Office of the Historian

Mr. Stevens to Mr. Blaine.

[Confidential.]
No. 20.]
United States Legation,
Honolulu, February 22, 1891.

Sir: The funeral services, with the customary honors, of King Kalakaua, took place February 15, a full account of which being contained in the printed slips which I forwarded with a previous dispatch. In the two weeks while the royal remains were lying in state in the palace, there was a good deal of friction between the dowager Queen, Kapiolani, and the reigning Queen. Almost from the day of the arrival of the news, by the Charleston, of the death of Kalakaua, there has been a deep interest here as to what may be the course of the new sovereign as to the cabinet and the persons who may have her confidence. Unfortunately, from the first hour of her accession she has been surrounded by some of the worst elements in the country, persons of native and foreign birth. The present ministry has been but a few months in office, and the best men of the islands, including nearly all the principal business men, wish the present ministry to remain, who, by the present constitution, are chiefly independent of the Crown and can not be removed except by impeachment, or by the vote of the Legislature.

Under her extreme notions of sovereign authority and the influence of her bad advisers, the Queen is trying to force the resignation of the ministers and to get a cabinet composed of her tools. So far the ministers [Page 344] have refused to resign and the best public opinion increases in their support. Should the supreme court sustain the right of the ministers, which is very clearly and strongly intrenched in the constitution, the ministers will be supported by such a united determination of the business men and other better citizens of the islands as will force the Queen to yield; if she should still persist and attempt to form a ministry of her own, without the consent of the Legislature, she will surely imperil her throne. She is well known to be much more stubborn in character than her brother, the late King, but my present belief is that she will finally yield to the legal and other legitimate forces operative again ther present course, and place herself in the hands of the conservative and respectable men of the country as the only way to retain her throne.

I am, etc.,

John L. Stevens.
[Inclosure in No. 20.]

foreign office notice.

Foreign Office, Honolulu, February 16, 1891.

This day had audience of the Queen: His excellency John L. Stevens/United States envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary.

His excellency Hon. John A. Cummins, Her Majesty’s minister of foreign affairs, presented to Her Majesty his excellency John L. Stevens, who addressed Her Majesty in the following words:

“Madam: It is my official duty to offer to Your Majesty congratulations on your accession to the throne in accordance with the provisions of the constitution of your Kingdom. Turning from the funeral scenes through which we have just passed, I address Your Majesty words of hope as to the future of your reign. Standing on the border land of death and the future world, of which we have been so solemnly-reminded by what has just transpired within our midst, and reverent toward the Supreme God, to whom all are accountable, the minister of the United States expresses his earnest gratification that Your Majesty has taken the firm resolution to aid in making your reign a strictly constitutional reign; to maintain the constitutional right of your ministers to administer the laws, and always to acknowledge their responsibility to the Legislature in the performance of their is worn obligations. In the wish thus to respect the supreme authority of the constitution and the laws Your Majesty places yourself in the exalted rank of the best sovereigns of the world, and thus will avoid those embarrassments and perplexities which have so often disturbed the peace and crippled the prosperity of countries not blessed with free and enlightened constitutions. It is my earnest prayer that Your Majesty may be able to carry out your noble resolution, and thus have full time and opportunity to discharge the duties which Your Majesty justly regards necessary to the success of your reign and beneficial to your whole people. In endeavoring to make good these auspicious promises, Your Majesty will have the full sympathy and the good wishes of the Government which I have the honor to represent at this capital.”