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Whereas, on the afternoon of January 17,1893, a Committee of Safety that <br /> represented the American and European sugar planters, descendants of <br /> missionaries, and financiers deposed the Hawaiian monarchy and proclaimed <br /> the establishment of a Provisional Government; <br /> Whereas, the United States Minister thereupon extended diplomatic <br /> recognition to the Provisional Government that was formed by the <br /> conspirators without the consent of the Native Hawaiian people or the lawful <br /> Government of Hawaii and in violation of treaties between the two nations <br /> and of international law; <br /> Whereas, soon thereafter, when informed of the risk of bloodshed with <br /> resistance, Queen Liliuokalani issued the following statement yielding her <br /> authority to the United States Government rather than to the Provisional <br /> Government: <br /> "I Liliuokalani, by the Grace of God and under the Constitution of <br /> the Hawaiian Kingdom, Queen, do hereby solemnly protest against <br /> any and all acts done against myself and the Constitutional <br /> Government of the Hawaiian Kingdom by certain persons claiming <br /> to have established a Provisional Government of and for this <br /> Kingdom. <br /> 'That I yield to the superior force of the United States of <br /> America whose Minister Plenipotentiary, His Excellency John L. <br /> Stevens, has caused United States troops to be landed a Honolulu <br /> and declared that he would support the Provisional Government. <br /> "Now to avoid any collision of armed forces, and perhaps the loss <br /> of life, I do this under protest and impelled by said force yield <br /> my authority until such time as the Government of the United <br /> States shall, upon facts being presented to it, undo the action of <br /> its representatives and reinstate me in the authority which I <br /> claim as the Constitutional Sovereign of the Hawaiian Islands:'. <br /> Done at Honolulu this 17th day of January, A.D.1893.; <br /> <br /> Whereas, without the active support and intervention by the United States <br /> <br /> diplomatic and military representatives, the insurrection against the <br /> <br /> Government of Queen Liliuokalani would have failed for lack of popular <br /> <br /> support and insufficient arms; <br /> <br /> Whereas, on February 1, 1893, the United States Minister raised the American <br /> flag and proclaimed Hawaii to be a protectorate of the United States; <br /> <br /> Whereas, the report of a Presidentially established investigation conducted by <br /> former Congressman James Blount into the events surrounding the <br /> <br />