The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1880-01-03

BY Ills E~XCELLENCY JOHN NJ. KAPENA, MINISTER
OF FOREIGN RELATIONS,
On ne Occasion Of Laying tie Corner Stone Of the Near RQyal
Palace, Honolulu, December 81, 1879.
Your lLqjesfes, Chiefs and he People:

the Chief Justice and myself to make some remarks respect
ing the solemn and important ceremony of to-day. We are
gathered here together this morning to assist in laying the
corner stone of the new home for the Kings of Hawaii nei
The project has been for several years under consideration,
and at the last session of the Legislature an appropriation was
made for commencing this work. His Majesty the King has
decided that the Palace should be erected on this spot, sacred
to the memories which cluster about it of his Royal prede-
cessors now passed away.
The ancient Chiefs were remarkable for their fondness of
travelling from one part of the Islands to another, thereby
evincing a spirit of enterprise and cultivating a talent for
government, This was strikingIy illustrated in Kamehameha
himself, who when he found that by his own bravery and
indomitable will he had become master of the larger portion
of the Island of Hawaii, he Immediately left his home in fer
tile Kailua, and removed to the barren, sundried sea-beach
of Kawaihae. At first glance, this would seem a strange
proceeding ON the part OF the King, but it was only an
evidence of his superior wisdom. He collected about him
the captured chiefs, his own immediate warriors and his wise
councillors, and kept them continually with him, all depend
ing upon the King for their food and other necessaries of life,
which came from his own s%torehouses, and were divided
among them under his own supervision. BY this proceeding
the chiefs became entirely dependent upon Kamehameha;
moreover, it was rendered entirely impossible to carry on any
conspiracy or rebelious movement, for they had no means
of their own to feed or support any of their adherents.
Under these circumstances, the Kings wise men and council
lors advised him to erect the temple of PuukOhola, at
Kawaihae, Hawaii, as a means of e~ntrapping KeOua, the
relation Of his. thus came about the downfall of Keoua,
the possession and complete triumph of Kamehameha over
the entire Island of Hawaii.
Subsequent to this event, the seat of Government was
removed to the Island of Maui. The policy of removing the
seat OF Government to the place recently conquered was a
wise one. For if we will consider the traditional history of
the conquest of the country, we shall perceive that in the
places last conquered the chiefs and the court were always
retained together and we shall understand that the great
reason of this policy was to render the people ofthe conquered
provinces quiet and eontented with their condition under
their new chiefs, whom they were thus brought to recognize
as their undoubted conquerOrs.
AT Lahaina the seat of Government was at first attempted
to be established by the chiefs, and the Court to be retained
at that place, and in consequence Of which the Hale Puha
was erected as a palace, but which in after years became "A
courthouse and continued such up to the time o IL demon
ton. Another reason which has forcibly impressed upon my
mind the belief that the chiefs intended to settle themselves
permanently at Lahaina, is the fact, that at that place they
first commenced an actual system of government by defining
the different apartments there was also convened the first
Legislature that ever existed IN HawaH mel, which at that
sitting produced the now celebrated Blue Laws of Luaehu.
But as is too often the case with the hopes and aspirations
of the sons of men, the fixed intentions OF the chiefs were
doomed to disappointment. The seat of Government was
Withdrawn from Lahaina to Oahu, owing to the importance
of the harbor of Honolulu, its central position IN the group,
and subsequently the large increase of the population OF tins
city. The advice and persuasions of the principal chiefs and
councillors induced King kaulkeaouI, styled kamehameha
III, to remove the Government to Oahu III the year 1913,
and he took up his residence in the Haleuluhe at Peekane,
in the vicinity where now stands the Episcopal Church.
Subsequently, in the month of July, a.. ID: 1914, Kekuanaoa
commenced to erect the building recently demolished, known
at that time by the name of IIanailOia. 1t has been said that
in olden times a large HEINZ or temple extended to this spot,
for the Princess Victoria Kamamalu, but Kamehameha III
took possession of it as a palace, and from that time it was
Kekuanaoa erected the old palace, the grounds were not so
spacious as they are at present. On the western corner was
subsequently he commenced to erect a large stone house, the
walls Q when Cny appghaaea - ao1 We gI connn VIZ heI pw rau
sold by his son, the late Kamehameha V.
the Premier erected her house. When John Young was
Premier, he built and lived in Kinau Hale. There, in that
house HOihoikea, were transacted some of the most important
affairs connected with the history of Hawaii and of the
Hawaiian race There lived and died Kamehameha III, and
within its walls were held many an important council to de.
eide the interests of this nation, their advancement and their
prosperity. The name Hoihoikea was i'm commemoration OF
the restoration Of the sovereignty and the flag of Hawaii nei
by Admiral Thomas. During the reign of Kamehameha V, !
Cabinet councils were frequently held there. There was
held the council which called the Constitutional Convention,
the result of which was the abrogatIon of the Constitution of
1852 and the PRONUNCIATION of the present one. There
Kamehamcha V, he of the strong mind, humbly s~uccumbed
to his fate, and thus passed away the last of the Kamehameha
dynasty. In that house also the present reigning family met
with their first great grief, and far distant be the day when
they shall be called to mourn another void in the family.
There, in the premises of Pohukaina, was erected the tomb
of the departed chiefs, and at the entrance of that sacred
place was placed the body of John Young. one of Kameha-
meha's intimate friends. In order that the spot may not
be forgotten where that tomb once stood, the King has
caused a mound to be raised there, crowned with ferns and
flowers in memory OF those who sleep beneath it.
Doubtless the memory Is yet green of that nevertO-be-
forgotten night when the remains OF the departed chiefs were
removed to the Royal Mausoleum IN the valley. Perhaps
the world had never witnessed u procession more weird and
solemn than that which conveyed the bodies of the chiefs
through our streets, accompanied on each side by thousands
of people until the mausOeum was reached, the entire scene
and procession being lighted by large kukui torches, while
the surrounding darkness brought in striking relief the
cofins on their bIers. Truly we cannot forget the w%eirdness,
the soIemnty, and the affecting scene afforded by that
strange midnight procession !
The last house that was recently demolished was known
on the makai side as Kauluhinano, and rs ImkapukaEaUi on
the mauka side, erected by Kamehameha " for his Queen
I'M