Foreign Relations of the United States, 1894, Appendix II, Affairs in Hawaii

No. 26.
Statement of C. M. Hyde.

Honolulu, April 3, 1893.

Hon. J. S. Blount,
Commissioner, etc.:

Since I saw you at your residence last Saturday afternoon, it has occurred to me that it might be advisable for me, occupying such a position as I do at the islands, as the only resident missionary of the A. B. C. F. M., to write out for your information and consideration such a statement of facts as might assist you in arriving at just conclusions in regard to the political and social condition of affairs, and the proper course for the United States Government to take at this juncture.

I have no occasion and certainly no desire to appear as either advocate or assailant of any persons or parties here. Nor have I any authority to act as the representative of the American board in matters outside of my special province as principal of the training school of Hawaiian pastors and missionaries, except so far as it has its bearings on my instructions “to induce in the Hawaiians more of the sentiments of personal independence and self-reliance, and to develop that strength of character which shall enable them to withstand the unfavorable influences that have hitherto depressed them, and still exist from their contact with so large a foreign population.”

You will pardon me in what I have to say if I introduce more of the personal element than you would meet in ordinary diplomatic correspondence. It is this very element that throws upon any such question those side lights that give the aspect of vitality and reality to what else might be only abstract discussion of abstruse principles of government and social order.

When I arrived here June 1, 1877, and began to study the situation, I found that I must first disabuse myself of the notion that it was Hawaiian civilization and a Hawaiian government under which I was to live. Such nomenclature was right and proper, but the church and state, nominally Hawaiian, was really managed by the few foreigners who had the direction of affairs. Not that the foreigners were exercising an usurped authority and the natives simply subject to their beck and call, but rather this, that the management of affairs of church and state was under the direction of the missionaries in the one case, and trusted advisers in the other; and that without such direction, not to say control, both churches and government would disintegrate speedily because of utter lack of the needful ability to maintain an independent organic existence.

The number of superannuated missionaries has constantly diminished till now there are only three surviving, only one of these an ordained preacher. The management of the churches has fallen entirely into the hands of the native pastors, with no direct continuous personal supervision. What I can do by correspondence or by chance visits and what Mr. Emerson can do by similar means (only in his case these are official and in some places semiannual,)—this constitutes all that we two workers can well do for the 57 Hawaiian evangelical churches, with their membership of 5,427 communicants out of a total population (native) of 34,436, with only one foreign pastor (Rev. H. H. Parker, of Kawaiajao Church, Honolulu) among the whole number (34) of pastors. The native churches are growing poorer and feebler each year, less able and willing to support the native pastorate.

One reason for this growing unwillingness is the demoralization of our churches under the influence of the native sovereign Kalakaua. It was his custom to appoint natives to office without regard to fitness, but rather because of social position among their own people and sub-serviency personally to himself. In this way, as our church members are among the better class of Hawaiians, they were selected as officials, but made to feel that their tenure of office depended upon his own pleasure. As there were not offices enough to give to all jealousies arose, and removals were necessary to make places for some whom it was the necessity of the moment to placate. In this way agreed for office holding was introduced and fostered, till in perversion of the native translation of 1 Corinthians, 12 31, office seeking was made to seem the duty of every church member (seek the “highest offices for yourselves”).

Another means of demoralizing the native churches was the idea instilled assiduously by the King, that a State church was the desirable religious establishment for Hawaii. He was to be the head, and each pastor was to receive his salary from the Government treasury promptly, and amply sufficient for all his needs.

It is this same element of personal rule which the King cherished and constantly pushed forward in politics. In this he was helped by the style of political management which was introduced under the sugar-planting interests. Soon after I arrived there occurred the first advance made by the King in this direction. The Haiku Sugar Company had succeeded in building a canal to bring water from the windward side of Maui down to Kiamakuapoko to irrigate their cane fields there. Another company wanted to build a canal higher up, of course cutting off the water supply of the upper gulches that fed the Haiku ditch. The cabinet refused them a charter.

