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I KNEW QUEEN LILIUOKALANI

BERNICE PIILANI (COOK) IRWIN

 

     Several years after annexation when I was calling on the Queen, she said to me, "They tried to make me out a barbarous and bloodthirsty woman!"

  

     When the Queen had learned of the accusation that she would have had all rebels "beheaded," she was horrified, but now she was able to speak of it with a tolerant smile.  The whole long list of slanderous tales had been almost as ridiculous.  But this one was the most heinous of all!

 

     Everyone who knew the Queen realized that this accusation was a gross misstatement.  Had Minister Willis entered such a word in his report (and I believe he did), it could not have been factual.  If any such word as "beheaded" had passed the lips of Her Majesty at her interview with Willis, it could only have been in referring to the fate of rebels in other countries of past ages.  Beheading was never an Hawaiian form of punishment.

 

     It was well known that once, while the Queen was acting as regent and was handed a death warrant of a criminal to sign, she had pleaded to have the verdict modified, recoiling at the very idea of having blood on her hands.  She held life as sacred.

 

     However, the misquote of Willis and its subsequent broadcasting by the Annexationists, did harm the Queen's reputation with those who only had a slight knowledge of her and were gullible enough to believe such impossible and farfetched tales.

 

     John L. Stevens, the United States Minister to Hawaii at the time of the overthrow of the monarchy, was very active in support of annexation, and had his part in broadcasting these malicious tales, both in his official letters to Washington and, later, in his lectures given in the United States.  He not only maligned the Queen, but also other members of the royal family. In his letter to Secretary Foster dated February 1, 1893, he wrote as follows concerning Prince David Kawananakoa and Prince Kuhio Kalanianaole:

 

     "The last named, the two princes, are harmless persons of little account, not chiefs by blood, but were made princes, by the late king without any constitutional right or power to do so, the then boys being nephews of his wife, Kapiolani."

 

     How ridiculous this all seems to us today.  The princes were of royal blood being great grandsons of King Kaumualii of Kauai, a monarch who holds a very honorable place in Hawaiian history.  The "two harmless young persons of little account" have also made their mark on the history of the islands since that time! Particularly is this so in the case of Prince Kuhio Kalanianaole.  After annexation when income and property qualifications no longer hindered the Hawaiian vote, Prince Kuhio was elected and re-elected our delegate to the United States Congress for twenty consecutive years until his death.  His work for Hawaii was outstanding.  He is particularly remembered for his Rehabilitation Act, a move to re-establish Hawaiians on the land.  Prince Kuhio, "the harmless prince of little account," was an immensely popular and valuable man both in Hawaii and in Washington.

 

     Today Hawaiians are loyal Americans although there still lingers in the breasts of the older Hawaiians a great sadness, for love of country was deeprooted in their hearts.

 

     Annexation to one of the three great nations would have inevitably come to pass, and the United States of America was the most logical of the three because of her proximity and Hawaii's trade interests.  It was the manner in which the overthrow and annexation were brought about that caused so much bitterness.

 

     Our quarrel was not with the people of America, but with those pseudoHawaiians (foreigners) who, though still claiming American citizenship, could not even be called good Americans since they had no respect for the liberty and independence of this little nation.

 

     We Hawaiians resented the way in which our Queen was treated; the ignominy she endured at her trial and the broadcasting of malicious scandal.  This maligning of the Queen continued long after her death.  Writers copied statements from books and articles written by the group of foreigners who had dethroned Her Majesty and wished to justify their actions.

 

     The Queen had few avenues through which to present her case and that of the Hawaiian people.  At that time island newspapers were owned or controlled by the same group of foreigners who, through the years, had fostered the plan of annexation and who finally succeeded in bringing it about.  Only a few small newspapers, still supported by Hawaiians, attempted to present the Hawaiian point of view, and these were quickly silenced through confiscation of the plant and the jailing of the editors if anything derogatory to the government was printed--this was a Republic where free speech was not permitted if the government were criticized at all!  In the United States some Democratic papers espoused the Queen's cause, but these were dwarfed by the voluminous writings of the Annexationists.

 

     These conditions must have exasperated the Queen and hurt her deeply, but in spite of all the odds against her, she never gave up her struggle for Hawaii's independence until after the islands were annexed to the United States.  Then, with rare grace, though sad at heart, she led her people in the acceptance of their fate, and became a loyal American citizen.

 

Note:

Although I've had this book on my shelf for many years, that I probably had gotten from one of my purchases at an old book store on my travels, I personally disagreed with the author. For example "she never gave up her struggle for Hawaii's independence until after the islands were annexed to the United States."  Another part that I disagree with "...she led her people in the acceptance of their fated,"  The horroring third part "...and became a loyal American citizen."

 

I believe these three parts are very missionary or religious in nature.  And one would need to understand the bible or read other writings on the Sacking of Troy.

 

The second counter, is the word "struggle" that smells very white American--meaning that women was struggling for the right to vote.

 

Had the author really knew the Queen, she would have known that her (Liliu's) people were very much busy trying to stay alive, on their land and in their native tenant's right to access the ocean to feed their families.  Somehow there is a disconnect between Irwin and the Queen's people.