Statewide County HI Archives News.....The British in Hawai'i - Part 2 July 17, 2008 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/hi/hifiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Darlene E. Kelley http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374 August 3, 2008, 7:07 pm Keepers Of The Culture, A Study In Time Of The Hawaiian Islands July 17, 2008 Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Darlene E. Kelley donkyskid@webtv.net July 17, 2008. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Historical Collections of Hawai'i Keepers of the Culture A Study in Time, of the Haai'ian islands. British in Hawai'i -- Part 2. by Darlene E. Kelley ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Part 2-- British in Hawai'i In the late 1830s marked an official takeover of Hawai'i by Great Britain. This began with an appointment by the British government of Richard Charlton as consular agent to oversee British interests in Hawai'i and the Society Islands. Charlton was a trader with business interests in Hawai'i, including Kaua'i's first cattle ranch on lands above Hanalei, now known as Princeville. Charlton wished to make Hawai'i part of Great Britain, and initiated a major diplomatic problem. His desire was answered all the way from the U.S. Capital in Washington by Daniel Webster who told the British government that Hawai'i should remain independent Charlton complained that British interests were bing treatened in Hawai'i Rear Admiral Richard Thomas, commander of the British squadron in the Pacific, sent the frigate Carysfort to investigate, arriving on February 10, 1843. Commander Lord George Paulet of France warned Kamehameha III, threatening an attack on Honolulu. The King temporaily ceded the Hawai'ian Kingdom to Great Britain, fearing the French were on their way to attack Hawai'i. The British flag was raised over each island, and many Hawai'ian flags were destroyed. A queen's regiment of Hawai'ian soldiers formed to pledge allegiance to Victora, and three Hawai'ian schooners were renamed the Albert, the Adelaide, and the Victoria. Dr. Gerret Judd, a prime minister of sorts for Hawai'i before the takeover, protested and secretly took Hawai'ian government records into the royal tomb in Honolulu, storing them on the coffin of Ka'ahunanu. As soon as Admiral Thomas, then in Valparaiso, Chili, learned of the doings of Paulet, he sailed for Honolulu aboard the frigate Dublin. Thomas met with Kameameha III and quickly restored the Hawai'ian Kingdom. On July 31, a restoration ceremony was held east of downtown Honolulu, at a place now known as Thomas Square. At a colorful ceremony, the Hawai'ian flag was raised and the guns of the warships in Honolulu Harbor were shot off. In the afternoon a thanksgiving service was held at Kawalahao Church and Kamehameha III uttered the words " Ua mau ke ea o ka aina i ka pono " [ The life of the land is preserved by righteousness. ] which is today the motto of the State of Hawai'i. British trading in Hawai'i began on a commercially viable level in 1834 when the Hudson Bay Company set up shop, exchanging lumber from the Pacific Northwest for Hawai'ian products and for cash brought to Hawai'i by other foreigners. In 1840, a shipment of English goods arrived aboard the barque Forager from London. The cargo sent with hopes of driving off the Yankees (US ) off the islands and out of the Pacific. However,the immense Hudson's Bay Company failed to monopolize trade in the islands. Other British traders arrived, including Starkey, Janion & Co ., which became Theo H. Davies & Co., Ltd., which is still a prominent firm in Honolulu. With the advent of Victorian Age, the Hawai'ian monarchy departed from its Congressionalist ties and during the reign of Kamehameha IV joined the Episcopal Church, the American wing of the Church of England. The young King and his Queen Emma rquested in 1859 that priests be sent to Hawai'i. The Royal couple promised land for a church and financial support from the Kingdom. Originally the church was to be joint American and English effort, but the coming of the Civil War ended the American participation, as the Episcopal Church was then closely associated with the American South. The church was to be launched wth the christening of the young Prince of Hawai'i by an Episcopal priest, and Queen Victoia consented to be his godmother. The Right Rev. T. N. Staley arrived in Honolulu in October, 1862, but unfortunately the young Prince died eight days earlier. The new church was first called the Hawai'ian Reformed Catholic Church, but soon became commonly known as the English Church. Kamehameha IV showed his interest by having the Book of Common Prayer translated into Hawai'ian. Following the death of Kamehameha IV, his successor, Kamehameheha V., addressed the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church." The liturgy, constitution, and teaching of the Episcopal Church see to me more consistent with monarchy than any other form of Christianity that I have met with." In Honolulu, St Andrew's Cathedral, with the construction beginnng in 1867 under the direction of Queen Emma, and the St Andrew's Priory School recall this regal era. British sugar planters created grand plantations in the Islands beginning in the 1860s. Planter James Makee, a Scot, whose Rose Ranch on the slopes of Maui's Haleakala was a favorite gathering place of Hawai'i's famous visitors, put over a million dollars into his property. The rambling plantation house was usaully filled with guests. Makee brought the shade trees, created gardens, and later turned the estate into a cattle ranch. At one dinner, officers of a visiting ship dined with him on what they thought were turkeys. After dinner Makee announced they had just dined on peacocks. At Princeville on Kaua'i's north shore, a Scot named Robert Critchton Wyllie started a grand estate on lands bordering the Hanalei River. He imported a state-of-art sugar mill from Scotland in the early 1860's and invited Victorian visitors to Princeville. The best kown guest was Lady Jane Franklin, the widow of a famed British explorer who had disappeared in the Arctic. Wyllie named his estate after young Prince Albert, the son of Kamehameha IV and Queen Emma. Today Princeville is a major resort destinantion, and the fine service and decor of the Princeville Hotel echo Wyllies dream for this romantic setting. The sugar cane plantation era, which boomed in 1875 after the United States allowed sugar into the States duty free from Hawai'i, brought English and Scottish plantation managers and engineers to the Islands. The Kilauea Plantation on Kaua'i was one of te most British. This was shown well into a grand parade held for young Princess Liliuokalani who toured Kilauea in 1881 to pound in the last spike on Kaua'i's first railroad. In 1870s King David Kalakaua combined the regal airs of the Victorian British monarchy with a return to the ways of old Hawai'i. Kalakaua wore jeweled crowns, and had a sword of state created. Wel-educated and well-traveled, Kalakaua recognized the importance of the visit of Scottish Author Robert Louis Stevenson in the 1880's. Kalakaua cultivated friendship with Stevenson and held a lu'au for him. In turn Stevenson became intrigued by Princess Kaiulani, the half-Scottish heir to the Hawai'ian Throne. Stevenson wrote poems for her before she traveled to London to attend school at Harrowden Hall. As the Hawai'ian monarchy began its fall, the Princess was rushed back from England by Theophilus H. Davies, who strongly suggested that she be named queen to save the monarchy. On March 6, 1899, the Princess died along with the hope of restoring the monarchy. Hawai'i was famous in England in the 1910s through a sonnet written by the English poet Rupert Brooke, who visited Honolulu and Kaua'i in 1913. Waikiki was included in his popular book of poems that expresed a patriotism and optimism inthe early years of World War I. Brookes was on his way to the war but died in Darnelles from blood poisoning. Today the British influenece remains in Hawai'i. Bertania, the Hawai'ian language's version of Britain, is one of the busiest streets. Afternoon tea is served at plush hotels like Waikiki's Halekulani. The word pidgen, a bastardization of the word business, is still the strict language of Hawai'i. And the Union Jack tucked away in the left corner of the Hawai'ian flag still grandly flies through-out the Hawai'ian Islands. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/hi/statewide/newspapers/thebriti15nnw.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/hifiles/ File size: 8.8 Kb