Equality of Hawai‘i’s people worth defending
TAKING OFF THE GLOVES and "CALLING a SPADE a SPADE !"At least 19 nations sent formal letters to President Sanford B. Dole granting full-fledged (de jure) diplomatic recognition to the Republic as the legitimate government of Hawai‘i.These were not the tentative de facto recognitions given by local consuls in Honolulu in January 1893 to the temporary Provisional Government?1.MOST IF NOT ALL WERE IN COLONIAL RULE , OCCUPATION OR COLONIAL RULING PUPPET HANDS !2."de facto" recognition to the Provisional Government.Definition:as though rightful: acting or existing in fact but without legal sanctionthe "de facto" rules of the country[Early 17th century.< Latin, "in fact," literally "from what is done"] = WHITE and MITE dosnt, make RIGHT or LEGAL !.3.Liliuokalani says: “I hereby do fully and unequivocally admit and declare that the Government of the Republic of Hawai‘i is the only lawful Government of the Hawaiian Islands ... I hereby declare to [everyone] that I consider them as bound in duty and honor henceforth to support and sustain the Government of the Republic of Hawaii.” On January 16, 1893, United States diplomatic and military personnel conspired with a small group of individuals to overthrow the constitutional government of the Hawaiian Kingdom and prepared to provide for annexation of the Hawaiian Islands to the United States of America, under a treaty of annexation submitted to the United States Senate, on February 15, 1893. Newly elected U.S. President Grover Cleveland, having received notice that the cause of the so-called revolution derived from illegal intervention by U.S. diplomatic and military personnel, withdrew the treaty of annexation and appointed James H. Blount, as Special Commissioner, to investigate the terms of the so-called revolution and to report his findings.His ExcellencyAlbert S.WillisU.S.Envoy Extraordinary & Minister Plenipotentiaryhttp://www. hawaiiankingdom. org/protest_1894_queen_us. shtmlSir:Having in mind the amicable relations hitherto existing between the Government which you here represent and the Government of Hawai’i, as evidenced by many years of friendly intercourse, and being desirous of bringing to the attention of your Government the facts here following, I Lili’uokalani, by the Grace of God and under the Constitution of the Hawaiian Kingdom Queen, do hereby solemnly protest that I am now, and have continuously been since the 20th day of January A.D. 1891, the Constitutional Sovereign of the Hawaiian Kingdom; that on the 17th day of January A.D. 1893 (in the words of the President of the United States himself), “By an act of war, committed with the participation of a diplomatic representatives of the United States and without authority of Congress, the Government of a feeble but friendly and confiding people has been overthrown. A substantial wrong has thus been done which a due regard for our national character as well as the rights of the injured people requires we should endeavor to repair;” that on said date I and my Government prepared a written protest against any and all acts done against myself and the Constitutional Government of the Hawaiian Kingdom by certain persons claiming to have established a provisional government of and for this Kingdom; that said protest was forwarded to the President of the United States, also to Sanford B. Dole, the Chairman of the Executive Council of the said Provisional government, and was by the latter duly acknowledged; that in response to said protest the President of the United States sent a special commissioner in the person of Hon. James H. Blount to Honolulu to make an accurate, full and impartial investigation of the facts attending the subversion of the Constitutional Government of Hawai’i and the installment in its place of the Provisional Government; that said Commissioner arrived in Honolulu on the 29th day of March A.D. 1893 and fulfilled his duties with untiring diligence and with rare tact and fairness; that said Commissioner found that the government of Hawai’i surrendered its authority under a threat of war, until such time only as the government of the United States, upon the facts being presented to it, should re-instate the Constitutional Sovereign, and the provisional government was created to exist until terms of union with the United States of America have been negotiated and agreed upon, also that but for the lawless occupation of Honolulu under false pretexts by United States forces, and but for the United States Minister’s recognition of the provisional government when the United States forces were its sole support and constituted its only military strength, I and my government would never have yielded to the provisional government, even for a time, and for the sole purpose of submitting my case to the enlightened justice of the United States, or for any purpose; also that the great wrong done to this feeble but independent State by a an abuse of the authority of the United States should be undone by restoring the legitimate government.That since the happening of said events, the executive and the Congress of the United States have formally declined the overtures of said Provisional Government for the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands to the United States.That notwithstanding said recited facts, said provisional government has continued to exercise the functions of government