Evening star., 1898-04-29
HAwAIrs QUEER FLAG.
How the Mixture of American and
British COIOrs Came About.

British CoIors Came About.
From the ChicGgo Chronicle.
All histories that are printed of the Ha-
Hawaiian republic fail to tell of the inter-
esting story connected with the adoption
Of the flag of the country. The incident
bears rot a. little romance and shows in Il
way the ingenuity of the natives. The
adoption of the emblem dates back about
twenty-five years, when the country was
still monarchy and King Kamehamehl
II was the throne. The country wa;
continually visited by warships of the diff
ferent nations of the world, and the ruler
of the Hawaiians had a difficult time to
keep his little land from being seized by
some foreign power.
The story is handed down by posterity.
The exact date Of the occurrence is not
KNOWN though it was in the year 1873.
The king of the key to the Pacific" awoke
one morning to find French warship an
chored safely in the harbor OF Honolulu.
He became alarmed at the prospect of d
conquest, and sent at once for his prime
minister. He was advised by him to run
up a flag and show the visitors that the
country belonged to some one and was not a
no mans land, to be pillaged at will by
the first foreigners that came along. The
king, needing the advice cast about for u
piece of bunting to represent his nation,
and fell upon an old British flag. This he
had run up to the top Of his highest flag
pole.
The bunting had hardly had time TO un-
furl itself to tie breeze when one of the
chief advisers of the king came running to
Inn and told him that he would have to
take that flag down, as the first thing he
knew if he did not an English man-of-wor
that was expected at the island would ar
rive, and. the commander finding his ma
tons colors flying over Honolulu. would
| take possession in the name of the queen.
This frightened Kanehameha, and he start
ed another hunt for flag. This time the
searchers unearthed an American emblem.
Taking the two flags the ruler had them
made into one. The jack in the corner of
the English emblem was left while the
stripes of the American flag were added
to it's Thus the Hawaiian flag at first had
thirteen stripes and a jack, the same as
the English. The king, when he had dis
posed Of his French visitors, had time to
think over the matter. 1t was decided that
1t would be better to have only eight
stripes. representing the eight islands of
the nation. The extra pieces were cut off,
! leaving the eight stripes with a white one
on top. The jack still carries the ST.
Georges cross, the st. Andrews cross and
the st. Patricks cross, the same as the
English.
Soon after the adoption of this flag the
whites, who had begun to settle on the isl
and, came more and more into power each
year. until. as a result, the monarchy was
hnally overthrown and the republic placed
en- firm basis. with white men at the head
or the government. The natives, who are
superstitious. believe the change in power
| from the copper-colored people to the
whites Is directly due to the fact that the
white stripe is directly over the red in the
| flag. They say that had the red been first
tne whites would never have gained foot
hold on the island sufficient to warrant
their taking the reins Of government in
their hands
As result of this superstition the leg
| 1slature OF Hawaii scarcely ever meets but
what some new bill to change the position
Of the stripes on the flag is brought up.
The wisest of the men among the natives
are kept constantly at work on the draw
| ing up of such measures, and their men,
bers in the congress are ever busy trying
| to put the bills through.