Speeches of His Majesty Kamehameha IV. To the Hawaiian Legislature Part 3

_His Majesty's Letter to Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland._[A]

GREAT AND GOOD FRIEND:--Believing that Your Majesty takes a sincere interest in every thing which concerns the Hawaiian nation, I doubt not but that You will partake in my sorrow for the loss of my Predecessor, Kamehameha III., who died on the 15th of December last.

In accordance with the will of the late King, and the Const.i.tution of my Realm, I have succeeded to the throne of my forefathers. My anxious endeavor will be to rule for the good of my subjects, and of all foreigners residing within my jurisdiction; and, in so doing, I shall rely, under G.o.d, upon the sympathy and good will of Your Majesty, and of the British nation.

Your Good Friend, (Signed,) KAMEHAMEHA.

By the King.

(Signed,) R. C. WYLLIE.

[Footnote A: The same letter, _mutatis mutandis_, was sent to their Majesties the Emperor of the French, the Emperor of Russia, Kings of Denmark, Prussia, Sweden and Norway, Presidents of the United States, of Hamburg, Bremen, Chile, and Peru.]

SEPTEMBER 18, 1855.

_Reply by His Majesty to the Address of Hon. D. L. Gregg, Commissioner of the United States, on Presentation of the Letter of the President of the United States, condoling with His Majesty on the Death of His Predecessor, and congratulating Him on His Accession to the Throne._

I trust it is almost unnecessary for me to a.s.sure you, Mr.

Gregg, that the letter you have just delivered to me from the President of the Great American Republic could not have reached me through a more agreeable channel than the hands of the United States' Commissioner.

I will not do my own feelings the injustice of attempting to disguise the fact that, at the present moment this communication from the Head of your Government, according to my appreciation of it, loses entirely its formal character, and appears to express only the sentiments of a Friend, who has proved himself worthy of that high name. The Treaty recently negotiated between my Envoy at Washington and Mr.

Marcy, on the part of the Government of the United States, is indeed but one link in the chain that binds the two countries in relations of the most happy kind. But it is a convention of the greatest importance not only to those who are numbered among my subjects, but to every American citizen who has any interests upon these islands. I do not doubt but that its effect will be to call hither more of your enterprising countrymen, and direct towards the now partially developed resources of this archipelago, the attention of your judicious, but ever ready capitalists. Under this treaty we may expect to see American citizens raising the produce which American ships will carry to an American market. But their prosperity will be ours. Indeed, the mutual interests of the two countries are so interwoven in this regard, that it would be a difficult task to define a line between them.

Whatever may be the future in store for these islands, it will be impossible for any Hawaiian while the nation exists to forget or undervalue the fostering care which your Great Country, as a Parent, has extended towards them; and among the names of individual Americans that will stand out prominently, I foresee a high place a.s.signed to those of Mr. President Pierce, and the gentleman I have the pleasure to address.

DECEMBER 10, 1855.

PROCLAMATION BY THE KING.

We hereby proclaim Our pleasure that Tuesday, the first of January next, be kept as a day of solemn Thanksgiving to Almighty G.o.d for His numberless blessings to Our kingdom and people.

(Signed,) KAMEHAMEHA.

JANUARY 5, 1856.

_Notes of an Address by His Majesty, at the Formation of the Hawaiian Agricultural Society, reported to the =Polynesian=._

In due course of time His Majesty addressed the meeting. The difficulty of taking short-hand notes in English of what is being said in the native dialect, the construction of which is peculiar, a sentence often beginning at the end and ending in the middle, must be our apology for doing so little justice to the eloquent language and sound common-sense ideas expressed by the President.

After an opening sentence or two, the King spoke to the following effect:

Convinced of the importance of this undertaking, I consented to address you to-day. I should not however, have done so, had I not been fearful that a refusal on my part might have induced others of more information and better acquainted with the particular object we have united to foster, to decline in like manner. At the same time I cannot help thinking and hoping that my few remarks will be eclipsed by the weight and breadth of those of other speakers who are to stand before you on the closing day of this month and other specified days, according to a resolution pa.s.sed at our last meeting.

We also caught the following sentence, which, although it may appear a little disjointed here, was neatly introduced, and bore upon the argument then being used:

One of the greatest prospective advantages that we see in the a.s.siduous pursuit of agriculture, is the reformation it would work amongst the people. It is not in the ranks of modern farmers that you must look for the most ignorant or the most immoral men. We all know that when an individual enters upon an undertaking of the mode to accomplish which he is ignorant, he applies for information where it may be found, having learnt that a man unqualified for his task must fail in it.