in this Kingdom to the present date, and that its course, from the time of its inception to the present, has been marked by a succession of arbitrary, illiberal and despotic acts, and by the enactment and enforcement of pretended ‘laws’ subversive of the first principles of free government and utterly at variance with the traditions, history, habits and wishes of the Hawaiian people.That said Provisional Government has now recently convened, and is now holding what it is pleased to term a constitutional convention, composed of nineteen (19) self-appointed members, being the President and Executive and Advisory Councils of said provisional government, and eighteen (18) delegates elected by less than ten per cent (10%) of the legal voters of the Kingdom, consisting almost entirely of aliens, and chiefly of such aliens as have no permanent home or interests in Hawai’i, and which said convention is now considering a draft of a constitution (copy of which is hereto annexed) submitted for its approval by the Executive Council of said provisional government consisting of the President and Ministers thereof.That it is the expressed purpose of the said provisional government to promulgate such constitution as shall be approved by said convention without submitting it to a vote of the people, or of any of the people, and to thereupon proclaim a government under such constitution and under the name of the Republic of Hawai’i.That the said provisional government has not assumed a republican or other constitutional form, but has remained a mere executive council or oligarchy, set up without the assent of the people; that it has not sought to find a permanent basis of popular support, and has given no evidence of any intention to do so; that its representatives assert that the people of Hawai’i are unfit for popular government and frankly avow that they can be best ruled by arbitrary or despotic power, and that the proposed constitution, so submitted by said executive council of the provisional government for the approval of said convention does not provide for or contemplate a free, popular or republican form of government, but does contemplate and provide for a form of government of arbitrary and oligarchical powers, concentrated in the hands of a few individuals irresponsible to the people, or to the representatives of the people, and which is opposed to all modern ideas of free government.Wherefore, I, the Constitutional Sovereign of the Hawaiian Kingdom, on behalf of myself and the people of my said Kingdom do hereby again most solemnly protest against the acts aforesaid, and against any and all other acts done against myself, my people and the Constitutional Government of the Hawaiian Kingdom, and I do hereby most earnestly request that the Government represented by you will not extend its recognition to any pretended government of the Hawaiian Islands, under whatever name it may apply for such recognition, other than the constitutional government so deposed as aforesaid, except such government shall show its title to exist by the will of the people of Hawai’i, expressed at an election wherein the whole people shall have had an opportunity unembarrassed by force and undeterred by fear or fraud, to register their preferences as to the form of government under which they will live.With assurances of my esteem,I am, Sir,Lili’uokalanihttp://hawaiiankingdom. org/us-occupation. shtmlThe report concluded that the United States legation assigned to the Hawaiian Kingdom, together with United States Marines and Naval personnel, were directly responsible for the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom government. The report details the culpability of the United States government in violating international laws and the sovereignty of the Hawaiian Kingdom, but the United States Government fails to follow through in its commitment to assist in reinstating the constitutional government of the Hawaiian Kingdom.Instead, the United States allows five years to lapse and a new United States President, William McKinley, enters into a second treaty of annexation with the same individuals who participated in the illegal overthrow with the U.S. legation in 1893 on June 16, 1897, but the treaty was unable to be ratified by the United States Senate due to protests that were submitted by Her Majesty Queen Lili‘uokalani and signature petitions against annexation by 21,169 Hawaiian nationals.As a result of the Spanish-American War, the United States opted to unilaterally annex the Hawaiian Islands by enacting a congressional joint resolution on July 7, 1898, in order to utilize the Hawaiian Islands as a military base to fight the Spanish in Guam and the Philippines. The United States has remained in the Hawaiian Islands and the Hawaiian Kingdom has since been under prolonged occupation to the present, but its continuity as an independent State remains intact under international law.The main documents surrounding United States intervention and subsequent occupation of the Hawaiian Kingdom.4.Hawai‘i is rightfully a "state of the United States", the ceded lands belong to all Hawai‘i’s people without racial distinction.KAUAI Opinion
Guest Viewpoint
http://www. kauaiworld. com/articles/2008/04/16/opinion/edit02. txt
Equality of Hawai‘i’s people worth defending
by Kenneth Conklin
Do historical facts matter in current debates about the Apology Resolution, Akaka Bill, and ceded lands?
