Blount Report: Affairs in Hawaii
[ Previous Page ] --
[ View PDF ] -- [ View
in MS Word ] -- [ Next Page ]
[ Return to Table of Contents ]
HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 801
H. L. Swinton said, in Hawaiian: I am not going to speak in the English language, because the haoles
all think as I do. It has been said that this meeting is called to incite to kill the Hawaiians. I have
always been called a rebel. This is because I am not afraid to speak my mind, and my mind is firm and
clear that the Government is false and corrupt. My advice is to stand by the resolution for a now
constitution, and let us not be satisfied with promises by the King. Let us not be satisfied when the
King tells us he has turned out the cabinet, what more do you want. Let us follow the lead of
Thurston, and demand a new constitution.
Mr. Alexander Young, who represented the Honolulu Iron Works, said he was proud to stand upon
the platform and look so many honest men in the face. They were men who not only looked what
they meant, but meant what they looked. He was no speaker, but a thinker. He came here twenty-
three years ago, and at one time, when traveling, he was proud of living here. Lately he had done
some traveling, and had to hide his face when he found this nag stinking abroad. He represented a
large class of men not only in this country, but all over the world. The class he represented were
the horny-handed sons of toil, who earned their honest dollar and could lie down and sleep
without it burning them. He was ready to shoulder a musket to defend Kalakaua, and not a
knave. Some had counseled them to wait; but he said wait not, strike the iron while it is hot.
Kalakaua had had a great many years to let us see whether ho was a man or not. The tension about
our hearts had long been strained, and to-day the strings had broken, and we must express ourselves.
He was not a lawyer, and could not tell whether we could have a constitution in five minutes; lint
necessity was the mother of invention, and we must get it as soon as possible. There was not a coward
in that assembly-not one, though it was not always wise to rush into mischief. If the King would
not do what was wanted, he must be made to do it. Let us exercise patience and put the matter in the
hands of people able to deal with it. Let us have a new constitution, and if it is not legal, the same
power would make another.
Dr. Tucker said that when he came to this country there were mutterings of discontent, and it was all
Walter Murray Gibson. We arraign the King. He does not know that this assembly-largely
composed of men who think that kings are not of much) account anyway-he does not know that if it
was not for the wise counsel of men in this movement his head would have been off before this.
They could not ' wait any longer for reform. The King had better be a saint while he is well, as well
as when he is sick.
Mr. L. C. Ables, who represented the clerks, said that he had come here to seek his fortune, but had
not seen it. He was an American; the stars and stripes was his flag, but the Hawaiian flag would suit
him as well, and he was going to stay by it. The class whom he represented wanted a new
constitution, and they were going to have it. He was not a lawyer, but he had been told by lawyers
that the constitution was promulgated by a king. It could be done again. Some would ask, "Are you
going to get it?" In illustration of his determination to have it, he related an anecdote about a certain
youth who had evinced an indomitable determination in hunting for a woodchuck wherewith to
regale the appetite of a hungry Methodist preacher. The boy chased the woodchuck into his hole. A
man came along and asked the boy if he could get him, "Mister," said the boy, "I've got to get him;"
and for the constitution, we've got to have it!
Hon. Cecil Brown said, in Hawaiian: "Perhaps you ask, why is this meeting of citizens? Perhaps
the thought may enter that it is to propose to do evil to .. Hawaiians. Not so. I am an
Hawaiian, and was born under this flag, and under it my bones shall be buried. Has there been good
government in the past few years? No. Has the legislative right been respected? No. We want,
then, a new constitution. We want the King to think of the public good, not of personal ends. We
have just seen the jubilee of Queen Victoria, and if Kalakaua would follow her o example, he might
reign as long. But if Queen Victoria were to act as badly as Kalakaua, she would not live an hour.
Let us, then, go for a new constitution.
Mr. E. M. Walsh, manager of the Paia plantation, Maui, said that he represented ' the planters, who,
ho felt sure, would indorse the sentiments so ably expressed. In 1882 a deputation representing the
plantations on the other islands waited on the King to petition His Majesty to give them honest
government. The result was they were snubbed. The King afterwards went to North Kona, and with
the assistance of his soldiers defeated Pilipo in the election. They did not want to use threats, but to-
day they were prepared, and would not be again insulted. He believed it would be wise to change the
constitution. He did not know the best way of doing it, but in view of the consummate skill which had
brought this movement forward, he was ready to leave it to the thirteen gentlemen to see that it was
done right. It seemed to him, however, that this was a time to have the voice of the people. From
Maui all were with them. In 1882, as he had said, the King let them go with false . promises. They took
his word then. Now, lot us prepare a constitution and say this is what we want and what we must have.
(Applause.)
F R 94-APII ---51
Back to top of page
[ Previous Page ] --
[ View PDF ] -- [ View
in MS Word ] -- [ Next Page ]
[ Return to Table of Contents ]
