Under Hawaiian skies, a narrative of the romance, adventure and history of the Hawaiian Islands, a complete historical account, by Albert Pierce Taylor.

384

UNDER HA\VAIIAN SKIES

sonal powers of the kinog by Kalakaua within ten years after he
became ruler caused the foreign residents of Honolulu to hold
indignation meetings and adopt resolutions of censure of the
king and his ministry, and required him to sign a modern Constitution, taking away his personal powers of administration.
This was called the famous "'Bayonet Constitution."
The new constitution of Kamehameha V provided that the
"kingdom is his," and centralized much political power in the
hands of the ruler; made his person sacred, his ministers responsil)le to him, not to the people. He ignored the theory of "free
and( equal" birth; and prescried the property and intellectual
qualifications for voters.
In his reign many public improvements were launched, such as
fine public buildings. These reached their zenith in the reign
of Kalakaua when the new palace was built and occupied (1883).
Kamehameha V's government was animated by a spirit of enterprise befitting a larger sphere of action.
But what constituted tle golden days of the Kamehamehas?
It was possibly due somewhat to the isolated life of the people,
far away from other worlds, without wireless or telegraph, without telephones andl automobiles. There seemed to be an air of
contentment. What mattered it if there was no news from the
outside world for a fortnight or more? Life went on slowly
and charmingly. There was a plenitude of provender froml sea
and land. IEvervthing revolved about the royal court. Here is a
typlical ceremony of the opening of the parliament, or legislature,
in the reignt of Kamehamleha V, as (lescril)ed by William R. BJliss:
"The Parlianwent of Paradise meets in Honolulu on the last
day of April in each alternate year. Its meeting is an event
whicl astolishes the natives and gives the white people an olpportunity to air tleir well-preserved fashions in the splendor of a
royal court.
"A stranger can see that something unusual is at hand, from
the street sights. National, consular and society flags are flying,
from the hundred flagstaffs which adorn the city. Natives dressed in clean cottons, their hair sleek with cocoanut oil, their heads