Home: The Annexation Of Hawaii: A Collection Of Document
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398 HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. running steamers among the islands, and he has large property inter- ests in Honolulu. Hon. C. M. [surname "omitted] is a leading lumber merchant, doing business with Puget Sound and Oregon, born here of the best American stock. Hon. L. A. Thurston is one of the most, if not the most, talented and influential man on the islands, and is of the highest respectability. He and his father were born on the islands, of Connecticut parentage. Though a young man, he was the leading member of the reform cabinet from July, 1887, to 1890. Hon. William H. Castle is a lawyer of eminence, born on the islands, of western New York parentage, his father still living here at the age of 84, having resided In Honolulu nearly half a century, and for many years exercised a large influence here. Mr. Charles P. Carter is the sou of the recent Hawaiian minister at Washington, Hon. H. P. Carter, and is an accomplished and most reliable gentleman, American to the core, and has a Michigan wife. Hon. Mr. Marsden is of English birth, is a prominent business man and a noble in the Legislature. These six commissioners represent a large preponderating proportion of the property holders and commercial interests of these islands. They are backed by the influences which will enable them to fully carry out their agreements with the United States Government. I am sir, etc., JOHN L. STEVENS. Mr. Stevens to Mr. Foster, [Confidential.] No. 81.] UNITED STATES LEGATION, Honolulu, January 26, 1893. SIR: By the steamer taking this dispatch, goes Mr. Paul Neuman to Washington, the attorney of the deposed Queen. Nominally "he may make at the Department of State a "protest" as to the way his client lost her crown. In reality his mission is to get a large fee out of what- ever sum it is supposed may be paid by the treaty of annexation to the fallen monarch and the Crown Princess. This attorney, as the Ha- waiian Commissioners now in Washington may inform you, was a former resident of San Francisco, where he had and still has an un- savory reputation. For years his influence in politics here has been pernicious. He was a boon companion of the debased Kalakaua, the recent King; shared in his corruptions, and is reputed to have won at cards the money of the weak monarch. He was twice voted out of the cabinet by the recent Legislature by a large majority, every reputable member each time against him. He is believed on strong reasons to have been the head man in getting through the Legislature in the closing hours of the session the infamous lottery bill, which so much aided in precipitating the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy. This man, the Queen's attorney, is a good- natured, "jolly fellow," who, seeing the strong drift of things here, now avows himself unqualifiedly for annexation. I think it my duty to give to the Department of State this amount of information about the fallen Queen's attorney, and the Commissioners now in Washington can give you as much more as they deem proper. I am, etc., JOHN L. STEVENS.