The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1893-12-13
THE FACTS IN THE CASE.
G. l.. CARTER MEETS eREsHANrs
POINTS.
An Open letter From the Ex-Commis-
sioner TO the American secretary
of state.

HONOLULU, II. l., November 30, 1893.
To the Honorable W. Q. Gresham, Sec
rotary Of state, washington, d. C.-S1R
With the consent of the Government
which | had the ho or to serve n
Special Commissioner to the Govern
ment of the United States, | have the
honor to address you in reply to your
dispatch to the President, dated October
18th last containing a recommendation
that the treaty of annexation be not re
submitted and suggesting the restoration
of what you term 1.-THE legitimate Gov.
eminent of Hawaii, by which you
mean the monarchy in the person of the
ex-Queen Liliuokalani. You will pardon
my making this communication publicly.
aud | beg you to attribute my action to
the apparent Discrimination in your De-
partmeut to a full exposition of the
matter bearing on our question which
has been at your disposal.
regret that up to the time of our
latest advices my distinguished col
league, the chairman of the Special
Commission. Mr. Thurston, has been
constrained by his present position as
the representative of this Government
near your own from making any public
declarations. This fact, and because
after your installation in the Depart
ment of State until shortly before Mr.
Thurston's appointment us Minister !
was the only representative of Hawaii
actually in Washington, give me the
freedom to speak and qualify me to adj
dress you on some of the matters in
your dispatch.
Your communication to the President
contains about twenty-suven paragraphs
and the charges therein which | can
meet and which, in this my first, and
probably only opportunity, | shall re-
flute, | shall for convenience take up in
successive order.
Paragraph One-You allege therein
that the opposition of her Ministers aud
Others induced the Queen speedily to
change her purpose of prociaiming a
new constitution, and that she
made public the ann ouncement
of the fact. The fact is that
after a most violent alteration with her
ministry the Queen publicly announced
that for the present she deferred action
on the matter of new Constitution.
1t was pretended that she wished to
take the action as consequence of
petition to the effect by her native sub
jects. Credible persons present in the
of that Saturday afternoon state that
the humble petitioners waited with their
unread petition up to the time that the
Queen made her declaration of post
ponement, and that she had not
read the document, which has since dis
appeared. The best evidence obtainable
indicates that the proposed Constitution
by its terms was an aggression upon the
constitutional rights of the white res
idents of Hawaii, whether born here of
parents also of Hawaiian birth, as / was,
or settled and established here by long
residence. No announcement of absolute
change of purpose was made until Mon
day, two days later, when her advisers
discovered that the popular wave of in.
dlgnation was sweeping toward the
throne, and hoped to stay the just wrath
of the people.
Should not the Queens other political
crimes of that same Saturday be con-
sidered by you? Was there nothing
offensive, not only to us but to your
people in the lottery and opium bills?
Nothing characteristic in the disa pear
ance of the Chinese registration act
These things and the removal of the
Jones-Wilcox Cabinet are part of the
nations charge against her. For my
own part can never forget or forgive
the spectacle of the deciding vote in
favor of the lottery bill-the member
who UP TO that date was pledged against
the measure, too drunk to hold up his
head during the debate, with a wreath of
flowers about his neck, said at the
time to have been placed there by the
ex-Queen at the moment of his promise
to support her plans, after having been
piled by her with Intoxicating drink,
voting unsteadily in favor of indefinite
until corrected by his
because he had promised to
vote yes and was not in fit condition
to follow the course of legislative ac-
ton. Her offenses cannot be brushed
aside in paragraph nor recited in one.
Paragraph Two-The meeting in Ho-
nolulu which appointed the Committee
of Public Safety, on my motion to that
effect, consisted of those persons who
had gathered at the call of Her Maj
estys Cabinet and had pledged their
lives in writing in defense of that Cab
met against the proposed aggression of
the Queen, the members of that
Cabinet having made an appeal
for support, stating that they could
not rely upon the constituted
civil and military forces whose leaders
were nIedped 70 supnort the Oueen and
assist her in promulgating the new con-
stitution. That committee was appoint
ed less than fifteen minutes after ,John
F Colburn the Oueens Minister of the
Interior. had concluded an address TO
the meeting by saving, "Gentlemen, we
recognize that as Cabinet we have alb
Inv ms we will stand by Won" and for the
exnress burmese of assisting that Cabi.
net in projecting the public against the
regular military and police. who were
as OPP osed to the peaceable
and orderly element of the community.
Paragraph Three-The Committee of
Public Safety held its first meeting i'm
after its appointment, The
body of citizens upon
whose resolution it had been nominated
withdrawing for the express purpose of
allowing it to hold an immediate session,
and the sessions continued almost with
out interruption until the organization