The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-04-21
Grave Fears That a General
Outbreak Will Take Place
Very Shortly.
JAPANESE BOAST OF CONQUEST
An Attempt on the Part Of the Gov
eminent to CoerCe the
Citizens Guard.

impending evil in the air. Whence they
come no one knows or seems to care. Ger
tain it is that many of the stanchest sup
porters of the Government are much dis
satisfied with its course, and more espe-
cially since the late so-called revolution.
One cause of complaint is the want OF some
efficient head to the military department,
which at present is under the command of
Colonel Whiting. This gentleman resigned
his position as Judge of the Circuit Court
to take that of Colonel of the Hawaiian
army in order that he might preside over
the recent military commission, and by
his judicial dignity and knowledge of law
at least give it some semblance of a court.
This he did, and it is due to Colonel-Judge
Whiting that the proceedings of the mill
terry commission were conducted with due
and proper decorum. But this is all over
and Judge Whiting is tired of military
honors. OF course he will be reappointed
to his old position as Circuit Judge.
In the meantime there is considerable
friction between the various military or
CARNATIONS here. The regular force, con-
sisting of about 100 men, has no COM
mander of experience, and the volunteer
companies are insisting that some one with
at least a small modicum of military
knowledge be imported and given the posi-
ton of colonel. This position carries with
it salary of $3.50 month and perquisites.
Another semi-military organization is
the Sharpshooters. These people are all
fancy shots. They can nearly all hit
bullseye once in a while and some of them
can do it seven times out of ten. They
made a great record in the late "war" and
the whole town has been laughing at them
ever since. They are good shots even at
1900 yards, but the man is yet to be found
who saw any one of them go closer to the
enemy than 1900 yards in the January
trouble. In fact it is just what some of
them say and glory in the saying, 1--WE
didn't go out there to take any chances"
After three or four days of so-called
fighting, Captain Parker and handful of
native police went out and brought all the
''rebels" in. There is much more truth
than poetry in Joaquin Miller's writings
about Honolulu and the late revolution.
The potent factor in the late uprising,
and which really quelled it, was the Citi-
zens' Guard. AT that time it was an I'M
known quantity. No one knew, outside of
the members, its strength or purpose. 1t
was supposed to consist of couple of
hundred men, half of whom could not be
relied on to turn out. The revolutionists
themselves all acknowledge that they
could ascertain nothing about the mem
bership or the objects of the organization.
When the revolution did break out they
found out all about it so quickly that they
were simply paralyzed.
1t was planned that hundreds of natives
and white royalists were to rise in Homo
lulu and meet others who were to come in
from the outlying districts; but when,
upon the first alarm given on the killing
of Charles l.. Carter 700 members of the
Citizens Guard, all armed with rifles and
with abundance of ammunition, turned
out, the jig was up. These men turned
out to protect themselves, their wives and
families and their property and the repub-
lie. They did not go out of any personal
regard for the Government or the members
composing it, for individually, with the ex-
ception of President Dole and Minister of
Foreign Affairs Hatch, they are decidedly
unpopular, and more so now than ever.
While it cannot be said that the Citizens
Guard suppressed the revolution-there
being none to suppress-it can be truth
fully said that it prevented one, and this is
fully recognized by the Government and
Advisory Council. So pleased was the
Cabinet with the support received from
this organization that soon after the ebel-
lion $50 called) was suppressed it took
steps to turn it into a military organize
ton, formulating a set of rules and regula-
tions for it, among which were trials by
court-martial and various other obnoxious
clauses. The force was to be subject to
various military regulations and to be cap
tanned and differed like a regular military
company.
The members, or rather a majority of
them, did not see it in that light and they
protested vigorously, and are still doing
so. Squad 8, numbering some fifty mem
bers, utterly refused to be governed by the
new regulations, and the result is they
have been consigned to the waste paper
basket. They claimed, as do other mem
bers, that they only joined for certain
purpose which was to assist the Govern
ment in preserving order in case of emer-
gency. They were given commissions as
special policemen and were armed, but the
commissions expressly stated that they
should not be required to leave their own
districts on any account. The Govern
ment has been trying to upset this arrange
ment and make the organization purely
military, and it has met with an ignomini-
Gus failure.
This, of course, has created much dissat-
isfaction among the members, and many
of them have threatened to threw up their
commissions and guns. 1t might safely
be predicted that if another revolution
broke out tomorrow not one-half of the
Citizens Guard would turn out for duty
And there are serious rumors abroad
about another outbreak to occur almost at
any time. The royalists say, as do many
of the supporters of the present regime
that the January outbreak was only a
flash in the pan, and that the real one is
yet to come.
There are good reasons for believing this
to be true. There is general dissatisfaction
here over the labor question. Only last
week nearly 900 Portuguese contract labor
ers came here on one steamer from the
Azores, and the week before 700 Japanese
from Kobe. In spite of every opposition
possible from white laborers and me-