The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1874-01-10
Thirty Days of Hawaiian HistOry-2.
BY SANFORD b. o L
The Succession to The Throne.

IN the day AFTER lue mug : utAtus us N1Olh
Ministers issued an order, calling a meeting Of the
Legislature for the eighth Of January for the Pur-
pose Of electing a new king.
The possible candidates for the Office were His
Royal Highness, Prince William Charles Lunalllo,
Mrs Bernice Pauahi Bishop, Queen Dowager Emma
and Colonel Kalakaua. OF these, Prince Lunalilo held
the highest rank and influence, his cOuntrymen gen.
orally according him the position of highest chief by
blood in the kingdom. He was about thirty-eight
years old, had never married and was an educated
and accomplished gentleman. During the late reign
he had been unpopular with the administration, hay-
ing been studiously sighted by the King and de-
prived Of all honor, emolument or participation in
the government. His only official position remain
ing, being the hereditary one Of noble which gave
him a seat in the upper side OF the Legislature and
which the government was powerless to affect.
Mrs. Bishop ranks among the highest of the chiefs
Of the kingdom. She was the wife of Mr.. c. r.
Bishop, an American living in Honolulu, and enjoy
ed a wide popularity among the people.
Queen Emma is well known throughout the civil
lied world, and was popular among the HaWaiians.
Colonel Kalakaua belonged to a family of rank
and distinction among the chiefs of the kingdom.
He is a man of education and industrious habits,
and during the late reign held some civil position
under the government and had a commission in the
Hawaiian army as a Colonel.
During the first few days after the Kings death
there were many indefinite rumors ahoat in regard
to these different individuals, about what they said;
what others said about them; what they wanted and
hoped for and what they did not want and hope for.
Naturally also they became the subjects Of much
criticism. Their lives were reviewed, their charac-
tiers were weighed and compared, and their respect
i've capacity for guiding the ship of state, discussed
- 81 IL --sL1 - =
all this agitation Prince Lunalilo appeared to hold
the first place in the popular heart. A large mass
meeting which was held at the Kaumakapili church
in Honolulu for the stated purpose of passing reso-
lutions Of coincidence to the sister of the deceased
King, after having performed that pious duty, pro-
ceeded at once to what was evidently the real object
of the meeting, and passed a resolution amid general
applause nominating the Prince as the successor to
the throne. In other parts of the islands also many
impromptu meetings were held and generally with
auy Uf the canuIuaTes anu the days auvveeuIug ruv
royal demise passed anxiously. There was no prece-
dent in Hawaiian history for such an emergency,
and many were alarmed lest during the interregnum,
under the excitement of opposing political interests,
Nth the large numbers Or people who fockcd to the
capital, lawlessness might arise and acts of violence
be perpetrated, and the more especially as in old
times the death of a ruling chief was the signal for
q carnival of unrestrained license of every kind; but
the only instances of any remnant of this custom
we're the nightly mourning orgies in the Palace
grounds, and a feeble mutiny in the national prison
at Honolulu on the day of the Kings death. On
this occasion, some of the prisoners rose on the jailer
and attempted to escape, arguing that with the
Kings death, law had ceased to exist, and logically
concluding by virtue thereof that ~punishments also
properly came to an end.
Business went on through these days, apparently
as usual. The courts of justice remained open and
transacted their special duties; and criminal cases
were prosecuted in the name of the King the same
as while he was living. Still, though there was no
standstnl in affairs, the shadow of q great crisis rest
ed on the land. Vague, indefinite and unknown, all
men felt its gloom and looked anxiously forward to
the end. Trade dropped under it and heavily and
slow passing day. \ hush of waiting for some I'M
comprehended solution mufied the din of traffic and
forbade the merry music of festive reunions. Every
evening from seven O'Clock till midnight the spacious
Palace grounds were open to the natives who throng-
ed thither in crowds to offer their tribute of mourn
ing for the dead King, who lay in his coffin in the
throne room Of the Palace, guarded by detachments
of the royal troops. Nightly, till the funeral, the
sound Of these lamentations rose on the air, in every
variety of requiem from civilized psalm-tune chorals
and sad plaintive melodies of their own composition,
to the regular kanikaus and hopelessly desrairing
walls of the olden time, with their hideous accom-
paniment of hula drums, gourd and bamboo time
beaters and wierd gesticulations.