No. 1.
Statement of W. D.
Alexander.
a statement of facts relating to politics during kalakaua’s reign.
It is true that the germs of many of the evils of Kalakaua’s reign may be traced to the reign of Kamehameha V. The reactionary policy of that monarch is well known. Under him the “recrudescence” of heathenism commenced, as evinced by the Pagan orgies at the funeral of his sister, Victoria Kamamalu, in June, 1866, and by his encouragement of the lascivious hulahula dances and of the pernicious class of kahunas or sorcerers. Closely connected with this reaction was a growing jealousy and hatred of foreigners.
intrigues during lunalilo’s reign.
During Lunalilo’s brief reign, 1873–’74, this feeling was fanned into a flame by several causes, viz, the execution of the law for the segregation of lepers, the agitation caused by the proposal to cede the use of Pearl Harbor to the United States, and the famous mutiny at the barracks. This disaffection was made the most of by Kalakaua, who was smarting under his defeat in the election of January 8, 1873. Indeed, his manifesto previous to that election appealed to this race prejudice. Thus he promised, if elected, “to repeal the poll tax,” “to put native Hawaiians into the Government offices,” to “amend the constitution of 1864,” etc. “Beware,” he said, “of the constitution of 1852, and the false teaching of the foreigners, who are now seeking to obtain the direction of the Government, if Lunalilo ascends the throne.” Walter Murray Gibson, formerly Mormon apostle and shepherd of Lanai, then professional politician and editor of the scurrilous paper, Nuhou, was bitterly disappointed that he had been ignored in the formation of Lunalilo’s cabinet. Accordingly he took the role of an agitator and attached himself to Kalakaua’s party. They were both disappointed at the result of the barracks mutiny, which had undoubtedly been fomented by Kalakaua.
the election of kalakaua.
Upon Lunalilo’s untimely death, February 3, 1874, as no successor to the throne had been appointed, the Legislature was summoned to meet on the 12th, only nine days after his death. The popular choice lay between Kalakaua and the Queen-Dowager Emma. The cabinet and the American party used all their influence in favor of the former, while the English favored Queen Emma, who was devoted to their [Page 646] interest. At the same time Kalakaua’s true character was not generally understood. The natives knew that his family had always been an idolatrous one. His reputed grandfather, Kamanawa, had been hanged, October 20, 1840, for poisoning his wife, Kamokuiki.
Under Kamehameha V he had always been an advocate of absolutism and also of the removal of the prohibition of furnishing alcoholic liquors to natives. While he was postmaster a defalcation occurred, which, was covered up, while his friends made good the loss to the Government. Like Wilkins Micawber, he was impecunious all his life, whatever the amount of his income might be. He was characterized by a fondness for decorations and military show long before he was thought of as a possible candidate for the throne.
It was believed, however, that if Queen Emma should be elected there would be no hope of our obtaining a reciprocity treaty with the United States. The movement in favor of Queen Emma carried the day with the natives on Oahu, but had not time to spread to the other islands. It was charged, and generally believed, that bribery was used by Kalakaua’s friends to secure his election. Be that as it may, the Legislature was convened in the old court-house (now occupied by Hackfeld & Co.) and elected Kalakaua King by 39 votes to 6.
the court-house riot.
A howling mob, composed of Queen Emma’s partisans, had surrounded the court-house during the election, after which they battered down the back doors, sacked the building, and assaulted the representatives with clubs. Messrs. C. C. Harris and S. B. Dole held the main door against them for considerable time. The mob, with one exception, refrained from violence to foreigners, from fear of intervention by the men-of-war in port.
The cabinet and the marshal had been warned of the danger, but had made light of it. The police appeared to be in sympathy with the populace, and the volunteers, for the same reason, would not turn out. Mr. H. A. Pierce, the American minister, however, had anticipated the riot, and had agreed with Commodore Belknap, of the U. S. S. Tuscarora, and Commodore Skerrett, of the Portsmouth, upon a signal for landing the troops under their command. At last Mr. C. R. Bishop, minister of foreign affairs, formally applied to him and to Maj. Wodehouse, H. B. M.’s commissioner, for assistance in putting down the riot.
