Template:Nhsc-v1-317

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It may not be amiss to present some of the criticisms against Kalakaua and his party formally filed with me by Professor W. D. Alexander...
He gives an account of various obnoxious measures advocated by the king, which were defeated.
In 1882 he says the race issue was raised by W. Gibson and only two white men were elected to the Legislature on the Islands.

Walter Gibson's influence over Kalakaua was also illustrated in passages of Gibson's diary as follows:

Sat., Jan. 15—"Examined the Explorer [a ship]. Propose to purchase her as a Government vessel to send to Samoa to carry Bush on his several missions."
Sun., Jan. 16—"A talk with the King about the Explorer. He said that Aholo and Kanoa were opposed to the purchase of her. It is too much my enterprise. These natives are opposed. I am sorry to have our Polynesian movement checked." (Jacob Adler & Gwynn Barrett, The Diaries of Walter Murray Gibson, (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1973), p. 114.
Tues., Jan. 18—"Talked earnestly with the King about the purchase of the Explorer. He is convinced and with me. Told me to call a Cabinet early in the morning."
Wed., Jan. 19—"A Cabinet Council at the Palace at 7:00 A.M. The King determined about purchase of Explorer—so decided in Council. I and Aholo, a Committee to make purchase. We went at 8 A.M. to Hotel and found Mr. Arundel. Concluded purchase for $20,000 in four installments, [sic] I have carried my point, and the Polynesian movement will not be checked." (Ibid., p. 115.)
Fri., Jan. 21—"Completed the purchase of the Explorer—the vessel delivered to the Min. of Interior Aholo. I will now take charge of her as Secretary of the Navy—an empty title—but I will push this matter, our Polynesian confederation. Hawaii has the elements and prospects of a commanding Polynesian state— Kalakaua shall be a King." (Ibid., pp. 116-117.)

Lorrin Thurston and William Castle were also very familiar with Gibson. They were among the members of the Committee of Thirteen who specifically asked for his dismissal from the Kalakaua Cabinet in 1887. Wm. R. Castle, in his Reminiscences (published privately in 1960 per the University of Hawaii Library (Hawaiian Collection)), wrote at p. 77:

It was said at that time that Moreno was going to organize and consolidate a union of all the Pacific Islands under Kalakaua as emperor. The same way that dreamer Walter Gibson obtained a controlling influence over Kalakaua by holding out wonderful pictures of a vast future of boundless wealth for us if his, Gibson's plans were carried. No doubt these alluring pictures accounted in part for his determined plan to create an army and navy with which to conquer the Pacific. Through his dreams or to appreciate the fact that with every opportunity in his grasp to render his name immortal by a wise and beneficent leadership he was instead making a wreck of his reign...

As for the books by Wm. A. Russ, the titles alone should explain Gibson's absence from them. They were entitled The Hawaiian Revolution, 1893-94 and The Hawaiian Republic, 1894-98. Gibson died in 1888.

The above comments also address views expressed in comments received by the Commission from Elmer Miller about Kalakaua's policies.

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