The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1903-02-04
MONEY FOR QUEEN LII.

sum of money to former Queen Liluo-
kalani OF Hawaii in settlement of her
claim or pretended claim TO the former
crown land in the islands. If congress
pays any heed to the request and pays
any sum Of money TO the former queen
1t should he in form simply as naked
gratuity, not as purchase or any
rights or pretended rights 20 the former
government property of which she was
once the legal custodian, says the Post
Inteiligencer.
There has been an imniensity OF non
sense written about the royal family
soof Hawaii. With the death of Lunali-
10, the former royal family" of Hawaii
became extinct. The kingdom was
largely fiction at its very best. It was
simply the government which the
whites had set up in the islands, in lieu
OF the despotic rule of the former chiefs.
The nominal ruler was the dusky mon
arch for the time being. The actual
rulers were the white inhabitants Of the
islands.
On the death of Lunalilo, 1t became
necessary to select a new king, IN the
absence of any person claiming title by
heredity. The Americans in the Is
lands decided upon Kalakaua, whose
putative father was a member or a
family which at one time had furn-
ished chiefs to Oahu before that island
was taken over by the Kamehamehas,
who were originally rulers of Hawaii
alone. The choice of the majority o.
the natives was Queen Emma. widow
of Lunalilo woman of education and
character, who had won the warm at
tachment of the natives by her many
charities. The American influence was
so strong, however, that it compelled
the legislature, in which the natives
had the majority vote, to select Kala-
kaua. There was almost a revolt when
the announcement was made and 1t
was necessary to land American mar
ines to keep the natives from mobbing
the legislature.
In due time Lilluokaiani succeeded
her brother Kalakaua. She attempted
to exercise some powers Of a real ruler
and the same power which put her on
the throne pulled her down.
She was simply the elective executive
head of the government. She had na
pretensions 10 royal blood" nor any
right to he throne nor to the crown
property based upon the fiction of her
edity. AS nominal queen, she enjoy
ed among the prerogatives Of the crown
the rentals Of the so-called crown iancs
lands which belonged TO the nation.
When the government was changed;
when she was deprived Of the powers
which she had sought TO abuse, she was
likewise deprived of this source OF In
come, as we'll as of the regular ailOw-
ances which had heretofore been made
for the support Of the throne. She
never had any right, title or property
interest in any of the crown lands ves-
ted in her by virtue of descent from
former owners OF the property, or in
any otherwise save merely as the cx-
ecutiye head of the government for the
tine being. If she had been deposed
or had died and been succeeded by an
other monarch, elected by the Hawai-
ian legislature, it would have been the
newly installed monarch, not her klns-
folk, who would have succeeded to the
possession Of the government property
of which she was custodian during her
term of office. The crown lands were
part of the pufa regalia of the crown,
not the private property of the mon
arch.
This is all there is to the case Of Lii
lioukalani and her claim TO the crown
lands OF Hawaii Her claim TO those
lands rests upon a very much poorer
ground than would a claim of title by
King Edward VII of Great Britain to
ali of those lands within the limits of
tho thirteen original states which were
not granted to individuals by the
crown prior to the Revolutionary war.
She is not as much entitled In justice,
In equity or in common sense 10 besre-
munerated for the loss Of the govern
ment property which was taken over
by the government which succeeded her
as Is Edward entitled to remuneration
for the lands which his own great