to strengthen the hands of the embassy. As R. L. Stevenson wrote: “The history of the ‘Kaimiloa’ is a story of debauchery, mutiny and waste of government property.” At length the intrigues of the Hawaiian embassy gave umbrage to the German government, and it was deemed prudent to recall it to Honolulu in July 1887. Meanwhile a reform league had been formed to stop the prevailing misrule and extravagance; it was supported by a volunteer military force, the “Honolulu Rifles.” The king carried through the legislature of 1886 a bill for an opium licence, as well as a Loan Act, under which a million dollars were borrowed in London. Under his influence the Hale Naua Society was organized in 1886 for the spread of idolatry and king-worship; and in the same year a “Board of Health” was formed which revived the vicious practices of the kahunas or medicine-men.
The king’s acceptance of two bribes—one of $75,000 and another of $80,000 for the assignment of an opium licence—precipitated the revolution of 1887. An immense mass meeting was held on the 30th of June, which sent a committee to the king with specific demands for radical reforms. Finding himself without support, he yielded without a struggle, dismissed his ministry and signed a constitution on the 7th of July 1887, revising that of 1864, and intended to put an end to personal government and to make the cabinet responsible only to the legislature; this was called the “bayonet constitution,” because it was so largely the result of the show of force made by the Honolulu Rifles. By its terms office-holders were made ineligible for seats in the legislature, and no member of the legislature could be appointed to any civil office under the government during the term for which he had been elected. The members of the Upper House, instead of being appointed by the king for life, were henceforth to be elected for terms of six years by electors possessing a moderate property qualification. The remainder of Kalakaua’s reign teemed with intrigues and conspiracies to restore autocratic rule. One of these came to a head on the 30th of July 1889, but this “Wilcox rebellion,” led by R. W. Wilcox, a half-breed, educated in Italy, and a friend of the king and of his sister, was promptly suppressed. Seven of the insurgents were killed and a large number wounded. For his health the king visited California in the United States cruiser “Charleston” in November 1890, and died on the 20th of January 1891 in San Francisco. On the 29th of January at noon his sister, the regent, took the oath to maintain the constitution of 1887, and was proclaimed queen, under the title of Liliuokalani.
The history of her reign shows that it was her constant purpose to restore autocratic government. The legislative session of 1892, during which four changes of ministry took place, was protracted to eight months chiefly by her determination to carry through the opium and lottery bills and to have a pliable cabinet. She had a new constitution drawn up, practically providing for an absolute monarchy, and disfranchising a large class of citizens who had voted since 1887; this constitution (drawn up, so the royal party declared, in reply to a petition signed by thousands of natives) she undertook to force on the country after proroguing the legislature on the 14th of January 1893, but her ministers shrank from the responsibility of so revolutionary an act, and with difficulty prevailed upon her to postpone the execution of her design. An uprising similar to that of 1887 declared the monarchy forfeited by its own act. A third party proposed a regency during the minority of the heir-apparent, Princess Kaiulani, but in her absence this scheme found few supporters. A Committee of Safety was appointed at a public meeting, which formed a provisional government and reorganized the volunteer military companies, which had been disbanded in 1890. Its leading spirits were the “Sons of Missionaries” (as E. L. Godkin styled them), who were accused of using their knowledge of local affairs and their inherited prestige among the natives for private ends—of founding a “Gospel Republic” which was actually a business enterprise. The provisional government called a mass meeting of citizens, which met on the afternoon of the 6th and ratified its action. The United States steamer “Boston,” which had unexpectedly arrived from Hilo on the 14th, landed a small force on the evening of the 16th, at the request of the United States minister, Mr J. L. Stevens, and a committee of residents, to protect the lives and property of American citizens in case of riot or incendiarism. On the 17th the Committee of Safety took possession of the government building, and issued a proclamation declaring a monarchy to be abrogated, and establishing a provisional government, to exist “until terms of union with the United States of America shall have been negotiated and agreed upon.” Meanwhile two companies of volunteer troops arrived and occupied the grounds. By the advice of her ministers, and to avoid bloodshed, the queen surrendered under protest, in view of the landing of United States troops, appealing to the government of the United States to reinstate her in authority. A treaty of annexation was negotiated with the United States during the next month, just before the close of President Benjamin Harrison’s administration, but it was withdrawn on the 9th of March 1893 by President Harrison’s successor, President Cleveland, who then despatched James H. Blount (1837–1903) of Macon, Georgia, as commissioner paramount, to investigate the situation in the Hawaiian Islands. On receiving Blount’s report to the effect that the revolution had been accomplished by the aid of the United States minister and by the landing of troops from the “Boston,” President Cleveland sent Albert Sydney Willis (1843–1897) of Kentucky to Honolulu with secret instructions as United States minister. Willis with much difficulty and delay obtained the queen’s promise to grant an amnesty, and made a formal demand on the provisional government for her reinstatement on the 19th of December 1893. On the 23rd President Sanford B. Dole sent a reply to Willis, declining to surrender the authority of the provisional government to the deposed queen. The United States Congress declared against any further intervention by adopting on the 31st of May 1894 the Turpie Resolution. On the 30th of May 1894 a convention was held to frame a constitution for the republic of Hawaii, which was proclaimed on the 4th of July following, with S. B. Dole as its first president. Toward the end of the same year a plot was formed to overthrow the republic and to restore the monarchy. A cargo of arms and ammunition from San Francisco was secretly landed at a point near Honolulu, where a company of native royalists were collected on the 6th of January 1895, intending to capture the government buildings by surprise that night, with the aid of their allies in the city. A premature encounter with a squad of police alarmed the town and broke up their plans. There were several other skirmishes during the following week, resulting in the capture of the leading conspirators, with most of their followers. The ex-queen, on whose premises arms and ammunition and a number of incriminating documents were found, was arrested and was imprisoned for nine months in the former palace. On the 24th of January 1895 she formally renounced all claim to the throne and took the oath of allegiance to the republic. The ex-queen and forty-eight others were granted conditional pardon on the 7th of September, and on the following New Year’s Day the remaining prisoners were set at liberty.
On the inauguration of President McKinley, in March 1897, negotiations with the United States were resumed, and on the 16th of June a new treaty of annexation was signed at Washington. As its ratification by the Senate had appeared to be uncertain, extreme measures were taken: the Newlands joint resolution, by which the cession was “accepted, ratified and confirmed,” was passed by the Senate by a vote of 42 to 21 and by the House of Representatives by a vote of 209 to 91, and was signed by the president on the 7th of July 1898. The formal transfer of sovereignty took place on the 12th of August 1898, when the flag of the United States (the same flag hauled down by order of Commissioner Blount) was raised over the Executive Building with impressive ceremonies.
The sovereigns of the monarchy, the president of the republic and the governors of the Territory up to 1910 were as follows:
