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he had decided to join the Provisional Government, and further that he was its first vice-president. He remains its minister of finance to the present date. The Provisional GovernmentPage 1318. had been recognized at this time. The protest says, “I yield to the superior force of the United States of America—until such time as the Government of the United States shall, upon the facts being presented to it, undo the action of its representatives, and reinstate me in the authority which I claim as the constitutional sovereignPage 1394. of the Hawaiian Islands.” Mr. Damon and the Cabinet returned to the Provisional Government and presented the protest; and President Dole indorsed on the same, “Received by the hands of the late Cabinet this seventeenthPage 1399. day of January, a.d. 1893.” After this protest, the queen surrendered her arsenal. The letter sent by the same steamerPage 1027. on which (January 18) the annexation commissioners sailed (the queen having been refused the privilege of placing one representative on board), says to President Harrison,received at Executive office, Feb. 3, 1893. “This action on my part was prompted by three reasons: The futility of a conflict with the United States; the desire to avoid violence, bloodshed, and the destruction of life and property; and the certainty which I feel that you and your government will right whatever wrongs may have been inflicted on us in the premises.”