Chapter III: Part 3

I regard a regency by the Queen, in cases of temporary vacancy
of the Throne, or during a minority of the Heir Apparent, as
the best means to secure a wise and safe exercise of regal
authority, with proper regard to the rights of all persons. It
would be a safe depository of power, for no one can feel a
more sincere interest for the honor and prosperity of the
Kingdom than the Queen Consort, and the mother of the Heir
Apparent. Amendments which will secure these objects, you will
regard as the part of wisdom to adopt.

There are some minor amendments which will be submitted, to
which I do not regard it as essential more particularly to
advert. Of their wisdom and propriety I am fully impressed.

Relying upon your wisdom and your devotion to the integrity
and prosperity of my Kingdom, I have the most entire
confidence that the amendments proposed will receive your most
careful consideration.

AUGUST 28, 1860.

_His Majesty's Speech at the Prorogation of the Legislature of 1860._

NOBLES AND REPRESENTATIVES:--In meeting you to-day at the
close of your session, I have first to ask you to join with me
in returning thanks to the Ruler of all nations for His
beneficent providence in restoring to health one of your
number from that dangerous illness with which he has been
afflicted, whose loss would have been a grievous calamity to
the welfare of my Kingdom.[B]

I beg to congratulate you on the termination of your labors,
and trust that the new enactments passed by your joint wisdom
may prove to be for the advantage and welfare of my people.

I have to thank you, Gentlemen of the House of
Representatives, for the provisions you have made for the
expenses of the State during the current biennial period.

While I regret with you, Nobles and Representatives, that,
owing to the near approach to the termination of this session,
you have been unable to take final action on the Amendments to
the Constitution submitted to you with my late Message, I
fully concur in the wisdom of your course--as made known to me
by your Joint Committee--in deferring that important subject
for that more mature consideration it requires.

Nobles and Representatives, in conformity with the
Constitution, I now and hereby do declare this session of the
Legislature to be prorogued.

[Footnote B: The King here refers to H. R. H. Prince Kamehameha, who had been dangerously ill.]

NOVEMBER 28, 1860.

_Replies of His Majesty to the Addresses of the Diplomatic and Consular Corps, on the occasion of the Anniversary of the Joint Declaration by Great Britain and France of the 28th of November, 1843, Recognizing this Kingdom as an Independent State._

His Majesty, in reply to Mr. Perrin, H. I. M.'s Commissioner, expressed himself deeply gratified with the repeated kind offices of the two Governments, whose congratulations had been so happily tendered by His Excellency, and his confidence in the continuation of the same friendly relations.

And to Mr. Green, who had addressed His Majesty on behalf of himself as H. B. M. Acting Commissioner and Consul General, and of the Consular Corps, His Majesty replied:

For the congratulations you have just offered in so genuine a
form, that any doubt as to their sincerity would be
impossible, I offer you my kind thanks. The Consular corps has
always sympathized with me and my people in everything that
regards the real and physical prosperity of these islands.
Indeed it could not be otherwise, for commerce makes our
interests identical. It is with great pleasure that I see on
this occasion the officers of a ship of war of that nation
which concurred in the initiation of the declaration of the
independence of these islands, the anniversary of which
gracious act we this day celebrate.

FEBRUARY 9, 1861.

_His Majesty's Replies To the Addresses of the Diplomatic Corps, and to the Consuls of Foreign Nations, Congratulating Him on the Anniversary of His 27th Birth-day._

His Majesty replied to M. Perrin and the members of the Diplomatic Corps in the following gracious terms:

GENTLEMEN:--For the congratulations you have just offered me
on the recurrence of the anniversary of my birthday, I thank
you very kindly indeed. I do indeed hope that further
experience may offer me new lights by which to be directed in
my endeavors to secure prosperity to all who dwell within this
Kingdom. But let me assure you that your felicitations on this
occasion cannot fail to stimulate and encourage me, for they
show that at least up to this very day the large and
predominating powers you represent, are good enough to survey
with satisfaction, and through you, Gentlemen, to express
their satisfaction for the present, and their hopes for the
future, in the conduct of my Government, and with God's help,
I will not disappoint them. In justice to myself and your kind
expressions connected with the names of the Queen and our son,
I must express the peculiar pleasure with which that portion
of your address has filled me.

To Mr. Reiners and all other Consuls of foreign nations, his Majesty made the following gracious answer:

GENTLEMEN:--To congratulations so warm and so flatteringly
addressed, it is difficult to reply so as to be satisfied that
I have done justice to your feelings as they have this moment
been expressed. I and my house have, indeed, a great deal for
which to be thankful to Divine Providence, and on this
twenty-seventh anniversary of my birthday, I cannot but be
sensible of the debt I owe to the King of Kings. Any occasion
which is converted into an opportunity for the expression of
satisfaction and cordiality on the part of those who represent
great external interests, must be gratifying to one whose
position is a difficult one, even when things are at the very
best, if due allowance be made for the number of conflicting
interests to be respected, and more than that, fostered.

At a time when our commerce is drooping from causes beyond the
control of any Government, it is a source of high satisfaction
to me to receive so many well wishes for the continuance of my
rule from gentlemen so perfectly adapted as yourselves to
judge of the benefits which my reign is likely to bestow. On
the part of the Queen and the Prince of Hawaii, I thank you,
most kindly and sincerely, for your prayers in their behalf.

Transcriber's note

Minor punctuation errors have been corrected without notice. The following words were spelled in two different ways and were not changed:

birthday, birth-day

preeminently, pre-eminently

interisland, inter-island

A few obvious typographical errors have been corrected and are listed below.

Page 15: "to be regreted" changed to "to be regretted".

Page 16: "circumstances that will alway" changed to "circumstances that
will always".

Page 19: "these island" changed to "these islands".

Page 19: "I forsee a high" changed to "I foresee a high".

Page 24: "an Hospital established" changed to "a Hospital established".

Page 34: "Prince may develope" changed to "Prince may develop".

Page 34: "child is your's" changed to "child is yours".

Page 36: "Prorogueing the Legislature" changed to "Proroguing the
Legislature".

Page 36: "an Hospital in Honolulu" changed to "a Hospital in Honolulu".