Blount Report: Affairs in Hawaii
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HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 799
would try to live here under this flag, but ho wanted that flag to be clean. It would not be clean unless they went
much further than the removal of the Gibson administration. He had been reminded of the words of Lord Chatham,
"It is time that the Crown were addressed in the language of truth." It is the height of folly to put four men into a
hostile camp, and support the tension to try and keep them there. (Mr. E. M. Walsh-"We will support them!") The
speaker had a great deal of confidence in Mr. Walsh, but he preferred a good constitution, a now constitution, every
time, and anything less than a new constitution would not suit him.
The miserable rag of a constitution we had did not afford adequate representation nor impose proper restrictions
upon the power of the Throne. He believed it was written on the hearts of those before him, " a new constitution, and
that speedily." It was the height of folly to suppose that commercial men and others in the community could stand
and bold these men in their places. We had tried this kind of things for the last six years. With a good constitution
we would have peace - peace flowing like a river. The franchise will be reconstructed and the king will have power
as great us the Queen of Great Britain, and that ought to be enough for him. If to his own rights he wants to add the
rights of 75,000 subjects he is not going to have them. The revolution of thought would be followed by a revolution
of aims, as it always had been, if our reasonable requests were not granted. Ho pledged his life, every cent that he
possessed, and his sacred honor under that flag that sheltered him from his birth. (Cheer.) If the men would not put
this thing through the women would. He referred to the mental agony the women had endured these passed years for
want of proper protection against disease, many having had to isolate their children in foreign lauds. No man can
stop or stay this movement now. - The sails are set. the ship is in motion; we can not go back. Push her forward into
the open sea. (Cheers.)
Mr. Kinney then spoke several minutes in Hawaiian.
Hon. S. B. Dole, being called upon, said: Fellow citizens: There are two thoughts to which I will call your attention
in our constitution. First, "The King conducts his Government for the common good." The second is like unto it,
"All men are allowed to assemble to consult upon the common good." We have a right to be here, and we have
assembled according to law; but we would not be here today if the King had conducted the Government for the
common good. He has not done so. This meeting has come together to consider the public interests, and is composed
of men who are determined to have good government. As I understand the situation, this meeting is called to give
the King one chance to fall into line for political reform- just one chance. I do not say he will take the chance. I am
not here to talk about the ministers, but about the King (loud cheers), for he is not conducting the Government for
the benefit of the people. I need not detail the fact of bad government by the King to you; it relates to all
departments of the ad ministration; interference with everything appertaining *o government has been his rule, and
he has sold his sacred oath of office to the highest bidder. We are here for no unlawful purpose; we are here to
demand that the King cleanse the Government, and that: he return this money - which every man, woman, and child
in the country believes he took unlawfully - not for the sake of the parties to whom it belongs, but to show that the
Government is to be conducted henceforth upon clean principles. We remember the last six years, during which the
rights of the people have been trampled under foot, the representative principle of government has been practically
destroyed, the principle of ministerial responsibility interrupted, and public moneys recklessly squandered. These
things cannot go on. This movement means political reform, and it has gone so far that, from the talk I hear as I go
along the street, opposition or hostility to it is in the public mind something akin to treason.
Mr. J. A. McCandless, whom the chairman introduced as a gentleman who went down into the bowels of the earth,
spoke next. He said he supported these resolutions, and in doing so he believed that he represented some 1,500
people. He was ready to support them with the last drop of his blood. All were united - merchants, mechanics,
laborers, and all. He believed that there was a unanimity which had never before been attained. Fifteen hundred
persons had been disfranchised for no other reason than they were white men, and they were not going to have this
much longer. They had a right to have their franchise granted unconditionally. [A voice, We'll take them.] He was
afraid there were some among them who were weak-kneed. One man had got his gun and taken it home, and left a
note upon the table with the words "Good-bye; shall be out of town till next Sunday." That there were some who
wanted bracing up. There were men among them the grandchildren of those who had fought at Waterloo, and made
it what it was, of the noble six hundred at Balaklava. They had among them some of the heroes of Appomattox, and
also of the Franco-German war. These were the kind of men this community is made up of. Abraham Lincoln had
remarked on the eve of the late war, "it may be necessary to set the foot down hard." And a great newspaper
correspondent who was present said that lie know then for the first time that the great North was
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