A loan to the King of $40,000 was effected, and at this place that cabinet was dismissed at midnight and a ministry more favorable to the other party appointed, and the influence of money rather than principle became paramount. From that time onward the King pushed his schemes of personal aggrandizement as fast and as far as he dared. In Mr. Gibson he found a willing tool, who, for the sake of retaining his official position, did the King’s bidding, and put through one iniquitous and ruinous measure after another. The foreign community remonstrated and yielded, remonstrated, opposed, and yielded, till finally forbearance ceased to be a virtue, and the situation became so embarrassing, perilous to all business, social, moral, and political interest, that an uprising of the sensible and intelligent and respectable part of the community (commonly stigmatized as the missionary element) led to the promulgation of the constitution of 1887, which abridged the power of the King, and was intended to make the cabinet, appointed by approval of the Legislature, the responsible organ of legislative and executive authority.

I refused to join the league under whose management this constitution was secured because it was a secret organization, whose leaders might initiate measures to which I could not consent. I published in the newspapers over my own name, however, the first and only public complaint that was thus openly made of the conduct and character of the King, and asked for a public meeting to formulate demands that would secure good government for the benefit of the community and end the misrule which was ruining the natives and scandalizing the foreign community. The common talk at that time was about shooting the King at sight, but I could not be convinced that a stable government would ever be secured by assassination.

The special occasion for the very vindictive feeling at that time was the conduct of the King in getting an opium license passed by the majority of the Legislature, then under his personal control, selling the license to one Chinaman without delivering it, but pocketing the money ($75,000 or thereabouts), selling it afterwards to another Chinaman, who was shrewd enough to secure first the delivery of the license. All this was supported by sworn affidavits published in the newspapers, to which the King made no reply.

Another fact that in censed the community was the revelation about that time of the King’s use of old superstitious practices and abominable orgies to degrade the Hawaiian people and make them the more ready tools to accomplish his purposes. In seeking a charter for the secret society he had formed (the Hale Nana, a mixture of Free Masonry, Mormonism, and diabolism) the character of that institution came to be quite generally known. You can obtain information about it from reliable sources. Suffice it for me to say that part of the exercise was the worship of the King as divine. It was affirmed that as a god he could do no wrong, and by a curious Hawaiian perversion of logical reasoning he did various things that no one would hesitate to call vile as well as wrong to prove that he was a god.

It was hoped that the new constitution would give us a change. But largely through various judicial decisions the royal prerogatives and not the constitutional limitation of Hawaiian sovereignty have been assigned the supremacy. It has been one series of dissapointments after another. The late Queen was in England when the constitution of 1887 was promulgated. She was bitterly disappointed at what her brother had done. Taking advantage of the vexation felt by many in the community at the various developments of royal prerogative, she sent for R. W. Wilcox to head a revolution, with the idea that Kalakaua would be compelled to abdicate and she would be placed upon the throne. But this scheme failed.

When she became Queen the first act was one to disappoint those who were ready to support a constitutional monarchial government with a responsible ministry approved by the Legislature. She claimed the privilege of nominating her own cabinet. The point was yielded, but the Legislature prorogued January 14, 1893, was of such a complexion and so manipulated that there was constant friction between the Queen’s adherents and the supporters of representative constitutional government. Yet forbearance was exercised again and again; hopes were cherished in spite of convictions to the contrary from evident tendencies and attempts. These culminated in the transactions of January 10–17, with which you are familiar from the published statements.

The point to which I wish to call your attention is this, that the political system under which thus far Hawaiian affairs have been managed is utterly unfitted for the present changed conditions. It answered fairly well under the Kamehamehas. But the last Kamehameha (though older than his brother Kamehameha IV and passed by in Kamehameha III’s election of his successor, because of personal unfitness) was restive under constitutional limitations and arbitrarily set aside the constitution under which he was appointed. The native element in the population at that time was too dominant an element to be successfully resisted.

Now, business and commerce have brought to these islands so large a foreign element that their interests are virtually the controlling element, politically and socially. But while they are the controlling element, and that fact can not be gainsaid, there has not ever been, nor is there now, so far as I am able to judge, any disposition to do any injustice to the natives. The present movement has been under the management of those who are and always have been the best friends of the natives, and in seeking to secure and support their own rights they seek and secure the true rights and the highest interests of the native population.

