Liliʻuokalani - Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen

After making the tour of Hawaii, Prince Lot, accompanied by his guests, returned as far as the island of Maui, where it is possible we might have remained longer had it not been for the illness of his brother, the reigning king. Having been notified that this was approaching a fatal termination, and that his presence was required at the capital, His Royal Highness returned at once to Honolulu, where Alexander, Kamehameha IV., died on Nov. 30, 1863, after a reign of nine years, and being at the time of his death still a young man of twenty-nine. His widow, Queen Emma, although once a candidate for the throne, was never again in public life. She went abroad, however, in 1865, being received in England in a manner becoming her rank. She returned to Honolulu in 1866 on the United States ship Vanderbilt, commanded by Admiral Henry Knox Thatcher, only to learn at once of a new affliction in the death of her adopted mother, Mrs. T. C. B. Rooke.

On the accession to the throne of Prince Lot as Kamehameha V., the last of the Hawaiian monarchs to bear that name, my husband was at once appointed his private secretary and confidential adviser, which position he occupied during the entire reign. The king was surrounded by his own people, with whom he was in perfect accord, but showed this mark of royal favor to my husband simply because he preferred to advise with him on matters of public importance. My husband was further made governor of the island on which Honolulu is situated; and although the appointment was nominally for four years, yet it was always renewed, without the least discussion or hesitation, as long as he lived. It was a part of his official duty to make a tour of the whole island at least once a year; this was always rendered a most agreeable excursion, and I invariably accompanied him in the journey. Besides this position he held other offices of importance under the Hawaiian government, being at one time governor of the island of Maui; commissioner of the administration of the crown lands; attached to the suite of my brother, the late King Kalakaua, on his visit to this country in 1874 in the interest of reciprocity; and finally being a member of the Hawaiian embassy which visited this country and Great Britain in 1887, representing our nation at the Queen's Jubilee. But in the fall of 1891, Governor Dominis, who was then lieutenant-general of the kingdom with the rank of His Royal Highness Prince Consort, was in rapidly failing health; and on the 27th of August of that year, seven months after my accession to the throne, he died. His remains were laid in state in the palace; and on Sunday, Sept. 6, he was buried with royal honors.

His death occurred at a time when his long experience in public life, his amiable qualities, and his universal popularity, would have made him an adviser to me for whom no substitute could possibly be found. I have often said that it pleased the Almighty Ruler of nations to take him away from me at precisely the time when I felt that I most needed his counsel and companionship.

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THE Hawaiian people have been from time immemorial lovers of poetry and music, and have been apt in improvising historic poems, songs of love, and chants of worship, so that praises of the living or wails over the dead were with them but the natural statement of their feelings. My ancestors were peculiarly gifted in this respect, and yet it is remarkable that there are few if any written compositions of the music of Hawaii excepting those published by me.

In my school-days my facility in reading music at sight was always recognized by my instructors. At the schools I attended, and of which mention has already been made, there was one boy by my side who could read the airs of new tunes which the teachers were anxious to introduce to the pupils. His name, I remember, was Willie Andrews. The untried music was handed to us; and we sang it by note, the rest of the pupils following by ear until the whole assembly were acquainted with the new music. After leaving school, my musical education was continued from time to time as opportunity offered, but I scarcely remember the days when it would not have been possible for me to write either the words or the music for any occasion on which poetry or song was needed. To compose was as natural to me as to breathe; and this gift of nature, never having been suffered to fall into disuse, remains a source of the greatest consolation to this day. I have never yet numbered my compositions, but am sure that they must run well up to the hundreds. Of these not more than a quarter have been printed, but the most popular have been in such demand that several editions have been exhausted. Hours of which it is not yet in place to speak, which I might have found long and lonely, passed quickly and cheerfully by, occupied and soothed by the statement of my thoughts in music; and even when I was denied the aid of any instrument I could transcribe to paper the tones of my voice.

In the early years of the reign of Kamehameha V. he brought to my notice the fact that the Hawaiian people had no national air. Each nation, he said, but ours had its statement of patriotism and love of country in its own music; but we were using for that purpose on state occasions the time-honored British anthem, "God save the Queen." This he desired me to supplant by one of my own composition. In one week's time I notified the king that I had completed my task. The Princess Victoria had been the leader of the choir of the Kawaiahao church; but upon her death, May 29, 1866 I assumed the leadership. It was in this building and by that choir that I first introduced the "Hawaiian National Anthem." The king was present for the purpose of criticising my new composition of both words and music, and was liberal in his commendations to me on my success. He admired not only the beauty of the music, but spoke enthusiastically of the appropriate words, so well adapted to the air and to the purpose for which they were written.

This remained in use as our national anthem for some twenty years or more, when my brother composed the words of the Hawaii Ponoi. He was at the time the reigning king, and gave directions to the master of the band to set these to music. He, being a German, found some composition from his own country which he deemed appropriate; and this has been considered of late years our national air.

In the changes of the past few years, the words written by His Majesty Kalakaua have been found no longer adapted to public occasions; so while the music is still played, such sentiments as "Look to the people" have been substituted for the ancient injunction to "Look to the king."

In the year 1869 the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Alfred of England, arrived in the harbor of Honolulu, being in command of Her Britannic Majesty's ship-of-war Galatea. As soon as the king learned of the duke's presence he made special preparations for his reception; and for his better accommodation on shore he assigned for his use the residence of the late Kekuanaoa, who died in November of the preceding year. My own mother having died about three months prior to the arrival of the Galatea, I was not taking part in any festivities, being in retirement from society. But this was considered an exceptional occasion, and the king signified his wish to me that I would not fail to do it honor. So at his specific request I gave a grand luau at my Waikiki residence, to which were invited all those connected with the government, indeed, all the first families of the city, whether of native or foreign birth. Major J.H. Wodehouse, so long the ambassador of Great Britain at Honolulu, had just arrived with Mrs. Wodehouse; and they were of the invited guests, the prince specially inviting them to drive out to my house with him. I suppose the feast would be styled a breakfast in other lands, for it was to begin at eleven o'clock in the forenoon. The sailor-prince mounted the driver's box of the carriage, and taking the reins from that official, showed himself an expert in the management of horses. All the members of the royal family of England are, I understand, excellent horsemen; and in doing this the Duke of Edinburgh was only following customs to which he had been trained in his own land. The Queen Dowager Kalama, widow of Kamehameha III., drove out to Waikiki in her own carriage of state, accompanied by her adopted son, Kunuiakea, and my sister, Miriam Likelike; these two being at that time betrothed in marriage, although the latter married Hon. A. S. Cleghorn, and became the mother of the Princess Kaiulani. The drivers of these carriages wore the royal feather shoulder-capes, and the footmen were also clad in like royal fashion. It was considered one of the grandest occasions in the history of those days, and all passed off as becoming the high birth and commanding position of our visitor. The guests were received with every mark of courtesy by my husband and myself, as well as by His Majesty Kamehameha V., who was one of the first arrivals. When the prince entered he was met by two very pretty Hawaiian ladies, who advanced, and, according to the custom of our country, decorated him with leis , or long, pliable wreaths of flowers suspended from the neck.