Читать книгу Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen - Liliʻuokalani - Страница 16

Table of Contents

IN the early part of the month of January, 1881, a message through the telephone reached me at my private residence at Washington Place, that my presence was required immediately at Iolani Palace. I answered the summons at once; but on my arrival the king was not to be found at the palace, but I eventually discovered him in a long building adjacent thereto, in which were kept some of his favorite boats. He was selecting some oars for the boat named the Kanoelani, and while still engaged on this work he communicated to me his wishes and instructions. He notified me that he expected soon to sail on his trip around the world, and that he desired me to assume the control of the government, and the charge of public affairs as regent, during his absence. He then went on to inform me that he had already held a meeting of the cabinet council on this matter, at which it had been proposed by the members that there should be a council of regency, of which I should be the head; but that the action of the council should be required for the full exercise of authority. This is an important page in Hawaiian history, because it shows how persistently, even at that date, the "missionary party" was at work to undermine at every point the authority of the constitutional rulers of the Hawaiian people. As the king had sent for me with the express purpose of asking my opinion, I gave it in terms too plain to admit of the least misunderstanding between us. I told him that I did not admit either the necessity or the wisdom of any such organization as that of a council of regency. I then proceeded to explain my reasons for this opinion, saying that if there was a council of regency, there would be no need for any regent. In case such a body were to be commissioned to govern the nation, who, then, would be the chief executive? in fact, why was any such individual required at all? To these considerations the king gave careful attention, and appeared to see that my views of the situation were founded upon reason and justice. The result of this informal conference was, that before his departure I was appointed sole regent, with the functions of the reigning sovereign of the Hawaiian Islands during his absence. On the 20th of January, 1881, accompanied by Mr. C. H. Judd and by Mr. W. M. Armstrong, both from missionary families, amidst the salutes of the shipping and the booming of cannon, His Majesty Kalakaua took his departure, being the first of the sovereigns of the nation to undertake a tour of the globe.

In nothing has my brother been more grossly misjudged and even slandered by those whose interests he had at heart than in this journey. Probably he did have some love for travel, some sense of pleasure in visiting foreign lands – who amongst us had not felt the desire to see the great and beautiful world which God made, and on which man has built so many magnificent cities and works of art? Why should he not have felt this interest? But the master motive for this enterprise was the good of the people of the Hawaiian Islands over whom he had been called to rule. I have already spoken of his visit to Washington for the purpose of assisting at the ratification of the reciprocity treaty. That negotiation successfully carried through by his commissioners created a new want in his domains. The sugar-fields demanded laborers, and at this time it was a problem to decide from whence these could be obtained. Soon after landing at San Francisco, the king first visited Japan; from there he proceeded to China; with the statesmen of both these nations, including the celebrated Li Hung Chang, my brother conferred upon questions of international interest, but more especially in regard to the emigration of their subjects from their territory to the sugar plantations of our islands. While he was thus working for the prosperity of the residents of his kingdom, and for an immigration which should result in the wealth of those of foreign ancestry or affiliations, they were accusing him of a reckless spending of money, and of the waste of time and revenues in foreign travel. From China the king went on to Siam, where he was most royally entertained by the ruling monarch; then to India, whose climate, resembling ours, caused him to be in favor of initiating an emigration thence to our cane-fields. Nothing, however, resulted from his examination of the chance of employing the coolies of India; but China and Japan have since then sent many laborers to our plantations. We know now what imported or contract labor means. It must be remembered that at this date the experiment was in its infancy, and the question was to find some class of laborers who would not suffer in our tropical climate at field labor. The conclusion cannot be avoided, that if my brother had indeed sought his own pleasure rather than the good of all residents under our flag, his family would be in their hereditary rights to this day. By his liberality to those of American birth he inaugurated the treaty of reciprocity; by his investigations and solution of the problem of labor he gave them the opportunity to raise sugar at an enormous profit; and he thus devoted the earlier part of his reign to the aggrandizement of the very persons, who, as soon as they had become rich and powerful, forgot his generosity, and plotted a subversion of his authority, and an overthrow of the constitution under which the kingdom had been happily governed for nearly a quarter of a century. This was accomplished by them in 1887, as will be seen when I reach that date in my recollections. After his studies of the labor question in the East, my brother made a tour of the chief countries of civilized Europe, returning by way of Washington, and in every place receiving from all classes many marks of personal attention or national courtesy. He arrived home on the 29th of October, 1881; and this was naturally followed by my immediate resignation of the office of chief ruler, which I had held for nine months and as many days.