Historical Collections of The Hawaiian Islands -  Part 8 - The Ancients

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Historical Collections of Hawai 
Keepers of the Culture
Influence of Foreigners on the Ancients
Part 8 - Year of the turning Point-- death of the king-- Heir to the
throne, Liholiho. 
Abolition of the Kapu System.

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Part 8.

Every nation has certain years which stand out conspicuously because
they are turning points in national development or bcause of important
or spectacular events happened within them. 1819 was such a year for
Hawaii. Kamehameha died; the kapu system was overthrown; a crucial
battle was fought. In this year was put to the test the question whether
the Hawiian kingdom could survive the shock of the death of its creator.

Behind the glamor with the achievements of Kamehameha have been
surrounded, stands the hard fact that the kngdom was created by force
and that it was held together by force. All through his reign,
Kamehameha had been faced with danger of disaffection. The desertion of
Kaiana, the revolt of Namakeha, and Kaumualii's dalliance with the
Russians were overt acts showing clearly how unwillingly some of the
chiefs submitted to his authority. When Vancouver was at Kealakekua in
January, 1794, he was told by Kamehameha that there were many persons on
that island " very ill disposed to his interest " who would gladly seize
the opportunity to cause trouble between him and the Englishmen. As the
king grew to old age, the actual break-up of the kingdom when he passed
on was seen as a possibility and was even predicted. Albert von
Chamisso, a well known German naturalist who was with Kotzebue, wrote
that " after the death of te old hero, his kingdom, founded and kept
together by force, will fall to pieces, the partition of it being
already decided upon, and prepared."  Chamisso went on to state the
proposed division: Kalanimoku was to have Oahu, Keeaumoku was to have
Maui, Kaumualii would keep his kingdom of Kauai, while Kamehameha's
heir, " the weak, dull-minded " Liholiho, would be limited to the
hereditary island of Hawaii.

During his reign Kamehameha very wisely managed the internal affairs of
the kingdom in such a way as to minimize the danger of revolt. His
relations with the chiefs, disposition of lands, and arrangement of
government all tended to thwart disruptive influences, to weld the
discordant elements into a unity, and to create a sort of national
feeling; and he made such arrangements as seemed likely to insure the
peaceful succession of his son Liholiho. Kamakau states that in the
fifth year of Liholiho, he was made heir to the throne ..... and to him
was given the kapu of the temples. Kamehameha also made him head of the
office of caretaker of the gods, and he was carried by his guardians to
announce the kapu of the temples and houses of the gods on Maui and
Oahu.

In 1816 a foreigner in the service of Kamehameha informed Kotzbue that
this prince, as successor to the throne, had already begun to exercise
the rights of his father, which consist in the fulfilling of the most
important taboos. Tamaahmaah has ordered this from political motives,
that no revolution may arise after his death; for as soon as the son
fulfills the most important Taboo, he is sacred, is associated with the
priests, and noboby dare dispute the throne with him.

Kamehameha endeavored to extend and strengthen the English alliance
because he saw in it a powerful prop supporting his dynasty; and that
his just and generous treatment of foreigners was actuated to some
degree by the same motive. As he approached the evening of life,
Kamehameha set his house in order and definately fixed the succession by
giving out " publicly in the presence of the chiefs and people his
charge, that ........Liloliho was to be heir to the kingdom after his
death, which charge was observed by kapus to the gods in the temples. It
was his real wish that Liloliho take charge of the kingdom after his
death. His other charge was that the god Kukailimoku be given to .......
Kekuaokalani. The kingdom and the god were alike in nature, and were
considered objects of great responsibility in the olden days. This was
so in the days of Liloa, for he passed the two to his sons, the kingdom
to Hakau and the god Kukailimoku to Umi, but the son who took possession
of the kingdom failed to do the right thing, so the son who had the god
came into the possession of the kingdom." Kamakau the above writer just
quoted might have added that Kalaniopuu made a simular arrangement
before his death, giving the kingdom to Kiwaleo and the god to
Kamehameha, and that in this case also the prince having the god soon
possessed himself of the kingdom. With two such historical examples
before him, Kamehameha might well have hesitated to repeat the
experiment; but the outcome justified his action. Liholiho and
Kekuaokalani were cousins; if we may judge from the little information
that we have about the latter, he was a brave chief who clung to the old
kapus and religion as faithfully as Kamehameha. 

