The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1872-06-15
The First Kamehameha.

The setting apart of a day on which the Haw-
allan people shall unitedly commemorate the
character of Kamehameha l., was a peculiarly APP
p~ropriate measure. He has been styled by the
principal historian of the Islands, "a great and
good savage though We may well dispute the
business of the term savage in its general ac-
ceptation. Judged by the circumstances of his
times, he was indeed great, and his character has
not inappropriately been compared with that of the
first Napoleon. A near relation of the King of
Hawaii, by the ambition of rival chieftans and in
Eelf-defence more than from a Warlike DISPOSE
ton, he was drawn into q series of battles, first
with the chiefs of his own island, and then with
those of the other islands of the group, in all of
which his superior military genius was victorious
over numbers so that eventually he subjected the
wfsole of the islands under his sovereign control.
He was a good ruler. While his authority was
absolute, and he established the political axiom
and founded his Legislation thereon, that all the
lands in the group were his by right of conquest,
as the sole lord and proprietor of the soil,-yetit
was fairly and generously apportiOned out among
his followers, according to their rank and deserts,
and was generally confirmed to their heirs. His
fayOrs were dispensed by the rule of merit, rather
than that of rank. He had his counsellors, men
selected for their wisdom, without whose advice
he seldom decided upon any measure of impor-
lance. Perfect order throughout tie land was the
result of his Government. Anarchy that had pre-
vailed before, was by him checked, and peace was
everywhere established. The change was so great
under his reign that it became a proverb, remem-
bered by the old people to this day, that in Ka-
m~ehameha's time, the old and helpless could sleep
in safety on the highways. His system of Gov
eminent was carried on with all the th~oroughness
and precision of written code but, though he
could speak English luently from intercourse with
the foreigners about his person, he had never
learned to write. No object, however trivial. that
concerned the advantage of his people or his Gov
eminent, was beneath his notice. His laws were
strictly enforced, but they were just and equita-
bic. His native biographers are loud in their eu-
logiums of their great King, very naturally con-
trasting his character with that of those who pre-
ceded him, to whom the designation of Savage"
is properly applied. The sum of his excellencies
is thus simply presented by ! native writer, lit
orally translated
"He did not become involved in debt, nor exact much silver
from his subjects; he did not cut from a division Of land on
this side and that, till only a circular and centre piece of the
original field remained he did not by petty taxation collect
all the hens, ducks and turkeys; nor appoint days in which
his subjects were all TO labor for his exclusive benefit his
aSu were generous n constant, OF nCkle and oppTes-
sive."
At a time when the trade in spirituous liquors
was not only legalized but encouraged by all
classes, kamehameha set the wise example to his
subjects of extreme moderation in their use. and
only allowed them to be used by his immediate
followers to a certain extent. So fully awake was
he to the evil of the free use of intoxicating drinks,
that shortly before his death he strictly tabued all
distillatiOn within his Kingdom. Not a drop of
any kind of spirits was allowed to be manufac-
tured; and any infringement of this law was Wis
tied by a forfeiture or destruction of the delin-
quent's property. In this, Kamehameha will be
conceded to have earned the title of wise, as well
as great and good.
IKamehameha First, died on the Sth of May,
1919, at the age of s~ixty-six. Jarves, writing
nearly thirty years ago, declared that he might
50 be justly styled the Napoleon of the Pacific"
and concludes the summary of his character in
these words:
=. Without the worst traits Of his prototype. he possessed,
according 70 the situation he occupied, equal military skill, as
Vigorous an intellect and as keen 3 judgment, as his ilustrious
; q ike force of character in bending wills TO his
own, and = similar ingenuity in adapting circumstances 70 his
designs. Netting in intellectual or physical nature, that ar