The Spell of the Hawaiian Islands and the Philippines Part 4

The attention of Mr. Welles, then Secretary of the Navy, was called to this island as possibly destined to prove of early importance as a coaling station for United States vessels cruising in these waters.

Secretary Welles issued an order to Rear Admiral Thatcher, commanding the _Lackawanna_ or some other suitable vessel to search for the island and having found it, to take possession in the name of the United States.

My father's letters give an account of this trip. August 4th, 1867, he wrote:

"Just now we are sailing along quietly, although we have been greatly startled and had a few moments of terrible anxiety. One of the men, while furling the top-gallant sail, lost his hold and fell overboard. Of course, falling from such a height, we all thought he was killed. The life buoys were cut away, and the s.h.i.+p hove to, and the boat sent for him, which picked him up and found him but little hurt after all. It was such a narrow escape, we were all greatly relieved when we got him aboard all right. Except this, we are sailing along day after day in perfect monotony, and for two months or more we shall not see a strange face or hear a word of news from home. But the weather is delightful, and my health is good."

"August 24th.

"Breakers have been reported from the masthead, and I hope it is the island we are looking for."

"August 27th.

"Yes, it proved to be the land we were seeking, and now we are lying at anchor off Brooks Island, called after the captain who discovered it a few years ago; and probably never before or since has there been any one there. It is low and sandy, about six miles long, and its inhabitants are only sea gulls and other sea birds, seals and turtles. Never having seen human beings before, they are not in the least afraid of us, and we can catch as many of them as we wish. I have been fis.h.i.+ng and caught a boatload of fish and eleven turtles, each one of the latter weighing two hundred pounds and over. We are going to remain here and survey the island, but to-day it has come on to rain, and we are all cooped up on board the s.h.i.+p."

"August 28th.

"Pleasant weather has come again, and I have been out hunting and fis.h.i.+ng. Shot seventeen curlew, hauled the seine, caught a boatload of fish and three large turtles; hunted for sh.e.l.ls, but could not find any.

"We are going to have quite a ceremony and take possession of the islands for the United States."

Captain William Reynolds, the officer in command of the _Lackawanna_, was very proud of having been concerned in taking possession of the first island beyond our own sh.o.r.es ever added to the dominion of the United States. In his report he well describes the somewhat dramatic and spectacular performance.

"I have the honour to report that on Wednesday, the 28th of August, 1867, in compliance with the orders of the Hon. Secretary of the Navy of May 28th, I took formal possession of Brooks Island and reefs for the United States. Having previously erected a suitable flagstaff I landed on that day, accompanied by all the officers who could be spared from the s.h.i.+p, with six boats armed and equipped, and under a salute of twenty-one guns, and with three cheers, hoisted the national ensign, and called on all hands to witness the act of taking possession in the name of the United States.

"The ceremony of taking possession over, the howitzers and small-arm men and marines were exercised at target-firing. Having hauled the seine and procured an abundant supply of fish, the men cooked their dinner on sh.o.r.e, and the rest of the day was spent pleasantly, picnic fas.h.i.+on upon the island.... I sincerely hope that this will by no means be the last of our insular annexations. I venture to name the only harbour at this island after the present Hon. Secretary of the Navy, and to call its roadstead after the present Hon. Secretary of State (Seward)."

"In 1869," writes C. S. Alden, in his life of Commodore Perkins, "Congress appropriated $50,000 for deepening the entrance of the harbour; the work was begun, but the amount proved insufficient for completing the plan. One hundred miles to the west, Lieutenant-Commander Sicard, of the U. S. S. _Saginaw_, who had the duties of inspecting and a.s.sisting in this work, had the misfortune to wreck his s.h.i.+p on a reef.

