Opposition newspapers. He
gave out information that he said he
got through the medium of his bro
thcr, but | do not believe that he got
anything of the kind. Simply rs an
illustration of the style of state
ments he was in the habit of max
ing, one of the members of this
House told me, within the past few
days, that he told him he was so
anxious to see this Government out
that he would do anything to ac-
complish it, and would rather see
the country reduced to ashes than
that they should stay in. Matters
went on thus until few days of
the election. For some reason V.
| Y. Ashford was working with the
Opposition although he was in com
mand of the Government forces,
and in position of holding conf
dental information on precautions
the Government might require TO
take for the preservation of peace.
lie came TO me to negotiate truce
between himself and the Govern
ment. An appointment was kept in
this Office, here. In presence of q
mutual friend he made this state
ment. lie said he wished to be per-
fectly frank with me, and, when
some reference was made to the
Elele, he admitted that he had been
conducting the Elele. lie had got
sick of the crowd with which he was
working, and if the matter could he
arranged, he would work secretly
for the Government, or he would re-
sign if necessary and take the stump
openly for the Government. But
he said: "There is one condition on
which l propose to do this. One
reason why opposed you was that
l had reason TO believe that you
were engaged in 4 conspiracy against
my brother, and my condition is that
you will stand by my brother in the
next Legislature. | heard all that
he had to say, and | replied: "Mr.
Ashford, we are in a political fight,
and what we want is votes. II you
vote for us and get others to vote
for us we will be glad of it. have
stood by you throughout and you
have persistently viliiied and abused
me, and l have no promises to make
to you. am under no obligations
to you. SO far rs &. w. Ashford is
concerned your action will not af-
feet him. believe G. w. Ashford
has stood by me and will stand by
him, and if we go down we will go
down together" That ended the
interview. V. V. Ashford did not
assist us in the election.
Shortly after the election, tho
election of Colonel of Volunteer;
took place. G. w. Ashford was alb,
sent from the country. The Cabinet
did not interfere with the election.
The election of V. V. Ashford wa,
certified mp to the Cabinet, and il
then became our duty to consider
whether we should let the matter g
,,b Of thn al