The Portland daily press., 1893-11-21

| slons against annexation by means of
social and business hostility
ment, of volney V. Ashford, dated
| March 8, 1898, in which he refers to
| Queen Liliuokolani as "the reign
| ing sovereign who had at
least twice striven to supplant her
brother even at the expense, il necessary
Of walking over his strangled corpse to
| the throne" and calls her "a woman
| social vices" Mr.. Ashford also says:
"Wilson's pull on the Queen consisted of
| the fact that for many years he had been
! her favorite paramour. She has several
Her scandelous acts are matter of
public notoriety at the capital" These
statements against the deposed Queen
are discredited by Mr.. Blount.
| Mr.. Blount's conclusion of facts are
embodied in his report to Secretary
Gresham, dated July 17th. Refusing all
| proffers of hospitality on his arrival on
| the islands. he says he took up his
| quarters at the Hawaiian hotel, where
he passed several days in receiving calls.
He soon became, aware that all minds
were quietly and anxiously looking to
| the action of the United States govern
ment. The troops of the Boston were
doing military duty for the provisional
| government with the American flag
! floating over the government building
and. says the minister, within the
| provisional government conducted its
| business under an American protectorate
to be continued according to the avowed
| purpose of the American minister during
| the negotiations with the United States
| for annexation Mr.. Blount then says:
" My instructions directed me to make
| inquiries which in the interest of candor
and truth could not be done when the
| minds of thousands of Hawaiian citizens
were full of uncertainty as to what the
presence of American troops, the Ameri-
can flag and an American protectorate
implied 1t seemed necessary that all of
these influences should be withdrawn
before those inquiries could be prosecuted
in manner befitting the dignity and
power of the United States. Inspired
with such feeling and confident that no
disorder would ensue, | directed the
removal of the flag of the United States
from the government building and the
return of the American troops to their
vessels This was accomplished with out
any demonstration on the part ,of the
populace. On the afternoon before, in
an interview with President Dole, in re-
sponse to my inquiry, he said the pro-
visional government was now able to
preserve order, although it could not
have. done so for several weeks after the
proclamation establishing it. Mr.. Blount
says: "On the evening of the day when
the flag was hauled down, the American
minister called on me with Walter G..
Smith, who, he said, desired ito make an
important co nmunication to me and
whom he knew to be very intelligent and
reliable. Thereupon, MIR, Smith, with in
tense gravity, informed me that he knew
beyond a doubt that it had been arranged
between the Queen and the japanese
commissioner that if the American flag
and troops were removed, the troops
from the .I2nqnpSa n1an-nf-war
would land and reinstate the Queen.
Mr. Smith was editor of the Hawaiian
Star, established by the Annexation club
for the purpose of advocating annexation.
The American minister expressed his
belief in the statement of Mr.. Smith and
urged the Importance of the American
troops remaining on shore until could
communicate with you and you obtain
from the Japanese government assurances
that Japanese troops would not be landed
to enforce any policysson the government
or people of the Hawaiian Islands. I
was not impressed much with these state
ments. When the Japanese commissioner
learned that the presence of japanese
man-of-war was giving currence to the
suggestion that his government intended
to interfere with domestic affairs, he
wrote his government asking that the
vessel be ordered away, which was DONE
He expressed to me deep regret that any
one should charge that the Empire of
Japan, having so many reasons to value
the friendship of the government of the
United States, would consent to offend
that government byssinterfering in politi-
cal conflicts in these islands to which it
was verse;"
Mr.. Blount proceeds to give the results
of his Investigations The report states
the causes of revolution remote andnnproxi-
mate. Touching the operation of the re-
osy ifr ~, IS Al
the island an Intoxicating increase
of wealth, a new labor system
an Asiatic population, the alienation of
the native and white races, the impove-
1ishment of the former and the enrich.
ment of the latter, and the so-called revo-
lutions which are the foundation for the
opinion that stable government cannot
be maintained. The deaths in all these
revolutions were seven. Mr.. Blount esti-
mates that the bounty paid ON sugar by
the United States to the sugar planters
of Hawaii in the remission of the duty
before the Mckinley bill passed reached
SIS, 600, 900 annually. From 1876 to 1887
the immigrants numbered SO, ,926. The
immigrants were poor, and, ignorant
Japanese and Chinese, the women gross
ly unchaste. Labor treaties were made
with various governments binding the
laborer very stringently to his work.
The report says that the year 1S45, under
the influence of white residents the
islands were so distributed between the
crown, the governm ent chiefs and the
people as to leave the latter only a7. $50
acres. The chiefs became largely in
debJed to the whites and thus the
foundation for the large holdings of the
latter were laid. Mr.. Blount describes
the good work by missionaries on the
islands and then says that the descend
ants of these good men grew up in
secular pursuits and the revered mission
ary disappeared. In his stead came the
Anglo-Saxon in the person of his son,
am mbitious to acquire wealth and con-
tinued the political control reverently con
ceded to his plous ancestor. Mr.. Blount
asks whether such condition of affairs
with the natives convinced that the
foreigners had stolen their land, had de-
graded free labor and exposed their own
daughters to the evil influence of an
overwhelming, degraded male popula-
ton; with the whites vaunting their
wealth and intelligence and their mis-
sionary work and condemning the weak
ness of the natives, was not a powerful
provocative to divergence sand political
strife
Mr.. Blount embodies in his1 report a
colloquy between Chief Justice Judd
III H.. L ~r.z-. IL.