The hazardous voyage of Lieutenant Talbot with three men in a small boat sailing over 1500 miles to Kauai, Hawaiian Islands, to gain succour, and the drowning of all but one of the men just as they reached their destination and were pus.h.i.+ng through the surf to make a landing, is one of the thrilling tales of the sea. Nothing further seems to have been done by our Government until three or four decades later, when it sought to insure safety to navigation by establis.h.i.+ng there a lighthouse and buoys. After the visits of the _Lackawanna_ and the _Saginaw_, the islands were deserted until the Pacific Commercial Cable Company placed there a station in the San Francisco-Manila line, maintaining about forty men. This is the intermediate station between Honolulu and Guam."[7]

Kamehameha V was the older brother of the last King, and a man of autocratic temper, who promulgated a new const.i.tution that increased the powers of the king and decreased those of the people. He was called Prince Lot before he came to the throne. During his reign the leper colony on Molokai was started, in an effort to stop the spread of leprosy. As every one knows, it was here that Father Damien, the Catholic priest, devoted his life to caring for the sufferers and finally succ.u.mbed to the disease. The King died in 1872, the last of his line. Just before his death, he turned to Mrs. Bishop and asked her to become queen. She refused, thinking she could serve her people better in some other way, and the King pa.s.sed away without naming his successor.

It was suggested that either the sister of Kamehameha V or one of the high chiefs should be placed on the throne, but Prince Lunalilo, the nearest male relative, was elected in 1874 by the people. He was thus the first Hawaiian monarch to be chosen by popular vote. His reign, however, lasted little more than a year.

[Ill.u.s.tration: KING KALAKAUA AND STAFF.]

David Kalakaua, a high chief, was the choice of the people to succeed Lunalilo. The Reciprocity Treaty with the United States was the great commercial event of this reign. By this sugar and some other products were admitted into America free of duty.

This last of all the kings sought continually to regain the authority lost by the crown when the first const.i.tution was granted, and his government kept growing more arbitrary and corrupt. Finally, so much feeling was roused that the foreign element compelled Kalakaua to proclaim a new const.i.tution, by which he lost the power he had previously possessed and white men gained more control of the government. Two years later, the "Wilc.o.x rebellion," headed by Robert W.

Wilc.o.x, a half-breed, was the unsuccessful attempt of the natives to a.s.sert themselves against the whites. It was, however, promptly put down.

Kalakaua was kind-hearted, popular, and possessed a dignity and ease of manner that made him at home in any society, although he was dissipated and corrupt and could be "hail fellow well met" with carousers. Captain Lucien Young says of him in his book, "Real Hawaii":

"Kalakaua was only a high chief, in no way related to the extinct royal family, and was reputed to be the illegitimate son of a negro cobbler, who had emigrated to the Islands from Boston."

On the other hand, the sister of Kalakaua, Liliuokalani, who followed him, gives the following account of their pedigree:

"My father's name was Kapaakea; my mother was Keohokalole; the latter was one of the fifteen counselors of the King, Kamehameha III. My great-grandfather Keawe-a-Heulu, the founder of the dynasty of the Kamehamehas, and Keona, father of Kamehameha I, were own cousins, and my great-grandaunt was the celebrated Queen Kapiolani, one of the first converts to Christianity."

King Kalakaua was the author of the Hawaiian national hymn, which was set to music by Captain Berger, leader of the Royal Hawaiian Band. It certainly testifies to a firm belief in the "divine right of kings."

"Hawaii's very own, Look to your sovran Lord, Your chief that's heaven-born, Who is your King;

"Men of Hawaii's land, Look to your native chiefs, Your sole, surviving lords, The nation's pride.

"Men of Hawaiian stock, My nation ever dear, With loins begirt for work, Strive with your might.

REFRAIN:

"Protector, heaven-sent, Kamehameha great, To vanquish every foe, With conquering spear."

Kalakaua died in San Francisco and his body was taken home in a United States man-of-war. His funeral was one of barbaric splendour with kahili bearers, superb feather cloaks, and as was the custom, with bearers who had shaved half their faces and heads.

Under the kings the Hawaiians had a coat of arms. It had on the first and fourth quarters of the s.h.i.+elds eight red, white and blue stripes, which represented the eight inhabited islands. On the yellow background of the second and third quarters were the tabu sticks--white b.a.l.l.s with black staffs. These were a sign of protection, as well as of tabu. In the center of the s.h.i.+eld is a triangular flag, the _puela_, lying across two spears. This also was a sign of tabu and protection. The background represents a royal mantle. At the sides are the supporters in feather cloaks and helmets, the one on the right carrying a spear, the one on the left a kahili, or staff used only on state occasions. Above the s.h.i.+eld is the crown, ornamented with twelve taro leaves. Below is the national motto.

