Hawaii holomua = Progress. [volume] (Honolulu) 1893-1895, 1894-02-13

handsomely and pay down to the
Princess a gross sum IN cash,
provided that each would submit
to the new order of things and to
the authority of the United States.
Mr.. Blount found last spring at
Honolulu. while pressing his in
vestigation, that agents, pretend
ing to have received their creden-
tisls from Washington. were
trying to negotiate directly with
the ex-Queeu. so as to induce her
to sell out and abdicate; and
when their scheme was baked,
Hawaiian journals in sympathy
with the Provisional Government
threatened repeatedly that she
would be forthwith arrested and
shipped from the islands,
The dethroRed Queen is not
without grievances of her own to
relate, such as must have left
their indelible impression pecu-
liarly upon one of her imperious
temperament Like her own pre-
decessor. she disliked the Con-
stitution of 1887, which placed
ancient prerogatives so largely in
the keeping of the migratory
white men. Upon her coronation
she hesitated to sign it; and, told
next by her surrounding advisers
that she could not at once legally
form ministry of her own, but
must keep the legacy of a dead
sovereign's cabinet until some
Legislature should later dismiss
them. she stubbornly objected,
and carried her point at length,
as she ought to have done. Her
earlier ministers of state, who
were evidently expected to keep
her down, would administer
affairs together, without passing
her the courtesy of a consulta-
ton; and later, as the struggle
progressed, with the Wilcox Re-
form cabinet, for whose head she
cherished high personal con-
sideration, the course taken, as
she claims was on all occasions
to decide measures apart, and
simply present acts and docu-
ments for her signature, leaving
her no ready resource but to
acquiesce. Il found" she com
plains, THAT [ was simply
nonentity, a fgurehead." And
Minister Stevens on one occasion,
so she relates, seated himself in
her presence in a manner highly
disrespectful and offensive, and
then absurdly undertook to brow
beat her government into making
reparation for an article, reflect
ing upon his official behavior
toward some shipwrecked sailors,
which had appeared casually in
Honolulu newspaper
1t seems impossible that this
high-strung sovereign, sensitive
to every slight and impertinence,
could have got on smoothly with
the diverse elements about her.
Her own people, to whom were
allied those native-born of for
eign parents, are passionately
fond of her; but American
sojourners, yearning for the Stars
and Stripes, became rapidly ali
enated from her confidence, until,
between annexationists and
wealthy merchants generally who
desired reform and stable gov
eminent on the one hand, and
those on the other who incline
rather to home rule and the
Polynesian standard of morals.
administration had degenerated
by 1892, with the Legislature in
session, into the constant making
and turning out of cabinets.-a
business in which the Legislature
exeTted its leverage at the behest
of one side or the other according
as factious combinations might
vary, while bribery and corrup-
ton became the constant charge.
In this sharp and incessant strng-
gle for political supremacy, the
party reformers, when united
with another faction known as
Liberals, were strong enough to
vote out all opposing ministers
until the Wilcox or Reform Cabi-
net was brought in; but, offend
ing the Liberals after this, they
met their humiliation when the
Wilcox Cabinet was voted ont by
a new Legislative combination of
men on the 18th of January,
1898, and the reins of power,
which otherwise might most
likely have been held for eight
cen months or more through tie
propagation of the legislature,
passed, Just before final adjourn
ment, into the hands of another
ministry, weak perhaps in its
morals, and hardly representative
of any party. Among the various
rings of lobby spectators. cor
rnpt and corrupting. as such
spectators aae apt to be under
any government. while hanging
about the legislature, were those
which sought-ss had been
sought long before-a lottery and
al opium license act; measures
both offensive to civilized people