Mr. Stevens to Mr. Blaine.
Honolulu, February 7, 1890.
Sir: I improve the earliest opportunity to inform the Department of State as to the result of the election in the Hawaiian Islands, which took place this week, February 5. It was for the choice of the 48 nobles and representatives which compose the national legislature that is largely to control the country the next two years. It has been looked forward to with the deepest interest by all the native and foreign residents, and the discussion and agitation have been very heated and determined, and on the part of the opponents of the present ministry extremely bitter and unscrupulous. The result is a triumph of the opponents of the present ministry and of the reform constitution. The election was conducted with exceeding fairness by the legal authorities, and the polls were kept open from 8 in the morning until 5 in the afternoon. [Page 302] The most complete quiet and good order prevailed in all the voting precincts of Honolulu. An election conducted in the most intelligent and moral of American rural towns could be no more orderly.
The ministry had taken the most careful precautions for the maintenance of order; the liquor saloons were closed, the ballot was secret, and both parties worked with the utmost determination and precision to get their supporters to the polls. This defeat of the existing Government is deeply to be regretted, for it has been accomplished by a most reckless appeal to race prejudices and to all the elements of corruption and disorder in the Kingdom. It is well known to the Department of State that in July, 1887, the best citizens of these islands, composed of most of the property holders, the men of business, and the professions, chiefly Americans, English, and Germans—largely of the first named—were driven to a revolution, accomplished without bloodshed, resulting in the overthrow of the corrupt Gibson rule and the adoption of the reform constitution, by which the chief power was taken from the King and given to the Legislature and a responsible ministry. It has been under this constitution that the country has been governed the past two and a half years with signal success. Few of our American States in that time have had their affairs more honestly conducted, their laws more faithfully administered.
Two of the ministers are of the best American stock, the sons of missionaries, and another, the minister of foreign affairs, was born and educated in the State of New York, though he has been many years identified with this country. These three men have done their utmost to govern the Kingdom wisely and honestly. To do this they have been obliged to resist the King and all the worst elements of the islands. Among these are the men who thrived on former maladministration, whose plundering devices had been brought to an end. I am sorry to say that some of the worst men in bringing about the triumph of reaction are Americans, either by birth or adoption. Yet so successful has been the new constitution and the reform administration that the opposition party was obliged to pledge itself in speech and platform not to return to the former state of things, and to promise to carry on the Government according to the terms of the present constitution, which has so deeply intrenched itself in the existing state of things as not to be easily overthrown. Among the successful party there are some large property holders, who will be driven to restrain their political associates, and these, with the determined efforts of the minority reform party, will be likely to keep the country to constitutional rule in a considerable degree.
It is proper for me to say that among the leaders of the party just successful at the polls are those not friendly to the United States, and that the Department of State and this legation will have to deal with the incoming ministry with great caution and circumspection. The new legislature will meet in May, when a new ministry undoubtedly will be chosen. In a future dispatch I will give the result of my most careful observations as to the status of things here relative to the interests of the United States and her immediate duties and responsibilities as to these islands.
I have, etc.,
N. B.—Above I have given the present estimate here of the election result. It is possible that full returns from the other islands may not sustain the present hopes of the reactionists.