The Portland daily press., 1893-06-30
AUGUSTA HONORS HIM.
Continued from First Page.

potential reasons which pressed upon
me. For nearly half century our gov
eminent had claimed rights and interests
in the Hawaiian islands superior to any
other foreign nation. Repeatedly there
have been attempts to induce our gov
eminent to agree to dual or tripartite
| responsibilities at Honolulu. John NJ.
Clayton, secretary under President Tay-
lor, repealed this 43 years ago, and such
has been our policy since. 1t was well
known to me that this idea of joint ac-
ton had not been given up, but was still
insisted on by one, if not two, foreign
| representatives at Honolulu. There was
one Japanese war vessel in the harbor
| and another powerful iron clad-larger
than the 'Boston'--had been tele-
graphed for. had reason to think. and
the Provisional government had reason
to fear that these foreign representatives
would insist on the same right to land
their naval forces which we had exer-
cised. We were 5000 miles from Wash
ington, with no cable from Honolulu to
San Francisco, and the long space be-
tween mail steamers would not permit
| communicating with our government
and our receiving an answer in less than
three weeks. We knew not then that
Ashmead Bartlett IN the English House
of Commons had asked the Gladstone
Ministry what it had done or would do
| relative to English interests at Honolulu,
and that Lord Grey in behalf of the Eng
lish Ministry had answered, that it
| would trust the American government to
| protect English life and property in Has
wall We did know that the attitude of
| the English Minister at Honolulu wa
| quite otherwise than this-that he still
wished to have joint responsibility with
the American Minister as to the landing
| of troops and the maintenance of public
| order at Honolulu. I was therefore
compelled to decide whether | would
| risk the danger of a practical abandon
meme of the long maintained American
policy OF non-joint responsibility in Ha-
waiian affairs. To thus surrender in
practice what we had long claimed
knew well would prove me unfit to be an
| American representative. Here were
difficulties which could be effectively
and conclusively overcome only in one
way that was by raising the flag over
the government building as symbol of
our superior right to protect the Ha-
waiian government. This would not only
pre- vent all the danger of riot and blood
| shed, but would shut out the landing of
any other naval force except our own.
Captain Wiltse saw this as soon and as
clearly at did. With an American
heart loyal to the core, conscientious,
firm, selfpossessed, fully aware of the
grave responsibility of the act, he was
prompt to do his duty. The officers I'M
der his command were as intelligent and
loyal as their own veteran commander
The following are the words read by
Lieut.. Rush of the Boston on the steps Of
the government building simultaneously
i w VII
diately published by posters and in the
newspapers.
TO THE HAWAIIAN PEOPLE:
'sAt the request of the Provisional Govern,
ment OF the Hawaiian Islands, / hereby in the
name OF the United States of America assume
protection Of the Hawaiian Islands for the pro-
| lection OF life and property, and occupation of
public buildings and Hawaiian soil, so far as
may be necessary for the purpose specified, but
mountaineering with the administration of pub
4 lie affairs by the Provisional Government
This action is taken pending, and subjected
JOHN L. STEVENS,
Envoy extraordinary and Minister Plenipoten.
tiary of the United States.
| United States, Legation, February 1, 1898,
! Approved and Executed BY
G. G. WILTsE,
| Captain U. S. N,
Commanding the United States Ship "Bos-
tom"
| 1t will be observed that the plain in
| tent of this little document is non-inter-
ference with the sovereignty of Hawaii
that it claimed to establish only quail
fed and limited protectorate, and in
stead of infringing on the sovereignty of
the country, it was a response to the
only government of the island to aid it
ia maintaining its own sovereignty. The
| salutary effect of thus raising the flag
was immediate and remarkable. Quiet
confidence, perfect order, at once took
the place of panic, fear, and distrust
Language cannot adequately express the
| joyful feelings of the large American
colony and of all the better elements of
the other nationalities. All save a few
| sympathizers with our national rivals.
looked on the American flag floating in
those genial skies with profound re-
| Spect, none more SO than many of the
native Hawaiians.
| 1t has been said that President Harri-
son and Secretary Foster disapproved of
| our action. | have never so understood
| it. Secretary Foster after our action
was taken, did carefully define just how
far the effect of our qualified protector
ate and flag raising should go, and
his definition and instruction on
| the subject were just what the Provis-
| ional government and the American
i representative intended Wnen the nag
was raised, and just what the Provis-
ional government and American repre-
sentative thought and intended that our
| published document and official action
| expressed. The one essential and effec-
tive step we took was to raise the flag
we only did that, and precisely that
| President Harrison and Secretary Foster
never disapproved. 1t remained
up seventy-five days. During that time
all had been accomplished which had
been promised and expected when it
was raised. In that time two foreign
war ships had arrived at Honolulu, but
the American flag was up and thus all
danger of dual or tripartite arrangement,
as to Hawaiian affairs was avoided, and
the just American predominance success
fully maintained. They are duh states
men and poorly equipped diplomatists
who do not know the advantage which
the party has who is in actual posses
sion. am but too glad to believe that
the present administration has no
thought of giving up this vantage
ground, to which the bold and vigorous
dispatch Of Secretary Bayard, approved
hy prnoi6ar,f G1ayoJoud ~ kT;p;cta,. Mar.