The Hawaiian gazette., 1893-04-11
Bishop Willis On Missionaries

Mr.. Editor: In his rejoinder to my
article in The Friend, Bishop Willis
disclaims reference to the father mis-
sionarieS, in his charge of having for
fifty years past plotted the overthrow
of the Hawaiian monarchy. L will
indulge in no question of the worthy
Bishops veracity. Unless more light
comes, The Friend will credit him
with the disclaimer. His language,
however, would seem to have been
ill-adapted to convey the sense which
he now puts upon it. There is not
space to quote all that bears upon the
point. The curious can read it for
themselves.
One thing, no missionaries sons
were in Hawaii nei "fifty years" ago,
save a few growing lads, not very
likely to be plotting against the King.
Again, he compares US to Simeon and
Levi, who conquered Shechem under
the cloak of religion. Our fathers
might conceivably have done so base
an act, but we sons do not seem to
have got our footing here by means of
any such conspiracy. For myself, /
arrived here without any plan of my
own, to the extent of my recollection.
If was guilty of any conspiracy in
getting into the country at the early
age when l arrived, assure my friend
the Bishop, that have forgotten it.
As natives of the country, we recog-
niZe our obligations as citizens to CO.
operate in securing good government,
and resisting lawless Tyranny, like
the late attempt of the Queen. The
Bishop seems to be devoid of any
sense of the unspeakable pollutions of
the late dynasty, for all which he EN-
ploys the fine phrase, "a failure to
attain a certain ideal of perfect
ion." There lies before me as
a sample of that dynasty, a certain
notorious coronation hula programme
which successfully attained an ideally
perfect nastiness.
The Bishop ends by saying that Sac |
cording to the Rev. S. e. Bishop the |
course to be pursued in such a case (of |
missionaries unsuccessful in their la |
bors) is to send for foreign troops with |
guns and bayOnets, overthrow the gov |
eminent, and place the land under |
their own national flag" l notice |
this only because it re-asserts per-
sistent falsehood of the royalist party, |
i. e., that the United States forces lent |
aid to those who displaced the Queens |
government. Those forces were
strictly neutral throughout the whole
affair. They were landed, $50 men in
all, by the order of the American
Minister, solely for the protection of
life and property against public dis
order. 1t was done at the request of
the Committee of Public Safety, but
strictly in accordance with the stand
ing instructions of President Cleve-
lands Secretary of State, Thomas F.
Bayard, now Minister to England, to
the then American Minister Merrill.
Those instructions are dated July |
II, 1887, and read as follows:
"While we abstain from interfer-
ence with the domestic affairs of Ha-
waii, in accordance with the policy
and practice of this Government, yet
obstruction to the channels of legiti-
mate commerce, under existing treaty
must not be allowed, and American
citizens in Honolulu must be protect
ed in their persons and property by
the representatives of their country's
law and power, and no internal dis
cord must be suffered to impair them.
Your own aid and counsel, as well as
the assistance of our Government YES
sells, if found necessary, will therefore
be promptly afforded to protect the
reign of law and respect for the order
ly government of Hawaii"
In accordance with those standing
instructions the American forces were
landed. They remained absolutely
neutral throughout the whole pro.
ceedings. So far from their suppos-
ing that those forces were to assist the
Provisional Government to get pos
session of power, the Queens minis
tiers asked Mr.. Stevens, as late as ?
p. NJ on the 18th, to use those forces
in aid of the Queen, which he refused
to do.
1t is wholly untrue that the U. 5.
forces took any part in gaining the re-
suit, or that any ground was given
for expecting that they would do so.