What I learned from reading Hawai‘i's Story By Hawai‘i's Queen by Queen Lili‘uokalani.
What I learned from reading Hawai‘i's Story by Hawai‘i's Queen by Queen Lili‘uokalani.
[3:54] Life is fragile, and fate is fickle.
[8:08] Succession planning is key.
[12:02] Watch the retainers.
[15:29] It’s folly to romanticize the monarchy.
[19:18] History belongs to the writers.
“Several of the pupils who were at the school with me have subsequently become known in Hawaiian history. There were four children of Kinau, daughter of Kamehameha I., the highest in rank of any of the women chiefs of her day; these were Moses, Lot (afterwards Kamehameha V.), Liholiho (afterwards Kamehameha IV.), and Victoria, of whom I shall soon speak. Next came Lunalilo, who followed Kamehameha V. as king. Then came Bernice Pauahi, who married Hon. Charles R. Bishop. Our family was represented by Kaliokalani, Kalakaua, and myself, two of the three destined to ascend to the throne.”
Hello and welcome to the second episode of the Hawai‘i Reader.
I’m your host, Sterling Higa. And together, we’re learning from the stories of Hawai‘i.
Today we’re reading and responding to Hawai‘i’s Story by Hawai‘i’s Queen by Queen Lili‘uokalani.
Queen Lili‘uokalani was the last sovereign monarch of the Hawaiian Kingdom. She ascended to the throne in 1891 and ruled until its overthrow in 1893.
Hawai‘i’s Story by Hawai‘i’s Queen is part autobiography, part political history, written following the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom. It was first published in 1898.
A few notes are in order:
I hope you enjoy the five lessons ahead. Please check the show notes if you’d like to skip ahead to a lesson that interests you.
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It’s worth noting that by the time this book was written in the 1890s, most Native Hawaiians were dead.
The native population had been ravaged by diseases introduced by European explorers in the century since their arrival.
And the declining power of the Hawaiian monarchy reflected the surrounding entropy of Hawaiian society.
The old ways had been abandoned in favor of the new.
The ancient Hawaiian society that we read about in A Shark Going Inland had changed forever.
The cult worship of Lono, Kū, Kanaloa, and Kāne had been swept away.
Economic, political, and social turmoil remained.
In the first paragraph of her book, the Queen makes clear her rejection of ancient Hawaiian religion.
She recounts her great-grandaunt Queen Kapiolani who “plucked the sacred berries from the borders of the volcano, descended to the boiling lava, and there, while singing Christian hymns, threw them into the lake of fire.
This was the act which broke forever the power of Pele, the fire-goddess, over the hearts of her people.”
The Queen follows this by recounting her genealogy and linking it to that of Kamehameha I., the unifier of the Hawaiian islands.
King Kamehameha was the first, and Queen Lili‘uokalani was the last in a succession of monarchs during the 19th century in Hawai‘i:
This succession of royals was marked by early death.
Now, we say “life is fragile, and fate is fickle” because each royal death marked an inflection point for the Hawaiian Kingdom.
Succession was at times contentious, and we can consider interesting counterfactuals.
For example, when King Lunalilo died in 1874, there were two leading candidates to succeed him: One was Emma, the widow of Alexander Liholiho, Kamehameha IV. The other was David Kalākaua. The question of succession was settled by the legislature which voted overwhelmingly in favor of Kalākaua.
Still, we can ask:
What would have happened if Emma ascended to the throne?
And so on for each death in the royal family which affected succession.
There isn’t space enough here to discuss all the deaths noted in this book, but suffice to say you can’t go more than about 20 pages without reading about the untimely death of someone in or close to the royal family.
For example, the Queen describes the death of Kamehameha IV, Alexander Liholiho’s four-year-old son who died of brain fever after a cold bath in 1862.
Following this untimely death, Lili‘uokalani says that the King “completely lost interest in public life, living in the utmost possible retirement until his death,” one year later, at age 29.
These deaths shape history. And it’s silly to think that the will and hands of man alone are responsible for the course of events.
