The Independent. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1895-1905, 1898-08-19
CORRESPONDENTS.
Thoughts on Flag Raising Day In
cidents and mments.
Ed. The INDEpENDENT:-

ialslnB udy) isoue, yOu gave my pe-
loved flag" (tuu hae aioha) a parting
eulogy. 1 must commend you for
that eulogy, a last and parting kick
to the flag Of weak and helpless
people, the emblem of the self-same
people towards whom the United
States used its good Offices to have
the status quo restored and maintain
ed in 1843, and in 1898 the self.same
United States saw proper to assist
in upsetting what it had formerly
and previously assisted in righting,
now finally to see the self.same
United States consummate the theft
it had assisted to be perpetrated on
too con6dug people. For shame
on the much vaunted Justice OF
America.
But, Mr., Editor, permit me to
take exceptions to this eulogy of the
flag by you, in which you begin by
saying, as follows: Farewell dear
flag, combining the colors Of the two
greatest nations of the world, whose
fostering folds encouraged their
brave citizens to bring your fair land
from darkness into light" Who
were those two greatest nationsW
infer that you mean Great Britain
and the United States of America,
If so, | must say you are partially
correct; and allow me to inform you
that in the lata Hawaiian flag is
combined the colors of "two greatest
nations" that of Great Britain and
France. The United States has
nothing whatever to do with the
Hawaiian flag. Note, for instance,
the jack in the corner is the English
Jack, and the stripes are those of
France, only parallel instead OF be-
ing perpendicular.
Its designer, the late Captain
Alexander Adams, an Englishman
and well-known seafaring man, one
of our foreign pioneers who has a
large family now living, 1 don't
think, ever gave a thought to the
American red and white bars. He
must have had uppermost in his
mind the flag of his own country,
and then that of France, the first
two combined nations who first
recognized the independence of
these Hawaiian Islands on Novem-
ber 29, 1943, after the spoiiaton by
Lord George Paulet, r. n, captain
of Fl. B. Ms Ship Carysfort, and
the restoration by Rear. Admiral
Thomas on July 81 of the same year.
Prior to that there is nothing very
authentic in regard to the designing
of "my beloved flag"
Further on in your eulogy, Mr..
Editor, you speak as if the people of
this country was of "the same
tongue and one of the same laws as
our ruler" You seem to have for.
gotten yourself that the aborigines
of these Islands are different in color
and in tongue from those of our pre-
sent ruler. 1t would have been
better if you had spoken on behalf
of the despoilers of Hawaii nei, the
offspring of the American mission
aries who came assisted by native
Hawaiian co-workers educated iu the
United States, to whom the credit Of
outstanding these Islands are, and
ought to be of right, due, and not to
the much praised Americans.
The late American Minister, now
agent OF President Mckinley, fell
in the same trap as you did, in his
friendly speech to his "fellow coun-
trymen" of Hawaii, when he knows
that his fellow countrymen are not
the people of this country On be-
half OF the Hawaiians, the true born
children of the soil, being one my
self, say that we are still the people
of Hawaii. He may deem us in
significant at this time, but the time
will come when, "by the grace OF
God" we shall rule this country