The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1896-03-26
Kalakaua was not a bal man.

of the President of the United States:
He found himself hampered by the
constitution which limited his power,
and declared his intention OF giving
the people another constitution which
was in reality return to absolute mon
aIChy.
Great excitement prevailed, and a
revolution was threatened by the Pe"-
pie whose liberties were endangered,
until, lowing To the popular will. Kali
akaua permitted The constitution To
stand.
II is SAID that AT this time the kings
sister, Princess Liliuokalani, was in
England, guest of Queen Victoria,
stud ing royal life. She was very in
dignant at her brother yielding t, the
wishes Of The American Hawalian>,
and on her return to Honolulu rev
olutlon Was precl plated 10y some OF
her friends to depose the king and
place her OH the throne. The Amer
lean settlers on the islands went In The
rescue of the king, and the rebellion
was put down
King kalakauA died Jluulry 20,
1901, and was succeeded 10y hi, ,l,ler,
LIlluokalanl, as queen. The queen
was thoroughly English in education
and sympathy. From the first she dis
played Intense haired tor the AnerI-
can missionaries. Left alone she might
have made an excellent monarch, Tor
those who know her sd, she possesses
many 90 d Qualities; even her political
enemies deny the SANDERS against her
PERSONAL character But tn queen was
lll-advised. Her race pref illce> We're
reused 10y interested persons. The
American missionary was held up in
the light of moral pirate, who had
left his conscience at Cape Horn, and
come to rob and plumber the natives
as the Spaniards had done in America,
and all under the disguise of religion.
In various ways she kept her subjects
alarmed by threats to deprive them Of
their constitutional liberties. Tho
her salary and income from crown
lands exceeded the salary Of the presi-
dent of the United States by nearly
twenty thousand dollars, she was not
satisfied. She was advised to be queen
in splendor as we'll as name. A crowd
Of evil designing friends were con
stantly about her advising her TO do
what they should have known would be
her ruin. There were nearly two thouS-
and Americans and over one thousand
Germans, as we'll as many English, al
this time living on the islands, VINO
did not believe in the divine rights Of
kings. Many of these had, by thrift
and honest toll accumulated property
amounting to millions. With them il,
was a business proposition. Should
they, in order to maintain tradition
born IN the dark days of barbarl,m,
and Graded in ignorance and super
slition, yield up the hard earnings of
their ,ifetimes?
Among the other schemes to replen-
ish the depleted treasury of the queen
was what is known as the lottery. The
originator of this was Mr.. Thomas f.
Evans, whose wifi was a maid ofhonor
to the queen, and who had held some
Offices under the kings.
Alter the Louisiana Lottery had
been driven out Of the United States,
its hackers and supporters began to
look about for some place convenient
to America where the gigantic swinde
might be resuscitated. The Hawaiian
Islands were regarded as the most con-
venlent place. Mr.. Evans went to
Chicago, where he met the capitalists
willing to engage in the enterprise. An
arrangement was made whereby the
Chicago capitalists, providing the fran
chlse was granted, were to pay the Ha-
waiian government the sum of five hum
dred thousand dollars per annum for
the term OF twenty five years. AT the
time the lottery bill was being agitated
in the legislature, another bill, fully as
odious to all decency and morals,
known as the "Opium Bill" was
brought up.
The queen cabinet was composed
of men who inspired confidence in the
minds of the people, but they did not
prove sufficient to check their head
strong ruler. The legislature, like the
Long Parliament in Cromwells time,
was in session until the more respec-
table members were compelled to leave
for their homes to attend to their bus
mess. They had scarcely left before
the opium and lottery men, taking ad-
vantage of their absence, hurriedly
passed the bills known as the "Opium''
and "Lottery" bills.
The decent and respectable people
of Hawaii saw the danger that menaced
them. The missionaries realized that
the race just rescued from healhendom
was about to be exposed to all the
vices Of civilization, and land TODAY
filled with churches and school houses,
about to become the Monte Carlo of
the Western Hemisphere. Another
class of Americans looked on with
alarm at the condition of affArrsA
those who had business interests at stake
which were in jeopardy. A party of
Christian ladies waited on the 0ues n
and petitloned her not to sign the
odlous bills. Ii is SAID she wept with
them; they prayed with her and left,
assured she would veto the bills, but
she signed them almost as soon as they
were gone.
The alarm spread and increased.
Meetings were held, and some discussed
taking measures to avert moral and f
nancial ruin. The queen prorogued
the legislature, dismissed her cabinet,
and appointed in its place a set of
ministers obnoxious to most of the