Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-05-17

| ing the attitude which the State Depart
'ment has assumed toward the whole Gues-
| ton of citizenship of Americans who have
| become at any time attached to the Ha-
| waiian government, and particularly as
| showing an essential difference in the view
| Of this subject taken by the governments of
| the United States and Great Britain, as re-
| vealed in the attitude of the latter in the
cases of Walker and Richard, alleged to be
| British subjects.
The Cranstun Case.
| The correspondence is made up Of two
| letters, the first, touching the Cranstun
| case, being follows:
| DEPARTMENT OF STATE,
Washington. February %, 1895.
| A. S. Willis, esq.,, Honolulu.
| Sir: I have to acknowledge the receipt
| of your No. SO of the Stn instant in rela-
| ton to affairs in Hawaii. and particularly
| in relation to the forcible deportation on
| the I'd instant of three men, one of whom
Mr.. J. Cranstun, claims to be a citizen Of
| the United States.
| inclose herewith copies of certain depo-
sitions made by Mr. Cranstun on the 18th
and 18th instant, before Mr.. Peterson, the
| commercial agent of the United States at
Vancouver. These dispositions leave the
| question of Mr.. Cranstun's nationality in
| doubt and Mr.. Peterson has been instruct
| ed to obtain further statements from him
| on that subject.
| Under these circumstances the depart
| ment does not row instruct you to make
any representations to the Hawaiian gov
| eminent in regard to Mr.. CranStun, but 1t
| Is proper to express to you for your own
| guidance in similar cases. should they
arise. the views here entertained in regard
| to the course of action taken in that case.
| 1t appears that after having been kept
! in Jail for nearly a month, without any
| charges having been made against him, ne
! was taken under a heavy guard to a
| steamer. and would, in spite of his request
| to see you have been deported without
| having had an opportunity then to do SO
| had it not been for the accidental but time
| ly interposition of the British commits
soner. ~
You state that when you asked the attor-
ney general for an explanation of the pro-
| ceeding he replied that the cabinet had de-
| termined to debort the men 'in the exer-
else of the arbitrary power conferred by
martial law" AS this was the only ex-
PLANTATION he gave. it il assumed that 1t
was all he had to- offer, and he gave 1t
without suggesting any question as to Mr..
| CranStun's nationality.
| If the position thus assumed be sound,
| the very proclamation of martial law in
| Hawaii renders alb foreigners there resid
| Ing, including Americans, liable to arrest
and deportation without cause and without
any reason otter than the fact that the
| executive power wills 1t. They may be
| taken from their homes and their business;
they may be !deprivedo of their liberty and
| banished they may be denied the ordinary
as well as the special treaty rights of resi-
| dence without offense of misconduct on
! their part, simply in the exercise of "arbf-
| trary power.
To state such a proposition is, in the
| opinion of the President, to refute it.
| Truly viewed" says an eminent author.
| martial law can only change the admins
| tration of the laws, give them a rapid force
| and make their penalties certain and eff
| fectual; not abrogate what the justice
| of the community before. The civil courts
are in part or fully suspended; but in rea-
| son, the new summary tribunals should
| govern themselves in their proceedings, as
| far as circumstances admit, by established
| principles of justice, the same which had
| before been recognized in the courts"
| Bishops Criminal Law, section 45.)
| In view of what has been stated your
| course IN protesting against the position
| assumed by the attorney general Of Ha-
wall is approved.
| I am. sir, your obedient servant.
! w. Q. GRESHAM.
The Bowler Case.
The second letter relates to the Bowler
case, and is as follows:
DEPARTMENT OF STATE,
| WASHINGTON. April g. 1895.
Albert S. Willis. ESQ.,. Honolulu:
| Sir: 1t appears from your No. IS of Feb
| ruary %, that on the 22d of that month J.
| F. Bowler was convicted before military
| commission, sitting at Honolulu, for partic-
| ipation or completely in the disturbance or
| uprising in Hawaii early in January, and
| sentenced to Imprisonment at hard labor
| lOr llVe years ana 70 pay Hue ot So,voU,
| that he now claims protection as an Amer
| lean citizen, and that the Hawaiian author
tiles assert he is not entitled to such pro-
| lection because he is naturalized citizen
| Of that government.
| When Mr.. Bowler left this country and
! vent to Hawaii does not appear, but on
March IS, 1885, he voluntarily took oath
| to support the constitution and laws CT
| the Hawaiian Islands and bear true allie
glance to the king, without expressly re-
| nouncing or reserying his allegiance to the
| United States. Section 432 of the statute
| prescribing this oath Compiled Laws of
| Hawaii, 1SS4,) provides that every foreigner
| so naturalized shall be deemed for all pur-
poses a native of the islands, subject only
| to their laws and entitled to their protec-
| ton, and no longer amenable to his native
| sovereign while residing in the kingdom,
| nor entitled to resort to his native country
! for protection intervention; that for
| every such resort he shall be subject to the
| penalties annexed to rebellion, and that
| having been thus naturalized, he shall be
| entitled to all the rights and immunities of
| a Hawaiian subject
l informed that the supreme court of
| Hawaii has held that the taking of this
| oath operates to naturalize the alien and
| admit him to full citizenship 1t Is not
! claimed that since 1885 Mr.. Bowler ever
| returned to the United States or resided
| elsewhere than on the islands.
This government has never held to the
| doctrine of perpetual allegiance; on the con-
| trary, from its organization it has main
| tanned that the right to throw off ones nat
ural allegiance and assume another is in
alienable.
"Expatriation,'' said Attorney General
| Black in 1859, includes not only emigra-
| ton out of ones native country but nat
| uralization in the country adopted as
| future residence"
The effect of naturalization is to place the
| adopted citizen in the same relation to the
government as native citizens or subjects.
| The right of the Hawaiian government,
| with his consent to adopt Mr.. Bowler as
| fully as if he has been born upon its soil
| is as clear as his right to expatriate him
| self. He manifested his intention of aban-
| doning his American citizenship by taking
| the oath to support the constitution and
laws of Hawaii and bear true allegiance to
| the king, and, so far as known, he mani
| Tested contrary intention before his ar
| rest. That oath is inconsistent with his
! allegiance to the United States. By taking
| it he obligated himself to support the gov
| errment of his adoption, even to the ex-
| tent of fighting it's battles in the event of
| war between it and the country of his Or
| igin. He could not bear true allegiance to
both governments at the same time.
The President directs that You inform
Mr. Bowler he is not entitled to the protec-