Speeches of His Majesty Kamehameha IV. To the Hawaiian Legislature — John Shaqi
Speeches of His Majesty Kamehameha IV. To the Hawaiian LegislatureKamehameha IV, King of the Hawaiian Islands
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Speeches of His Majesty Kamehameha IV. To the Hawaiian Legislature
Kamehameha IV, King of the Hawaiian Islands
Hawaii -- Politics and government -- To 1893
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 assigned 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 God 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:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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