Mr. Parker alone had the courage to
remain. He feared that if the queen were left alone she
would sign the instrument herself, and proclaim it to the
people, telling them that her cabinet refused to comply with
her wishes and seeking to rouse against them the wrath of
the unthinking mob, whose only idea of the situation was
that the white men were opposing their queen.
The cabinet stood between two fires, that of the supporters
of the queen on the one hand and that of the white people of
Honolulu on the other. The report of the fleeing members
raised the excitement of the latter to the boiling pitch. A
Committee of Safety was at once organized, and held its
first meeting with closed doors.
"Gentlemen," said a member of this committee, "we are
brought face to face with this question; what shall we do?"
The discussion ended in a motion by the Hon. A.L. Thurston,
to the effect that "preliminary steps be taken at once to
form a provisional government, with a view to annexation to
the United States of America."
Meanwhile a sub-committee had waited on the United States
Minister, Mr. John L. Stevens, asking him to give them the
support of the United States troops on board the "Boston."
"Gentlemen," he replied, "I have no authority to involve the
United States Government in your revolution.
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