Speeches of His Majesty Kamehameha IV. To the Hawaiian Legislature Part 2

I have exchanged my ratification for that, by my great and good friend, His Majesty Oscar, King of Sweden and Norway, of the treaty concluded at my Court on the 1st day of July, 1852.

I have ordered my Minister of Foreign Relations to inform you of all treaties with foreign nations negotiated under the late reign, of the progressive steps by which the sovereignty and independence of this Kingdom have become so generally acknowledged, and of the transactions generally of the Department under his charge.

I have committed an important mission to the Honorable William L. Lee, Chancellor of the Kingdom and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and have accredited him as my Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, from which mission I antic.i.p.ate important results for the benefit of you all, which will be made known to you hereafter. In the meanwhile, I recommend you to vote such a sum as, in your wisdom, you may deem adequate for the expenses of that mission.

My Minister of Finance will submit, for your considerations, certain important measures relating to the National finances; and you cannot fail to be impressed with the necessity of devising some means of enlarging them. Without more extended means we must remain in the position of having the will, without the power, to stimulate agriculture and commerce, and to provide generally for the physical, mental and moral improvement of the nation. As a preparatory step towards increasing the sources of revenue, we must increase the revenue to be drawn from such sources as already exist. But, restricted as we are, by treaty, from exercising a right common to all free communities, we are unable to impose discriminating duties on foreign imports, which, whilst supplying the Treasury with additional means, would enhance the price of articles of luxury only. To regain the right of which we have, for the present, divested ourselves, it may be necessary that you reconsider the act by which the duty on spirituous liquors is now regulated. The Minister of Finance laid this subject before you last year in a clear and able manner, and his views have been confirmed by the experience of another year. Whether it would be wise to a.s.sist the revenue by a tax on property, is for you to determine.

To foster education and widen every channel that leads to knowledge, is one of our most imperative duties. It will be for you to determine what obstacles, if any, exist, to the general enlightenment of my people. On this subject there will be submitted for your consideration, certain proposed changes in the Department of Public Instruction. It is of the highest importance, in my opinion, that education in the English language should become more general, for it is my firm conviction that unless my subjects become educated in this tongue, their hope of intellectual progress, and of meeting the foreigners on terms of equality, is a vain one.

It is a melancholy fact that agriculture, as now practiced, is not a business of so prosperous and lucrative a nature as to induce men of means to engage in it; and capital is absolutely necessary to the successful production of our great staples, sugar, coffee and tobacco. I beg you, therefore, to consider whether there exist any restrictions, the removal of which would give new life to this important source of national prosperity, and tend to create a juster balance between our imports and exports. I need hardly mention the obligation that weighs upon you, to open wide our ports to commerce. Without commerce our agricultural produce might moulder in our warehouses; roads, and interisland communication almost cease to exist; the making of wharves become a work of supererogation, and the opening and closing of stores an idle ceremony. As the legislators of a young commercial nation, we should be liberal in our measures, and far-sighted in our views.

A subject of deeper importance, in my opinion, than any I have hitherto mentioned, is that of the decrease of our population.

It is a subject, in comparison with which all others sink into insignificance; for, our first and great duty is that of self-preservation. Our acts are in vain unless we can stay the wasting hand that is destroying our people. I feel a heavy, and special responsibility resting upon me in this matter; but it is one in which you all must share; nor shall we be acquitted by man, or our Maker, of a neglect of duty, if we fail to act speedily and effectually in the cause of those who are every day dying before our eyes.

I think this decrease in our numbers may be stayed; and happy should I be if, during the first year of my reign, such laws should be pa.s.sed as to effect this result. I would commend to your special consideration the subject of establishing public Hospitals; and it might, at first, perhaps, be wise to confine these hospitals to diseases of one cla.s.s; and that the most fatal with which our population is afflicted.

Intimately connected with this subject is that of preventing the introduction of fatal diseases and epidemics from abroad.

Visited as we are by vessels from all parts of the world, this is no easy matter; but I trust your wisdom will devise some simple and practical remedy.

It affords me unfeigned pleasure to be able to state that, according to the returns from most of the districts, the births during the past year have exceeded the deaths.

It is to be regretted that the Chinese coolie emigrants, to whom has been given a trial of sufficient length for testing their fitness to supply our want of labor and population, have not realized the hopes of those who incurred the expense of their introduction. They are not so kind and tractable as it was antic.i.p.ated they would be; and they seem to have no affinities, attractions or tendencies to blend with this, or any other race. In view of this failure it becomes a question of some moment whether a cla.s.s of persons more nearly a.s.similated with the Hawaiian race, could not be induced to settle on our sh.o.r.es. It does not seem improbable that a portion of the inhabitants of other Polynesian groups might be disposed to come here, were suitable efforts made to lead them to such a step. In a few days they would speak our language with ease; they would be acclimated almost before they left the ships that conveyed them hither; and they might bring with them their wives, whose fecundity is said to be much greater than that of Hawaiian females. Such immigrants, besides supplying the present demand for labor, would pave the way for a future population of native born Hawaiians, between whom, and those of aboriginal parents, no distinguishable difference would exist.

