Mr. Gresham to Mr. Willis.
Washington, February 21, 1895.
Sir: I regret to be constrained to bring to your attention, and through you to the knowledge of the Hawaiian Government, certain acts of its representative in the United States of which this Government has just ground to complain.
In order to set forth the facts with desirable clearness it becomes necessary to recite fully what occurred at two interviews which I had with Mr. Thurston at this Department, on the 16th and 18th instant.
The recent seizure of a ship at San Diego, Cal., for alleged violation of our neutrality laws in carrying arms to Hawaii was the occasion of [Page 877] his first call. After a brief conversation on this subject, I took occasion to remark that I had information that he was not pleased with your action in connection with recent events at Honolulu. Mr. Thurston desired to know why that view was entertained here, whereupon I handed him a clipping from a New York newspaper of the 13th instant, of which a full copy is hereto appended (Inclosure 1).1
After he had read this article, I asked him if he had furnished the matter to the paper for publication. He at once said he had furnished the paragraph which he pointed out, reading as follows:
There has been a great reaction among the more prominent royalists who were not concerned in and did not approve of the late insurrection, and a number of them have taken the oath of allegiance to the Republic. Others had stated that as long as the Queen claimed that she should be reinstated, and there was hope of receiving help from the United States Government to reinstate her, they felt in duty bound to support restoration. Now that the Queen has abdicated, and further action on the part of the United States looking to restoration is hopeless, they propose to accept the situation and work for annexation, which many of them say they have all along considered the best course for all concerned, but have been prevented from, advocating it by what they considered their duty to the Queen.
I then desired to know if Mr. Thurston had also furnished to the same paper the concluding paragraphs, purporting to be extracts from a letter written by “a prominent lawyer in Honolulu,” and reading thus:
Mr. Hawes, the British representative, has confined his action to a diplomatic request to the Government, if not inconsistent with the interest of the Government, that capital punishment proposed to be inflicted on any British subjects may be postponed until he can communicate with his Government, while his whole manner is friendly to the Government. Upon the publication of the instructions of Secretary Herbert to Admiral Beardslee in the local papers, declaring that no protection would be given to Americans who either opposed or supported the Government, a number of Englishmen applied to Hawes to know whether his course would be similar to that of the American Government. He immediately replied that, on the contrary, he considered it highly proper for all English citizens to do all in their power to support the Government, and by so doing they violated no international law and would forfeit none of their rights as English citizens.
Had the insurrectionists not been discovered at the time they were, and had they once succeeded in getting into the city, there would have been savage butchery, as they were well supplied with dynamite bombs, and the evidence which has been developed shows that their plans were to march into town at 2 o’clock in the morning along the main avenue leading to the city, blowing up the residences of the principal supporters of the Government as they advanced, regardless of the women and children therein, in order to prevent support reaching the Government. Their plans also were for an uprising of the natives in the city, attacks simultaneously to be made on the palace, the Government buildings and station house, and the telephone station. The arms and dynamite bombs stored at the Queen’s residence were to play an important part in the plans. A marked feature of the situation is the large number of natives who rallied to the support of the Government. They volunteered to the number of nearly three hundred to go the front. The final capture of most of the rebels who remained in the mountains was effected through the thorough search made by Capt. Robert Parker, a three-quarters native, and 50 native police, who, with their thorough knowledge of the country, scouted the hills from Honolulu to the east end of the island.
Mr. Thurston answered that he had furnished nothing to that or any other paper, but that he had permitted an employee or agent of one of the press associations to copy at his legation a private letter or letters which he had received, and added that the published paragraphs did not contain all that was in the private letter or letters. I thereupon said that I was aware this was so, and that I knew the private letter or letters did not appear in full in the last paragraphs as printed. Handing him a typewritten paper, I asked if the omitted parts were not contained in the following passages:
There is intense feeling being manifested by the people at what is looked upon as Mr. Willis’s unwarranted interference in connection with the present trials.
