In yesterday’s post “The San Francisco Call: Haywood Gratified, Mohailani Very Sad,” Mohailani appears to be a pseudo name, which is literally translated to “great sacrifice.” It was an emotional and comprehensive response of a bereaved person or persons. It is clear that the San Francisco Call knew whom to contact for responses and that “Mohailani” was someone that the Call was already familiar with.

The tenor of Mohailani’s response was definitely from someone who was already familiar with the Hawaiian opposition to annexation that included not just the men but also the women. This appears to point to the San Francisco Call’s coverage of the Hawaiian Patriotic League “Strangling Hands on a Nation’s Throat,” published September 30, 1897, and “Hawaii’s Last Struggle for Freedom,” published November 28, 1897. Both stories centered on a petition of over 21,000 signatures protesting annexation that was gathered by the Hawaiian Patriotic League.

The last story centered on a Hawaiian Commission that arrived in San Francisco on their way to Washington, D.C. James Kaulia, President of the Hawaiian Patriotic League, led a Hawaiian Commission of four men in order to present the signature petition to the United States Senate when it convened in December of 1897.

Could it be that “Mohailani” was the collective pseudo name for the Hawaiian Commission especially their stated loathe for Senator Morgan?

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Hawaii has sent four of her representative men to plead wit the United States before annexation is consummated. These men, forming a committee unique in the history of modern nations, have arrived in San Francisco. On Monday they will proceed to Washington.

The committee consists of two full-blooded Hawaiians and two half-Hawaiians. The leader of the delegation is Mr. James K. Kaulia, the president of the Hawaiian Patriotic League. There are, besides, Mr. David Kalauokalani, the leader of the second Hawaiian society, which differs only in its opinion on local matters from the Patriotic League; Mr. William Auld, who is a possessor of considerable property on the island of Oahu, and Mr. John Richardson, a lawyer from the island of Maui, whose command of English, as well as his ability as a lawyer, makes him the spokesman of the party.

Mr. Richardson and Mr. Kaulia were interviewed by the The Call yesterday upon their mission.

“We are going to Washington,” said Mr. Richardson, “with the hope of inducing the President and the Committee on Foreign Relations to listen to our side of the question. From documents in our possession we think we can convince any fair-minded man that the great majority of the natives of Hawaii are opposed to annexation. If, from our showing, the United States is not assured of this fact, we shall ask that a vote be taken.”

“A secret ballot?”

Mr. Richardson threw open his arms. “It doesn’t matter. Even if the ballot be open the very men who have refused to sign our memorial will vote against annexation.”

“Then some Hawaiians have refused to sign the petition against annexation?”

Mr. Kaulia, who had sat listening quietly, his grave face and dark eyes turned upon his more vivacious colleague, spoke now.

“Nearly twenty-one thousand Hawaiians have signed the memorial we are taking to Washington. The men, the natives, who have refused to sign, tell us that it would hurt their business or jeopardize their positions if their names were added to our petition. But they are with us in feeling, and as John—Mr. Richardson—says, if it comes to a vote, they will forget every other consideration, and remember only that their country is being taken from them.”

“Your committee has been sent to Washington by the Hawaiians.”

“Yes, we four have been chosen to speak for Hawaii,” said Mr. Richardson. “The natives have subscribed liberally to the fund which pays our expenses. Maui, the island of Maui, is the leader in this. At first the Hawaiians would not believe that there was really any danger of annexation. But on Maui—Maui is a unit on anti-annexation sentiment—we insisted that a delegation be sent. You know the native didn’t believe it possible that the United States would annex the islands, knowing the opposition of the Hawaiians. They wouldn’t believe that things could go so far.”

“And what is their opinion now?”

“Now they are thoroughly awakened to the danger. But they are hopeful—”

“The United States cannot,” interrupted Mr. Kaulia, “if it has any regard for justice, annex our country, after our protest. We have come to make known how the natives feel in the matter. I tried to see Senator Morgan when he was in Honolulu. Twice I wrote asking him when he could see me, when he could listen to us—he had listened long to the annexationists—but I received no answer. The natives are very bitter in their dislike of him, for they know how determined he is on annexation.”

