The Hawaiian Archipelago - Six Months Among The Palm Groves, Coral Reefs, And Volcanoes Of The Sandwich Islands By Isabella L. Bird
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- "The Life Of The Land Is Established In Righteousness." In
His Reign Hawaiian Independence Was Recognised By Great Britain,
France, And America.
His Premier for some time was Mr. Wyllie, who
with a rare devotion and disinterestedness devoted his life and a
large fortune to his adopted country.
Kamehameha IV., a grandson of the Conqueror, succeeded him in 1854.
He was a patriotic prince, and strove hard to advance the
civilization of his people, and to arrest their decrease by
reformatory and sanitary measures. He was the most accomplished
prince of his line, and his death in 1863, soon after that of his
only child, the Prince of Hawaii, was very deeply regretted. His
widow, Queen Kaleleonalani, or Emma, visited England after his
death.
He was succeeded by his brother, a man of a very different stamp,
who was buried on January 11, 1873, after a partial outbreak of the
orgies wherewith the natives disgraced themselves after the death of
a chief in the old heathen days. It is rare to meet with two people
successively who hold the same opinion of Kamehameha V. He was
evidently a man of some talent and strong will, intensely patriotic,
and determined not to be a merely ornamental figure-head of a
government administered by foreigners in his name. He ardently
desired the encouragement of foreign immigration, and the opening of
a free market in America for Hawaiian produce. He ruled, as well as
reigned, and though he abrogated the constitution of 1852, and
introduced several features of absolutism into the government, on
the whole he seems to have done well by his people.
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