The Springfield herald., 1898-06-24
THE HAWAIIAN FLAG.
HISTORY OF AN EMBLEM SOON
TO VANISH.
Emergencies That Had to Ds with
Making 1t What 1t Is--It Is . Direct
Descendant of Another Flag That Ia
Passing Away.

All histories that are printed Of the
Hawaiian republic fail to tell of the
interesting story connected with the
adoption of the flag of that country
The incident bears not little romance
and shows in 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 Kamehameha II. was on the
throne. The country was continually
visited by the warships Of the different
nations of the world and the ruler OF
the Hawaiians had difficult time to
keep his little land from being seized
by some foreign power.
The story is handed down to pos
terity. The exact date OF the occur
renee is not known, though it was in
the year 1873. The king of the key to
the Pacific" awoke one morning to find
a French warship anchored safely in
the harbor of Honolulu. He became
alarmed at the prospect of a conquest.
and sent at once for his prime minis
ter. He was advised by him to run up
flag, and show the visitors that the
country belonged to someone, and not
mo mans land" to be pillaged at Will
by the first foreigners who came along.
The king. needing the advice. cast
about for piece of bunting to repre-
sent his nation, and fell upon an OLD
British flag This he had run up to the
top of his highest fagpole. The bunt-
ing had hardly time to unfurl itself to
the breeze when one of the CHIEF ad-
visers to the king came running to him
and told him that he would have to
take the flag down, as the first thing he
knew II he did not an English man-of-
war that was expected at the island,
would arrive. and, the commander md
Ing his nations colors flying over Hon
olulu, would take possession in the
name of the queen. This frightened
Kamehameha, and he started another
hunt for flag. This time the searchers
unearthed an American emblem. TAX
ing 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 1t. Thus the Hawaiian nag at
first had thirteen stripes and Jack,
the same as the English. The king,
when he had disposed of his French
visitors, had time to think over the
matter. 1t was decided that 1t would be
better to have only eight stripes, repre-
senting the eight islands of the nation.
The extra pieces were cut of. leaving
the eight stripes, with q white one on
the top. The Jack still carries the st.
George cross, the St. Andrews cross.
and the St. Patrick's cross, the same
as the English. Soon after the adop-
tion of this flag the whites, who had
begun to settle on the island. came
more and more into power each year
until. as \ result, the monarchy was
finally ovsrthrown and the republic
placed on firm basis, with white men
at the head of the government. The
natives, who are superstltious, 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 the
whites would never have gained foot
hDld on the island sufficient to warrant
their taking the reins of the govern
ment in their hands. AS result of
this superstition the Legislature of Ha
wall 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
drawing up of such measures. and their
members in the congress are ever busy
trying to put the bills through. The
belief is that as soon as the order of
the stripes is changed, the red having
the preference, the copper-colored ma
tives will again ascend to power and
have full sway in the government.