1214				HAWAIIAN   ISLANDS.

The policy of the United States is already formulated regarding those islands, and that nothing which can be said or 
done either here or there can avail anything now. I do not come here as did Mr. Blount. I come here as the executive 
officer. I come to act. When the proper time comes, I shall act. * * * I wish to state, positively, that any outside 
interference will not be tolerated by the United States." I am not aware that you have ever disavowed the correctness 
of this report.
(14) On November 29 last, having that day for the first time received information through the Hawaiian minister at 
Washington of this contents of Mr. Gresham letter to the President, and of his statements concerning the same and 
his refusal to state whether it was the intention of your Government to carry out its policy by force, I called upon 
you in company with the Attorney-General, stated to you the substance of my information, and asked you what the 
intentions of your Government were in relation to Mr. Gresham's recommendations. You replied that you were not 
at liberty to tell us, but would do so as soon as you could.
(15) Immediately thereafter, I addressed a communication to you, revoking the general permission theretofore 
granted to the United States forces to land for drill, and a further communication formally stating to you the 
information received by me concerning said letter of Mr. Gresham and asking you the following question:
"I desire to inquire of you whether the published reports of such letter of Secretary Gresham are substantially 
correct? If they are, I feel that it is due this Government that it should be informed of the intention of your 
Government in relation to the suggestions contained in the said letter of Mr. Gresham."
On December 2, you replied to such letter stating that "as to the letter of Mr. Gresham I have the honor to call your 
attention to the fact, as shown by you, that it is a communication from a member of the cabinet to the President of 
the United States, and being a domestic transaction is not the subject of diplomatic representation. Answering your 
note further, I must express my sincere regret that it is not in my power at present to inform you of the views or 
intentions of the United States."
(16) On December 4th last President Cleveland transmitted his annual message to Congress, in which the following 
language was used concerning Hawaii.
Referring to Mr. Blount's report he said:
"Upon the facts developed it seemed to me the only honorable course for our Government to pursue was to undo the 
wrong that had been done by those representing us, and to restore, as far as practicable, the status existing at the time 
of our forcible intervention. With a view of accomplishing this result within the constitutional limits of executive 
power our present minister at Honolulu has received appropriate instructions to that end."
(17) On December 14 last the U. S. dispatch-boat Corwin arrived in Honolulu from San Francisco bringing 
dispatches to yourself. No mail was allowed to be brought by her, but the press of Honolulu obtained from persons 
on board of her and published the above extract from the President's message. But for such accidental in formation 
no information concerning the same would have been obtained by this Government until the arrival of the Alameda 
on December 22.
Up to the time of the arrival of the Corwin the U. S. naval officers in port were in the habit of coming ashore in 
citizen's dress, the crews received the usual liberty on shore, and no unusual warlike preparations were visible on 
board.
Immediately after the arrival of the Corwin the liberty of the crews wag stopped, as was that of most of the officers. 
Those who came on shore were in service uniform. Rifles were stacked, cartridge belts were filled with ball 
cartridges, and knapsacks packed for immediate use were conspicuous on the decks of the ships, and were seen there 
by visiting citizens, who in reply to inquiry as to the meaning of such preparations were informed by the officers that 
they were ready to land at a moment's notice. When asked if the landing would be to protect or fight us the reply of 
the officers of the Philadelphia was that no one on board knew what orders would be received.
(18) It was known at the time that several of the wives of the U. S. naval officers temporarily in Honolulu were 
packing up their baggage preparatory for immediate removal in view of possible hostilities.
(19) It was also known that you were in frequent communication with the ex-Queen, and leading royalists were 
constantly reiterating that you were going to immediately restore the Queen by force.
As a sample of the innumerable assertions of this character is the following, made by Mr. J. O. Carter, the ex-
Queen's most trusted counselor and confidant, a gentleman who was then known to be in consultation with you and 
the ex-Queen and who appears as the attesting witness, to the exclusion of the former members of her cabinet, to her 
proposition of amnesty hereunder referred to.
Mr. Carter warned his nephew, Mr. C. L. Carter, a supporter of the Provisional Government, that restoration was 
certain; that force would be used by the United

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