CHAPTER XII.

THE ANNEXATION OF HAWAII.

BY

HON. SHELBY M. CULLOM, Chairman of Senate Committee on Hawaiian Annexation.

T

RADITION indicates that during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries there was more or less intercourse between the various groups of the islands of Polynesia. Voyages were made between the Hawaiian Islands and the Samoan and Society groups. About that time the Harvey Islands and New Zealand were colonized. The fact that the Hawaiians, New Zealanders, the inhabitants of the Easter Islands and others in the south and east, have a distinct physical resemblance, as well as similar moral peculiarities, would tend to bear out the tradition that the Polynesian races sprang from the East Indian countries, and probably trace a relationship back to the Hindoostanees of the third and fourth centuries. It is claimed that many of the modern Polynesians speak dialects of the same language, have similar traditions and general rites. In many instances they have. the same color as the residents of Java. They have also the straight black hair of many of the Malaysian people.

There being no written history which extends far into the early centuries of the Christian era regarding these various peoples, of course very many of these assumptions are based only upon collateral facts and, to a certain extent, upon known conditions. Alexander, who is perhaps the leading modern historian of the Hawaiian people, says: "The question of the origin of the Hawaiian race cannot yet be said to have been fully solved." The general fact remains, however, that the affinities of the people are with the islands to the south and southwest.

Again, it has been proven that the Polynesian language is

but one member of a wide-spread family of languages, spoken over the islands from Micronesia, the Philippines and the Malayan Archipelago, even to Madagascar.

Marquesan traditions state that the progenitors of the race, or of the chiefs, were Wakea and Papa, his wife, but they give so early a date that nothing whatever authentic can be ascertained in regard to it. There are no traditions of any voyages to and from other countries for at least thirty generations (about one thousand years) after Wakea's reputed time, but there are still to be seen many of the early great works, such as the lava-stone temples called "Heiaus," and the great fish-ponds along the coasts of several of the Hawaiian Islands. These works, which are plainly visible at this date, show that the labor of possibly thousands of men had been so employed by the island chiefs, in the building of these royal premises; and they, possibly better than anything else, mark approximately the time of certain classes of rulers. It is quite likely, however, that the two progenitors above mentioned, Wakea and Papa, were simply words expressive of certain ideas, as the first is the God of Light, in the Marquesan Islands, while Papa is intended as a personification of the Great Mother. This idea is also expressed in the Hawaiian phrase, "The Mother of Islands."

Everything relating to the Hawaiian Government during the latter half of the last century and for many years in this century must refer in some important particulars to the dynasty of Kamehameha, or his successors whose reigns covered the period of some of the great changes and reforms which have taken place. A very brief sketch of the rise of the Kamehameha administration may be of interest.

In November, 1736, Kekaulike, who was the chief of the Island of Maui, died and was succeeded by his son, Kamehameha Nui, Nui being translated "Great." He died in 1765 and was succeeded by his brother Kahekili. During his reign, on the eighteenth of January, 1778, Captain Cook, the great English navigator, while sailing due north from the Society Islands, discovered the Islands of Oahu and Kauai. The next day he landed at Waimea, Kauai, where he held friendly intercourse with the natives, and afterwards laid in

supplies at Niihau. He finally sailed for Alaska on the second of February. The Hawaiians looked upon him as an incarnation of the god Lono and upon his crew as supernatural beings. Returning from the Arctic the following winter, he anchored in Kealakekua Bay, on the Island of Hawaii, January 17, 1779. Here he received almost divine honors and was loaded with munificent presents of the best that the islands could produce. By the rash and arbitrary conduct either of himself or his men, however, he involved himself in an affray with the natives, in which he was killed on February 14, 1779. The spot where he fell is now marked by an appropriate monument, erected in 1825 by Lord Byron, an English Captain.

The struggles between Kahekili and other island chiefs were kept up from 1765 to 1794. Sometimes the warriors of one island defeated the others, and the supremacy over Hawaii, Oahu, Kauai and Maui passed backwards and forwards repeatedly. Armies went from island to island in fleets of double canoes, and sanguinary conflicts were carried on. There are instances, well authenticated by tradition and by the reports of visiting travelers, where the armies of one side were driven bodily over perpendicular precipices and hundreds were killed. During the chiefship of Kahekili, war continued between Maui and Hawaii, with occasional expeditions to Oahu. Kamehameha I., now became his rival for the control of Maui. He was defeated once or twice by Kahekili, who captured Oahu; but, after a time, he succeeded in overcoming all the various island chiefs, effected a consolidated government over all the islands, except Kauai and Niihau, and became the king. He finally obtained the cession of Kauai, from the chief of that island, in 1809, and thereafter was the ruler and king of the entire group, until his death in 1819.

