CELSO CESAR MORENO.

The professional lobbyist, Celso Cæsar Moreno, well known at Sacramento and Washington, arrived in Honolulu November 14, 1879, on the China Merchants' Steam Navigation Company's steamer Ho-chung, with the view of establishing a line of steamers between Honolulu and China. Soon afterwards he presented a memorial to the Hawaiian Government asking for a subsidy to the proposed line. He remained in Honolulu about ten months, during which time he gained unbounded influence over the King by servile flattery and by encouraging all his pet hobbies. He told him that he ought to be his own prime minister, and to fill all Government offices with native Hawaiians. He encouraged his craze for a tenmillion loan, to be spent chiefly for military purposes, and told him that China was the "treasure house of the world," where he could borrow all the money he wanted. The King was always an active politician, and he left no stone unturned. to carry the election of 1880. His candidates advocated a tenmillion loan and unlimited Chinese immigration. With Moreno's assistance he produced a pamphlet in support of these views, entitled "A reply to ministerial utterances."

THE SESSION OF 1880.

In the Legislature of 1880 was seen the strange spectacle of the King working with a pair of unscrupulous adventurers to oust his own constitutional advisers, and introducing through

his creatures a series of bills, which were generally defeated by the ministry.

Gibson had now thrown off the mask, and voted for everyone of the King and Moreno's measures. Among their bills which failed were the ten-million loan bill, the opium license bill, the free-liquor bill, and especially the bill guaranteeing a bonus of $1,000,000 in gold to Moreno's Trans Pacific Cable Company.

The subsidy to the China line of steamers was carried by the lavish use of money; but it was never paid. Appropriations were passed for the education of Hawaiian youths abroad, and for the coronation of the King and Queen.

At last on the 4th of August, Gibson brought in a motion of "want of confidence," which, after a lengthy debate, was defeated by the decisive vote of 32 to 10. On the 14th, the King prorogued the Legislature at noon, and about an hour later dismissed his ministers without a word of explanation, and appointed Moreno, Premier and Minister of Foreign Affairs; J. E. Bush, Minister of the Interior; W. C. Jones, Attorney-General; and Rev. M. Kuaea, Minister of Finance.

FALL OF THE MORENO MINISTRY.

Moreno was generally detested by the foreign community, and the announcement of his appointment created intense excitement.

For the first time the discordant elements of the foreign community were united, and they were supported by a large propor

tion of the natives. The three highest and most influential chiefs-Queen Dowager Emma, Ruth Keelikolani and Bernice Pauahi Bishop-joined in condemning the King's course. Two mass meetings were held at the Kaumakapili church, and a smaller one of foreigners at the old Bethel church, to protest against the coup d'etat. The diplomatic representatives of the United States, England and France-General Comly, Major Wodehouse and M. Ratard-raised their respective flags over their legations, and declared that they would hold no further official intercourse with the Hawaiian Government as long as Moreno should be premier. On the side of the King, R. W. Wilcox, Nawahi and others harangued the natives, appealing to their jealousy of foreigners. The following manifesto is a sample:

66 WAY-UP CELSO MORENO."

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"To all true-born citizens of the country, greeting: have with us one Celso Cæsar Moreno, a naturalized and true Hawaiian. His great desire is the advancement of this country in wealth, and the salvation of this people, by placing the leading positions of Government in the hands of the Hawaiians for administration. The great desire of Moreno is to cast down foreigners from official positions and to put true Hawaiians in their places, because to them belongs the country. They should hold the Government and not strangers. Positions have been taken from Hawaiians and given to strangers. C. C. Moreno desires to throw down these foreigners and to

