hich
explicitly stated that she yielded to the superior force of the United
States, whose minister had caused United States troops to be landed at
Honolulu and declared that he would support such Provisional Government.

The truth or falsity of this protest was surely of the first importance.
If true, nothing but the concealment of its truth could induce our
Government to negotiate with the semblance of a government thus created,
nor could a treaty resulting from the acts stated in the protest have
been knowingly deemed worthy of consideration by the Senate. Yet the
truth or falsity of the protest had not been investigated.

I conceived it to be my duty, therefore, to withdraw the treaty from the
Senate for examination, and meanwhile to cause an accurate, full, and
impartial investigation to be made of the facts attending the subversion
of the constitutional Government of Hawaii and the installment in
its place of the Provisional Government. I selected for the work of
investigation the Hon. James H. Blount, of Georgia, whose service of
eighteen years as a member of the House of Representatives and whose
experience as chairman of the Committee of Foreign Affairs in that body,
and his consequent familiarity with international topics, joined with
his high character and honorable reputation, seemed to render him
peculiarly fitted for the duties intrusted to him. His report detailing
his action under the instructions given to him and the conclusions
derived from his investigation accompany this message.

These conclusions do not rest for their acceptance entirely upon
Mr. Blount's honesty and ability as a man, nor upon his acumen and
impartiality as an investigator. They are accompanied by the evidence
upon which they are based, which evidence is also herewith transmitted,
and from which it seems to me no other deductions could possibly be
reached than those arrived at by the commissioner.

The report, with its accompanying proofs and such other evidence as is
now before the Congress or is herewith submitted, justifies, in my
opinion, the statement that when the President was led to submit the
treaty to the Senate with the declaration that "the overthrow of the
monarchy was not in any way promoted by this Government," and when the
Senate was induced to receive and discuss it on that basis, both
President and Senate were misled.

The attempt will not be made in this communication to touch upon all
the facts which throw l