“But there is considerable opposition,” said Mr. Richardson. “Senators Du Boise and Pittigrew, who came upon on the same steamer with us, have spent ten days on the islands. They see and admit the injustice that would be done the Hawaiians if their country were taken from them. Senator Du Boise says that he hasn’t met one native Hawaiian who is in favor of annexation, and he went as far as the island of Hawaii. He didn’t remain in Honolulu.”

“In case, though, of annexation, what will the Hawaiians do?”

Mr. Richardson spoke very seriously. “If the people of the United States take Hawaii the natives will have to kept down by force—as they are now.”

“We hope to convince your Government that the Government of the Islands was overthrown by means of American warships; that the present is not a representative Government, and that the Hawaiians will never be reconciled to the loss of nationality.”

“The members of the administration are doing everything in their power to bring about annexation. If they learn that they are not likely to succeed in this way they will try another. They will do as they did before—declare that their lives and property are in danger and ask that the American flag be raised. And we know, we Hawaiians, that if the flag goes up again it will never come down.”

“But what will you do about it?” Mr. Richardson was asked.

“We will fight,” he answered determinedly. “We will turn upon the administration, and we will fight before we let that flag go up again.”

“The Hawaiians are very peaceable people—very easy going and good natured. They do not become angry easily. It takes a great deal to rouse them. But they are roused now. They recognize that if resistance is to be made it must be now. They can fight—they will fight rather than allow their land, their own country, to be taken from them.”

This article in the San Francisco Call newspaper was sent by Willy Kauai, a doctoral candidate in Political Science at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa. Kauai’s doctoral research centers on Hawaiian nationality or citizenship, which spans from its origin under the reign of King Kamehameha I, progenitor of the Hawaiian Kingdom, through its legal evolution during the 19^th century, and its maintenance under the laws of occupation to date.

Kauai’s research also addresses the racial discrimination injected into the population of the Hawaiian Islands since the usurpers seized temporary control of the Hawaiian government in 1887, which served as the precursor to the United States invasion and unlawful overthrow of the government of the Hawaiian Kingdom, and the ultimate occupation since the Spanish-America War in 1898.  The title of Kauai’s dissertation is “E/racing Hawaiian Citizenship Amid US Occupation.” Kauai will be defending his dissertation in April 2014 and is expected to graduate the following month with his Ph.D. degree.

On July 28, 1898, the San Francisco Call newspaper published responses by individuals in the Hawaiian Islands as to their reaction to the passing of the joint resolution by the United States Congress to annex the Hawaiian Islands titled “Passing of Hawaii as a Nation: How News of Annexation is Received at the Islands.” One particular response was titled “Haywood Gratified, Mohailani Very Sad.” Just ten months earlier, the San Francisco Call published a front-page story covering Hawaiian opposition to annexation titled, “Strangling Hands Upon a Nation’s Throat.” As a result of this opposition the United States Senate was unable to ratify a so-called treaty of annexation signed between the insurgents and the McKinley administration. Unable to accomplish the task by treaty, annexationists in the Congress introduced a joint resolution, instead. The Congress knew that a joint resolution, being a Congressional law, had no force beyond the borders of the United States, but they disguised the process as if it did, through propaganda, in order to conceal an illegal occupation of a foreign State for military purposes.

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HONOLULU, July 20.—“I am naturally gratified that annexation has at last been accomplished,” said Consul General Haywood when the news of annexation reached him. “It is what I came to these islands to see done, and I am glad I have not had to go home disappointed. The United States has given to the people of these islands what I consider to be the greatest gift they could receive—American citizenship—which carries with it stable government and protection from the nations of the world. It only remains with the people here to make the most of the gift. This can only be done by forgetting past animosities and working harmoniously for the public good. Americans will then make of these islands not merely the paradise of the Pacific, but the Paradise of the world.”

HONOLULU, July 20.—To the Editor of the San Francisco Call: You ask me how we Hawaiians have received the news which has deprived us of our country and our nationality. I can only say that my countrymen are yet unable to realize the fact that the great republic which boasts of its democratic and republican principles has committed the unholy act which in history will be known as the “Rape of Hawaii.”