At least 19 nations sent formal letters to President Sanford B. Dole granting full-fledged (de jure) diplomatic recognition to the Republic as the legitimate government of Hawai‘i. These were not the tentative de facto recognitions given by local consuls in Honolulu in January 1893 to the temporary Provisional Government.
These letters in late 1894 were sent from national capitals in Europe, Asia, North America, and South America, welcoming the permanent government of the Republic of Hawaii into the family of nations.
The letters were personally signed by: Queen Victoria, President Grover Cleveland, Tsar Alexander III, two princes on behalf of Emperor Kuangsu (China), President Casimir Perier (France), King Don Alfonso XIII and Queen Dona Maria Christina (Spain), President Porfirio Diaz (Mexico), and 12 others.
Photographs of the letters, including some English translations, can be seen at ...com/4wtwdz
The Kingdom of Hawaii also recognized the Republic in the same way as those other 19 nations. Ex-queen Liliuokalani personally signed a five-page letter of abdication, and a one-page oath of loyalty to the Republic of Hawai‘i on Jan. 24, 1895; in consultation with and witnessed by her personal attorney and former cabinet members she had appointed. Photographs are on the same Web page.
Among other things, Liliuokalani says: “I hereby do fully and unequivocally admit and declare that the Government of the Republic of Hawai‘i is the only lawful Government of the Hawaiian Islands ... I hereby declare to [everyone] that I consider them as bound in duty and honor henceforth to support and sustain the Government of the Republic of Hawaii.” Consensus among nations determined what was “international law” in 1893-1898. No nation ever protested the Hawaiian revolution of 1893 nor the annexation of 1898. No nation ever refused to do business with the Provisional Government, Republic of Hawaii, or United States as having sovereignty in Hawai‘i. Every local consul in Honolulu in January 1893 gave immediate de facto recognition to the Provisional Government.
At least 19 nations sent formal letters of de jure recognition from their head of state to Republic of Hawaii President Sanford B. Dole.
So what?
Thanks to recognition, the Republic had standing under international law to offer treaties, including a treaty of annexation to the United States. The Republic had the right to make a deal ceding the public lands of Hawai‘i in exchange for payment of Hawai‘i’s national debt.
Never again can Hawaiian secessionists say that the Republic of Hawaii was illegal, had only de facto recognition, or was merely a U.S. puppet regime.
By never protesting the overthrow and by recognizing the successor Republic, those nations condoned the revolution of 1893 as legal, thus discrediting the 1993 apology resolution which referred to “the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy.” The Akaka Bill is undermined because it relies on the apology resolution and repeatedly cites it. Discrediting the apology resolution also eliminates the primary reason given by the Hawaii Supreme Court for prohibiting the state of Hawaii from selling any ceded lands without first reaching a “settlement” with a racial group.
The time has come for Hawai‘i politicians to stop playing with the fires of racial separatism and ethnic nationalism. Let’s boldly make policy decisions based on facts: the revolution that overthrew the monarchy was a good thing condoned as legitimate by the international community.
Hawai‘i is rightfully a state of the United States, the ceded lands belong to all Hawai‘i’s people without racial distinction.
The unity and equality of Hawai‘i’s people are worth defending and nurturing.
• Kenneth Conklin is a retired professor of philosophy who resides in Kane‘ohe, O‘ahu. He recently published “Hawaiian Apartheid: Racial Separatism and Ethnic Nationalism in the Aloha State.”
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