asking us to sign it. During the day they had a meeting of the citizens. I mean such men as Thurston, Hartwell, and leaders of the provisional government. They told us they would back us up. They admired us for our pluck in holding out against the Queen's wish.

MR. BLOUNT. Would this imply a disposition to take action toward dethronement?

MR. PARKER. I think it came from the McKinley bill-the first action was on account of the McKinley bill.

MR. BLOUNT. What do you mean by action?

MR. PARKER. They said that unless something is done closer relations with the United States-we are bankrupt. That was long before the Legislature came in session; when I first went into the cabinet.

MR. BLOUNT. Who do you mean said this?

MR. PARKER. A majority of the sugar men; those now at the head of the provisional government-capitalists and planters. They said that something must be done to get closer relations with the United States to hold us up. With sugar down to $45 and $50 a ton, something ought to be done. A commercial treaty or something ought to be negotiated with the American people.

Mr. Blount in his report makes the following statement:

The controlling element in the white population is connected with the sugar industry. In its interests the Government there has negotiated treaties from time to time for the purpose of securing contract laborers for terms of years for the plantations, and paid out large sums for their transportation and for building plantation wharves, etc.

These contracts provide for compelling the laborer to work faithfully by fines and damage suits brought by the planters against them, with the right on the part of the planter to deduct the damages and costs of suit out of the laborer's wages.

They also provide for compelling the laborer to remain with the planter during the contract term. They are sanctioned by law and enforced by civil remedies and penal laws. The general belief amongst the planters at the so-called revolution was that, notwithstanding the laws against importing labor into the United States, in the event of their annexation to that Government, these laws would not be made operative in the Hawaiian Islands on account of their peculiar conditions. Their faith in the building of a cable between Honolulu and San Francisco and large expenditures at Pearl Harbor in the event of annexation has also as much to do with the desire for it.

In addition to these was the hope of escape from duties on rice and fruits and receiving the sugar bounty, either by general or special law.

The repeal of the duty on sugar in the McKinley Act was re

garded a severe blow to their interests, and the great idea of statesmanship has been to do something in the shape of treaties with the United States, reducing their duties on agricultural products of the Hawaiian Islands, out of which profit might be derived. Annexation has for its charm the complete abolition of all duties on their exports to the United States.

The annexationists expect the United States to govern the islands by so abridging the right of suffrage as to place them in control of the whites.

Mr. President, this revolution was organized by a conspiracy of the American minister in the interest of the sugar planters of Hawaii, which the minister says was the chief industry of the island and the basis of their prosperity.

The American minister had been secured as an advocate of the overthrow of the friendly Government to whom he was sent; and then what was done by these conspirators, few in number, having vast wealth, fortunes made absolutely out of the people of the United States in the profit upon sugar, which is admitted free of duty, while we charged 2 cents a pound on sugar from every other country? The American minister having been secured, the next step was to find an excuse for overthrowing the existing Government.

On the 14th of January, 1893, being Saturday, the Queen took steps to promulgate a new constitution. Petitions had been received by her signed by two-thirds of all the voters of the island protesting against the constitution of 1887 and asking that a new one be promulgated. The constitution of 1887 deprived a large per cent of her people of the right to vote for members of the Senate or any voice in the Government. This was done by a property qualification which excluded them from the right of suffrage. A few of her own people were permitted to serve in the cabinet. The constitution of 1887 had been forced out of the King, her predecessor, by a threat from these same people to assassinate him and overturn his Government.

MR. ALLEN: What is the number of voters in the Hawaiian Islands now?

MR. PETTIGREW: Under the new constitution, twentysix hundred.

MR. ALLEN: All are male adults, I suppose.

MR. PETTIGREW: Of course there are a very large number of male adults who have never taken any steps to be citizens or voters; that is, they are the contract laborers, the slave labor from Japan and China.

MR. ALLEN: Are they by circumstances disqualified from citizenship?

MR. PETTIGREW: They are not qualified for citizenship because they have taken no steps to secure it, and do not desire it. There are about 13,000 people who have a right to vote for the members of the lower House of the Legislature if they would take the oath of allegiance to this sugar Government, which provides for annexation to the United States, but they refuse to do it. So there are only 2,600 people who are really voters under that Government.

MR. ALLEN: A property qualification is required for voting in the Hawaiian Islands?

MR. PETTIGREW: For voting for senators a very high property qualification is required.