We had hoped that the joint resolution would be defeated in the Senate, and we were stunned when we learned of the vote, which results in the annihilation of our beloved country and in the driving to the wall of all Hawaiians. I can assure you that there is not one Hawaiian who in his heart favors annexation. What would you think of any man or woman who with indifference could see the flag of his or her country go down and their individually absorbed by a foreign race which, whatever you may say, does look down on us as their inferiors and despises our color and our way of living?

I can tell you, and few men have the opportunity of knowing the Hawaiians as I do, that many tears were shed when the news by the Coptic reached the homes of those who know no other country than these islands, which once were justly called the Paradise of the Pacific. We cannot be happy under our new conditions. We will feel like strangers among the people who will rule us, and with whose ideas, mode of living and political principles we cannot harmonize.

Our women feel it even worse than we men do. The teachings of the New England missionaries, the rum they brought with them, the diseases following in their train, have enervated the Hawaiian men. We can talk, don’t you forget it, but we cannot fight. If we had yet the fighting qualities of our ancestors, the overturn of our monarchy would never have taken place, and during the past years we would have been entitled to interference in the name of humanity in our struggles against the usurpers.

Our women have shown more energy, more solid patriotism and more strength than we have. The women of Hawaii to-day stand as a unit in their hatred toward America and everything American. And can you blame them? They see before them a future where their children will be forced into competition with your pushing, rushing, money-grabbing race. The dolce far niente of Hawaii must disappear and the struggle for life will begin in which the strongest will survive, and the gentle, indolent, easy-going Hawaiian will have no show in that battle for life, and who can blame us for feeling sad over a future which necessarily means destruction of our race?

I cannot deny that one great reason for our opposition to annexation is that we fear that we will be called “niggers” and treated as you do that class in your “free” country. We have been assured that such will not be the case, but experience tells us differently. Our countrymen who have traveled in the States have often been subjected to great humiliation and insult on account of their skin, and we expect that the day will come when we will risk similar affronts right in our streets, and remember that we have neither the wealth nor the inclination to strike our tents in other climes. We have no other home than Hawaii, and that home we have lost.

And what will our position be in the political and social life of these islands after your flag floats over the palace of our chiefs?

Senator Morgan of Alabama told a large assembly of Hawaiians, when he visited here, that he could promise them equal political rights with any American in any State of America. He told us that each of us would have as good a chance to become President of the United States as has Grover Cleveland. (I believe him in that.) He said that Hawaii would be a State, and that by the power of our majority we would control the affairs of Hawaii and enjoy true self-government. He paid a glowing tribute to our intelligence and excellent qualities, and told us how he loved “colored” people.

We didn’t believe a word of what that ex-slave driver from Alabama said, and there is no man more despised and loathed among the Hawaiians than Senator Morgan, who now is to frame a government for Hawaii.

The Hawaiians have at present no intention of taking any active interest in the government of their country. They feel like the children of Israel did when they sat down in exile and bemoaned their fate. What has happened cannot be undone, but none of us can see what your great country has gained by adding to the Union such unwilling and hostile people. We are not savages, as your Indians of Alaska, or ignorant as your “greasers.” For nearly a century we have conducted a fairly good government and lived in harmony with the white man who benefited from our hospitality and whose descendants now rob us of our country.

Go ask any man, woman or child what he thinks to-day of the “haole” (the foreigner), and you will get an answer in a very emphatic and plain language.

When Chinese and Japanese coolies are stopped from coming here as contract laborers we will have the satisfaction of laughing at the men who make their money out of slave labor and who brought on annexation to gain the benefit of the sugar bounty. But that satisfaction is very slim when we realize the fact that we will be trodden under foot by the invaders, and that when your flag, which we admire in its proper place, waves over Hawaii, to pronounce the fact that we are homeless and that our country has ceased to exist.

MOHAILANI

(It is not known who Mohailani is, but Hawaiians were known for using a pseudo name when authoring commentaries of a political nature. “Mohailani” is literally translated in the Hawaiian language as the “GREAT SACRIFICE.”)