As another example, Queen Lili‘uokalani’s husband and closest advisor John Dominis died in 1891 only a few months after she ascended to the throne. How different would the course of history have been if her husband were alive to help her fight against the forces seeking to overthrow the Kingdom?
Life is fragile, and fate is fickle.
Picture this:
The year is 1872.
In the palace, King Kamehameha V is dying of dropsy, what we now know as edema.
At nine in the morning, a small circle of chiefs and their trusted retainers gather around his bed.
They are there to choose a successor to the throne because the King has not yet named one.
The King suggests Bernice Pauahi Bishop.
But Mrs. Bishop defers, suggesting instead the King’s sister, Ruth Ke‘elikōlani.
The King replies that “the princess would not be capable of undertaking with success the responsibilities of government.”
The king asks another chief, Nahaolelua who should rule, and Nahaolelua replies that it is for the King to decide.
And then, the King dies without naming a successor.
This is the account that Queen Lili‘uokalani gives of the death of Kamehameha V.
And it illustrates an important point: Succession planning is key.
As we learned, life is fragile, and fate is fickle. No man can plan for eternity.
But rulers can create systems that help to ensure stability when they pass. Our democratic system of government is one such system. It does not rely on genetic succession to the throne. If a Governor dies, a Lieutenant Governor takes their place. Or in some cases, a special election is held to fill a vacancy in office.
Though some complain of nepotism in politics today, no leader has the absolute power of King Kamehameha V to choose his successor.
And this presents an important challenge:
In democracy, we talk of civic education, of preparing youth for the responsibilities of self-governance. The “Schoolhouse Rock” version of this civic education teaches the separation of powers and how a bill becomes a law. But governance is more than an understanding of process and procedure.
At the start of this episode, we read a bit about the pupils at Royal School, so named because the students were “exclusively persons whose claims to the throne were acknowledged.”
From birth, Queen Lili‘uokalani, her siblings, and cousins were all prepared for the chiefly life. They learned etiquette and protocol which was necessary in that day for a member of a royal family.
Later in life, the Queen would travel to England and dine with the royal families of Europe. The life of a chief–with its banquets and feasts–was her birthright, and her upbringing reflected this destiny to rule.
In democracy, we tend to recoil from this aristocratic sensibility. We tend to disdain the idea that certain people are born to rule. We prefer people to rise by their own merit.
Unfortunately, this means that many of those who rise have had only an incomplete education in the skills necessary to govern effectively. Our elected leaders prove only that they know how to campaign, how to win an election, and this is not the same as proving worthy of office. This in part explains why our hopes during election season are so often dashed after the pomp and ceremony of an inauguration have finished.
What’s more, our democratic system has no way to compel elites to take on the task of governance.
Like Bernice Pauahi Bishop, many of our most capable leaders say no when asked to serve in office.
There is no easy answer to the problem of succession. It would be best if we had many good options to choose from. It would be best if those who demonstrated chiefly qualities were chosen early and provided with an education befitting those tasked with leadership at the highest level.
Whether we have achieved this, I leave for you to judge.
One of my favorite books about politics is The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency by Chris Whipple. The Gatekeepers is a story about chiefs of staff with names like Dick Cheney, Rahm Emanuel, and Donald Rumsfeld. These men made the news less often than the Presidents they served, yet each had a profound effect on history.
Our understanding of history is enriched when we look beyond the names of the most prominent figures to see the powers behind the throne.
For example, the Queen describes the cabinet of King Lunalilo which included the Honorable Charles R. Bishop as minister of foreign affairs, E.O. Hall as minister of the interior, R. Stirling as minister of finance, and A.F. Judd as attorney general. The Queen notes that “two out of these four were from families who landed upon our shores with the single intention to teach our people the religion of Christ.”
She notes also that the “policy of the new cabinet was distinctively American, in opposition to that which may properly be called Hawaiian; the latter looking to the prosperity and progress of the nation as an independent sovereignty, the former seeking to render the islands a mere dependency, either openly or under sufficient disguise, on the government of the United States.”
I confess, I don’t know much about E.O. Hall, R. Stirling, and only a bit about A.F. Judd.
