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               1198	HAWAIIAN  ISLANDS.

coffin of Hawaiian monarchy. By the strength of our own right arms and steadfast purpose, united in all that is 
essential, the last article of our platform will be accomplished, and our mother in Washington will take to herself her 
own. 'All roads lead to Rome,' was a proverbial saying in that great Empire. In Hawaii every political highway and 
by way should lead to annexation. Our hope is in that. Every road leads to Washington. Standing upon this platform 
of one plank, all differences must vanish; all factions melt away. We wish no permanent government, nor anything 
else which does not lead to annexation; no change which does not make for that; no republic but the Great Republic. 
The question before us is simplicity itself. No man of clear brain and right heart will oppose union with that country 
which secures, by its system of equal liberty and equal laws, the best opportunity for the solution of every problem 
which can assail us in the century to come. We hear voices which might as well come from royalists: ' You're not 
out of the woods yet' 'Don't count your chickens before they are hatched.'
" Such words should come, if not from cowards, at least from men who have no faith in our cause. We celebrate the 
justice of our cause, and would do so still though a thousand restorations were to follow. I would write this day in 
our statutes and make it an eternal holiday, and in the future our children will thank God that there were men here 
who held to their purpose, and who never flinched. The 17th is a day of auspicious omen. It was the birthday of 
Kamehameha III, who, at the close of his life, wearied with an ineffectual struggle, fought for union with the United 
States. It is worthy of note that the influences against us then came from the slave power, as the only element which 
has caused delay now, has come from the party which upheld slavery in the United States. Gentlemen, I am done. I 
have made no preparation for to-night. This sea of heads, this illumination, surpassing every other, are inspiration 
enough. There is one man in this city to-night whom I envy. It is the anniversary of his wedding day, and when in 
the future his children gather around his knee, he will add to the patriotic memories of this holiday, those which 
cluster around the hearth-side, and will bless doubly the 17th of January, 1893.
Gen. Hartwell said: " The development of national liberty, regulated by law, is not the result of accident or chance. It 
is peculiar to no country nor clime; wherever there is a community in which intelligent, honest, and independent 
habits of thought and of action prevail, civil liberty is sure to come and abide. The day of the divine rights of kings 
and queens has disappeared from modern civilization; but the supremacy of law is everywhere bound to assert itself, 
for it has a divine origin in the Great Law Giver of the universe. On the 13th day of January, 1893, the Government 
of the Hawaiian Islands was that of a constitutional monarchy, under the constitution which was established in July, 
1887. The head of the Government, the Queen, was not amenable to any law, except to the unwritten law which 
required her to govern herself in accordance with the requirements of the constitution under "which she became a 
sovereign, which she had sworn to observe, and under which alone she could legally remain a sovereign. If any 
official of the Government, whether in the executive, legislative, or judicial department, violated the law, he could 
be called to account, and the community had a remedy, more or less effective, for such violation of its rights.
"What was the remedy if the head of the Government declined to be bound by the constitution? When King John 
refused to govern himself by English by-laws, the barons of England at the point of the sword, compelled him to 
sign and swear to the Magna Charta of Runnymede in the year 1215. The right of petition and the right of habeas 
corpus followed, culminating in the glorious revolution of 1688, when William and Mary came over. All this is 
known to every school boy, as part of the history of civil liberty in the great Republic of England. But how was it in 
Hawaii last January? The Hawaiian Runnymede had been passed in July of 1887, and yet the Hawaiian Sovereign 
declined to keep her obligations. The result was that the system known as the Hawaiian Constitutional Monarchy, no 
longer existed. It was like the removal of the keystone of an arch, the structure fell. It was then that citizens of 
Honolulu established a Provisional Government, in the presence of actual or impending anarchy. That was a 
conservative and not a revolutionary proceeding.
" The avowed and the legitimate objects of that Government were to maintain the public peace and to promote 
political union with the United States of America. The latter object awaits the result of time and full consideration 
and may depend upon events and contingencies yet to occur; but the preservation of law and order which thus far 
has been secured is a simple necessity. For the continued accomplishment of that object there will be ample scope 
for the wisdom and patriotism and moderation and charity of this community to display themselves. With the 
founders and supporters of the existing Government of Hawaii there is no place for selfish interest or personal 
aggrandizement. The strong common sense of the people is thoroughly enlisted in the cause of honest stable 
government. It will have

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