down into quiet again; but appearances are deceptive, and “the devil never sleeps.” So, having achieved so much of their desires, the conspirators worked day and night to keep the city in a ferment. Plans were made, and committees were formed; the extreme views of some of the members caused others, more scrupulous, to retire, and to say that they could not willingly consent to be tools in the hands of wicked men, instruments of evil to their fellows. So these committees were organized over and over again, without fixed purpose, without stability, until finally all other elements had withdrawn from connection with the conspirators, save a small number of agitators whose sole rallying-point was annexation to the United States.
During the session of the legislature for the year 1888, Mr. James I. Dowsett, Jr., a young man, came to my house at Muulaulani, Palama, to inform me that he had been commissioned by those members who belonged to the missionary party to inquire if I would accept the throne in case my brother should be dethroned. To my indignation at the proposition was added astonishment that the request should come from a mere boy eighteen years of age; and I responded at once to his remark by saying, with some emphasis, that such a proposal was not to be considered. My answer would be “No,” and this final. He then, with an air of apology, added, that he hoped I would not be offended with him personally, because he had only been the bearer of the message. Then he volunteered the intimation that, since his errand had been unsuccessful, I might receive a repetition of the same proposition in the course of a
