Evening star., 1897-02-12
NOT AN ABDICATION
Mr.. Palmer Says the Hawaiian Queen
Did Not Mean It.
An ACT EXECUTED UNDER DURESS
And, Then, the Name Signed Was
Not Her Official Signature.
Q o E z r ROYAL LOGIC

The many who took Mrs. Dominis at her
word when she abdicated the throne of
Hawaii and declared her allegiance to the
Hawaiian republic will be surprised 10
learn that she did not mean il at all. Mr..
julius A. Palmer, who has represented her
In Washington, has addressed a letter TO
The Star, setting forth semi-oficiaIly the
view entertained by those around her ex-
highness. The abdication is null and void
he asserts, because the document was
signed under duress and the paper like
wise. was worthless because the signature
attached is not LiliuokaianTs official sig
nature. Mr.. Palmers letter follows:
The Queen of Hawaii.
To the Editor of The Evening Star:
My attention has been called to an artI-
Gle in your columns ON Thursday. in which
you make one most truthful admission,
namely. that the preserce of her majesty.
Liliuokalani of Hawaii. in this city has
excited great interest and universal sym
pathy from all classes. OF this fact there
can be not the least doubt, and it is as
grateful to me as an American as It is 20
her as a queen and a woman; she almost
daily expresses her sense of appreciation
OF the many tokens of proffered kindness,
even although she is unable to accept the
half Of these last mentioned.
But when you go on and spend a column
OF your valuable space in reprinting a brief
drawn by Hon. A. S. Hartwell chief coun-
sellor for the corporation of sugar plant
ers and lawyers now posing as The Ha-
waiian Republic" you reproduce words
which have no legal force whatever. which
were void when written and which could
not be sustained in any court of equity i'm
any civilized land.
l will be palmer IL you wish Do 1 mean
that the Queen of Hawaii has never given
a legal abdication, that she is still the law
full ruler, even If she forbears to enforce
her legitimate rights?
1 do mean exactly that On the 7th of
January, 1885. she was arrested for no
specific charged offense, taken by force and
confined alone in the Iolani palace, now
called the executive building She was
alone and Ill on or about the date you
mention, when the influence of Minister
Willis was needed every moment to pre-
vent general massacre of those of every
nation who were supposed to be quietly
faithful to the constitutional monarch.
Even prisoners were kept locked in their
cells by tteir captors lest they should be
taken out and hung by the excited adher-
ents of the provisionalist government In
der these circumstances, without a friend
to advise her, she was told that those she
dearly loved her personal friends, were
awaiting execution and that the only act
which would save their lives was an act
OF abdfcation to be signed by her. The
ring of adventurers knew their victim;
had they proposed her immediate death
they could not have terrified her, but TO
save those she loved she executed the docu-
ments you publish.
1t was an act consummated under the
plainest kind Of duress, void even had 1T
been legally executed
But the signature is wor: HESS even TO a
collector Of autographs. 1t IS not the ON
cial signature.
There was no such person recognized as
Lii1uokalanf Dominis, and is no such per
son to this day.
In their excessive caution, instead of TAX
ing her signature as "Liliuokalani Re
gina' the only form of signature which
could have bound even a valid act, they
sought to teach her the grace of humility
by asking for the signature of Mrs. DOM
lnis; they got it, and little good would IL
do them in any legal contest They simply
over reached themselves
NO question is ever settled until IL is set
tied right, and that the whole Hawaiian
HatLer snould De properly reviewed is the
opinion of great many of the people of
the United States.
In an official history written by one of
the opposition party, Mr.. W. ID. Alexander.
published for the Hawaiian board of edu-
cation, L find on the front page one of the
best pictures L have seen of Her Majesty
Queen Liliuokalani;' at its Close / notice
three pages devoted to showing her GER
ealogy in direct line for a hundred years
or SO from the ruling family of Hawaii
The frontispiece was well chosen because
Liiiuokalani has always been known for
years before her reign, and when upon the
throne, as the patroness o: music, education
and the fine arts. The only reception she
has been willing to give In Washington was
to school, and the only time she has
opened her lips in public in America was to
encourage the pupils. But I'm that history
1 read that II was ancient and common
law In Hawaii that no chief could ever be
degraded from that high Office to which
birth alone Is the passport; the friends OF
LiHuokalani in America or in Hawaii are
willing to stand on that record.
JULIUS A. PALMER.
The Shoreham,
Washington,
February IL, 1897.
The Queens MOuthpfece.