The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-06-26
Story Of th8 Crime

7 possession of the government buildings,
the archives, and the Treasury, and in
control of the capital of the Hawaiian
Islands, | hereby recognize said provis-
ional government as the de facto gov
eminent of the Hawaiian Islands.
JOHN l.. STEVENS,
| Envoy Extraordinary and Minister
| Plenipotentiary of the United States.
| The falsehoods of this document are as
remarkable as the precipitancy with
which it was accorded to its beneficiaries.
/ The Dole conspirators were not Gin full
possession of the government buildings"
but of only one of them, which was ac-
cupied only by clerks and pOrters ut the
time of their raid. And it was still too
early to apply the word recent" TO the
government of the Queen, for the rebels
did not wait on the Queen with their
! Unreasonable proclamation until after Min
lister Stevens had recognized their gov
ernment
| The Queen yielded. of course. She could
| do nothing else against a rebellion that
was so manifestly backed up by the
!, superior armed forces and by the Minis
!, ter Of the United States She signed, un-
der protest, a paper renouncing her
rights. The new government, fired with
joyful zeal by the ready cooperation Of
the American Minister, then asked him
! for the support of the United States
| that the commander of the United
States forces take command of our mil
itary forces" This was little too fast
even for Stevens. but by the end of Jan
uary the provisional government, off
cially confessing that it was unable to
fo IN nv
and in order "to prevent civil disorders
in Honolulu and throughout the Ha-
waiian Islands, prayed our Minister to
raise ''the flag of the United States Of
America for the protection of the Ha-
waiian Islands for the time being" He
who raised us up will sustain us, thought
the rebels. And he did. The flag was
raised over the government building
United States troops We're quartered
within it, the provisional governments
troops marching out. The new govern
ment had been created under the encour-
agement and protection of Minister Ste
vens and the United States armed forces
from the Boston. It's most important
function, the protection of life and prop
erty, was afterward performed by Ste
vens and the United States troops.
This is the story of the establishment
of the present Hawaiian government, the
story Of the crime of which we were the
perpetrators. and contrary TO the we'll
known maxim of law, are about to be-
come the beneficiary. The evidence is
unmistakable that Minister Stevens was
in the councils of the rebels long before
the outbreak; that he was their main re-
lance; that without his help and that of
the troops the attempt would not have
been made, and that without his aid the
new government could not have sus-
tanned itself. 1t is this crime, denounced
by Mr. Cleveland as the first of its kind
in our history, this guilty and fragrant
participation of United States Minister
in reasonable plot to overthrow a
friendly government, that makes the
Hawaiian annexation job so revolving to
Americans who apply moral standards
to public affairs. 1t is this knowledge.
added to the conviction that down deep
in the dirty mess, at the foundation
of all, there lies sordid and corrupt
money speculation that makes it inn
possible to still the voice of protest when
the job is pressed to its contamination
under the hypocritical and baseless pre-
tense that it is a war measure.