Robert William Wilcox

In 1888, the Reform Party (which later became the Hawaii Republican Party) took power in the Hawaiian Kingdom. Through what was called the Bayonet Constitution, they removed most political authority from the monarch, and placed income and property requirements on voters limiting the electorate to only wealthy native Hawaiians, Americans, and Europeans. The Reform Party ended costly programs such as Wilcox's training in Italy. On August 29, 1887, Wilcox received his orders to return home. Returning to Hawaiʻi in October with his wife Gina Sobrero, a baroness closely related to Italy's Colonna family, he began a short-lived career as a surveyor. He had now lost confidence that Kalākaua was strong enough to protect the interests of the Hawaiian people. Wilcox along with Charles Wilson and Sam Nowlein, planned a coup d'état to replace Kalākaua with his sister Liliʻuokalani, but the plot was never executed. On February 11, 1888, Wilcox left Hawaiʻi intending to return to Italy with his wife.

Instead of returning to Italy, Wilcox took up residence in San Francisco, California, and worked as a surveyor while his wife Gina earned extra money teaching French and Italian. When he decided to return to Hawaiʻi in the spring of 1889, Gina refused to go with him, and took their daughter back to Italy.

Wilcox planned and this time executed another attempt to force King Kalākaua to sign a new constitution to replace the 1887 Document on July 30, 1889. Kalākaua, apparently aware of the plot, avoided the palace, afraid that the rebellion would replace him with his sister Liliʻuokalani. Thus stymied, Wilcox was finally confronted by the Honolulu Rifles militia unit. After a pitched battle, Wilcox surrendered. In October 1889, he was tried for treason before judge Albert Francis Judd but acquitted by the jury. Being one of the few leaders to stand up to the conservative royalist Reform Party earned him respect among the people. The American minister John L. Stevens, who called Wilcox a "half breed", wrote: "The trial is tending plainly to show that the Hawaiians are numerously in sympathy with Wilcox."[9] He helped form a new political party called the "National Reform Party" which advocated restoring power to the monarch. Wilcox was again elected to the royal legislature where he served from 1890 to 1893 representing the island of Oahu. However, the conservatives in the original Reform Party, backed by the economic resources of the "Big Five" industrial corporations remained in power.[7]

In 1891, King Kalākaua died and his sister Liliʻuokalani became ruling monarch, swearing to uphold the 1887 Constitution. Wilcox was angered that Queen Liliʻuokalani did not choose him to be in her government, and he then formed his own National Liberal Party in November 1891. Although he did not explicitly advocate ending the Monarchy, the party advocated restoring power to the people even if it meant a republican form of government. After the elections of February 1892, when only 14,000 people were allowed to vote, letters and petitions demanded reforms to the Constitution of the Kingdom. On May 20, 1892, Wilcox and associates were arrested and charged with conspiring to set up a republic. A month later the charges were dropped and he was released.[10]

Back in the Legislature, he backed a measure that would strip power from the cabinet, and by August 1892, the ministers had resigned. Wilcox founded a newspaper called "The Liberal" from September 1892 to April 1893. He edited the section in the Hawaiian language while an English language section had several other editors. The paper attacked the extravagant lifestyle enjoyed by the Royal Family while the common people were suffering the effects of an economic slowdown.[10]

On November 1, 1892, Queen Liliʻuokalani appointed a new cabinet, and two hours later the Legislature (including Wilcox) voted to remove them from office. On November 8, 1892, a new government acceptable to the Legislature was formed. Wilcox no longer directly attacked the Queen, but advocated modernization, and was quoted in the "San Francisco Examiner" that "...we should take some steps to secure commercial and political protection from some foreign country."

By the end of 1892, "The Liberal" expressed support for the Queen. On January 12 another vote of no confidence allowed the Queen to appoint another cabinet of monarchists. On January 14 Liliʻuokalani suspended the Legislature and told the cabinet to sign a new proposed constitution that would restore political power back to her. The cabinet advised against it, and delayed any action. On January 17, 1893, the Committee of Safety, backed by the Honolulu Rifles militia unit took over the palace by force. During this time Wilcox, who was then a politician, was requested by Liliʻuokalani for his previous training in artillery to be put in command of the field pieces of the Royal Guard as they prepared themselves to defend the Queen.[11] Before any shots were fired, Queen Liliʻuokalani surrendered to avoid bloodshed.[10]

Following the overthrow, The Liberal resumed publication January 25, 1893. The English language editor Clarence Ashford supported the Provisional Government of Hawaii, and expressed the view that the Queen had brought about her own downfall. On January 28 the paper argued for becoming a state of the United States, but protested the lack of any native Hawaiians as leaders of the new government. Neither the monarchy nor the provisional government was a representative democracy. Editorials in February proposed becoming part of the state of California, which would enable popular elections.[10]

However, the "Big Five" who dominated the economy wanted to avoid statehood, since as a territory they would not be subject to the American labor laws. They depended on cheap labor for their sugarcane plantations in Hawaii for example. By March 1893 American President Grover Cleveland decided against annexation anyway. The Liberal attacked the efforts of Princess Kaʻiulani when she travelled to America to argue for supporting re-instating the monarchy. Wilcox applied for a position in the new government but was denied. The newspaper shut down on April 15, 1893. Rumors circulated that Wilcox was preparing to proclaim a liberal republic.[10]

The leaders of the overthrow proclaimed their own Republic of Hawaiʻi on July 4, 1894. By the end of the year, royalists were planning a counter-revolution to restore Liliʻuokalani. The key conspirators were Sam Nowlein, head of the Queen's guard, Charles T. Gulick, advisor to both Kalākaua and Liliʻuokalani, and William H. Rickard, a sugar planter of British parentage. They needed a military leader, and approached Wilcox. At first he hesitated, but since he was frustrated with lack of progress on annexation as well as spurned by the republic, he agreed to lead the forces into battle.

Royalist and republican forces clashed at the base of Diamond Head on January 6 and 7, 1895, and in Mōʻiliʻili on January 7. Mānoa was the scene of battle on January 9. Casualties were minor, and only C. L. Carter, a member of a prominent island family, was killed. The royalists were quickly routed and Wilcox spent several days in hiding before being captured. All royalist leaders had been arrested by January 16, when Liliʻuokalani was taken into custody at Washington Place and imprisoned in ʻIolani Palace. Wilcox was arrested and tried for treason. This time he was convicted on February 23, 1895, and was sentenced to death with five other leaders. Some were freed due to giving testimony against the others, and his sentence was commuted to 35 years in prison. On January 1, 1898, he was pardoned by Sanford B. Dole, President of the Republic, who had previously made pressured Liliʻuokalani to abdicate in exchange for his life and freedom, as well as for the lives of the others who had been sentenced to death.