A body of 150 marines immediately landed from the two American men of war, and in a few minutes was joined by one of 70 men from H. B. M.’s corvette Tenedos, Capt. Ray. They quickly dispersed the mob, and arrested a number of them without any bloodshed. The British troops first occupied Queen Emma’s grounds, arresting several of the ringleaders there, and afterwards guarded the palace and barracks. The other Government buildings, the prison, etc., were guarded by American troops until the 20th.
inauguration of kalakaua.
The next day at noon Kalakaua was sworn in as King, under the protection of the United States troops. By an irony of fate the late leader of the anti American agitation owed his life and his throne to American intervention, and for several years he depended upon the support of the foreign community. In these circumstances he did not venture to proclaim a new constitution (as in his inaugural speech lie had said he intended to do), nor to disregard public opinion in [Page 647] Ms appointments. His first minister of foreign affairs was the late Hon. W. L. Green, an Englishman, universally respected for his integrity and ability, who held this office for nearly three years, and carried through the treaty of-reciprocity in the teeth of bitter opposition.
the reciprocity treaty.
The following October Messrs. E. H. Allen and H. A. P. Carter were sent to Washington to negotiate a treaty of reciprocity.
The Government of the United States having extended an invitation to the King, and placed the U. S. S. Benicia at his disposal, he embarked November 17, 1874, accompanied by Mr. H. A. Pierce and several other gentlemen. They were most cordially received and treated as guests of the nation. After a tour through the Northern States, the royal party returned to Honolulu February 15, 1875, in the U. S. S. Pensacola. The treaty of reciprocity was concluded January 30, 1875, and the ratifications were exchanged at Washington June 3, 1875.
The act necessary to carry it into effect was not, however, passed by the Hawaiian Legislature till July 18, 1876, after the most stubborn opposition, chiefly from the English members of the house and the partisans of Queen Emma, who denounced it as a step toward annexation. It finally went into effect September 9, 1876.
the advent of spreckels.
The first effect of the reciprocity treaty was to cause a “boom” in sugar, which turned the heads of some of our shrewdest men and nearly caused a financial crash. Among other enterprises the Haiku irrigation ditch, 20 miles in length, which taps certain Streams flowing down the northern slopes of East Maui and waters three plantations, were planned and carried out by Mr. S. T. Alexander, in 1877. About that time he pointed out to Col. Claus Spreckels the fertile plain of Central Maui, then lying waste, which only needed irrigation to produce immense crops. Accordingly, in 1878, Mr. Spreckels applied to the cabinet for a lease of the surplus waters of the streams on the northeast side of Maui as far as Honomanu. They flow through a rugged district at present almost uninhabited. The then attorney-general, Judge Hartwell, and the minister of the interior, J. Mott Smith, refused to grant him a perpetual monopoly of this water, as they state it. Up to this time the changes in the cabinet had been caused by disagreement between its members, and had no political significance.
In the meantime, Mr. Gibson, after many months of preparation, had brought in before the Legislature a motion of want of confidence in the ministry, which was defeated June 24 by a vote of 26 to 19. On the night of July 1 Messrs. Claus Spreckels and G. W. Macfarlane had a long conference with Kalakaua at the Hawaiian Hotel on the subject of the water privilege, and adjourned to the palace about midnight. It is not necessary to give the details here, but the result was that letters were drawn up and signed by the King, addressed to each member of the cabinet, requesting his resignation, without stating any reason for his dismissal. These letters were delivered by a messenger between 1 and 2 o’clock in the morning. Such an arbitrary and despotic act was without precedent in Hawaiian history.
The next day a new cabinet was appointed, consisting of S. G. Wilder, Minister of the Interior, E. Preston, Attorney-general, Simon Kaai, Minister of Finance, and John Kapena, Minister of Foreign Affairs. [Page 648] The last two positions were sinecures, but Kaai as a speaker and politician had great influence with his countrymen. The new cabinet granted Mr. Spreckels the desired water privilege for thirty years at $500 per annum. The opium-license and free-liquor bills were killed. The actual premier, Mr. Wilder, was probably the ablest administrator that this country has ever had. He infused new vigor into every department of the Government, promoted immigration, carried out extensive public improvements, and at the legislative session of 1880 was able to show cash in the treasury sufficient to pay off the existing national debt. But his determination to administer his own department in accordance with business methods did not suit the King.