On the eighth day of May, 1819, Kamehameha died at Kailua,Hawaii. Until
his final illness, he had preserved his strength and the use of his
faculties. According to the native accounts, the king was ill for a long
time before his death, but whether that means some weeks or some months
we do not know definately. The Spaniard Marin, who had some medical
knowledge, noted in his diary, April 15, that a ship arrived at Honolulu
that day from Hawaii seeking him " to cure the king"; Marin reached
Kailua four days later and stayed there until after the death of the
king; his services proved ineffectual. The few details given by Marin
corroborate ina general way the native accounts of the passing of
Kamehameha.
When the serious nature of the king's illness was recognized, all the
powers of the Kahuna, both religious and medical, were brought to bear
upon it, but without avail. A house was built for his god--- the king
became more feeble. The priests proposed a human sacrifice, but the
dying king forbade it, saying, " the men are kapu for the king," meaning
his son Liholiho. As was customary at such times, the high chiefs
gathered about and among them was the king's foreigner, John Young.
[John Young's grand daughter Emma became the wife of Kamehameha III.]
They endeavored to get from Kamehameha his dying charge, but before it
was fully given his strength failed, and in a little while the spirit
was gone.

In the mourning for the departed cheif and in the disposition of his
body, the old customs of the country were followed, with this exception;
there was no human sacrifice. At the proper time the bones of the great
king were taken by Hoapili and his man Hoolulu and concealed in a cave
whose exact location was never revealed.
" Only the stars of the heavens know the resting place of Kamehameha.
But we do know this -- he became alike as nature, as his ancestors
before him." 

Immediately after the death of the old king, his son Liholiho, heir to
the throne, went away with his personal attendants to Kohala, where he
remained until Kailua, defiled by death, had been purified. After about
a week, he retuned for the purpose of being proclaimed king. The
ceremony of installation was a gorgeous spectacle. Along the shore,
partly on the sand and partly in the water, was a throng of the common
people; facing them, a group of chiefs, resplendant in feather cloaks
and helmets, with the dowager Queen Kaahumanu occupying the central
position. Into this assemblage came the prince, a superb figure, wearing
the royal feather cloak and helmet, beneath which gleamed the red and
gold of an English uniform. Two chiefs accompanied him, bearing the
kahiki and other emblems of his rank. As Liholiho came before the circle
of chiefs, he was met by Kaahumanu, who addressed to him these words: "
Hear me, O Divine one, for I make known to you the will of your father.
behold these chiefs and the men of your father, and these your guns, and
this your land, but you and I shall share realm together." Liholiho
assented; and thus he became king ( with the title Kamehameha II.),
Kaahumanu became kuhina-nui, and a unique system of dual government was
thereby instituted.

It may be useful here to insert a brief explanation of the position of
the Kuhina-nui and the realtionship between that functionary and the
king. The word 
Kuhina-nui is comonly translated into English a " premier or prime
minister." but neither of these expressions correctly indicates the
nature of office, which has no counterpart in European or American
government. The authority of the kuhina-nui was greater than that of a
premier or prime minister as those words are usually understood. The
term prime minister describes fairly well the office of Kalanimoku, who
continued to hold, during the reign of Kamehameha II and the early years
of Kamehameha III, the position he occupied under Kamehameha I. If we
keep in mind that the government was nearly absolute monarchy, it is not
far from the truth to say that the supreme executive power was about
equally divided between the king and the kuhina-nui. Technically and
ceremonially, the king was the highest officer in the state; inthe
routine administration of the government, the kuhina-nui was ordinarily
more active than the king. In the constitution of 1840, the office of
the kuhina-nui is explained in the following manner:

" All business connected with the special
interests of the kingdom, which the King wishes to transact, shall be
done by the Kuhina-nui under the authority of the King.
All documents and business of the kingdom executed by the Kuhina-nui
shall be considered as executed by the King;s authority ....... The
Kuhina-nui shall be the King's special counsellor in the great business
of the kingdom. The King shall not act without the knowledge of the
Kuhina-nui, nor shall the Kuhina-nui act without the knowledge of the
King, and the veto of the King on the acts of Kuhina-nui shall arrest
business. All important business of the kingdom which the King chooses
to transact in person, he may do it but not without the approbation of
the Kuhina-nui."

