Mr. Willis to Mr. Gresham.
Honolulu, April 25, 1895. (Received May 13.)
Sir: For the past week there have been rumors of trouble on the Island of Maui, which to-day are renewed. To these the Government attaches very little importance. Business is reviving. Conditions are peaceful and orderly, and the feeling of excitement and resentment consequent upon the recent insurrection has largely abated.
Col. Y. V. Ashford, a prominent English resident, who was a few weeks ago tried before the military commission for misprision of treason and sentenced to a year’s imprisonment and the payment of $1,000 fine, was on the 12th instant pardoned on condition that he leave the country, never to return. The pardon, it is stated, was because of his physical condition.
On the 14th ultimo the German steamer Independent brought 761 Japanese contract laborers, and on the 4th instant another German steamship—the Braunfels—arrived from the Azore Islands with Portuguese contract laborers, numbering, with their families, over eight hundred persons. These immigrants have been distributed among the plantations.
On the 12th instant Mr. Thurston arrived here from Washington.
On the 25th instant your decision in the case of John F. Bowler was made known to this Government, and on the following day Mr. Bowler, through his attorney, was informed of it.
With high esteem, I am, etc.