The organization of a constitutional government originated in the desire of the chiefs for a more stable tenure of property titles than simply the pleasure of the sovereign. When attempts to secure from abroad competent persons for this work had repeatedly failed, the American missionaries were requested to aid in this work. Interested in all that concerned the welfare of the Hawaiian people, they consented, but first resigned their commissions as missionaries of the American Board. They sought no emoluments for themselves nor their families, and the records of those days show how faithfully, tirelessly, self-sacrificingly they discharged the duties of their new and responsible positions, which no one then would have taken up with all their disabilities except those intent with all singleness of purpose in elevating and sustaining a Christian nation here.

In 1870 the American Board withdrew from all supervision of the work here. Other influences have come to the front with the opening of commerce from the Pacific coast States. How intimate those relations have come to be, the statistical reports will show. Permit me to allude, in closing, to the changed social condition of the Hawaiian people. It is often asserted that a fundamental mistake was made in mission work by not (from the very outlet) instructing the people in the English language. But those who take that view are persons who do not stop to think under what different conditions mission work was begun seventy years ago. English text-books and teachers were impossibilities then; they are not yet the great success which had been hoped, when the experiment was begun in 1876 of making English the medium of instruction in the Government schools. There are no pure Hawaiians at this day, so far as I know, who have been instructed in these Government schools who would be considered promising candidates to be trained for a collegiate course.

In all my intercourse with young Hawaiians I have met only one whom I would call worthy the name of a student, capable of abstruse thought, the study of principles, the acquisition of scientific or philosophical methods. Hawaiian is still the language of the Legislature and the judiciary, and every biennial period the attempt is made to make the Hawaiian, not the English language, the authoritative language of the statute book. The Americanization of the islands will necessitate the use of the English language duly as the language of business, of politics, of education, of church service; and open the wide field of English literature to a people who have only poorly edited newspapers and a meager number of very rudimentary manuals as their text-books in science, or their highest attainments in culture.

The desire for official position without proper fitness for it is an element to the great disadvantage of the Hawaiian. Money thus easily made is foolishly as well as quickly spent for momentary enjoyments. Young people ruin themselves, their lives, their property, their families, in sensual enjoyments, and it is almost impossible to train them to habits of industry, thrift, forethought under the temptations about them to vice, idleness, extravagance. When Rev. Mr. Kuaea was made minister of finance, with every bank note he signed, he delighted in saying “How rich I am making this country.”

In changing the political system of the country there is no abandonment of the original idea of the American mission, nor any betrayal of its high aims. I came here at the expense of the American board. To kind friends among the foreign residents I am indebted for the comfortable—not luxurious—home their hospitality has provided for an overburdened worker interested in everything that concerns the welfare of the community.

I have shirked no responsibility nor any burden of toil and care in doing all I could for the Hawaiian people. They have at times misinterpreted my actions, but they have never doubted the sincerity of my purposes, nor withheld their expressions of appreciation and approval. They may have expected too much, but they have always been ready to listen to any words of advice or warning I have had occasion to utter. It is as natural for them to follow a leader whom they think they can trust as for an Anglo-Saxon to take his stand independently whether others come to his support or not. They have not yet learned the rudimentary principles of government and independent citizenship. Their lawyers can not grasp the details nor the generalizations that are necessary for the successful advocate or judge. Their ministers in our Christian churches may know how to shepherd the flocks in pastures, fenced and barred; but to beat off cunning and fierce destroyers they need other qualifications than a kindly spirit and a devoted attachment. There is no educated physician of native race in practice of his profession at the islands. There is no artisan, nor mechanic, nor trader in business for himself. As masters of the smaller coasting craft they have risen higher above their fellows and done better for their employers than in any other line of business.

It will take time and patience and devotion to righteousness and truth as well as genuine sympathy to uplift and adopt and then to adapt American political system to this community, but I believe that the foregoing statement of facts will show that it is, in the line of past procedure, the only hopeful way out of present difficulties, a necessity and an urgency.

We, who have lived some length of time in the country, know the weaknesses of the Hawaiian race, as well as their many excellent characteristics. The evidences that have shown such weaknesses are cumulative. The incidents that have developed such weaknesses, have not often been made matters of record and so can not at a moment’s notice be recalled to substantiate such statements as might be made in regard to the unfitness of the Hawaiians for such predominance, politically and socially, as has hitherto been accorded to them.

