Daily Archives: March 1, 2015

The 1874 speech of Leleiohoku at Kalaupapa, 1891.

Posted on by
Reply

THE SPEECH OF THE REGENT, PRINCE LELEIOHOKU, AT THE COLONY OF KALAUPAPA, MOLOKAI.

November 28, 1874.

O Citizens of the Alii, King Kalakaua I., a fraction of his people, aloha to you.

This was the day that we gained the independence of this our mother country, and it is a day for you, Hawaiian people, to rejoice.

In this rejoicing however, there is also something to be anguished and mournful about, for if you turn and look back, there is not your wife, or children, or your family, or the rest, if you are a man who was separated here by the government to come to Kalaupapa; auwe, this is something that pains his heart for his companion, his wife; and so too for the woman who grieves for her husband; and the parent who grieves for his child, and the child for his parent, and so forth.

O Makaainana of King Kalakaua I., living in this friendless land, you have but one friend, that being the protection of the government.

This painful burden that you have been stricken with does not come through the control of the child of man, but comes from God.

Therefore, all you makaainana who have aloha for your alii, I am one of your parents, but I am powerless to divert the power of the law, for I am but a student of the law; yet it pains me to see you, O Beloved makaainana; I first saw some of you turning your faces away from mine.

But should there be a time in the future, when the rule falls totally upon me, then that will be the time when I will search out and put my efforts into finding relief for all of us, but that lies in the hands of the one who created us.

Therefore, O Beloved makaainana, do forgive me, and may the power of the Lord help us all.

[You never know where you will find information. I have not been able to find mention of this speech by Leleiohoku in 1874, but 17 years later…]

(Leo o ka Lahui, 9/25/1891, p. 2)

KA HAIOLELO A KE KAHU AUPUNI, KE KEIKI ALII LELEIOHOKU...

Ka Leo o ka Lahui, Buke II, Helu 289, Aoao 2. Sepatemaba 25, 1891.

Leleiohoku, the Prince Regent, 1874.

Posted on by
Reply

THE FIRST PUBLIC SPEECH

By His Highness

THE ALII WILLIAM PITT LELEIOHOKU,

Before the Citizens at Ewa, Oahu.

[Ewa’s makaainana are surely very proud that they were victorious, hearing the words from His Highness, the Chief, and the Crowned Prince of the Nation, W. P. Leleiohoku, on Saturday, April 25, 1874. Because of the excellence of the content, and that this is the very first of his speeches, and because of the great desire and admiration for it, therefore, we are putting it before the public to admire it for themselves, to see the intelligent expression from the Young Prince. Ed.]

O Citizens:—My naau¹ is filled with joy to see upon your faces this day, a sign telling me that your loving hearts are encouraged by the astute remarks of our King spoken of in his royal address pertaining to one of the foundations of His Kingdom, that being

“The Increase of the Lahui.”

The is an important question which our King puts before you, and not just you, but before all of the citizens of His Kingdom from Hawaii to Kauai; it is a wide, deep, and lingering question. And this is the appropriate time for us to raise this question to consider it, being that the lahui continues to decrease, from the conditions as shown in the dark ages gone by.

As I speak on the subject of this question, let us look to the future, and consider the character of the One who asked this question, that being our current King. He did not simply take up [lawe kamako²] this endeavor, or do it on his own; he carefully considered it, trusting in your patience in helping Him in search out means to rejuvenate this lahui. Continue reading →

Shark attack, 1874.

Posted on by
Reply

Fight with a Fish.—While a party of native fishermen were in the sea at Waikiki, a shark attacked one of them, seizing his thumb, and in extricating it from the shark’s jaw, the flesh was stripped clean off from the third joint to the tip of the thumb, leaving the bones bare. The fish was then chased by the party of fishermen, but instead to steering for the open sea, again attacked the man whose hand he had bitten, in this instance seizing him by the thigh, and inflicting two horrible gashes, from which it will take weeks for him to recover. The fishermen beat the infuriated shark so lustily with their paddles that they soon killed him, and dragged him ashore, where the old wonded man ordered that he be burnt, which was done.

(Hawaiian Gazette, 5/20/1874, p. 3)

Fight with a Fish.

The Hawaiian Gazette, Volume X, Number 20, Page 3. May 20, 1874.