Home: The Annexation Of Hawaii: A Collection Of Document
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1002 HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. Q. What offices have you held in that time? A. I have held every office this country can give. Sheriff of the island of Kauai in 1854; circuit judge there in 1863, and deputy governor of that island at the same time. I held, also, a great many smaller offices from 1854 to 1865-tax collector, school inspector, road supervisor; chief clerk of the interior office in 1865; associate justice of the supreme court in 1869; minister of the interior in 1874. During those years 1 have been privy councilor; member of the board of health, and member of the board of education. I was a noble from 1881 to 1887, appointed by the King. I was elected noble in 1887 to 1892. February, 1892, I was taken ill and Mott Smith took my place, and when he went to Washington I got well and took the place back. That brings us up to date. Q. On January 17, 1893, it is reported that the ministers of Liliuokalani, with the Hon. S. M. Damon, went to the palace and held a consultation with the Queen on the subject of her yielding to the movement for a provisional government. Were you there? A. I was there at the Queen's request. Q. Will you be kind enough to tell me in a general way what was said and done? A. There were present besides the ministers, Samuel Damon, Judge Carter, Paul Neumann, and myself. Q. What was the subject-matter of the interview? A. It was a communication from the Provisional Government touching her being turned out of office, her deposition which had been sent her in the course of the day. I objected to reading the document; I didn't know but it might be insulting. The Queen's Government was then in possession of the barracks and the police station where the arms and ammunition were. The question was, whether she should make opposition to the Provisional Government. The advice given was that we were too weak to oppose the United States forces, and consequently that she should surrender. The police station was surrendered immediately after the consultation. We were there perhaps an hour in this consultation. Whilst we were, Mr. Stevens's letter to the Queen's ministers, saying he had recognized the Provisional Government, was read by Sam Parker, Her Majesty's minister of foreign affairs. Mr. Neumann and Joe Carter were appointed a committee of two to draw up a protest for Her Majesty. We waited until they had done so. We all approved of that protest, and then the Queen signed it. Q. Was it dark then? A. It was after dark; lamps were lighted. Q. What was the condition of the city as to quiet when the troops were landed on the day before? A. There were no people on the street. It was as quiet as things could be. I went to the palace to speak to the Queen. I told her that the soldiers had landed and were coming towards the palace. Fearing lest they should attack the palace, I advised Her Majesty to be ready to go with them if they should come to her and ask her to go with them. I said this in my consternation upon seeing foreign troops landed in a peaceful country when there was no show of any disturbance. Q. Was that consternation pretty general? A. Most decidedly it was. Q. Did that state of mind continue until the dethronement of the Queen and the surrender of the barracks and station house? A. Yes ; until we heard of the establishment of the Provisional Government and then we knew what was what.