Evening star., 1894-01-30
M R. P. W. READE R
zealously Defends the Administra-
ton and Commissioner Blount
IN HIS TESTIMONY GIVEN TODAY
Before the Senate Hawaiian lnves-
tigation Committee.
MR.. STEW EMS CRITICISED

The administration and Commissioner
Blount had jealous defender and cham
pion in p. w. Reader who was a witness
before the Senate Hawaiian investigation
committee today. Mr.. Reader is a citizen
Of the United States and a resident Of
Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He was in Honolulu
at the time of the revolution and had been
there several weeks before, making a study
of the islands and the institutions. After
the controversy arose as to the position
taken by Minister Stevens at the time Of
the revolution he published a long news
paper article relating to the occurrence of
last January, plainly intimating that the
dethronement of the queen and the estab-
lishment Of the provisional government was
the result of a conspiracy in which Mr.
Stevens was a leading factor. This article
was brought to the attention OF the COM
mittee and as a consequence Mr.. Reader
was summoned before the committee.
An outrage on Human Rights.
He stood staunchly by his printed state
ment, and while he admitted in response to
questions that some of the statements he
had made were the result of hearsay testi-
mony he declared that the evidence Of his
own senses had been sufficient to convince
which. summed up, was that the revolu-
ton was IAN Outrage on human rights
and that it was made possible by the con-
nivance and willing assistance Of the
| representative OF the government or the
United States.
American lives and property were not in
| jeopardy when the marines were landed
from the Boston he declared that no such
condition existed. He said that the Sunday
\ lQf or fhsar haI H. S.%x,
unsuccessful attempt to change the consti-
tuition was as quiet as any other Sabbath
on the islands. The children played in the
streets, and people went about their BUSH
ness as III nothing unusual had happened or
was expected to happen. There were occa-
sional squads OF men discussing the stua-
ton, but tfere did not appear to be any ex-
citement- There were no armed men on the
streets until the troops from the Boston
landed. There were seventy-three police
men under Marshal Wilson, who had on ALI
former occasions shown themselves capa BILE
or preserving the peace. There were also
reserve police and military company
available. Citizens walked the streets nm.
armed until martial law was declared He
SAID there were more japanese than Amer
lean residents on the islands, and that n
was to have been Presumed that if there
had been real peril the troops from the
Japanese man-of-war. then in the harbor
would have been landed.
The StntiOning of American Troou..
he also asserted that when the American
troops were brought on shore hey were
stationed between the palace and the sta =,
tion house, where to his mind thew were
e'idehtiy placed because it was a stra-
tegical point. There were certainly no
American interests there to protect.
Commenting upon the fact that some
witnesses favorable to the provisional yoy-
ernment had called attention 10 the alb
sence of the Boston from the harbor. to-
gether with Minister Stevens, for ten days
before the queens attempted coup de main
as indicative that the minister and the
commander of the &oston were not advised
OF approaching events, Mr.. Reader re-
torted that the Boston steamed into mort
when needed. He also asserted. as he said
upon the authority of eX-Minister Peterson
of the queens government, that Minister
Stevens had given assurance to Thurston
that he would recognize Provisional gov
ernment when 1t should be formed and he
had declined, when called upon by the
Queens counselors for aid saying he could
give no counsel to the queens party while
Marshal Wilson was at the head OF the
police. AS confirmatory of this statement
he had actually recognized the provisional
government when 1t had been proclaimed
by only handful of men and when but an
hour old. The provisional government was
without men and without money to procure
their services. Stevens kindly stepped in
and proffered the valuable help of the
United States navy. lie spoke of Minister
Thurston as radical disturber of the peace
and said that he and Stevens were IN Per-
feet accord and they could point to the
marines with their gatling guns. 1t was
under these conditions that the queen sur
rendered under protest.
No Excuse for Protectornte.
Mr.. Reader also failed to see any excuse
for the declaration of the American pro-
tectorate over the islands except for the
purpose Of preserving the Dole govern
ment. He declared that the natives pre-
ferred native government, and the vot-
ers among them numbered about 10 to 1
white, he was of opinion that they should
control. He did not think. however that
after her effort to subvert the constitu-
ton the queen should have been permitted
to continue her reign. but that she should
have been arrested and punished and her
niece raised to the throne. Instead, how
ever. of laying the ills of the queen and of
preceding monarchB at their doors ne
charged them to the Americans, who were
their advisers and who were substantially
the same class of men-Americans-who
now have charge of the government. They
were a grasping, money-gettng, unScrupu-
lous set, and they would continue to run the
government for their own interest in the
future as they had run it in the past
Mr.. Reader referred to the fact that only
one side of the story of the revolution had
been published. and that, he said, was due
to the fact that the provisional govern
acts or officers. mo star chamber of the
fifteenth century wasf' he said, more in
dustrious in suppressing than were these
men,"
When the Hawaiian Investigation
VIII Close.
Members Of the committee express the
opinion that the investigation will be con-
cluded within the next ten days or two
weeks. The investigation has already con-
sumed more time and taken wider range
than was at first thought necessary. but the
delay has been due more to the difficulty of
getting witnesses on time than to any other
cause 1t has also been found desirable to
examine some of the witnesses at greater
length than at first contemplated
The examinations have gone more into the
history of the islands prior to the time OF
the revolution, and have also been extended
into more of d review of our commercial re-
lations with the islands, than was expe ,ted
While the resolution under which the COM
nittee was appointed will doubtless limit
the scope of any finding which may be re-
ported as such, the testimony will be found.
when published, to throw a great deal of
light upon the character of the institutions
the inhabitants and the industries of the
little Kingdom. The report will, therefore
be a valuable contribution to Hawaiian
literature, though somewhat bulky in form
The remaining witnesses to be examined
are mostly persons who have visited the
islands at different times.