The Independent. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1895-1905, 1896-07-13
Continued from Ist Page)

sidered it as the grossest insult, and
no money could have tempted him
to have allowed the fair pages of his
journal to be disgraced by the vile
ISLANDERS and indecent suggestions
that were embodied in the article in
the magazine.
With regard to Mr.. Willis's refusal
to join in the celebration Of the 18th
OF January There are those in Ha.
waii and also in the United States
that fail to see the consistency OF
United States officers and others
calling and paying their respects to
the Government of the Republic on
the first day of January, in the most
public manner, and declining to do
so on the 18th day of the same
month. A rumor from Washington
is that Secretary Olney had also
intimated as much.
Captain Palmer makes the state
ment that "the Hawaiian race never
had anything to do with firearms"
This is a matter certainly of great
surprise from one who pretends to
so much knowledge of Hawaiians,
for it was with a cannon, manned by
an Englishman and an American,
that won Kamehameha l. his final
victory ard conquest of the islands,
and from that day to this there has
always been body of armed men in
the service of the Government. No
one contributed more for the OK
penditure of military equipments
than the late King Kalakaua. One
item was that of $4,000, paid by the
king when he visited Austria for the
purchase OF gun battery. And the
expenditure of some $4,000 for an
old English trading vessel, turned
into a "man-of-warw The kings
army was point for all sorts of
ridicule to those who wrote OF affairs
during his administration, SO that
the Hawaiian was not so innocent a
child of nature in the use of fire.
arms as the captain represents him.
1t is not for the writer to criticise
the sending out as the Minister Of
the United States, Albert S. Willis,
nor to criticise the President for
making his appointment, or of the
manner Of his conducting his mis-
sion, as one might infer from read
ing Captain Palmer's article. The
comparison between President
Cleveland and Mr.. Dole may we'll be
left for the historian of the future.
We think that the reputation OF the
President of the Island Republic
will not suffer for any OF his public
acts.
1t is not for me to question "Mr.
Willis's invitation to the queen to
call at the American Legation I'M
accompanied"-a matter OF taste,
perhaps, for which the Minister
would be able to give good reasons,
but for the swords of condemnation
of treason" in which she called for
the 'beheading" of some of the best
men of the nation, there can be no
question, as it is asserted on the
best authority.
1t is very, very singular, certainly,
to learn at this late day of "the
manner in which her signature was
procured to the act of abdication."
For the first time, so far as | have
knowledge, the account given by
Captain Palmer is reported and
placed in print. II is very singular,
when almost every act of the queen
was before the public for the three
days, 18th, 18th and 18th Of January,
1898; presumably Mr.. Blount, who
apparently left no avenue for in
formation unexplored, would not
have failed to notice such an i'm
portant statement as that now made
by Captain Palmer. Certainly it is
that there is no record OF it in any
of the papers or interviews with her