The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1897-03-18
JAPANESE MEET AND TALK WAS NOT An ABD|CAT|N
QUEER ROYAL LOGIC FROM SKIP
PER JULIE PALMER.
The Duke Says the Act Was Executed
Under Duress and that Mrs. Dominis
Did Not Mean 1t.

The many who took Mrs. Domins at
her word when she abdicated the
throne of Hawaii and declared her al
legiance to the Hawaiian Republic will
be surprised to learn that she did not
mean it at all. Mr.. Julius A. Palmer,
who has represented her in Washing
ton, has addressed letter to the
Washington Star, setting forth semi
officially the view entertained by those
around her ex-highness. The abdica-
ton is null and void, he asserts, be-
cause the document was signed under
duress, and the paper, likewise, was
worthless because the signature at
tached it not Liliuokalani's official sig
nature. Mr.. Palmer's letter follows:
TO the Editor of the Evening Star:
My attention has been called to an
article in your columns, in which you
make one most truthful admission,
namely, that the presence of her mai
esty, Liliuokalani of Hawaii, in this
city has excited great interest and uni
versal sympathy 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 to her as
Queen and a woman; she almost daily
expresses her sense of appreciation of
the many token of proffered kindness,
even although she is unable to accept
the half of these last mentioned.
But when you go on and spend
column of your valuable space in re-
printing brief drawn by Hon. a. S.
Hartwell, chief counsellor for the cor
poration of sugar planters and law
yers now posing as The Hawaiian Re-
public" 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 in any civilized land.
l will be palmer if you wish. Do
mean that the Queen of Hawaii has
never given legal abdication, that she
is still the lawful ruler, even if she for
bears to enforce her legitimate rights?
do mean exactly that. On the 7th
of January, 1895, she was arrested for
no specific charged offense, taken by
force and confined alone in the Iolani
palace, now called the executive build
ing. She was alone and i'll on or about
the date you mention, when the influ-
ence of Minister Willis was needed
every moment to prevent 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
be taken out and hung by the excited
adherents of the provisionalist govern
ment. Under these circumstances.
without friend to advise her, she was
told that those she dearly loved, her
personal friends, were awaiting exc
cution and that the only act which
would save their lives was an act of
abdication to be signed by her. The
ring of adventurers knew their victim
had they proposed her immediate
death they could not have terrified
executed the documents you publish.
1t was an act consummated under
the plainest kind of duress, void even
had it been legally executed.
4, n
to a collector OF autographs. 1t is not |
the official signature.
There was no such person recog-
nized is Liliuokalani Dominis, and is |
no such person to this day.
In their excessive caution, instead of |
taking her signature as "Liliuokalani,
Regina" the only form of signature
which could have bound even valid |
act, they sought to teach her the grace
of humility by asking for the sigma
ture of Mrs. Dominis; they got it, and !
little god would II do them in any
legal contest. They simply .overreached |
No question is ever settled until it is |
settled right, and that the whole Ha-
waiian matter should be properly re-
viewed 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.
published for the Hawaiian !
Board of Education, / find on the front
page one of the best pictures | have
seen of "Her Majesty Queen Liliuoka-
lani;" at its close | notice three pages
devoted to showing her genealogy in a
direct line for hundred years or so
from the ruling family of Hawaii. The
frontispiece was well chosen, because
Liliuokalani has always been known
for years before her reign, and when
Continued on Page Five.)