THE WOMEN OF KAUAI

Memorialize Commissioner Blount—They Ask for Restoration.

The following is the text of a memorial which was presented to Commissioner Blount on Monday last, May 15th, by Mrs. Lovell, acting as a Committee of the Women’s Patriotic League of the Island of Kauai. The memorial was signed by 809 Hawaiian women residing on Kauai. It was read to the Commissioner by Mrs. Junius Kaae of this city, through whose efforts the organization was formed on Kauai, and who recently made a circuit of that island to secure the names attached to it. The Commissioner is reported to have spoken most approvingly of the tone and spirit of the memorial, and of the patriotism of the Kauai women in sending it forward.

To the Hon. James H. Blount,

Diplomatic Representative of the United States in Hawaii:

Sir,—We, the undersigned, respectfully petition and represent to you as follows:

1. That we are Hawaiian women resident upon the Island of Kauai.
2. That we and our ancestors from time immemorial have resided in these tropic islands under the government of our native aliis and that we have known and now know no other home than here.
3. That we, representing the mothers and wives of the Hawaiian Nation, are vitally and affectionately interested in the government of our country, and deem ourselves entitled to raise our voices in protest and prayer at the present crisis in its affairs, to protest against what has been done, and to pray that recent wrongs may be speedily undone.
4. That we have seen with grief and dismay the abolition of the forms of government to which we, in common with all our race, have from the dawn of our national history, been devotedly attached; and have noted with profound sorrow that the naval arm of the United States, a nation which we have been taught to love and reverence for it justice towards and protection of the weak and oppressed, has been used by those in command to compass the overthrow of the political conditions heretofore existing in Hawaii.
5. That prior to January 17, 1893, the Hawaiian nation and government were being conducted under constitutional forms, wherein the lives, liberty, property and religious views of the people were fully protected; that although the Constitution then in effect was of revolutionary origin, it having been imposed upon the King and people by military force, in 1887, and although it contained provisions which bore with harshness and injustice upon the the native Hawaiians, yet the Hawaiians lived and were protected under it, and had, as a nation, no wish or intention to see it abrogated or altered, except by constitutional methods.
6. that on said 17th day of January, during the reign of law and profound peace and by means of a revolutionary project, aided and abetted by naval forces from the United States cruiser “Boston,”then lying in the harbor of Honolulu, and concurred in and promoted by His Excellency John L. Stevens, the United States envoy at the Hawaiian Court, the Hawaiian Monarchy and Government were forcibly dissolved, abolished and overthrown, and a so-called “Provisional Government” erected in their stead, with whose subsequent history you, esteemed sir, are no doubt familiar.
7. That it is the avowed intent of the said Provisional Government to effect the incorporation of these Islands into the American Union, under the phrase of the annexation of Hawaii thereto.
8. That indications point with irresistable force to the belief, that it is the intent of said Provisional Government to effect such annexation upon terms and conditions which will practically deprive the native Hawaiian of rights and privileges theretofore possessed and exercised by him of participating in the government of his native land, and that will reduce the Hawaiian to the condition of a serf in the land of his birth.
9. That the said Provisional Government does not represent the people of these Islands, and does not exist by the consent of the people, but in defiance of their wishes, and that in particular the native Hawaiians, who constitute a majority of the national population are opposed to the said Provisional Government, to the methods of its creation and administration, and its avowed purposes and objects.
10. Wherefore we do humbly and fervently pray and beseech you, honored sir, in your capacity as the envoy of the great American President and nation, to diligently inquire and consider whether our foregoing assertions and complaints be founded in truth and justice; and if they shall be established as being so founded, that you, sir, and those whom you here represent, may be moved to speedily undo the great wrong that has been done to our Queen, our country and ourselves by the power and in the name of the United States; and that as an essential element in the righting of those wrongs, our Hawaiian Queen, Liliuokalani, our government and constitution, may be restored to place and power, and may be henceforth protected from any assaults committed in the name and under the protection of the Starry Flag, which, in your land and throughout the world, stands as the badge and symbol of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.

And your petitioners will ever pray.

President, Mrs. Anna Lanihau.
Vice-President, Mrs. Sarah Charman.
Secretary, Mrs. Rose Kanewanui.
Treasurer, Mrs. Charlotte Kakina.

COMMITTEE.

Mrs. Amy Mahikoa.
Mrs. Mary Kaiawe.
Mrs. Harriet Mundon.
Mrs. Mary Ann Makaila.
Mrs. Abby Kauai.
Mrs. Kaenaku Kauai.
Mrs. Elizabeth Hart.
Mrs. Keakaaia Kahalelole.
Mrs. Mary Ann Spalding.
Miss Hannah Uhuuhu.
Mrs. Mary Hapuku.
Mrs. Hannah Lovell.

(Daily Bulletin, 5/19/1893, p. 4)

The Daily Bulletin, Volume V, Number 731, Page 4. May 19, 1893.