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Blount Report: Affairs in Hawaii

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               1242			HAWAIIAN   ISLANDS.

After a formal greeting, the Queen was informed that the President of the United States had important 
communications to make to her and she was asked whether she was willing to receive them alone and in confidence, 
assuring her that this was for her own interest and safety. She answered in the affirmative.
I then made known to her the President's sincere regret that, through the unauthorized intervention of the United 
States, she had been obliged to surrender her sovereignty, and his hope that, with her consent and cooperation, the 
wrong done to her and to her people might be redressed. To this, she bowed her acknowledgments.
I then said to her, " The President expects and believes that when reinstated you will show forgiveness and 
magnanimity; that you will wish to be the Queen of all the people, both native and foreign born; that you will make 
haste to secure their love and loyalty and to establish peace, friendship, and good government." To this she made no 
reply. After waiting a moment, I continued: " The President not only tenders you his sympathy but wishes to help 
you. Before fully making known to you his purposes, I desire to know whether you are willing to answer certain 
questions which it is my duty to ask?" She answered, " I am willing." I then asked her, " Should you be restored to 
the throne, would you grant full amnesty as to life and property to all those persons who have been or who are now 
in the Provisional Government, or who have been instrumental in the overthrow of your government." She hesitated 
a moment and then slowly and calmly answered: "There are certain laws of my Government by which I shall abide. 
My decision would be, as the law directs, that such persons should be beheaded and their property confiscated to the 
Government." I then said, repeating very distinctly her words, "It is your feeling that these people should be 
beheaded and their property confiscated? She replied, "It is." I then said to her, "Do yon fully understand the 
meaning of every word which I have said to you, and of every word which you have said to me, and, if so, do you 
still have the same opinion?" Her answer was, " I have understood and mean, all I have said, but I might leave the 
decision of this to my ministers." To this I replied, "Suppose it was necessary to make a decision before you 
appointed any ministers, and that you were asked to issue a royal proclamation of general amnesty, would, you do 
it?" She answered, "I have no legal right to do that, and I would not do it." Pausing a moment she continued, " These 
people were the cause of the revolution and constitution of 1887. There w2ill never be any peace while they are 
here. They must be sent out of the country, or punished, and their property confiscated." I then said, "I have no 
further communication to make to you now, and will have none until I hear from my Government, which will 
probably be three or four weeks."
Nothing was said for several minutes, when I asked her whether she was willing to give, me the names of four of her 
most trusted friends, as I might, within a day or two, consider it my duty to hold a consultation with them in her 
presence. She assented, and gave these names: J. O. Carter, John Richardson, Joseph Nawahi, and E. C. Macfarlane.
I then inquired whether she had any fears for her safety at her present residence, Washington Square. She replied 
that she did have some fears, that while she had trusty friends that guarded her house every night, they were armed 
only with clubs, and that men shabbily dressed had been often seen prowling about the adjoining premises- a 
schoolhouse with large yard. I informed her that I was authorized by the President to offer her protection either on 
one of our war ships

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