Meanwhile Gibson spared no pains to make himself conspicuous as the soi-disant champion of the aboriginal race. He even tried to capture the “missionaries,” “experienced religion,” held forth at Sunday prayer meetings, and spoke in favor of temperance.
celso cesar moreno.
The professional lobbyist, Celso Cesar Moreno, well known at Sacramento and Washington, arrived in Honolulu November 14, 1879, on the China Merchants’ Steam Navigation Company’s steamer Ho-chung, with the view of establishing a line of steamers between Honolulu and China. Soon afterwards he presented a memorial to the Hawaiian Government asking for a subsidy to the proposed line. He remained in Honolulu about ten months, daring which time he gained unbounded influence over the King by servile flattery and by encouraging all his pet hobbies. He told him that he ought to be his own prime minister, and to fill all Government offices with native Hawaiians. He encouraged his craze for a 10-million loan, to be spent chiefly for military purposes, and told him that China was the “treasure house of the world,” where he could borrow all the money he wanted. The King was always an active politician, and he left no stone unturned to carry the election of of 1880. His candidates advocated a 10-million loan and unlimited Chinese immigration. With Moreno’s assistance he produced a pamphlet in support of these views, entitled “A reply to ministerial utterances.”
the session of 1880.
In the Legislature of 1880 was seen the strange spectacle of the King working with a pair of unscrupulous adventurers to oust his own constitutional advisers, and introducing through his creatures a series of bills, which were generally defeated by the ministry.
Gibson had now thrown off the mask, and voted for everyone of the King and Moreno’s measures. Among their bills which failed were the 10-million loan bill, the opium-license bill, the free-liquor bill, and especially the bill guaranteeing a bonus of $1,000,000 in gold to Moreno’s Trans-Pacific Cable Company.
The subsidy to the China line of steamers was carried by the lavish use of money; but it was never paid. Appropriations were passed for the education of Hawaiian youths abroad, and for the coronation of the King and Queen.
At last on the 4th of August, Gibson brought in a motion of “want of confidence” which after a lengthy debate was defeated by the decisive vote of 32 to 10. On the 14th, the King prorogued the Legislature at noon, and about an hour later dismissed his ministers without a word of explanation, and appointed Moreno premier and Minister of Foreign Affairs; J. E. Bush, Minister of the Interior; W. C. Jones, Attorney-geneial, and Rev. M. Kueea, Minister of Finance.
[Page 649]fall of the moreno ministry.
Moreno was generally detested by the foreign community, and the announcement of his appointment created intense excitement.
For the first time the discordant elements of this community were united, and they were supported by a large proportion of the natives. The three highest and most, influential chiefs—Queen Dowager Emma, Ruth Keelikolani, and Bernice Pauahi Bishop—joined in condemning the King’s course. Two mass meetings were held at the Kaumakapili Church, and a smaller one of foreigners at the old Bethel Church, to protest against the coup d’état. The diplomatic representatives of the United States, England, and France—Gen. Comly, Maj. Wodehouse, and M. Ratard—raised their respective flags over their legations, and declared that they would hold no further official intercourse with the Hawaiian Government as long as Moreno should be premier. On the side of the King, R. W. Wilcox, Nawahi, and others harangued the natives, appealing to their jealousy of foreigners. The following manifesto is a sample:
way-up celso moreno.
To all true-born citizens of the country, greeting: We have with us one Celso Cesar Moreno, a naturalized and true Hawaiian. His great desire is the advancement of this country in wealth, and the salvation of this people, by placing the leading positions of Government in the hands of the Hawaiians for administration. The great desire of Moreno is to cast down foreigners from official positions and to put true Hawaiians in their places, because to them belongs the country. They should hold the Government and not strangers. This has been the cause of the decrease of the people. Positions have been taken from Hawaiians and given to strangers. C. C. Moreno desires to throw down these foreigners and to elevate to high positions the people to whom belongs the land, i. e., the red-skins. This is the real cause of jealousy on the part of foreigners, viz., that Hawaiians shall be placed above them in all things in this well-beloved country. C. C. Moreno is the heart from whence will issue life to the real Hawaiians.
