Part 11

Relying on your wisdom and patriotic disposition, I place these suggestions before you, in the full confidence that they cannot fail to meet your sanction. I entertain no doubt that if the Constitution should be amended in conformity thereto, a beneficial reform of the Legislative Department would be effected, and the general advantage of my Kingdom thereby greatly promoted.

KAMEHAMEHA.

MAY 4, 1859.

His Majesty's Speech Proroguing the Legislature of 1859.

NOBLES AND REPRESENTATIVES:--I congratulate you upon having concluded the labors of a Session protracted beyond my expectation, and, I imagine, that of the country at large. I trust that after all the attention which has been expended on the revised Civil Code, the result will prove a compilation sound in its principles and convenient in its arrangement. If it have no other effect than to encourage a decrease of litigation, by exposing in its proper place the law applicable to every civil regulation which legislation makes the frame-work of our national system, your time, and the expenses of the session, will not have been consumed in vain.

I have heard with satisfaction that the amendments of the Constitution which I suggested and laid open to your consideration, have been acted upon, and I do not doubt that the next session will see them confirmed and made effective. I think they will initiate a more wholesome system of legislation, prevent unnecessary delays and expenses, and place the Executive Government in a position better calculated for giving explanations and receiving instructions from that House which originates every fiscal measure.

I thank you, Representatives, for the provision you have made for myself and those nearest to me; and, while alluding to the Bill of Appropriations, I cheerfully notice the fact, that in making distribution of the revenue, you have, for the first time, proposed for the country a system of expenditure strictly proportioned to the estimated receipts.

I confess that the act of your two Houses which I regard with most complacency, is that in which you commit the public Treasury to the aid of Hospitals. You, Representatives, amongst whose constituents are those very persons for whom these places of refuge are principally designed, have expressed a kind and grateful feeling for the personal share which I and the Queen have taken in the labor of securing the necessary means for the establishment of a Hospital in Honolulu. Whilst acknowledging your courtesy, I wish to take this first public occasion to express the almost unspeakable satisfaction with which I have found my efforts successful beyond my hopes. It is due to the subscribers as a body, that I should bear witness to the readiness, not less than the liberality, with which they have met my advances. When you return to your several places, let the fact be made known, that in Honolulu the sick man has a friend in everybody. Nor do I believe that He who made us all, and to whose keeping I commend in now dismissing you, has seen with indifference how the claims of a common humanity have drawn together, in the subscription list, names representative of almost every race of men under the sun.

MAY 20, 1859.

Replies by His Majesty to the Felicitations of the Commissioners of France and of the United States, and to the Captain of the Honolulu Rifle Corps, on behalf of its Members, on the first Anniversary of the Birth of H. R. H. the Prince of Hawaii.

GENTLEMEN:--I receive with unfeigned satisfaction the congratulations which you offer on this the first anniversary of the birth of the Heir to the Throne. As the Representatives of nations so pre-eminently called upon, by virtue of their physical and intellectual resources, to watch and foster the progress of the human race at large, I rejoice in those aspirations with which you have connected the future career of my infant son. To you, gentlemen, and to the Governments of which you are the honored organs, the best thanks of the Father and Mother of the Prince of Hawaii are cordially tendered.

GENTLEMEN OF THE HONOLULU RIFLES:--For the loyal and generous expressions your Captain has offered in your behalf I thank you in the name of the Prince of Hawaii, who doubtless will one day hear in what manner your good wishes were made known on this occasion. For in families it is not uncommon for certain incidents and expressions to become traditional, and I know that neither I nor the Queen can ever cease to cherish the remembrance of the many tokens of good will and sympathy this day manifested, or fail to tell our Son in time to come how the anniversary of his first birth-day was welcomed by the "Honolulu Rifles."

OCTOBER 3D, 1859.

Speech of His Majesty at the Extraordinary Session of the House of Nobles held at the Palace October 3d, 1859.

GENTLEMEN OF THE HOUSE OF NOBLES:--I have thought proper to convene you in special session in order to consult on a matter, which in my judgment relates to the highest welfare of the nation. In contemplation of a vacancy in the chief executive office, at all times liable to occur, it is important that the succession to the crown should be definitely established in a constitutional manner. To this subject I invite your attention, in the full confidence that the recommendation I am about to make will receive at your hands a hearty concurrence.

The Constitution points out the mode of procedure to be adopted, and I avail myself of the authority thus vested in me to designate my infant son, the Prince of Hawaii, as my heir and successor to the Throne. Your assent and co-operation in the measure are required, but I do not doubt your ready and loyal support, not only on grounds relating to the stability of the existing dynasty, but from motives intimately connected with the public good.

PROCLAMATION.

KAMEHAMEHA IV., of the Hawaiian Islands, King, to all Our loving subjects, and others to whom these Presents shall come, Greeting:--

Be it known that We, in concurrence with Our House of Nobles, hereby appoint and proclaim Our Son, His Royal Highness the Prince of Hawaii, to be Our Successor and Heir to the Hawaiian Throne.

Done at Our Palace, at Honolulu, this third day of October, in the year of Our Lord 1859, and the fifth year of Our Reign.

(Signed,) KAMEHAMEHA.

(Signed) KAAHUMANU.

By the King and Kuhina Nui. (Signed,) L. KAMEHAMEHA.

MAY 23D, 1860.

The King's Speech to the Legislature of 1860.

NOBLES AND REPRESENTATIVES:--In accordance with the Constitution, I have called you together in Legislative assembly.

It is with pleasure that I make known to you that my relations with Foreign Powers are in an amicable and satisfactory position, and to the Report of my Minister of Foreign Affairs I direct your attention for information in relation to the Department under his care.

The Chief Justice in his Report has given a general view of the administration of the department of law. There are some portions of the report to which I desire to call your special attention. By reference to the comparative view of convictions contained therein, you will observe that two classes of offences against the laws constitute nearly two-thirds of the whole number of convictions. The inevitable effect of these offences is to demoralize and destroy the people, and I would designate as well worthy of your careful consideration and adoption, the recommendations of the Chief Justice in relation to such amendments or alterations of the existing laws as will tend to eradicate or diminish these evils.