Kamehameha I., was the original Hawaiian governmental reformer. The government at the time of his accession was a sort of semi-barbarous establishment, with chieftains over the principal islands. He re-organized the general system and broke up that which existed at the time, appointing governors in place of the chieftains. These governors, subject to his personal supervision, appointed tax collectors, heads of dis

tricts, and other subordinate officers. They also dispensed justice, after a manner. The four great chiefs who had aided him in all his wars were the twin-brothers, Kameeiamoku and Kamanawa, and a half-brother. These, with Keeaumoku and Keaweheulu, were his recognized advisors and, together with Kalauimoki, they may be regarded as his cabinet.

Prior to his death in 1819, Kamehameha I., had appointed his favorite queen, Kaahumanuu, as the premier or regent, called a "Kuhinanui," to exercise equal authority with his son Kamehameha II., who was known as "Liholiho." She possessed the power of veto over the young king's acts. Liholiho visited England in 1823 and died there in 1825, whereupon Kauikeaouli, his brother, known as Kamehameha III., began to reign in 1833, at nineteen years of age. The premiership of Kaahumanuu was continued on account of the youth of the young monarch, and the former council of chiefs or governors was converted into The House of Nobles.

Up to that time the common people were not considered to have any political rights whatever, but during the reign of Kamehameha III. both he and his chiefs became convinced of the necessity of remodeling their system. They sent to the United States for a legal advisor and a person to instruct them in the science of government. In 1838, they chose Mr. Richards as advisor and interpreter; and he, having been released from his connection with the American Mission, entered upon his duties in 1839, by delivering a series of lectures on the science of government to the king and his chiefs, at Lahaina. A code of laws was drawn up and a declaration of rights was prepared by a graduate of the Seminary at that place, directed by the king. The king and the chiefs spent several days in discussing it. At a second meeting, which included all the important chiefs of the islands, it was read a third time and unanimously approved. It was then signed by the king and published June 7, 1839, in a pamphlet of twenty-four pages. The next year, 1840, a constitution was drawn up in a similar manner and approved in the general council of the chiefs.

The islands were visited occasionally by Russian and American ships and some French and English vessels. Probably

the most important visitors, who, at any time before or since, have visited Hawaii, were those who arrived on March 20, 1820, in the American brig, Thaddeus, from Boston. These were the first missionaries to the islands, the first party consisting of the Rev. Asa Thurston and the Rev. Hiram Bingham, ordained missionaries, with their wives and five other Americans and four Hawaiians who had received some education at a school in the States. These missionaries at once commenced their labors, and on August 25, 1821, the first Christian meeting house was erected in Honolulu. Following this, many native congregations were organized and a number of churches built. The missionaries were persistent and industrious.

Up to this time, the Hawaiians had had no written language or printed books. The missionaries prepared an alphabet, created and introduced a written language and, in 1822, six months after the first church building was erected, the first printed sheet in the Hawaiian tongue was struck off at the American Mission in Honolulu. The missionaries and many of the leading citizens devoted much time to the introduction of this new language. Teachers were immediately sent out among the natives, who were eager for knowledge and advanced rapidly in the study of the new tongue. It was adopted by the Seminary which had been established at Lahaina. Schools for its introduction were opened in many places throughout the islands. It may not be amiss to say that the general features of the new tongue are these:-there are but twelve letters in the alphabet; five of the letters are vowels which have, generally, the European pronunciation; all words end with a vowel. During the twelve or fifteen years following its introduction it became quite well understood not only by the younger, but even by the older classes of the people, and it still remains the native language.

From immemorial time, a system of tabus, or forbidden things, had grown up in Hawaiian life; the penalties for violation of these, in many cases, were extremely severe. A few years after the introduction of Christianity by the missionaries, many of the chiefs and important officials of the islands became earnest Christians and at quite an early date the sys