After four days of intense excitement, the King yielded to the storm. Moreno’s resignation was announced on the 19th, and his place filled ad interim by J. E. Bush. On the 30th Moreno left for Europe, with three Hawaiian “youths” under his charge, viz., E. W. Wilcox, a member of the late legislature, 26 years of age, Robert Boyd, and James K. Booth. It was afterwards ascertained that he bore a secret commission as minister plenipotentiary and envoy extraordinary to all the great powers, as well as letters addressed to the governments of the United States, England, and France demanding the recall of their representatives. A violent quarrel had broken out between him and his disappointed rival, Gibson, who purchased the P. C. Advertiser printing office with Government money September 1, and conducted that paper thenceforth as the King’s organ.
Mr. W. L. Green was persuaded to accept the vacant place of minister of foreign affairs September 22. In a few days he discovered what had been done, and immediately notified the representatives of the three powers concerned of the insult that had been offered them.
A meeting was held at his office between the foreign representatives on the one side and himself and J. E. Bush on the other, at which the letters in question were read. The result was that Mr. Green resigned and compelled the resignation of his colleagues.
the green-carter ministry.
Mr. Claus Spreckles, who arrived September 5, took an active part in these events and in the formation of the new ministry, which consisted [Page 650] of W. L. Green, Minister of Foreign A flairs; H. A. P. Carter, Minister of the Interior; J. S. Walker, Minister of Finance, and W. N. Armstrong, Attorney-general.
The first act was to annul Moreno’s commission, and to send dispatches, which were telegraphed from San Francisco to Washington, London, and Paris, disavowing the demands which he had sent. Moreno, however, proceeded on his journey and finally placed the Hawaiian youths, one in a military and two in a naval school in Italy.
the king’s tour around the world.
The King immediately began to agitate his project of a trip around the world. As it was known he was corresponding with Moreno, it was arranged that Mr. C. H. Judd should accompany him as Chamberlain, and Mr. W. N. Armstrong as Commissioner of Immigration. He was received with royal honors in Japan, Siam, and Johore. On the King’s arrival in Naples, Moreno made an audacious attempt to take possession of His Majesty and dispense with his companions, but he met with more than his match in Mr. Armstrong. The royal party visited nearly all the capitals of Europe, where the King added a large number of decorations to his collection, and took particular note of military matters and court etiquette. An Austrian field battery which took his eye afterwards cost this country nearly $20,000. During the King’s absence his sister, Mrs. Dominis, styled Liliuokalani, acted as regent. He returned to Honolulu October 29, 1881, where he had a magnificent reception, triumphal arches, torches blazing at noonday, and extravagant adulation of every description.
triumph of gibson.
During the King’s absence he had kept up a correspondence with his political workers at home, and after his return he produced another pamphlet in Hawaiian, advocating a ten-million loan. Gibson’s paper had been filled with gross flattery of the King and of the natives, and had made the most of the smallpox epidemic of 1881 to excite the populace against the ministry.
Just before the election of 1882 a pamphlet appeared, containing a scathing exposure of his past career (especially in connection with the Morman Church), backed by a mass of documentary evidence. Gibson’s only reply was to point to his subsequent election by a large majority of the native voters of Honolulu. Only two other white men were elected on the islands that year. It was the first time that the race issue had superseded all other considerations with the native electorate.
session of 1882.
The Legislature of 1882 was one of the weakest and most corrupt that ever sat in Honolulu. At the opening of the session Minister Carter was absent in Portugal, negotiating a treaty with the Government of that country. It was soon evident that the ministry did not control a majority of the House, but that the King did. After an ineffectual attempt to quiet Gibson by offering him the Presidency of the Board of Health with a salary of $4,000, they resigned, May 19, and Gibson became Premier.
His colleagues were J. E. Bush, lately of Moreno’s cabinet; Simon Kaai, who drank himself to death, and Edward Preston, attorney-general, who was really the mainstay of the Cabinet.
[Page 651]One of their first measures was an act to convey to Clans Spreckels the crown lands of Wailuku, containing some 24,000 acres, in order to compromise a claim which he held to an undivided share of the crown lands. He had purchased from Ruth Keelikolani, for the sum of $10,000, all the interest which she might have had in the crown lands as being the half sister of Kamehameha IV, who died intestate. Her claim had been ignored in the decision of the Supreme Court and the Act of 1865, which constituted the crown lands. Instead of testing her right by a suit before the Supreme Court, the Ministry thought it best to accept the above compromise and carried it through the Legislature.