Notwithstanding she had married an American, John C. Dominis of Ma.s.sachusetts, Liliuokalani was even more determined than her brother had been to restore the ancient privileges of the monarch. She revived the old Hawaiian customs, and decided to proclaim a new const.i.tution giving to herself increased power. The English Minister and his followers were on the Queen's side, but those who composed the American mission element were distinctly the best citizens, and this element conquered.

A Citizen's Committee of Safety was formed, then a Provisional Government was established, and a delegation sent to Was.h.i.+ngton to request annexation to the United States. A treaty of annexation was drawn up, but it was not acted upon by the Senate before President Harrison's term of office ended and President Cleveland's began. In the meantime, Mr. Stevens, our Minister to Hawaii, had, at the request of the Provisional Government, put the Islands under the protection of the Government of the United States. Emissaries of the Queen told their story to President Cleveland, who sent a special Commissioner to the Islands to report on conditions there. After receiving his report, which was far from impartial, the President sent an urgent request--really a demand--to the Provisional Government to restore the Queen to power. It was impossible for free-born Americans to accede to such a demand, and they replied through Hon. S. B. Dole that the Government "respectfully and unhesitatingly declines to entertain the proposition of the President of the United States that it should surrender its authority to the ex-Queen." Then, in 1894, despairing of immediate annexation, they formed a republic with Mr. Dole as president.

It was proposed by some of the people that Princess Kaiulani, Mr.

Cleghorn's daughter and the Queen's niece, should be proclaimed queen, and a Regency with Mr. Dole at its head established until the Princess came of age. But the American element did not feel that an honest government would be insured by this means. Kaiulani, who was being educated in England, came here and issued an appeal to Americans, but was unable to awaken sympathy. She died soon after.

The new Republic of Hawaii thus began its history under the leaders.h.i.+p of the man of whom it is said that he "throughout his life had been identified with all that was least partizan and most upright in the Islands." It is interesting to note that a vast amount of political wire-pulling was guarded against in the const.i.tution then adopted by the provision that the President at the close of his term of six years should be "ineligible to reelection for the next succeeding term."

The last native uprising, said to have been instigated by the ex-Queen, occurred in 1895, but was quickly put down. Among the few who lost their lives at this time was Charles L. Carter, brother of Governor Carter.

Liliuokalani was tried for treason, with nearly two hundred of her followers, but having formally renounced all claim to the Hawaiian monarchy and taken the oath of allegiance to the republic, she was pardoned. None of the rebels were executed, their sentence being commuted in various ways.

At this time, trouble arose over the large immigration from j.a.pan; the j.a.panese contract labourers showed a bad spirit; a j.a.panese man-of-war appeared and also a British war vessel; and it was seen that only annexation to the United States could prevent the Islands from falling into the hands of some foreign power. They were formally annexed to the American republic in 1898. The Territory of Hawaii--this is now the official t.i.tle of the Islands--has the same form of government as the other territories of the United States.[8]

As was indeed fitting, the first governor of Hawaii was Hon. S. B. Dole.

The governor and the secretary of the territory are appointed by the President. Of the fifty senators and thirty members of the House of Representatives about one-half are Hawaiians. There are two official delegates to Was.h.i.+ngton, one of whom is Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole, usually called Prince Cupid.

A series of able men have succeeded Mr. Dole, who in 1903 was appointed to another office.[9] Hon. George R. Carter was the next governor until his resignation in 1907. Judge Walter F. Frear held the position from that time until 1913, when Governor Pinkham was appointed, who is still at the head of affairs in the territory.

CHAPTER IV

SERVANT AND SOIL

As Americans have always been leaders in the Islands, so they were the first to begin the cultivation of sugar, which is the chief occupation.

They commenced by using their own capital, and then gradually interested capitalists from the mainland. The Reciprocity Treaty between the United States and the Islands in 1876 gave a great impetus to the sugar industry. Capital, particularly from this country, was invested in the Islands, until at present crops of more than 600,000 tons are s.h.i.+pped away in a year.