But even a novice student of Hawaiian history like me knows the name of Charles Reed Bishop, husband of Bernice Pauahi Bishop.
When Charles Bishop arrived in Hawai‘i in 1846, he was 24-years-old.
He became a citizen three years later, in 1849.
He served as Collector General of Customs from 1849 to 1853. Collector General of Customs seems to us an unimportant title, but it was important at the time. The Collector General of Customs was responsible for collecting the import tax, appraising all goods and merchandise entering the port of Honolulu, and serving as postmaster.
In 1850, Charles Bishop married Bernice Pauahi Pākī despite her initial resistance and the objections of her parents.
In 1853, Bishop was elected a representative to the legislature of the Kingdom.
And in 1858, he founded Bishop & Co., the first chartered bank of the Kingdom. That bank endures today as First Hawaiian Bank, the largest bank in Hawai‘i.
This is just a brief selection indicating the powerful ambition and drive of Mr. Bishop, who became one of the wealthiest men in Hawai‘i. Many institutions that he established survive to this day: First Hawaiian Bank, the Bishop Estate which funds Kamehameha Schools, and the Bishop Museum which bears Bishop’s surname and honors his wife, Bernice Pauahi, the chief who refused to be Queen.
To understand Hawaiian history, it’s important to look behind the throne and see the supporters gathered there. Some of these, like Charles Bishop, are easy to spot. Others appear only here and there in the historical record. And some, like ghosts, have managed to disappear without a trace.
So too for contemporary politics. Behind every king, a kingmaker. And legions of unseen hands which lift the ruler to prominence.
Don’t just watch the throne.
Watch the retainers.
Humans tend to romanticize the past, and in Hawai‘i, this often takes the form of nostalgia for the Hawaiian Kingdom. If I can, I’d like to highlight one, just one story from this book that gave me pause when thinking about the virtue of monarchy.
The story is this:
Alexander Liloliho ascended to the throne as Kamehameha IV when he was only 21 years old.
Queen Lili‘uokalani describes Liloliho as having “all the characteristics of his race,” and she says “the strong, passionate nature of the Kamehamehas is shown in his benevolent as in his less commendable acts.”
One of those less commendable acts was Liholiho, in a fit of jealous rage, shooting and killing his secretary, Henry Neilson and then beating his own wife Queen Emma. Liholiho suspected that his wife Emma was cheating on him with Neilson.
This shooting happened in September, 1859. And as Queen Lili‘uokalani describes it, “no legal notice of the event was in any way taken; no person would have been foolhardy enough to propose it.”
In other words, there was no trial; there was no justice.
The king murdered a man, and everyone looked the other way.
And the reason that no one stepped forward to accuse the murderous King was obvious to Queen Lili‘uokalani.
As she says, “undue familiarity, absence of etiquette, rudeness, or any other form which implied or suggested disrespect to royalty in any manner whatsoever, would never be tolerated by any one of the native chiefs of the Hawaiian people. To allow any such breach of good manners to pass unnoticed would be looked upon by his own retainers as belittling to him, and they would be the first to demand the punishment of the offender.”
In other words, the King’s retainers stood ready to punish anyone who offended the throne.
But of this punishment, the Queen admits that it was “far too severe.”
One way to think about this historical event is with a hypothetical:
Imagine tomorrow, the Governor of Hawai‘i, in a fit of rage, shoots and kills his secretary and then beats his wife.
No effort is made to conceal the killing, and there are witnesses to the crimes.
In fact, the Governor admits to killing his secretary.
What happens next?
Well, reporters from every news outlet in the country descend on Hawai‘i, the Governor surrenders to arrest, and a criminal trial begins.
Meanwhile the legislature impeaches the Governor, and the Lieutenant Governor ascends to higher office.
Maybe the Governor escapes the trial on a technicality, but probably he goes to prison. After all, he admits to the crimes.
None of that happened in 1859.
No Hawai‘i newspaper wrote a detailed account of the event, although some American papers reported on it.
And in biographies of Liholiho, the event receives scant treatment.
And, of course, there was no trial.