The prohibition against furnishing intoxicating liquor to natives was repealed at this session, and the consequences to the race have been disastrous. The ten-million loan bill was again introduced, but was shelved in committee and a two-million loan act substituted for it. The appropriation bill was swelled to double the estimated receipts of the Government, including $30,000 for coronation expenses, $30,000 for Hawaiian youths in foreign countries, $10,000 for a Board of Genealogy, besides large sums for the military, foreign embassies, the palace, etc.
At the last moment a bill was rushed through giving the King sole power to appoint district justices, through his creatures, the governors, which had formerly been done only “by and with the advice of the Justices of the Supreme Court.” This was another step toward absolutism. Meanwhile Gibson defended the King’s right to be an active politician, and called him “the first Hawaiian King with the brains and heart of a statesman.”
At the same time it was understood that Claus Spreckels backed the Gibson ministry and made them advances under the Loan Act.
the coronation.
Kalakaua had always felt dissatisfied with the manner in which he had been sworn in as King. He was also tired of being reminded that he was not a king by birth, but only by election. To remedy this defect he determined to have the ceremony performed over again in as imposing a manner as possible. Three years were spent in preparations for the great event, and invitations were sent to all rulers and potentates on earth to be present in person or by proxy on the occasion. Japan sent a commissioner, while England, Prance, and the United States were represented by ships of war. The ceremony took place February 12, 1883, nine years after Kalakaua’s inauguration. Most of the regalia had been ordered from London, viz, two crowns, a scepter, ring, and sword, while the royal feather mantle, tabu stick, and kahili or plumed staff, were native insignia of rank.
A pavilion was built for the occasion, as well as a temporary amphitheatre for the spectators. The Chief Justice administered the oath of office and invested the King with the various insignia. This ceremony was boycotted by the high chiefs, Queen Emma, Ruth Keelikolani, and Mrs. Bernice Pauahi Bishop, and by a large part of the foreign community, as an expensive and useless pageant intended to aid the King’s political schemes to make himself an absolute monarch. The coronation was followed by feasts, a regatta, and races, and by a series of nightly hulahulas, heathen dances, accompanied by appropriate songs. The printer of the Coronation Hula programme, which contained the subjects and first lines of these songs, was prosecuted and fined by the court on account of their gross and incredible obscenity.
[Page 652]embassies, etc.
During this year Mr. J. M. Kapena was sent as Envoy Extraordinary to Japan, while Mr. C. P. Iaukea, with H. Poor as secretary, was sent to attend the coronation of the Czar Alexander III at Moscow, and alter wards on a mission to Paris, Rome, Belgrade, Calcutta, and Japan, on his way around the world.
Kalakaua was no longer satisfied with being merely King of Hawaii, but aspired to what Gibson termed the “Primacy of the Pacific.” Capt. Tripp and F. L. Clarke were sent as royal commissioners to the Gilbert Islands and New Hebrides, to prepare the way for a Hawaiian protectorate; a parody on the “Monroe doctrine” was put forth in a grandiloquent protest addressed to all the great powers by Mr. Gibson, warning them against any further annexation of islands in the Pacific Ocean, and claiming for Hawaii the exclusive right to assist them in improving their political and social condition,”. i. e., a virtual protectorate of the other groups.
the hawaiian coinage.
The King was now impatient to have his “image and superscription” on the coinage of the realm, to add to his dignity as an independent monarch. As no appropriation had been made for this purpose, recourse was had to the recognized “power behind the throne.” Mr. Claus Spreckels purchased the bullion, and arrangements were made with the San Francisco mint for the coinage of silver dollars and fractions of a dollar, to the amount of one million dollars’ worth, to be of identical weight and fineness with the like coins of the United States. The intrinsic value of the silver dollar at that time was about 84 cents. It was intended, however, to exchange this silver for gold bonds at par under the loan act of 1882. On the arrival of the first installment of the coin the matter was brought before the Supreme Court by Messrs. Dole, Castle, and W. O. Smith. After a full hearing of the case, the court decided that these bonds could not legally be placed except for par value in gold coin of the United States, and issued an injunction to that effect on the Minister of Finance, December 14, 1883. The Privy Council was then convened, and declared these coins to be of the legal value expressed on their face, subject to the legal-tender act, and they were gradually put into circulation. A profit of $150,000 is said to have been made on this transaction.
the first reconstruction of the gibson cabinet, 1883.