Here is one incident of recent occurrences: The acting pastor of a church on Maui found that the Sunday-school superintendent was drinking heavily of sweet-potato beer and was often drunk. He brought the case before the deacons, but they decided that they would do nothing about it, for two reasons assigned: (1) Sweet-potato beer was the common food of the people; (2) drunkenness was so common that it could not be treated as an offense. Thereupon the pastor on the succeeding Sunday proceeded to read a long proclamation after the fashion set by the Provincial Government, deposing the Sunday-school superintendent for reasons assigned, as unworthy of his official position.

The people of Kaumakapili church in this city who do not like the well-known opposition of their pastor to the late Queen and her misrule presented a petition for his removal. The chief reason assigned was that they had not paid him his salary in full for the last two years, and this violation of their contract they acknowledged and made it the basis of their petition that he should be removed from the pastorate.

You will find that such is the childishness of this people, only two generations removed from lowest barbarism and heathenism, that the working of the political system is utterly unreliable. If voting is their privilege, it is sufficient to pose as a special friend of Hawaiian prejudices to secure an overwhelming majority for any such partisan. No matter how many times he may have deceived them, any demagogue who will promise whatever they may foolishly desire at the moment is the one whom they will follow. In this desire to perpetuate what is Hawaiian, and make that predominant, they are easily led to go back to heathen practices and ideas. To break up this tendency, for their own best welfare I know nothing better than to Americanize the political system. They will then be free to choose what is for their best good, not bound to cling to what is old and effete.

Social regeneration is as necessary as individual regeneration to Christianize a nation. The individual instances of Christian character have not had for the last twenty years the environment favorable for any legitimate and proper development; and this has been largely owing to the political system. Instead of simply saying that the King’s advisers, not the King, would be held responsible for mistakes in political management, the old constitution positively asserted that the King is not amenable to law. It was too much like the old Hawaiian idea of autocratic rule, limited only by fear of assassination. To get rid of the spirit of submissiveness to despotic authority, and substitute for it the Christian principle of obedience to righteous rule, is absolutely essential to the proper development of the national and individual life.

The old system will not work in its want of adaptation to the present civilization of the country. We can not trust business interests to the decision of a Hawaiian jury. In the management of the Kamehameha estate, of which I speak from personal knowledge as one of the trustees under the will of the late Mrs. C. R. Bishop, we are forced to put up with an inefficient administration of much of the property, because no Hawaiian jury would be likely to give us a verdict according to the law and evidence. Take what occurred at the last session of the circuit court in Kau. A Hawaiian jury brought in a verdict standing 10 to 2. The judge said that it was proper; according to the law 9 to 3, would be accepted as valid. On the next case, when the jury came to a decision they were unanimous. But some sapient juror remarked that the judge had just said a verdict of 9 to 3 was valid, so they talked and talked till finally three jurors changed their votes, and then their verdict was reported to the judge.

In the change of the political system, that seems to me now unavoidable and imperative, I see no other first step than annexation. Then let other matters be made the subject of careful consideration. We can not go on any longer under the old political system. I had hoped that we could. I did not believe annexation was wise or expedient, and have always said so to Mr. Stevens, whose views of the situation here had convinced him of the immediate necessity of such a step. The Queen did not show out her true character fully until the last week of the last parliamentary session. The logic of events has forced me to the conclusion that the old political system can not be made to work satisfactorily or en durably even any longer. In seeking for a political system that will meet the requirements of the case, I see nothing better than immediate annexation. That will settle forever many things that now militate against the stability of any political system for the islands as the people are now. Other political questions must be left for future deliberation.

I think that intelligent Hawaiians, who have at heart the best interests of the country and the people, are very generally of that opinion. Give us annexation, and plans will be at once pushed for such a development of the country as can not be even thought of under any other circumstances. Talk about a protectorate is idle. We have had enough of legal fictions. The institutions and connections of the country are mainly American. Let us have the name, as well as the appearance; the real power as well as the nominal acquiescence, and the Hawaiians will accept the situation. They will have to make the best of it, whatever may be decided upon for them. The best thing for the whole people is now to make American citizens of themselves as fast as they can. Those who know that they are aiming at the highest possible ideal can afford to wait with patience for its realization. The overthrow of an obstructive and ruinous social and political system is the best preparation for the spread of the Gospel of Christ, and the enjoyments of its privileges and blessings.

Yours respectfully,

C. M. Hyde.

North Pacific Missionary Institute.