Mr. Willis to Mr. Gresham.
Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands, May 10, 1894.
Sir: The election of delegates for the constitutional convention held on the 2d instant was quiet and orderly.
Of the eighteen delegates elected, five are native Hawaiians, and two are Portuguese. Several others were born here but of foreign parentage. [Page 1318] The vote actually cast, was somewhat over two-thirds of the registered vote.
I will give a more complete analysis of the vote, when the official statement appears.
The convention will hold its first session on the 30th instant.
The condition of affairs here remains peaceful.
On the 10th instant several representatives of the “Hawaiian Patriotic League,” including Hon. John E. Bush and Hon. Joseph Nawahi, presented tome a letter in which the “league” protests against the action of the Provisional Government in calling a constitutional convention, from which the native Hawaiians are, except under a “restrictive and prohibitive oath,” excluded, claiming that this act was a “breach of courtesy to the U. S. Government and a violation of its provisional authority.”
I explained to them that the Hawaiian question was now before Congress, and that I could not receive or forward resolutions of political bodies, except as a part of current history. I do not, therefore, send you a copy of the letter.
Very respectfully, etc.,