Having acquired this much experience, and being solicitous for the prosperity and happiness of his children, he will on no account omit sending them to school, so that they may not be trammelled in after years by ignorance as their father was.

Thus the rising generation is prepared for its work. The children find themselves on starting in life possessed of the information necessary to success, whereas their father had to struggle on his way in the midst of darkness and misapprehension. Suppose a step similar to the one I have described were made by the young people from one end of the islands to the other. Would not ignorance give way to intelligence? Would not darkness become light? Would not inexpertness succ.u.mb to proficiency? The general result could only be a largely increased sum of individual and national prosperity.

The King, who has of late been residing a few miles from Honolulu superintending some agricultural operations of his own, we believe upon the very spot which his great predecessor, Kamehameha I., cultivated before him, spoke with animation of our natural advantages:

Who ever heard of winter upon our sh.o.r.es? When was it so cold that the laborer could not go to his field. Where amongst us shall we find the numberless drawbacks which in less favored countries the working cla.s.ses have to contend with? They have no place in our beautiful group, which rests on the swelling bosom of the Pacific like a water-lily. With a tranquil heaven above our heads, and a sun that keeps his jealous eye upon us every day, whilst his rays are so tempered that they never wither prematurely what they have warmed into life, we ought to be agriculturists in heart as well as practice.

The following sentence contains a truth to which thousands can testify:

I wish to allude to a bad custom which prevails amongst us. I mean the foolish hospitality extended everywhere towards the lazy and good-for-nothing equally with those who are worthy of it. A young man, able bodied and fit for work, lies in the house upon which he confers the honor of a visit, whilst his friends go out to labor. When they come back they share with him their scanty meal, and he is not ashamed to eat of it. Is that as it should be? Is it not a thing which we ought to feel as a disgrace--a custom that reflects upon the heads of the old and the hearts of the young? I am well aware that the sharing of food with every stranger and visitor that comes along is dignified with the name of ancient Hawaiian hospitality. I now tell you it is not true hospitality. Can that hospitality be correct in theory or practice which sends old men and sick men to work under a hot sun, whilst l.u.s.ty young people lie in the house playing at cards.

There is a very wholesome tone in this remark:

At present we are a poor people, for the surplus produced by the few who work is consumed by the many who claim at their hands the rights of your boasted hospitality. Never close your doors on those who are hungry through sickness, misfortune, or the wrongs they have received; but on the other hand never help those who are too lazy to help themselves.

Another nail is most decidedly hit on the head in the following:

I will allude to another bad feature in the native mind; I mean the idea in which too many of you indulge, that a fortune if not made in a day, ought to be acquired in a very short s.p.a.ce of time. If a man does not get rich in the first few months of his endeavoring to do so, he suddenly relaxes in his exertions, subsides into his native indolence, and becomes a laughing stock to those whose ideas are in advance of his own.

You say commonly, everything a foreigner touches he turns into money. But the fact is that if you worked and persevered as the foreigners do, then you would grow rich like them. There are three essentials to success in cultivating the soil. The first is a place to cultivate--the second, the hands to work with--and the third, perseverance. You have all your patches granted you by law; your hands are not tied either by natural or artificial bonds--but as cultivators you do not succeed, because you have no perseverance.

The concluding sentence was almost word for word as under:

The great sources of poverty amongst Hawaiians are laziness and the want of perseverance. I know that what I now say is a matter of which you and I also have cause to be ashamed. But placed in the position I occupy, and as a Father to my people, I cannot hide the fact.

The King's address was listened to with great earnestness, and every now and then we heard subdued expressions of _Oiaio no_ (True, true,) from different parts of the house. At present we see no cause to doubt that much good will result from the new society, and to those who interest themselves in it we hope to see the honor given which they undoubtedly deserve.

MARCH 3, 1856.

_His Majesty's Remarks to the Hon. W. L. Lee, on his being officially presented and resuming his Seat in the Privy Council, after his return from the Emba.s.sy to the United States._

I take great pleasure, Judge Lee, in your return to my islands, and I extend to you on behalf of myself and Chiefs a hearty welcome. Your valuable services in the United States have been such as to merit our warmest thanks and approval, and I trust the success of your mission may strengthen the friendly relations existing between the United States and my Kingdom. It is my desire that you should resume the duties of your department as head of the Judiciary, as soon as convenient, but that in so doing you should make your labors secondary to the improvement of your health.

APRIL 5, 1856.

_His Majesty's Speech on the Occasion of the Opening of the Session of the Hawaiian Legislature of 1856._