The creation of the office of the kuhina-nui appears to rest upon
Kaahumanu's statement of the will of Kamehameha I at the time of the
installation of Liholiho as king. It has been hinted by some writers
that Kaahumanu simply made up that statement out of her own imperious
imagination and by that means usurped the authority subsequently
exercised by her. [ Who knows the child better than the mother ? Maybe
the act may have been to protect the kingdom and keep the kingdom for
future heirs. ]  But it may be observed that there were other chiefs in
position to know what the will of Kamehameha was; and there is no
evidence that the authority of Kaahumanu as kuhina-nui was ever
challenged. So that even if it were true that she usurped her authority,
it could truefully ne said that the usurpation amounted to a bloodless
revolution and was legitimated by the universal acquiescence which it
received.
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Abolition of the Kapu System

Another episode of the year 1819, was the abolition of the Kapu system,
which occurred in the early part of November. In the accounts, it is
said that at the time of the installation of Liholiho the kapus was
discussed by some of the higher chiefs at Kailua, but the time was not
ripe for such a revolutionary change. Liholiho had first to make sure of
the loyalty of his subjects and to settle some other questions of
policy. In August, a company of French scientists and explorers headed
by Captan Louis de Freycinet visited the islands in a French warship
L'Uranie. Captain Freycinet wrote a long account of his voyage and from
this we are able to get a picture of the situation at the time of his
visit.

From John Young and from others, Freycinet learned that the political
affairs of the country were in a state of very unstable equilibrium.
Young informed him that some of the chiefs of the factions conquored by
Kamehameha continued to be secret enemies of the king and had not lost
the hope of regaining their independence. Among the dissatisfied chiefs,
Kekuaokalani especially distinguished himself by his animosity towards
Liholiho. This chief, it is recalled, was the cousin of Liholiho to whom
Kamehameha had committed the care of the war god Kukailimoku; it is
hardly possible to study the history of this period without feeling that
Kekuaokalani remembered earlier precedents and pictured himself in the
role of Umi and Kamehameha. Young went on to say that Kekuaokalani's
animosity was such that he talked of nothing less than overthrowing the
roya power and of slaughtering all the Europeans established in the
Sandwich Islands; these were the ones, accoding to him, who had
contributed most to enslave them and to concentrate the sovereignty in
the hands of a single individual. No act of hostility had as yet taken
place, but war was feared, although the young king and his friends were
making evey effort to avert it.

A council of the chiefs had been held at Kawaihae, where the young king
was residing, at which various grievances had been talked over and an
attempt made to adjust matters to the satisfaction of all. One of the
principal grievances was the monoply of the sandalwood trade, which
Kamehameha had arrogated to himself. Ultimately, Liholiho was obliged to
give the chiefs a share of this lucrative trade. Young appealed to
Captain Freycinet to offer friendship and protection to Liholiho.
The French officer accepted the suggestion and threw the weight of his
influence squarely on the side of the young king.

A few days after his conversation with John Young, Freycinet had an
interview with the king about the affairs of his government and said to
him:

" I am not ignorant of the alliance which exists between the King of the
Sandwich Islands and the King of Great Britain; the latter being also
the friend and ally of the King of France, I declare that the ship which
I command and those which come hereafter to the Sandwich Islands under
the same flag will always be disposed  to give you the assistance
calculated to maintain tranquillity of your state and the force of your
authority." I added that the "evil designs of some of the chiefs
........
were known to me and if he believed that my declaration could have any
useful influence over them, I would authorize him to make it known to
them. "

At the request of the king, Captain Freycinet repeated this declaration
in a council of chiefs called for tht purpose, which the disaffected
chief Kekuaokalani refused to attend. Freycinet added some remarks on
the disasterous effects of a civil war and the blessings which spring
from peace, commerce, and the progress of civilization. At the
conclusion of the speech, Kaahumanu called attention to a report which
she said was being circulated to the effect that the French Officer had
demanded a cession of the islands to France and that a cession had
actually been made. Freycinet denounced the report and declared that he
could not be a party to any such transaction, " even if Liholiho
himself, on his own initiative had expressed a wish to make his counrty
a dependency of France."

These declartions of Captan Freycinet gave great satisfaction to the
king and his supporters. How much effect they had on the local situation
it is impossible to say. What we do know is that there was no immediate
outbreak against the authority
of King Liholiho. The rebellion came a few months later, after the
overthrow of the Kapu system.

The train of circumstances leading up to the final act of abolition of
the kapus and the old religious system cannot easily be traced in
detail. The accounts are conflicting and about all we can do is to
attempt a rather general sketch of the movement. At the onset it must be
emphasized that this revolution, affecting 
as it did the fundimental beliefs of a whole people fixed in their
consciousness by centuries of observance, was not the work of a day or
of a few weeks and was not the mere capricious act of an absolute
monarch. As Alexander and other writers have pointed out, it was the
result of 
" deep-seated and widespread causes which had been at work for more than
a quarter of a century."