[Page 878]He is doing everything that he can to protect the royalists and harass the Government. Many of our best men feel it imperative for our future safety that some examples should he made. While the Government is master of the situation for the present, the danger is not entirely over. Much indignation is also felt from the fact that, although direct information was given to Minister Willis last November, before the shipment of arms was made at San Francisco, that such shipment was intended, nothing appears to have been done to stop the shipment. It is felt that the Hawaiian Government has strong ground for complaint against the United States Government on the score of its indifference, if not at its active conniving at this flagrant breach of neutrality. Whether or not the Hawaiian Government will make a claim by reason of the breach of the neutrality laws it is not yet known, but there is strong feeling here that it should be done.
The action of Mr. Hawes, the British representative, is in marked contrast to that of Mr. Willis.
* * * * * * *
An analysis of the growth of the feeling and facts leading up to the insurrection showed that it is based almost wholly on the encouragement given to the royalists by President Cleveland and his announced and constantly reiterated opinion that the Queen ought to be restored, and a feeling which, rightly or wrongly, was disseminated throughout the royalist sympathizers that upon the slightest opportunity Cleveland would take occasion to assist the royalists if they could get control to a sufficient extent to give him an excuse for so doing.
* * * * * * *
Another letter received here from Honolulu says:
“The most serious feature is the attitude of Willis and Hawes; they are in constant attendance at the trials. Neumann, the attorney defending the insurrectionists, is constantly in close consultation with them.”
Having read this paper, and after some apparent hesitation, Mr. Thurston said he did not know what right I had to thus interrogate him. I replied that he had already admitted he had allowed the published matter to be copied from letters at his legation, but that the publication was not full, and I did not suppose he would deny that the paper I showed him contained a correct copy of the omitted parts. He said the letters containing the omitted passages were submitted by him to the representative of the press association to be copied for publication, not as expressing his official or personal views, but as showing the state of feeling in Honolulu.
I then remarked that all I desired to know was whether he had furnished the matter for publication, and he repeated that he had not furnished it in his representative capacity, or as expressing his personal views, but merely as information, and that in doing so it was not his purpose to injure the Administration, the President, or Mr. Willis. I remarked that he had permitted the letters, including the omitted parts, to be copied for publication, and that tie, no doubt, was disappointed that the omitted parts did not appear, and I asked him if he thought he could with propriety, as the representative of a foreign Government at this capital, furnish newspapers with such matter. His reply was that he had simply furnished it as news or information which the public might like to hear from Honolulu, and that Senator Kyle had received a letter even more severe in its terms, which had been given to the public; to which I rejoined that Senator Kyle was a citizen of the United States, and as such might say and do things which a foreign minister could not say or do with propriety. Here the interview ended.
When Mr. Thurston called at the Department two days later he informed me that there was a further statement he desired to make. After being told that if he wished to say anything more on the subject it should be in writing, he at once proceeded: “I simply desire to say, Mr. Secretary, that I realize I was guilty of official impropriety in furnishing for publication the matter mentioned in our former interview. [Page 879] I did not realize this at the time, hot do now. I regret what I did, and apologize for it.”
I replied that, in order to avoid any possible misunderstanding, the minister’s statement should be in official form, and requested that he prepare and submit such a communication. He declined to do this, saying he did not feel called upon to make a written apology, and that he would trust to my fairness in reducing to writing what he had said.
You are instructed to make this incident known to the minister for foreign affairs by reading this instruction to him, and should he so desire, giving him a copy. You will express the surprise and dissatisfaction with which this Government naturally regards the conduct of a foreign envoy who thus covertly uses his influence through the press to bias public opinion in the country whose hospitality he enjoys. And you will add that the President would be pleased were Mr. Thurston replaced by another minister from Hawaii in whom he may feel that confidence which is essential to frank and cordial intercourse.
I am, etc.,
- Not printed.↩