Mr. Gibson’s first cabinet went to pieces in a little over a year. Simon Kaai was compelled to resign in February, 1883, from “chronic Inebriety,” and was succeeded by J. M. Kapena. Mr. Preston resigned the following May from disgust at the King’s personal intermeddling with the administration, and in July Mr. Bush resigned in consequence of a falling out with Mr. Gibson. For some time “the secretary stood alone,” being at once Minister of Foreign Affairs, Attorney-General, and Minister of the Interior ad interim, besides being President of the Board of Health,. President of the Board of Education, and member of the Board of Immigration, with nearly the whole foreign community opposed to him. The price of government bonds had fallen to 75 per cent with no takers, and the treasury was nearly empty. At this juncture (August 6), when a change of ministry was looked for, Mr. C. T. Gulick was persuaded to take the portfolio of the Interior, and a small [Page 653] loan was obtained from his friends. Then to the surprise of the public, Col. Claus Spreckels decided to support the Gibson cabinet, which was soon after completed by the accession of Paul Neumann.
the legislature of 1884.
Since 1882 a considerable reaction had taken place among the natives, who resented the cession of Wailuku to Spreckels, and felt a profound distrust of Gibson. In spite of the war cry “Hawaii for Hawaiians,” and the lavish use of Government patronage, the Palace party was defeated in the elections generally, although it held Honolulu, its stronghold. Among the Reform members that session were Messrs. Dole, Rowell, Smith, Hitchcock, the three brothers, Godfrey, Cecil, and Frank Brown, Kauhane, Kalua, Nawahi, and the late Pilipo, of honored memory.
At the opening of the session the Reform party elected the speaker of the house, and controlled the organization of the committees.
The report of the finance committee was the most damaging exposure ever made to a Hawaiian Legislature. A resolution of “want of confidence” was barely defeated (June 28) by the four Ministers themselves voting on it.
the spreckels bank charter.
An act to establish a national bank had been drawn up for Col. Spreckels by a well-known law firm in San Francisco, and brought down to Honolulu by ex-Governor Lowe. After “seeing” the King, and using the usual methods in vogue at Sacramento the ex-Governor returned to San Francisco boasting that “he had the Hawaiian Legislature in his pocket.” But as soon as the bill had been printed and carefully examined, a storm of opposition broke out. It provided for the issue of a million dollars’ worth of paper money, backed by an equal amount of Government bonds deposited as security. The notes might be redeemed in either silver or gold. There was no clause requiring quarterly or semiannual reports of the state of the bank. Nor was a minimum fixed to the amount of cash reserved in the bank. In fact, most of the safeguards of the American national banking system were omitted. Its notes were to be legal tender except for customs dues It was empowered to own steamship lines and railroads, and carry on mercantile business, without paying license fees. It was no doubt intended to monopolize or control all transportation within the Kingdom, as well as the importing business from the United States.
The charter was riddled both in the house and in the chamber of commerce, and indignation meetings of citizens were held until the King was alarmed, and finally it was killed on the second reading by an overwhelming majority. On hearing of the result the sugar king took the first steamer for Honolulu, and on his arrival “the air was blue—full of strange oaths, and many fresh and new.” On second thought, however, and after friendly discussion he accepted the situation and a fair general banking law was passed providing for banks of deposit and exchange, but not of issue.
the lottery bill, etc.
At the same session a lottery bill was introduced by certain agents of the Louisiana company. It offered to pay all the expenses of the leper settlement for a license to carry on its nefarious business, besides [Page 654] offering private inducements to venal legislators. In defiance of the public indignation, shown by mass meetings, petitions, etc., the bill was forced through its second reading, but was stopped at that stage and withdrawn, as is claimed, by Col. Speckels’ personal influence with the King.
Kalakaua’s famous “Report of the Board of Genealogy” was published at this session. An opium license bill was also killed, as well as an eight million dollar loan bill, while a number of excellent laws were passed. Among these were the currency act and Dole’s homestead law. The true friends of the native race had reason to rejoice that so much evil had been prevented.
practical politics under gibson.
