Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen/Chapter 56
CHAPTER LVI
THE TREATY ANALYZED
Anything like an extended criticism of the proposed treaty will not be attempted here. The first articles convey nothing, and do not even profess to convey anything; would not any capitalist, anticipating an investment of four millions, and a contingent liability of as much more, demand an exact schedule of the property for which he is paying, and a warrant of the legitimacy of the title?
Suppose that the claims of foreign governments for indemnification for acts of outrage and imprisonment committed under the rule of the Republic, the Japanese indemnity, and the value of the crown lands, should raise the debt limit to eight millions, do the parties ceding this territory come under personal obligations to pay the overplus indebtedness?
In regard to the crown lands, even the best-informed citizens of the United States do not understand the difference between these and the lands of the Hawaiian government. Originally all territory belonged to the king, by whom it was apportioned for use only, not for sale, to the chiefs, who in turn assigned tracts, small or large, to their people; an excellent system for us, by which the poorest native had all the land he needed, and yet it could not be taken from him by any designing foreigner.
But about fifty years ago there came, in place of our own method, the land system, delivered to us by the missionaries. In effect this divided the territory of the Islands into three parts, not necessarily equal, although nearly so. One-third was devoted to the use or expenses of government; one-third was apportioned to the people; and the remainder continued, as from all ages, the private property of the chief highest in rank,—in other words, the reigning sovereign.
That part of Hawaii given by the king to the people has almost entirely left them, and now belongs to the missionaries and their friends or successors. Of the portion reserved to the government nothing need be said. If the present rule may be called a government, it probably has the right to the income of these lands. But one of their commissioners, Mr. Kinney, made a public statement through the press that it would be as well for an ex-president to claim the White House as for me to claim my income in the crown lands.
Mr. Kinney could scarcely have chosen a more effective method to prove his ignorance; and in response I have had the following brief statement prepared by one who thoroughly understands the matter:—
By Mr. Kinney.—“The fealty of the native Hawaiian to his chief knows no limit. Such loyalty exacts corresponding devotion; it was to meet this necessity that the chief highest in rank was never divested of the crown lands or private purse.”
Reply.—“The White House and other official estate form an investment made with the money of the American people for the use of their chosen executive. The crown lands were never the property of the people, no, not even of any monarchical government. Not citing the testimony of ages, when all the lands belonged to the chiefs, in 1848 the ruling king reserved these very lands as ‘his private estate,’ and the legislature confirmed this act as the private lands of His Majesty, his heirs and assigns forever. In 1864 the Supreme Court decided that ‘each successor’ could regulate and dispose of the same according to his will and pleasure as private property.
“In 1865 payment was made to Queen Emma in lieu of dower in these lands, although she had not been on the throne, but was the widow of a monarch deceased two years previously. In 1880 Mr. Spreckels paid the Princess Ruth $10,000 to release her claim to a small tract of these lands, although she had never ascended the throne. The act of the legislature by which these lands were made ‘inalienable, to descend to the heirs and successors of the Hawaiian crown (N. B., not of any Kamehameha) forever,’ has never been reversed, the constitution expressly confirming this by the words, the ‘successor elected shall become a new stirps for a royal family, regulated by the same law as the present royal family.’
“Were Kalakaua, Liliuokalani, or Kaiulani, of another race (instead of having, as they most certainly have, the blood of Kamehamehas), it would still be true that no intelligent lawyer would invest the money of his client in a tract of hereditary crown land unless the living representatives were to join in the deed. It is just possible that the lawyers who have visited Washington know these facts, as the first two articles of their conveyance to us by treaty are only quit claim deeds; they expressly limit the grantors’ warrant to that which at this date belongs to them. Any person could execute such a conveyance to the White House estate, and it would not convey anything, nor even pretend to put the grantee in possession of anything. Will American capitalists invest at their own risk in land which constitutes one-fourth of the whole proposed territory of Hawaii?”
But it is in the sixth article that the missionary party show their determination to keep the same position under the flag of the United States that they have held at the Islands ever since the revolution of 1887. By this, which is made part of the treaty, and so, if it should be ratified as it stands, it can never be changed, not even by Act of Congress, the President is to appoint five commissioners, two of whom shall be residents of the Hawaiian Islands; by these all legislation in regard to that territory is to be recommended to Congress.
Which means that the missionary party shall continue to control all measures enacted in regard to Hawaii and the Hawaiians; that there shall be no essential change in their greedy and deceitful policy, that they shall still coin money through the manipulation of the sugar interest and the management of the plantations and the labor question. And what advantage or return will the United States Government ever receive from such a territorial administration as that? The President and Secretary of State having agreed to such enactment, it only remains for the needed two-thirds of the Senate to ratify it to make it the law of the land.
The voters of this great and good nation are too free from suspicion. They have no idea how they have been deceived, how much more they can be deceived. The poor Hawaiians, strangers on their native soil, excluded from their own halls of legislation, have had their experience; alas, a bitter one. The Japanese, urged and inveigled and bought to come to Hawaii while they were needed to increase the foreigners’ gold, have had theirs; but the American people have theirs yet to get. The Hawaiian sugar planters are having theirs from the drain on their pockets to support Thurston and those he employs in this country.