This incident illustrates a general truth during the 19th century in Hawai‘i.
Criticism of the Hawaiian royal family was discouraged, and often, misconduct by the royal family or their close retainers went unnoticed or unpunished.
You could, of course, cite other examples where public criticism was allowed or close associates of the royal family were punished for misdeeds.
But that doesn’t change the fact: The royal family was Christian, and a prohibition on murder is in the Ten Commandments. And murder was a capital offense in the Kingdom at the time.
King Kamehameha IV was not brought to trial. And if this most grave offense was neither noticed nor punished, how many others were allowed to pass?
Queen Lili‘uokalani is a compelling figure in part because she told her own story.
Hawai‘i’s Story by Hawai‘i’s Queen is among the most read accounts of Hawaiian history.
But as mentioned before, it is a partisan account. The Queen has grudges and grievances, and whole generations have grown up knowing only her bias.
For example, Queen Lili‘uokalani disparages Queen Emma throughout the book, which makes sense, given that Queen Emma made a play for the throne against Lili‘uokalani’s brother David Kalākaua.
But Queen Emma hasn’t really had a chance to answer because her writings are less popular.
It’s only in recent years that Queen Emma’s story has been told at length. George Kanahele’s biography was finished at the end of the 20th century, and only a few years ago, the scholar David W. Forbes released a collection of Queen Emma’s letters and diaries from 1881-1885.
But most students of Hawaiian history read only Queen Lili‘uokalani’s account. And if they read of Queen Emma, it’s only after internalizing Queen Lili‘uokalani’s view of history.
There’s an apocryphal quote attributed to Churchill that goes “history will be kind to me, for I intend to write it.” And I imagine the same could be said of Queen Lili‘uokalani.
The Queen emerges from the historical record as a sympathetic figure in part because she portrayed herself that way. Her written accounts of political history are still read today, more than a century after her death.
She was a skilled writer and at times turned a pretty phrase.
For example, “Persons with mean and little minds can readily assign false motives to actions intended for good, and attribute to lofty ideas a base purpose or unholy intention.”
And, “The passion for dignity and place is not confined to courts of royalty or those who sustain them.”
But the Queen is most rhetorically powerful in the jeremiad which ends the book, as the last quarter or so addresses events following the overthrow. And the last chapter in particular is addressed directly to the American reading public.
On the eve of annexation in 1898, Queen Lili‘uokalani makes a plea to Americans to spare Hawai‘i.
She appeals to a common Christian faith. The same faith Martin Luther King, Jr. would later invoke in his appeals to the American people.
The Queen is revealed here as a true patriot, a lover of her land and people. And many Native Hawaiian sovereigntists today echo her plea which concludes thus:
“Oh, honest Americans, as Christians hear me for my down-trodden people! Their form of government is as dear to them as yours is precious to you. Quite as warmly as you love your country, so they love theirs. With all your goodly possessions, covering a territory so immense that there yet remain parts unexplored, possessing islands that, although near at hand, had to be neutral ground in time of war, do not covet the little vineyard of Naboth’s so far from your shores, lest the punishment of Ahab fall upon you, if not in your day, in that of your children, for “be not deceived, God is not mocked.” The people to whom your fathers told of the living God, and taught to call “Father,” and whom the sons now seek to despoil and destroy, are crying aloud to Him in their time of trouble; and He will keep His promise; and will listen to the voices of His Hawaiian children lamenting for their homes.
“It is for them that I would give the last drop of my blood; it is for them that I would spend, nay, am spending, everything belonging to me. Will it be in vain? It is for the American people and their representatives in Congress to answer these questions. As they deal with me and my people, kindly, generously, and justly, so may the Great Ruler of all nations deal with the grand and glorious nation of the United States of America.”
If you found this episode interesting, I hope you’ll buy the book and read it.
This is one of the canonical books about Hawai‘i, and it’s well worth a read.
I’ll leave a link to buy the book in the description along with a link to the full transcript.
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Thank you for listening to the Hawai‘i Reader.
I’m your host, Sterling Higa. And together, we’re learning from the stories of Hawai‘i.
A hui hou.