The Story of Hawaii: History, Customs, Mythology, Geography & Archaeology. Fowke Gerard

of American citizens, an act that later gave to the royalists the claim which so appealed to President Cleveland, that the royal government had submitted only to the forces of the United States. In view of this landing of troops, the Queen surrendered her authority under protest, pending her appeal to Washington. A commission of the Provisional Government was immediately sent to the United States to negotiate a treaty of annexation. Such a treaty was actually drawn up by the Secretary of State, signed, and submitted to the Senate. It was not acted upon before the end of the session, but in the meantime a Provisional Protectorate of the Islands was proclaimed. President Cleveland, immediately after his inauguration, sent a commissioner to Honolulu to take evidence, declared the protectorate at an end, and later urged the restoration of the Queen. To this, however, the Provisional Government refused to accede, and, as annexation seemed indefinitely postponed, took immediate steps toward the framing of a constitution. On July 8, 1894, the Republic of Hawaii was proclaimed, with Sanford B. Dole, a man who throughout his life had been identified with all that was least partisan and most upright in the Islands, as the first President.

      In 1895 there occurred an insurrection, again planned by the disaffected part-Hawaiians rather than by the full-blooded natives. It was put down with the loss of very few lives, but resulted in a trial for treason of the Queen and nearly two hundred others, to all of whom conditional pardons were granted. This ended the internal troubles of the Republic, but complications with Japan concerning immigration grew more and more difficult to cope with, and the only safety seemed to be in annexation to the United States. Negotiations to this end were renewed immediately after the inauguration of President McKinley. Whether these negotiations under ordinary circumstances would have been more successful than were their predecessors is a question, but during the war with Spain the strategical importance of the Islands to the United States becoming evident, a joint resolution of annexation was put through Congress on July 7, 1898. This was accepted by the Government of the Republic of Hawaii and annexation became an accomplished fact on August 12th. Hawaii ceased to exist as an independent nation and became an integral part of the United States.

      HAWAII AS AN AMERICAN TERRITORY

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      Under the Republic of Hawaii many Hawaiians had refused to take the oath of allegiance and had, therefore, been unable to vote. Even the most intractable saw, however, that no dissatisfied element in a United States Territory would have the remotest chance of carrying through a revolution. Restoration of the monarchy suddenly became a dead issue. But to the leaders such restoration had never been more than an incident in the scramble for personal power and, instructed by Americans even more frankly rapacious than they were themselves, they saw in the control of the Territorial Government political opportunities that were well worth seizing. The Governor was appointed by the President. That office was, at least for the moment, therefore, out of reach, but the election of a delegate to Washington and the control of the home legislature were both worth striving for. A so-called Home Rule party was promptly formed —the meaningless name was intended to catch the ignorant and disgruntled—and all Hawaiians were urged by the agitators to cast their votes in the coming elections. The victory of the new party was overwhelming. It controlled the legislature and it sent as Congressional Delegate Robert Wilcox, a confirmed intriguer, who had in the past plotted against nearly everything, including the monarchy itself, and who had led the abortive insurrection of 1895. In Washington, to his great surprise, he found himself an extremely unimportant personage. Congressmen preferred to consult the unofficial representative of the Honolulu Merchants' Association and Chamber of Commerce, a man who really understood and would tell the truth about Island conditions and needs. Only a small amount of Hawaiian business was transacted by Congress, and even with that little the delegate's most staunch supporters were unable to credit him. At home, in the meantime, the Home Rule legislators were showing their incapacity. Bills of no importance were discussed at great length, and so much time was spent by the legislature of 1901 in the consideration of a bill for the encouragement of female dogs that it succeeded in immortalising itself under the name of the Female Dog Legislature. Its more absurd measures were naturally vetoed by the Governor, and the Home Rule party finally made itself so ridiculous that although it still exists in name it controls very few votes. Very soon, also, the two regular American parties had properly organised and have never been outnumbered by the Home Rulers except in the first election, that of 1900. The votes cast for the Delegate to Congress at that election were: Republican 3,856, Democratic 1,650, Home Rule 4,083. In 1910 the numbers were: Republican 8,049, Democratic 4,503, Home Rule 989. The Republicans, who have been in the majority since 1902, sent as delegate Prince Kuhio Kalaneanaole, a nephew of the Queen of King Kalakaua, and himself a chief by birth. The political machinery of the Territory is at present similar to that of any of the States on the mainland. As there is no prohibitive clause in the organic act there is no reason why the Territory should not eventually apply for admission to the Union as a State. There is every reason, on the other hand, why such application should not be made until conditions have become fixed and the American population is greater.

      This ultimate possibility was recognised by the United States when the Islands were constituted a Territory instead of a "possession" with a distinct form of government such as was devised for Porto Rico and the Philippines. It was a possibility which Congress was willing to accept, since they saw that Hawaii was already American in language and institutions and that for it, in consequence, a Territorial Government was as proper as for Arizona, whereas a people whose ideals and language were Spanish must go through a long period of probation before they were fit to take their independent place in the American political system. From the beginning the policy pursued toward Hawaii has been a wise one. The Governors appointed have not been strangers, but citizens of Honolulu thoroughly conversant with Island problems. And to a large extent this has been the case with other Federal appointments. Hawaii has so far mercifully been spared purely political appointments dealt out as rewards. The result has been proper appreciation of Island needs because of proper representation at Washington, and at home steady progress that would not otherwise have been possible.

      Looking at the matter purely from the Hawaiian point of view, American annexation has been, in the main, of great benefit. One often hears the remark, to be sure, "It was not this way before," —"before*' always referring to the years prior to 1898,—and certain it is that society, without the court as a picturesque centre, with many of the delightful English residents replaced by a purely commercial class of Americans, has lost much of its charm. Economically, also, the operation of the Chinese exclusion law has caused serious difficulties to Island industries. In contrast to this, however, the ever present, if perhaps unfounded, fear of seizure by Japan was at once removed. Trade bents, already enjoyed under the Reciprocity Treaty, were made certain for all time. The very difficulty of the labour situation should lead eventually to the forming of a more stable population and of a more dependable labouring class.

      The aid of the Federal Government makes possible the prosecution of necessary public works, which the limited resources of the Kingdom and of the Republic did not permit. The Islands have long been in dire need of adequate harbour facilities. The work of dredging, deepening, and building breakwaters is rapidly being carried on under appropriations of Congress, supplemented by grants from Territorial funds. Honolulu harbour is good but small, and is being enlarged, not only to satisfy present needs, but to meet the greater demands that will arise after the completion of the Panama Canal. At Hilo a breakwater 2,628 feet long has been contracted for, and docks are being constructed to accommodate the largest seagoing vessels. A breakwater at Kahului, the principal port of Maui, is being built as an extension of one already constructed by the local railway company. Surveys are being made to decide what harbour on Kauai is most suitable for extensive development. It is intended eventually to have, on all the important islands, landing places which will afford adequate shelter in all weather. So far the most notable work of the kind has been, of course, that at Pearl Harbour, already carried out by the Navy Department.

      In the Archives Building in Honolulu was recently found an old letter written by Lieutenant Curtis on board the U. S. frigate Constitution— "Old Ironsides"—to the Hawaiian Minister of Foreign Affairs. In it he said: " Allow me to call your attention to the importance of Pearl