The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1898-03-08
THE EX QUEENS STORY
REVIEWED BY \ PROMINENT
BOSTON JOURNAL.
Book will Win sympathy from Unin-
formed Public-IIer Publishers
Feared Libel Suits-About Kalal<aua

The following review of Liliuokala-
mis- book is taken from the Boston
Waterman. 1t is interesting reading:
The author may be congratulated
on her ability to write good English,
her gift of abiding to debating ques-
tionS without committing herself, and
her power of not saying too much
about well known events. Her record
of her early days is very interesting.
Her recital of the motives underlying
her more mature acts is the exhibition
of character remarkable for probity,
discretion and self control; and her
life. as set forth by herself, is evidence
that the work of the American mis-
sionaries. whose memory is now un-
savory to her, was not in vain The
effect of her story. on those who read
between the lines" will be in accord
ance with the amount of information
ON both sides which the readers pos
sess. The book will win sympathy
from the uniformed public. and is
timely in connection with the Con-
gressional debates on the annexation
of the Islands. Her standpoint is very
unique and the reliability of her state
ments is largely affected by the per-
sonal equation. AS early as page 20,
the eX-Queen tells of the right of life
and death" always prerogative of
Hawaiian sovereigns. This has its
value in connection with the word
"beheaded." which Minister Willis de-
clared was used in the famous inter
view which he had with Liliuokalani;
but il is most unfortunate that the la
dy's early allusion was apologize of
King Iiholiho's killing his own sec
rotary in a fit of passion. On page 96,
may be noted the eN-Queen's pain in
signing a death warrant, as an official
act On page PA. she writes that she
signed her abdcation to save six 9TH
ers from execution. and when she was
lnervously Frustrated. More than two
weeks afterward, at the trial page
2SO), she testified to the statement and
affirmed that il was made "by the adj
vice of friends and 'to complete the
work of saving (those) lives" At this
later date it is presumed that her
physical condition had much improv-
ed. In Chapter 80. with the heading,
Grimes ! am Charged Withal," her
reasons for signing the lottery and OPP
ium bills will hardly commend them
!
American citizens as consistent with
the lofty motives professed by the
signer i'm other transactions. She
claims right to give a Constitution
of her own to her people, on the
ground that it was "a prerogative of
Hawaiian sovereigns" Ga most useful
phase in an emergency, and cites the
arbitrary substitution by Prince Lot
of his own Constitution of 1864 for
that of 1852; the former being Fan alb
ly drawn" document. under which his
reign was prosperous for twenty
three years. 1t will doubtless be
news to Mr.. Dole that the "conspira-
tors (page 1919 had taken measures
to have Kalakaua assassinated if he
refused" to sign the Constitution of
1887. 1t will also "aStoniSh the ma
tives" to be told that the good natur-
ed King fell Il martyr to the interests
of the missionaries who had done
him so much wrong page 206). 1t is
a matter of regret that the eN-Queen
could not clear her skirts of all COM
! plicity with the insurrection of 1895,
and that in referring to the shooting
at that time of Mr.. Charles l.. Carter,
the son of one of her oldest friends.
she contented herself with the remark
| that his death and the wounding of Il
| policeman were, | believe, all the Sc
rious casualties of the day" The sec
ond paragraph of Chapter 20. on the
mercantile element" seems i'll adviS-
ed in that it includes in its sweeping
denunciation all persons who have ac-
quired considerable property on the
Islands by Legitimate enterprise. 1t is
also unfortunate that the eN-Queen,
not content with saying that the hon
ored missionaries, DR.. &. p. Judd, Mr..
w. Richards and Mr.. r. Armstrong
| Gather of General Armstrong;, ere
signed their meagre salaries from the
a. b. c. f. NJ, and found positions in
the Councils and Cabinets of the Ka-
mehamehas more lucrative and pre-
sumably more satisfactory to Them"
should have charged these men as Of
flee seekers and office holders, with IA
treasury deficiency, so ineXplicable,
that the Cabinet was required to re-
sign immediately" that is, the de-
faulters were detected and dishonored.
Friends can refute this charge, on
page 233, at their own convenience. 1t
is not surprising that, with such men
as the missionaries to loot the
treasury and to debase the national
morals, the eX-Queen should have cho-
sen commissioners from her own peo-
| pie, who spend her money i'm the Unit
ed States, without having ANYTHING to
show for the expenditure And the
average reader will note with surprise
that, although the ''mercantile eIe-
ment' controlled by missionaries"
was mercenary and grasping, "Kala-
kaua'S reign was, in material sense,
the golden age of Hawaiian history"
But space forbids the selection OF 9th
er examples of unitentionaI contradic-
tions, by which the cause of the eN-
Queen is not promoted. 1t is regret
able that her admirable self-controI
weakens towards the close of the vol
ume, and that she has cleared her
mind concerning her opponents. i'm a
less pleasing way that the earlier pa
ges promised. 1t would have been wis
er for her to have refrained from tel
ling the public that her publisher
tia 10, 4.