The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1894-06-23
AS TO THE "HERALD" YARN,
Professor Alexander Gives a Few
of the Facts in the Case.
COMMODORE JONES AND HIS COURSE.
A Letter from Captain John Meek, who
was Present at the Settlement AFect-
ed by Jones-The Latter was Very
Friendly to the Chiefs OF Hawaii.

In view of the absurd story pub
lished in the N. Y. Herald, which
| attacks the good name of dis
tinguished officer of the Amer
lean navy, l beg leave to submit a
few facts bearing on the case.
The late r. G. Wyllie, Minister of
Foreign Affairs for the Hawaiian
Kingdom, in his report to the Legis
lature of 1856, commented severely on
CommodoreJones course in ns'pressing'
the settlement of the claims of the
American traders against the native
chiefs in December, 1926.
Commodore Jones' reply and mass
of accompanying documents were pub
lished in the supplement to the report
of the Minister of Foreign Affairs to
the Legislature of 1856.
The American Minister Resident at
Honolulu, Hon. d. l.. Gregg, also
took the testimony of Rev. A. Bishop,
Capt. John Meek, Governor Kekua-
naoa, John III and Kanaina, which
Capt. John Meek, well-known
and respected resident, stated as fol-
lows in his letter dated January 10,
1856:
'.I was present at the final media
ton and settlement affected through
the friendly offices of Capt. Jones. He
acted as a sort of umpire between the
parties. Commodore Jones had been
examining and trying to arrange the
matter for month or more, and
understood it fully. The final council
or meeting at w hich the decision was
rendered, lasted only a short time,
perhaps not over two or three hours
Most of the chiefs were there, and
some of the claimants also. The
claims were reduced to considerable
extent. Commodore Jones took the
side of the chiefs, and was regarded
as very friendly to them. They were
perfectly satisfied and even pleased,
and admitted the amount of his award
to be justly due. The other parties
were not content, and complained
that their interests had not been duly
considered. These claims were for
vessels and goods-sometimes by the
cargo sold to the chiefs. Six vessels,
/ think, had been purchased by them.
and goods to a large extent. = =
tlemanly. He used no threats, and
employed no coercion. No naval
commander was ever more res
pected or praised by the chiefs,
and none, / was satisfied, ever better
deserved their confidence. The col
lection of sandal wood to liquidate the
claims was not regarded as oppressive
or burdensome. Each native was al
lowed proportion of what he gather
ed, and thus all der we'd some advan-
tage from the tax imposed" etc.
From the replies made by M. Keku-
anaoa, John III, Kanaina and John
Meek to the twenty-five questions put
by Mr.. Wyllie, can only make a few
extracts.
@ estate the names of all the
Americans who made claims on the
Hawaiian Government; the amount
of the claim of each American firm or
individual the particular kind of
goods that he had sold to the Govern
| ment or TO the Chiefs" etc.
A. By Kekuanaoa and John H.
civilian Denney, Capt. Ebbetts,
Thomas Meek, William French, Con
sui Jones and his partners; do not
recollect the amount of each claim;
the greater part of the debt was for
vessels sold and for the manufactured
goods; cannot say precisely for how
long lime, they were old debts.n
A. By Kanaina. Essays that tAluli,'
or the American who carried his head
on one side, he superintended and
brought forward all the claims; says
some of them were just claims, but
the greater portion unjust. The chiefs
had been in the habit of going and
buying things, thinking little of the
price, as they had to pay in sandal
wood; they did not then know the
value of dollars, of goods or of sandal
wood correctly"
John Meek added the names of Cap
tains Andrew, Blanchard, Wilder and
Brown, and said that "Aluli" was
the name given by the natives to the
Consul, John Coffin Jones.
o. Do you remember the price at
which any particular vessel, boat or
brass or iron gun was sold? If SO state
the price of such article"
A. By KAkuanaoa and John IL. ''The
brig Haaheo (Cleopatra's barge was
charged at 5000 piculs; little vessel
built near where the Custom is, a
schooner of about 30 tons, was charg-
ed at 1000 piculs, the large brass gun
now lying in the fort, was charged at
500 piculs
To the above list of vessels pur-
chased by the chiefs we can add the
Aibatross, purchased in October, 1918,
of John Ebbets for 400 picuIs of sandal
wood; the brigantine Bordeaux