Here I may state that seldom or never had the Hawaiian government, during the days of monarchy, been known to place itself in such a position as it has fallen into since in the hands of this missionary oligarchy. It has had to borrow money several times from the two banks in Honolulu, and to ask funds from the planters. When in prison in 1895, Mr. Wilson told me, in the presence of his wife, that that year’s taxes had been mortgaged to the amount of $800,000 to Mr. C. B. Bishop. Under the monarchy there was always enough from its own revenues to pay all expenses until the time came when such enterprising people as wanted to make money for themselves came into office, and prevailed on the government to make new improvements; from that time the government became indebted.
There is one more bit of political history of which I will speak, and I shall then have said all that it is my intention to give to the public for the present. Soon after the inauguration of President McKinley, it was my hope to assure him in person of my kindest wishes for a happy and successful term of office, but more especially to present to him, as the representative of my people, certain documents and petitions which had been sent to me for the purpose; then my duty in the case would have been done.[1] No attempts of any kind or nature were ever made in my behalf by any person whomsoever, to arrange an interview between the President and myself. No public man in Washington, whoever he may be, has ever declined to see me or any one of my party. The despatches which the press have published on that point have not a basis of truth. Events transpiring at the capital made it inexpedient for me to carry out the wishes and requests of my people.
The President was so overwhelmed with pressing business, so beset by office-seekers, his time so filled with matters requiring his direct attention, that he could not be expected to give consideration to any subject outside of the administration of the affairs of the United States government; which, there being no annexation movement above board at that time (the first week in March), was certainly the case with the matter intrusted to me by my people.
On the 10th of July I bade adieu to the beautiful city of Washington, where I had spent such a delightful half-year. I had called at the Capitol two or three times, not with any petition or request, but simply to thank those gentlemen who had kindly taken an interest in me and in the Hawaiian people. I had also left my card for those Senators whose families had been represented among my callers, and made a few parting visits to my friends in the city.
On Saturday afternoon I arrived in New York, and remained at the Albemarle two weeks, visiting the places of interest, attending the opera, and receiving the visits of a few of my friends who lived in that city or its immediate vicinity.
But while there, I received further information from the patriotic leagues, the members of which organizations expressed much regret that I had not presented the documents in my hands to President McKinley, and urging me to do this at once. Accordingly on Saturday, the 24th of July, with my whole party, I returned to Washington, this time taking rooms at the Ebbitt House. On Monday morning I sent the papers to President McKinley, by the hands of Mr. Joseph Heleluhe, and Captain Palmer, who accompanied him.
Then, learning that it was the regular reception-day of the President, and also the last one prior to his vacation, without consultation with any person, I told the members of my suite that, before leaving Washington again, we would call socially on the President. Arriving at the door of the White House, I requested Captain Palmer to send up our cards, which he did before we entered the East Room; and in response an officer, who had received his instructions, came to us, conducted us to the farther end of the room, and provided us with seats, which we were requested to retain when the President should enter to meet the hundred or so strangers who were standing at the opposite end of the large reception-room.
While we were waiting, one of the President's secretaries came down from his office with a special message from President McKinley to like effect. After the President had finished his official handshaking, he approached the place where I sat. Observing him, I arose and advanced to meet him. We had a most delightful conversation; and I found him to be a most agreeable gentleman, both in manner and in words. He spoke very prettily of his wife’s delicate health, alluding to the matter of his own accord, and voluntarily expressing his regret that he could not at once invite me in to visit her. I have been thus particular to describe the facts of my social relations to the White House, because upon no subject has the desire been more frequently shown to prejudice me and my cause in the eyes of the American people.
Strangers have remarked that in no part of the world visited by them have they found the rules of etiquette so exactly laid down and so persistently observed as in Honolulu, when the Islands were under the monarchy. It is to be expected, therefore, that I know what is due to me; that further, as the wife of the governor of Oahu, as the princess royal, and as the reigning sovereign, it was not necessary for me to take lessons in the departments of social or diplomatic etiquette before residing in the national capital of the United States, or making and receiving visits of any nature.
- ↑ After the overthrow of the monarchy, these people had no representation at home or abroad, and such is their condition to this day. Comprising four-fifths of the legally qualified voters, they are voiceless, save those few who, for the purpose of obtaining the necessaries of life, have sworn allegiance to the present government. In this connection, the following statement, which is sent to me from Honolulu, may be of interest as showing how few now assume to govern a nation of 109,000 persons. The registered voters in 1890, under the monarchy, numbered 13,593 persons. The registered voters in 1894, under the Provisional Government, for delegates to the so-called Constitutional Convention, numbered 4,477. The actual voters in 1896, under the so-called Republic, numbered, for Senators, 2,017, and for Representatives, 3,196. In other words, there were qualified to vote for Senators and Representatives 2,017 persons, and for Representatives only 1,179. From figures already in, it is doubtful whether the total vote to be cast in September next will exceed 2,000.