MR. ALLEN: I ask the Senator if that does not disqualify the vast body of male adults in the island?

MR. PETTIGREW: Oh, certainly, it disqualifies nearly every one to vote for a senator. There are only a few thus qualified. I think there are not over 1,200 people in the islands who can vote for a senator under the property qualification required. But the Queen, in pursuance of this address, proposed to modify the constitution so that her own people would have something to say about the proposition to modify the property qualification and make the Government more nearly democratic, and bring it closer to the people.

Immediately on the proposition being made to adopt a new constitution, these people, nine of them, had a meeting in Smith's office. He was a lawyer in Honolulu. He is now the attorney-general of the so-called republic. There they began to plan and plot for the overthrow of the Queen. But finding that there was opposition to her movement, the Queen abandoned the idea of issuing a new constitution and sent forth on Monday, January 16, 1893, the following letter:

BY AUTHORITY.

Her Majesty's ministers desire to express their appreciation for the quiet and order which has prevailed in this community since the events of Saturday, and are authorized to say that the position taken by Her Majesty in regard to the promulgation of a new constitution was under stress of her native subjects.

Authority is given for the assurance that any changes desired in the fundamental law of the land will be sought only by methods provided in the constitution itself.

Her Majesty's ministers request all citizens to accept the assurance of Her Majesty in the same spirit which it is given.

LILIUOKALANI. SAMUEL PARKER, Minister of Foreign Affairs. W. H. CORNWELL,

Minister of Finance.

JOHN F. COLBURN,
Minister of the Interior.
A. P. PETERSON,

IOLANI PALACE, January 16, 1893.

Attorney-General.

On Saturday, the 14th, there was a meeting at W. O. Smith's office, and a committee of safety was organized, composed of thirteen members. I propose now to show what this meeting was called for, and I will show it by reading the testimony of Mr. Bolte. Mr. Bolte was one of the conspirators. In answer to a question by Mr. Blount he said:

The answers which I have given to Mr. Blount's questions, "When was for the first time anything said about deposing or dethroning the Queen?" might lead to misunderstanding in reading this report. I desire, therefore, to hereby declare as follows: Words to the effect that the Queen must be deposed or dethroned were not uttered to my knowledge at any meeting of the committee of safety until Monday evening, January 16, 1893; but at the very first meeting of citizens at W. O. Smith's office, on Saturday, January 14, at about 2 p. m., or even before this meeting had come to order, Paul Neumann informed the arriving people that the Queen was about to promulgate a new constitution.

The answer then given him by Mr. W. C. Wilder, by me, and by others was: That is a very good thing and a splendid opportunity to get rid of the whole old rotten Government concern and now to get

annexation to the United States. Paul Neumann thought that that might be going a little too far.

At the second meeting at W. O. Smith's, between 3 and 4 p. m. on Saturday afternoon, January 14, 1893, when the committee of safety was appointed, sentiments of the same nature, that this is a splendid opportunity to get rid of the old régime, and strong demands for annexation, or any kind of stable government under the supervision of the United States, were expressed.

Therefore, even if the words that the Queen must be deposed or dethroned were not spoken, surely the sentiment that this must be done prevailed at or even before the very first meeting, on January 14, 1893. C. BOLTE.

There was no fear of disorder, no thought that life and property were in danger, only a satisfaction that the excuse for revolution had been offered and the time had come to give a new impetus to the sugar industry.

Mr. Smith states that the committee at his office debated whether they would ask the United States to establish a protectorate. They concluded that as the Queen had an armed force it was best to appoint a committee to see the United States minister and ascertain what he would do, and Thurston was selected as chairman of said committee. Thereupon this committee visited the minister. They had met, passed no resolutions whatever with regard to danger to life and property, but had congratulated each other on the fact that an opportunity had arisen for an excuse to overthrow the government and secure annexation to the United States, purely in the interest of their sugar plantations. Thurston was therefore appointed as chairman of the committee to see the American minister. Smith says:

I went home about dark or a little after, and just had dinner when Mr. Thurston called at my house on his way home, asking me to meet the committee and one or two others at his house at 8 o'clock. I went there and found Mr. Thurston, W. R. Castle, F. W. Wundenberg, A. S. Hartwell, S. B. Dole, and C. L. Carter. Mr. Thurston stated that the committee had waited upon the American minister, and that he had said that the United States troops on board the Boston would be ready to land any moment to prevent the destruction of American life and property, and in regard to the matter of establishing a pro