The example of the foreigners, their disregard of kapu, and their
occasional efforts to convince the Hawaiians by arguement that their
system was wrong, were the most potent forces undermining the beliefs of
the people. There were incidents related by visitors to the islands
showing that some of the people were willing to disregard the kapus if
they could do this without being seen by the priests and chiefs. Some of
the people evidently sensed the fact that the gods would not punish them
if the priests knew nothing about their violations of kapu. Kaahumanu
had eaten bananas secretly without any ill consequences. Her brother
Keeaumoku is known to have spoken contemptuously of the whole system
even before the death of Kamehaeha I. The Hawaiians had heard of the
overthrow of the kapu and religious system in the Society Islands by
King Pomare and this no doubt had influence in Hawaii. It is said that a
certain priest Kapihe, in the presence if Kamehameha I, had fortold the
fall of the kapus.

The overthrow of the old system is symbolized by the free eating ( ai
noa ) 
--- as opposed to kapu eating ( ai kapu)
--- was the first overt manifestion of the change. This question of
eating takes a large place in the history of the movement. The eating
kapus were the most irksome and humiliating to women; at this time there
were two female chiefs who had a very powerful influence in the affairs
of the nation; Keopuolani, mother of Liholiho and the highest ranking
alii in the kingdom; and Kaahumanu, who shared the government with
Liholiho. After the death of Kamehameha I, both of these powerful (
wives ) chiefesses favored the overthrow of the old system. Some
authorities state that immediately after the installation of the king,
Kaahumanu proposed to him that the kapus be disregarded and she
announced her own intention to disregard them. The king, it is said,
remained silent and withheld his consent. Then Keopuolani, who was
present, " was touched with love for Kaahumanu because her proposal was
refused. She thought perhaps that the proposal might eventually bring
upon Kaahumanu the extreme vengeance of violated tabu." Keopuolani
therefore sent for her son Kauikeaouli. the younger brother of Liholiho,
and ate with him in defiance of the kapu. Liholiho permitted this, but
refrained from any violation of the kapu himself.

One interesting and significant point during this period is the attitude
of Kekuaokalani. That chief was not present in Kailua when Liholiho was
invested with the kingship. Kamakau in one place says that this was
because Kekuaokalani was sick at Kawaihae, but another place he says it
was because Kekuaokalani feared the free eating that was already going
on at Kailua. Kekuaokalani tried to dissuade Liholiho from going back to
Kailua, and when Liholiho announced he was going, Kekuaokalani advised
him not to indulge in free eating. At first the king allowed this
advise, but as weeks and months passed the pressure upon him to declare
in favor of free eating became stronger and stronger. From all evidence
it seems  not unlikely that the young king was confronted finally with a
dilemma; on one side, he could go with Kekuaokalani and stick to the old
customs, upholding the ancient religion and the kapus; or he might on
the other hand, go the party of Kaahumanu and Keopuolani and indulge in
free eating, which od course was only a symbol for the abandonment of
the old system. It was not an easy question to decide. It must not be
forgotten that Liholiho's training and chiefly prerogatives would
naturally lead him to uphold the kapu system as his father had done.
From this standpoint the abolution of the kapus
was contrary to his interests. He talked with his kahuna -nui, Hawahewa,
and the latter told him it would be a good thing to abolish the kapus
and abandon the gods. 

When the young king had finally made his decision and was on the point
of putting it into execution, he caused a feast to be prepared at
Kailua, to which all the leading chiefs and several foreigners were
invited. Two tables were set in te European fashion, one for men and one
for women. After the guets were seated and and begun to eat, the king
took two or three rounds of each table, as if to see what was passed at
each; and then suddenly seated himself in a vacant chair at the women's
table and begun to eat voraciouly, which the chiefs were much perturbed.
The guests, astonished at this act, clapped their hands and cried out 
" the eating tabu is broken."

When the meal was over, the king issued orders to destroy the heiaus and
burn the idols, and this was done from one end of the kingdom to the
other. Marin shows that on November 6, orders were received in Honolulu
from the king directing that men and women should eat together and
should eat equally of the foods formally prohibited to the women; on the
following day women ate pork and the heiaus were destroyed.
  
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Continued in part 9.