elevate to high positions the people to whom belongs the land, i. e., the red skins. This is the real cause of jealousy on the part of foreigners, viz., that Hawaiians shall be placed above them in all things in this well-beloved country. C. C. Moreno is the heart from whence will issue life to the real Hawaiians." After four days of intense excitement, the King yielded to the storm. Moreno's resignation was announced on the 19th, and his place filled ad interim by J. E. Bush. On the 30th Moreno left for Europe, with three Hawaiian "youths" under his charge, viz., R. W. Wilcox, a member of the late Legislature, 26 years of age, Robert Boyd and James K. Booth. It was afterwards ascertained that he bore a secret commission as minister plenipotentiary and envoy extraordinary to all the great powers, as well as letters addressed to the Governments of the United States, England and France, demanding the recall of their representatives. A violent quarrel had broken out between him and his disappointed rival, Gibson, who purchased the P. C. Advertiser printing office with Government money September 1, and conducted that paper thenceforth as the King's organ.

Mr. W. L. Green was persuaded to accept the vacant place. of minister of foreign affairs September 22. In a few days he discovered what had been done, and immediately notified the representatives of the three powers concerned of the insult that had been offered them.

A meeting was held at his office between the foreign representatives on the one side and himself and J. E. Bush on the

Mr. Claus Spreckels, who arrived September 5, took an active part in these events and in the formation of the new ministry, which consisted of W. L. Green, Minister of Foreign Affairs; H. A. P. Carter, Minister of the Interior; J. S. Walker, Minister of Finance, and W. N. Armstrong, Attorney-General.

Their first act was to annul Moreno's commission, and to send dispatches, which were telegraphed from San Francisco to Washington, London and Paris, disavowing the demands which he had sent. Moreno, however, proceeded on his journey and finally placed the Hawaiian youths, one in a military and two in a naval school in Italy.

THE KING'S TOUR AROUND THE WORLD.

The King immediately began to agitate his project of a trip around the world. As it was known that he was corresponding with Moreno, it was arranged that Mr. C. H. Judd should accompany him as Chamberlain, and Mr. W. N. Armstrong as Commissioner of Immigration. He was received with royal honors in Japan, Siam, and Johore. On the King's arrival in Naples, Moreno made an audacious attempt to take possession of His Majesty and dispense with his companions, but he met with more than his match in Armstrong. The royal party visited

nearly all the capitals of Europe, where the King added a large number of decorations to his collection, and took particular note of military matters and court etiquette. An Austrian field battery which took his eye, afterwards cost this country nearly $20,000. During the King's absence his sister, Mrs. Dominis, styled Liliuokalani, acted as regent. He returned to Honolulu, October 29, 1881, where he had a magnificent reception, triumphal arches, torches blazing at noonday, and extravagant adulation of every description.

TRIUMPH OF GIBSON.

During the King's absence he had kept up a correspondence with his political workers at home, and after his return he produced another pamphlet in Hawaiian, advocating a tenmillion loan. Gibson's paper had been filled with gross flattery of the King and of the natives, and had made the most of the smallpox epidemic of 1881 to excite the populace against the ministry.

Just before the election of 1882, a pamphlet appeared, containing a scathing exposure of his past career (especially in connection with the Mormon Church), backed by a mass of documentary evidence. Gibson's only reply was to point to his subsequent election by a large majority of the native voters of Honolulu. Only two other white men were elected on the islands that year. It was the first time that the race issue had superseded all other considerations with the native electorate.

SESSION OF 1882.

The Legislature of 1882 was one of the weakest and most corrupt that ever sat in Honolulu. At the opening of the session Minister Carter was absent in Portugal, negotiating a treaty with the Government of that country. It was soon evident that the Ministry did not control a majority of the House, but the King did. After an ineffectual attempt to quiet Gibson by offering him the Presidency of the Board of Health with a salary of $4000, they resigned May 19th, and Gibson became Premier.

His colleagues were J. E. Bush, lately of Moreno's cabinet; Simon Kaai, who drank himself to death; and Edward Preston, Attorney-General, who was really the mainstay of the Cabinet.