During the next few years the country suffered from a peculiarly degrading kind of despotism. I do not refer to the King’s personal immorality, nor to his systematic efforts to debauch and heathenize the natives to further his political ends.
The coalition in power defied public opinion and persistently endeavored to crush out, buy out, or disarm all opposition, and to turn the Government into a political machine for the perpetuation of their power. For the first time in Hawaiian history faithful officers who held commissions from the Kamehamehas were summarily removed on suspicion of “not being in accord” with the cabinet, and their places generally filled by pliant tools. A marked preference was given to unknown adventurers and defaulters over natives and old residents. Even contracts (for building bridges, for instance) were given to firms in foreign countries.
The various branches of the civil service were made political machines, and even the Board of Education and Government Survey came near being sacrificed to “practical politics.” All who would not bow the knee received the honorable sobriquet of “missionaries.” The demoralizing effects of this régime, the sycophancy, hypocrisy, and venality produced by it, have been a curse to the country ever since. The Legislature of 1884 was half composed of officeholders, and wires were skillfully laid to carry the next election. Grogshops were now licensed in the country districts, to serve as rallying points for the “National party.” The Gibsonian papers constantly labored to foment race hatred among the natives and class jealousy among the whites.
Fortunately, one branch of the Government, the Supreme Court, still remained independent and outlived the Gibson régime.
the election of 1886.
The election of 1886 was the most corrupt one ever held in this Kingdom, and the last one held under the old régime. During the canvass the country districts were flooded with cheap gin, chiefly furnished by the King, who paid for it by franking other liquor through the customhouse free of duty, and thereby defrauding the Government of revenue amounting to $4,749.35. (See report of attorney-general for 1888, and the case of the King vs. G. W. Macfarlane, 1888.) Out of 28 Government candidates 26 were officeholders, one a last year’s tax assessor, and one the Queen’s secretary. A list of them is appended herewith. There was only one white man on the Government ticket, viz, the premier’s son-in-law.
[Page 655]List of Government candidates for the election of 1886 for representatives.
| Island. | District. | Name. | Office. |
| Hawaii | North Kona | J. K. Nahale | Tax collector. |
| South Kona | D. H. Nahinu | Deputy sheriff and tax collector. | |
| Kau | Kaaeamoku | ||
| Puna | A. Kekoa | Tax collector. | |
| Hilo | Kaulukou | Sheriff. | |
| Hilo | A. Pahia | Tax collector. | |
| Hamakua | Kaunamano | Do. | |
| Kohala | Z. Kalai | District judge. | |
| Maul | Lahaina | L. Aholo | Police judge. |
| Lahaina | Kai Nahaolelua | Tax collector. | |
| Hana | S. W. Kaai | District judge. | |
| Makawao | J. Kamakele | Tax collector. | |
| Wailuku | G. Richardson | Road supervisor and tax collector. | |
| Kaanapali | J. Kaukau | Deputy sheriff and tax collector. | |
| Molokai and Lanai | Nakaleka | Tax collector. | |
| Kupihea | District judge. | ||
| Oahu | Honolulu | F. H. Hayselden | Secretary of the board of health and tax assessor. |
| Honolulu | James Keau | Poi contractor. | |
| Honolulu | Lillikalani | Queen’s secretary. | |
| Honolulu | J. T. Baker | Captain of King’s guards. | |
| Ewa and Waianae | J. P. Kama | District judge. | |
| Koolauloa | Kauahikana | Tax collector. | |
| Koolaupoko | F. Kaulia | District judge. | |
| Waialua | J. Amara | Deputy sheriff and tax collector. | |
| Kauai | Hanalei | Palohau | Do. |
| Koloa | T. Kalaeone | ||
| Waimea | E. Kauai | District judge. |
In order to prevent Pilipo’s election, the King proceeded to his district of North Kona, taking with him a number of soldiers and attendants (who voted at the election), besides numerous cases of liquor. He took an active part in the canvass, and succeeded in defeating Pilipo by a small majority. The King’s interference with the election nearly provoked a riot, which was averted by Pilipo’s strenuous exertions. The matter was investigated by a Legislative committee, whose report is on file. Mr. E. Kekoa, the member elected from Puna, was afterwards tried and convicted of gross violations of the election laws, but the house refused to declare his seat vacant.