May the issue of your deliberations be crowned with those successful results which the will of the Almighty only can bestow.

JUNE 16, 1855.

_His Majesty's Speech and Proclamation on the occasion of Dissolving the Legislature._

n.o.bLES AND REPRESENTATIVES:--The Legislative Session of 1855 is now about to close.

For some of your acts I thank you in common with the meanest of my subjects, for they embrace the interests of all.

Newly admitted elements of action have operated upon you, and given to certain of your measures a vitality that authorizes me to hope much for the future.

For the relief you have given to the estate of my Predecessor, for the feeling of respect and love evinced by you in a.s.suming with alacrity, the expenses of his obsequies; and for the loyalty you have shown towards me, and my family, I thank you.

Mixed with many circ.u.mstances that will always make the session of 1855 pleasant to reflect upon, there is one that must overshadow it forever in the minds of us all. The death of His Excellency, A. Paki, has stamped this year, and, indeed, removed a pillar of the State. From your own feelings on the loss of that High Chief and staunch Hawaiian, you may judge of mine. May the Almighty have us in his keeping, and bless, and perpetuate the Hawaiian Nation.

n.o.bles and Representatives, I regret that you have not been able to agree upon the details of the Appropriation Bill.

Therefore, in the exercise of my const.i.tutional prerogative in such a case, I feel it my duty to dissolve you, and you are hereby dissolved.

PROCLAMATION.

TO ALL OUR LOYAL SUBJECTS, _Greeting_:

We hereby Proclaim that We have this day dissolved the Legislature of Our Kingdom, by virtue of the power vested in Us by the Const.i.tution. The exigency contemplated by that sacred instrument has arisen, by the disagreement of the two Houses on the Bill of Supplies, which are necessary to carry on Our Government; and furthermore, the House of Representatives framed an Appropriation Bill exceeding Our Revenues, as estimated by Our Minister of Finance, to the extent of about $200,000, which Bill We could not sanction.

There seemed no prospect of agreement, inasmuch as the House of n.o.bles had made repeated efforts at conciliation with the House of Representatives, without success, and finally, the House of Representatives refused to confer with the House of n.o.bles respecting the said Appropriation Bill in its last stages, and We deemed it Our duty to exercise Our const.i.tutional prerogative of dissolving the Legislature, and therefore there are no Representatives of the people in the Kingdom.

Therefore, We further proclaim Our Will and Pleasure, that Our Loyal subjects, in all Our Islands, proceed immediately to elect new Representatives, according to law, on the 10th day of July next. And We convoke the Representatives who may be so elected, to meet in Parliament in Our City of Honolulu, on Monday, the 30th day of July, of this year, for the special and only purpose of voting the Supplies necessary to the administration of Our Government, without oppressing Our faithful Subjects with unreasonable taxes.

Done in Our Palace of Honolulu, this sixteenth day of June, 1855, and the first year of Our reign.

KAMEHAMEHA.

VICTORIA K. KAMAMALU.

JULY 30, 1855.

_His Majesty's Speech at the Opening of the Extraordinary Session of the Legislature._

n.o.bLES AND REPRESENTATIVES:--By virtue of the power which the Const.i.tution declares to be vested in me, I have convoked you to this Extraordinary Session of the Legislature. Neither the late dissolution, nor, of course, this Session, would have occurred under any but extraordinary circ.u.mstances. The only public business of emergency left unfinished at the close of the late Session, was the pa.s.sage of the Appropriation Bill--the most important measure of every Session. It is solely to pa.s.s the Bill I mention that you are now brought together. I trust that whilst your memories are so freshly charged with the circ.u.mstances that prevented unanimity between your two Houses in regard to the Bill of Supplies, upon which you were deliberating when lately I dissolved you, there will be a desire on the part of all to restrict the amount appropriated for the current year within the probable limits of the year's receipts. It is useless to make appropriations for appearance sake, knowing that they will not, because they cannot, be acted on. My desire therefore is, that you will reject at once, in your deliberations, every item that is not of immediate necessity, since the means at your disposal will barely suffice for those outlays that are indispensable. By acting on this suggestion you will save time and render less likely the recurrence of differences on questions not of public interest.

n.o.bles and Representatives, I hope the Session now opened will be a very short one, and that you will all cordially unite in appropriating our small means to the best advantage for the general good.

AUGUST 13, 1855.

_Messages from His Majesty to the House of n.o.bles and House of Representatives, Proroguing the Extraordinary Session._

n.o.bLES:--The Extraordinary Session to which I convoked you having terminated with the completion of the special business which I recommended to my Parliament, I now thank you for concurring with the Honorable Representatives of My People, in voting the supplies indispensable to the administration of My Government.

I now free you from further attendance, and prorogue you till the Session of next year.

KAMEHAMEHA.

HONORABLE REPRESENTATIVES OF MY PEOPLE:--Having concluded the special business for which I convoked you to an Extraordinary Session, it only remains for me to thank you for the regard you have shown to the safety and welfare of my Kingdom in voting the supplies necessary to carry on the business of My Government, and to free you from further attendance in Parliament.

I therefore prorogue you.

KAMEHAMEHA.

FEBRUARY 15, 1855.