One of their first measures was an act to convey to Claus Spreckels the crown lands of Wailuku, containing some 24,000 acres, in order to compromise a claim which he held to an undivided share of the crown lands. He had purchased from Ruth Keelikolani, for the sum of $10,000, all the interest which she might have had in the crown lands as being the half-sister of Kamehameha IV., who died intestate. Her claim had been ignored in the decision of the Supreme Court and the Act of 1865, which constituted the crown lands. Instead of testing her right by a suit before the Supreme Court, the Ministry thought it best to accept the above compromise, and carried it through the Legislature.

The prohibition against furnishing intoxicating liquor to natives was repealed at this session, and the consequences to the race have been disastrous. The ten-million loan bill was again introduced, but was shelved in committee and a twomillion loan act substituted for it. The appropriation bill was swelled to double the estimated receipts of the Government, including $30,000 for coronation expenses, $30,000 for Hawaiian youths in foreign countries, $10,000 for a Board of Genealogy, besides large sums for the military, foreign embassies, the palace, etc.

At the last moment a bill was rushed through, giving the King sole power to appoint district justices, through his creatures, the governors, which had formerly been done only "by and with the advice of the Justices of the Supreme Court." This was another step toward absolutism. Meanwhile Gibson defended the King's right to be an active politician, and called him "the first Hawaiian King with the brains and heart of a statesman."

At the same time it was understood that Claus Spreckels backed the Gibson ministry and made them advances under the Loan Act.

THE CORONATION.

Kalakaua had always felt dissatisfied with the manner in which he had been sworn in as a King. He was also tired of being reminded that he was not a King by birth, but only by election. To remedy this defect he determined to have

the ceremony performed over again in as imposing a manner as possible. Three years were spent in preparations for the great event, and invitations were sent to all rulers and potentates on earth to be present in person or by proxy on the occasion. Japan sent a commissioner, while England, France and the United States were represented by ships of war. The ceremony took place February 12, 1883, nine years after Kalakaua's inauguration. Most of the regalia had been ordered from London, viz., two crowns, a scepter, ring and sword, while the royal feather mantle, tabu stick and kahili or plumed staff, were native insignia of rank.

A pavilion was built for the occasion, as well as a tempor. ary amphitheatre for the spectators. The Chief Justice administered the oath of office and invested the King with the various insignia This ceremony was boycotted by the high chiefs, Queen Emma, Ruth Keelikolani and Mrs. Bernice Pauahi Bishop, and by a large part of the foreign community, as an expensive and useless pageant intended to aid the King's political schemes to make himself an absolute monarch. The coronation was followed by feasts, a regatta and races, and by a series of nightly hula hulas, i. e., heathen dances, accompanied by appropriate songs. The printer of the coronation hula programme, which contained the subjects and first lines of these songs, was prosecuted and fined by the court on account of their gross and incredible obscenity.

EMBASSIES, ETC.

During this year Mr. J. M. Kapena was sent as Envoy Extraordinary to Japan, while Mr. C. P. Iaukea, with H. Poor as secretary, was sent to attend the coronation of the Czar Alexander III. at Moscow, and afterwards on a mission to Paris, Rome, Belgrade, Calcutta and Japan, on his way around the world.

Kalakaua was no longer satisfied with being merely a King of Hawaii, but aspired to what Gibson termed the "Primacy of the Pacific." Captain Tripp and F. L. Clarke were sent as royal commissioners to the Gilbert Islands and New Hebrides to prepare the way for a Hawaiian protectorate; and a parody on the "Monroe doctrine" was put forth in a grandiloquent protest addressed to all the great powers by Mr. Gibson, warning them against any further annexation of the islands in the Pacific Ocean, and claiming for Hawaii the exclusive right to assist them in improving their political and social condition," i. e., a virtual protectorate of the other groups.

THE HAWAIIAN COINAGE.

The King was now impatient to have his "image and superscription" on the coinage of the realm, to add to his dignity as an independent monarch. As no appropriation had been made for this purpose, recourse was had to the recognized "power behind the throne." Mr. Claus Spreckels purchased the bullion, and arrangements were made with the San Fran