The age-herald., 1898-07-31
BIRTH AND DEATH OF A PLACE.

In short time the scene here pictured Will be enacted at Honolulu. The flag of Ihe Hawaiian republic will be hauled down and up will run the Stars and Stripes. Ex- cept for local use, like our state flags, the Hawaiian flag will be seen no more. The standard which was lowered by Para mount Blount will be raised under the direction of Admiral Miller General Otis end Governor Dole mid the firing of can hon from the shore and fleet and the cheers of the Hawaiians well as of our army and navy.
 The Hawaiian flag. so soon to disappear, is a queer composite of the British and American flags, reminding one of the stand- ard under which some of our earlier revolu- tionary battles was fought. It is more than ffty-five years old, antedating the indepen- dence of Hawaii. It was adopted by the Hawaiian monarchy and readopted by the republic. Sixty seventy years ago the rulers of Hawaii had hard work to keep their little kingdom from falling into the hands of foreigners. Europeans went there, misused the natives and were badly treated in return. This gave constant eX- cuse for forcible intervention by the for eisn warships, and in some cases actual seizure followed.
 NEEDED A FLAG.
 On one of these occasions, in the reign of Kamehameha H., in the latter part of the thirties, a French man-of-war came into the harbor of Honolulu. The King in alarm, sent for his prime minister to see if something couldn't be done to prevent the seizure which they suspected was about to take place.
 'Your Majesty" the prime minister is reported to have said only he didn't speak in English, If you will permit your hum ble subject to suggest that a flag be run up so as to show the French admiral that this is some country or other, and that he'd better not grab it..
 "Great scheme" the king responded. and he commanded that the palace storeroom be rummaged for a hag-any old flag that the Frenchman would be likely to respect. The first bit of bunting that was found was the British flag, and up it went on the taiest pole that stood in the city The ruse worked, and the Frenchman sailed away.
 ANOTHER COMPLICATION AROSE.
 He was not out of sight, however before another loyal subject came running up to the group around lfe HdSpole.s I1e Couiu hardly speak so rapid had been his gait. Finally he spluttered out "Oh, Your Maj estyl If that flag isn't pulled down, the first thing you know a British ship will come in, anu, seeing their flag flying will land and take possession of us'
 sThe point is we'll taken,' said the king, "but we've got to put up something. Haven't we got any other fiag?'
 .-l.A A aAr; can flag. "Thatll be just as bad re- marked Kamehameha, but at that instant some one whose name not even tradition records, drew near and suggested combin- ing the two flags. Every one applauded the idea but the prime minister, and that oth- CT one who turned green with envy. The Jack of the British flag was cut out and sewed to the American flag, from which the Union had been ripped, and there were the stripes and the crosses.
 When the king and his prime minister and his other advisers had time to think it over they decided to make some altera- tions, and call the composite the Hawaiian flag. Though the field of the British Jack is blue, they decided to have all the Ameri- can coaors-red, white and blue-repre- scented in the stripes, and to limit the num-
 
 the eight inhabited Hawaiian Islands. For some reason they began at the bottom of our flag, and with its red stripe. Then came the whlle, and then the blue. Alter mating these three coqors for eight stripes brought the white on top and this arrange ment was adopted, though it could not be foreseen that it might cause trouble in the future.
 NATIVE SUPERSTITION.
 For the whites came to multiply on the islands and to have more and more to say about their government. This was attrib- uted by the natives to the fact that in the flag the white stripe was on top, with the colored stripe underneath, and every little while the natives tried to have the arrangement of the stripes changed. This flag was in existence early in the forties, when the independence of Hawaii was recognized. 4he republic re-adopted the old flag of the monarchy in 1896, both in constitution ana legislative enactment By law the flag is provided for as follows: 'The national ensign shall consist of eight horizontal stripes, alternately white, red and blue, etc., beginning at the top, having