Only ten Reform candidates were elected, viz: Messrs. Cecil Brown, W. R. Castle, C. H. Dickey, S. B. Dole, J. Kauhane, A. Kauahi, J. Kalua, A. Paehaole, L. A. Thurston, and J. Wight.
the session of 1886.
The session of 1886 was a long one, and a vacation of two weeks was taken, from July 26 until August 9, to allow the tax assessors in the Legislature to go home and nominally perform the duties of their office. About this time certain creditors of the Government in San Francisco brought pressure to bear upon the ministry to cede or hypothecate the Honolulu waterworks and part of the wharves to a California company. The pressure became so great that the ministers opposed to the project were requested by the King to resign, and a new cabinet was formed June 30, 1886, consisting of W. M. Gibson, Minister of the Interior; R. J. Creighton, a journalist, lately arrived from California, Minister of Foreign Affairs; J. T. Dare, another recent arrival, Attorney-General; and P. P. Kanoa, Minister of Finance, in place of J. Kapena, who had succumbed to the same failing that had destroyed Simon Kaai.
The two new members of the cabinet were respectable gentlemen, but soon found themselves in a false position.
[Page 656]the opium bill.
An opium-license bill was introduced towards the end of the session by Kaunamano, one of the King’s tools, and after a long debate carried over the votes of the ministry by a bare majority. It provided that a license for four years should be granted to “some one applying therefor” by the Minister of the Interior, with the consent of the King, for $30,000 per annum. The object of this provision was plainly seen at the time, and its after consequences were destined to be disastrous to its author. Mr. Dole proposed an amendment that the license be sold at public auction at an upset price of $30,000, which, however, was defeated by a majority of one, only one white man, F. H. Hayselden, voting with the majority.
Another act was passed to create a so-called “Hawaiian Board of Health,” consisting of five kahunas, appointed by the King, with power to issue certificates to native kahunas to practice “native medicine.”
the london loan.
The King had been convinced that, for the present, he must forego his pet scheme of a ten-million loan. A two-million loan bill, however, was brought in early in the session, with the view of obtaining the money in San Francisco. The subject was dropped for a time, then revived again, and the bill finally passed September 1.
Meanwhile, the idea of obtaining a loan in London was suggested to the King by Mr. A. Hoffnung, of that city, whose firm had carried on the Portuguese immigration. The proposal pleased the King, who considered that creditors at so great a distance would not be likely to trouble themselves much about the internal politics of his little Kingdom. Mr. H. R. Armstrong, of the firm of Skinner & Co., London, visited Honolulu to further the project, which was engineered by Mr. G. W. Macfarlane in the Legislature.
Two parties were now developed in that body, viz, the Spreckels party, led by the Ministry, and the King’s party, which favored the London loan. The small knot of independent members held the balance of power.
The two contending parties brought in two sets of conflicting amendments to the loan act, of which it is not necessary to give the details. As Kaulukou put it, “the amendment of the Attorney-General provides that if they want to borrow any money they must pay up Mr. Spreckels first. He understood that the Government owed Mr. Spreckels $600,000 or $700,000. He has lent them money in the past, and were they prepared to say to him, ‘We have found new friends in England’—to give him a slap in the face?”
On the other side, Mr. J. T. Baker “was tired of hearing a certain gentleman spoken of as a second king. As this amendment was in the interest of that gentleman he voted against it.” Allusions were also made to the reports that the waterworks were going to be pledged to him. When the decisive moment arrived the independents cast their votes with the King’s party, defeating the ministry by 23 votes to 14. The result was that the cabinet resigned that night, after which Gibson went on his knees to the King and begged to be reappointed.
The next morning, October 14, to the surprise of everyone and to the disgust of his late allies, Gibson reappeared in the house as premier, with three native colleagues, viz, Aholo, Kanoa, and Kaulukou. But from this time he had no real power, as he had neither moral nor financial backing. The helm of state had slipped from his [Page 657] hands. Mr. Spreckels called on the King, returned all his decorations, and shook off the dust from his feet. The Legislature appropriated $100,000 for a gunboat and $15,000 to celebrate the King’s fiftieth birthday.
In this brief sketch it is impossible to give any idea of the utter want of honor and decency that characterized the proceedings of the Legislature of 1886.
The appropriation bill footed up $3,856,755. 50, while the estimated receipts were $2,336,870.42.