The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1896-04-30
The lands had previously been diy;d-


ed among the common people in
way that was equitable to all, the as
sertions made on the floors of the
American Congress to the contrary
Notwithstanding. Under the old kings
all land was invested in their name.
as lands originally we're in Great
Britain. These kings distributed
them somewhat according to the teu-
dial system. to chiefs, reserving great
tracts of what was still called crown
lands. At the suggestion of the mis-
sionaries large quantities of lands
we're set apart for the common people,
and these lands, tho small in acreage,
composed nearly all the very best soil
on the islands. They were the taro
patches and rice fields, some of which
are to-day worth five hundred dollars
per acre, while there are vast tracts of
lava-strewn mountain land not worth
one dollar for five hundred acres.
Among the many American emf
grants to the islands were shrewd
business men, who procured long
leases on sugar lands and bought
large tracts from the king. British
influence was brought to bear upon
King Kalakaua. He was told to be "a
real king and have great army and
navy" Public Improvements were
neglected, roads became almost i'm
passable, while the king secured a
loan from England, and squandered
vast sums of the revenue in loans and
on Hula dancing girls.
Kalakaua was not bad man. He
was weak, vain man, and easily in
fluenced by bad surroundings. He
was constantly in need of money, tho
his annuity was greater than the sal
airy 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 a return to abso-
lutte monarchy.
Great excitement prevailed, and a
revolution was threatened by the
people whose liberties were endang-
cred, until bowling to the popular will,
Kalakaua permitted the constitution
to stand.
1t is said that at this time the kings
sister, Princess Liliuokalani, was in
England. guest of Queen Victoria,
studying royal life. She was very in
dignant at her brother yielding to the
wishes of the American Hawaiians,
and on her return to Honolulu revo-
luton was preciI ated by some of her
friends to deposethe king and place
her on the throne. The American
settlers on the islands went to the res
cue of the king, and the rebellion was
put down.
King Kalakaua died January 20,
1891, and was succeeded by his sister,
Liliuokalani, as queen. The queen was
thoroughly English in education and
sympathy. From the first she dis
played intense hatred for the Ameri-
can missionaries. Left alone she
might have made an excellent mon
arch, for those who know her say she
possesses many good qualities; even
her political enemies deny the ISLANDERS
against her personal character. But
the queen was ill-advised. Her race
prejudices were reused by interested
persons. The American missionary
was held up in the the light of moral
pirate, who had left his conscience at
Cape Horn, and came to rob and plum
der the natives as the Spaniards had
done in America, and all under the
guise of religion.
| In various ways she kept her sub
jects alarmed by threats to deprive
them of their constitutional liberties
Tho her salary and income from crown
lands exceeded the salary of the Pres
ident of the United States by nearly
twenty thousand dollars, she was not
satisfied. She was advised to be a
queen in splendor as we'll as name. A
crowd of evil designing friends we're
constantly about her advising her to
DO what they should have known
would be her ruin. There were nearly
two thousand Americans and over one
thousand Germans, as we'll as many
English, at this time living on the is
lands, who did not believe in the di-
Il WI r1reh{o 1f Ix:r~o 80