Evening star., 1897-03-20
What General Hartwell Says Of Ex-
Queen Liliuokalani's Abdication.
he DRAFTED The DOCUMENT
She Admitted It Was Just as She
Wanted 1t.
QUESTION OF ANNEXATION


that she never had legally abdicated the
throne, and that the abdicat:on signed by
her was irregular, given under duress and
void. The paper of abd:cation signed by
the ex-queen was drafted by Gen. Alfred
S. Hartwell of Honolulu, who is now in
Washington on a pleasure trip. Gen. Hart
well, when asked for a statement concern
Ing the ex-queen's abdication, dictated the
following:
Il am not here as a representative of the
Hawaiian government, or Of any enc. bu.
simply because 1 required a change of
scene. and regard Washington as the most
attractive city 1 know
LiIiunknIanf's Abdfcatfon,
L drafted the ex-queen's abdicat.on and
jrrat of allegiance to the republic of Ha-
vail, and abjuraticn of the monarchy, un-
der the following circumstances:
Pa vi Neuman, her legal adviser. who
came to Washington in the winter of 1S.;s..
holding her power of attorney; Samuel Par
ker her last prime minister, a Hawaiian.
and Charles Wilson. the last marshal under
the monarchy, came to my office the day of
Ter arrest and told me that she had intend
eG to abdicate before, but had delayed for
M. Widemann to talk it over with her, and
that they wanted me to draw the paper
L
be no reading between the lines, and asked
IL she meant it and approved of their COM
ing to me. They said she did, and tina;
was the kind of document that was want
ed. L told them 1t would Eot prevent her
trial, which would soon come OH. They
said they knew 1t, and that her idea was
that things would settle down and there
ould be 70 further trouble If she should
resign, and that this was her object
Il looked up such references to royal
abdications as l could find, and drew up
the document, which Neuman, Parker ard
wilson examined and approved verbatim.
Wilson took 1t to Liliuokalan, who pro-
posed some trivial change, which was
made, and second draft was drawn,
which Wilson also submitted to her. At
her request another inconsiderab,e change
was made and a third draft was prepared
which was submitted to her and returned
to me by Wilson. who informed me that
it was exactly she wanted, and that
he desired a final copy. which was made.
Ihe earlier drafts. written In clear con-
yeyancer's hand by my assistant. are in
his possession in Honolulu.
me three men wanted me to be one OF
the aefeskhG witnesses Hhich.,I. declined
to be, but at their request / was present
when the document was presented by
Neuman to the ex-Queen. who, in a clear
voice and calm and dignified manner, stat
ed In the hearing Of all who were present
that she understood the contents of the
document and desired to sign and acknowl-
edge it. which she proceeded to do before
a notary. Mr.. Stanley, who was present.
at the request of Messrs. Neuman, Parker
and Wilson There were also present upon
that occasion Mr.. Widemann, her stan IN
friend, Mr.. VIM. G. Irwin, a partner cf
Mr.. Claus Spreckles, and an Intelligent
Hawaiian lawyer Mr. Wilson then took
the document and asked me to accompany
him to President Dole. which l dld. He
handed the paper to Mr.. Dole, who quietly
remarked that it would be placed upon
the files.
MIR. Dole and his cabinet did not know
of the abdication papers until they were
finally completed and executed. No mis-
representation was made to induce Liluo-
kalani to take this step. l did not Set
her until she acknowledged the instru-
ment, and the gentlemen who We're about
her and talked with her upon the subject
and who were her friends would not,
am confident, have misled her.
The document was published in the Ha-
waiian and English newspapers. l did not
hear much about 1t, although people said
she would have been wise in taking the
step earlier thereby perhaps preventing
the outbreak which occurred in the early
part OF that same month.
Annexation of Hawaii.
Every one knows that the Hawaiian
government and it's supporters wish Ha-
waii TO be annexed to the United States.
Whether the national measures under dis
cussion in Washington will render it ad-
visable to defer the Hawaiian question.
and the Hawaiian diplomatic representa-
tive will for that reason not present the
matter to Mr.. Mckinley now, are uues-
tions which, l suppose, are yet to be de-
cided. N
There has been a misunderstanding CON-
cerning the causes of the downfall of the
Hawaiian monarchy. In my own opinion.
ana from my own personal observation, it
Is preposterous to suppose that there was
d mo tn
assisted by Minister Stevens or Captain
Witse to bring about that result No Ameri-
cans there whom I knew. and 1 think 1
knew about all of them wanted to dis
turb the monarchy or to induce a stare of
anafrs which would result in deposing the
sovereign, with view to ultimate annex
alton.
People in this country have had to
CONSIDER the meaning of anarchy an uely
condition, when local and temporary and
subject to the control of a powerful gov
ernment. In such crisis the conseryarfy
elements demand the exercise by the gov
ernment OF the supreme power of the ma
ton and the cause Of law and order soon
asserts itself
In small country. like Hawaii. in the
middle of the Pacific ocean, unsupported Inv
the strong arm of any great power. Il will
not do to let anarchy have its day 1t was.
In my opinion. nothing but a sense of dire
necessity which caused the establishment
OF the provisional government of Hawaii
However, all that is ancient history.
The question now is whether the United
States will annex Hawaii or see 1t oriental
lied. When the question comes up. as 1t
must do soon, hope 1t will be considered
on Its merits. and as a national and not a
partisan measure. The annexation of Ha-
wall Is not lingo or imperial policy On
the contrary, Hawaii is as naturally and
properly portion Of the United States as
Is Long Island or Martha's Vineyard or the
Faral1ones. If there q any use in that
clause of the Constitution authorizing Con-
gress to provide for the common defense
there Is no more effectual way of illustrat-
Ing 1t than by annexing Hawaii 1t would
cost the United States nothing to do this:
instead of Hawaii being an expense It
would add to the national revenues. There
would be no more fourishing or desirable
portion Of the United States than that little
group OF islands. It 10 nonsense to say that
the conglomerate population there In an OBJ
stacle. Hawaii, notwithstanding its Chi
nese and Japanese, would be governed by
the United States with az much ease as Il
any fourth-rate municipal organisation
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