H A W A 1 1 A N G R O U p. 25 



RESPECTING THE PREMIER OF THE KINGDOM. 



It shall be the duty of the king to appoint some chief of rank and 

 ability to be his particular minister, whose title shall be Premier of 

 the Kingdom. His office and business shall be the same as that of 

 Kaahumanu I. and Kaahumanu II. For even in the time of Kame- 

 hameha I., life and death, condemnation and acquittal, were in the 

 hands of Kaahumanu. When Kamehameha I. died, his will was, 

 "The kingdom is Liho-liho's, and Kaahumanu is his minister." 



That important feature of the government, originated by Kameha- 

 meha I., shall be perpetuated in these Hawaiian Islands, but shall 

 always be in subserviency to the law. 



The following are the duties of the premier : 



All business connected with the special interests of the kingdom, 

 which the king wishes to transact, shall be done by the premier 

 under the authority of the king. All documents and business of the 

 kingdom, executed by the premier, shall be considered as executed 

 by the king's authority. All government property shall be reported 

 to him (or her), and he (or she) shall make it over to the king. 



The premier shall be the king's special counsellor in the great 

 business of the kingdom. 



The king shall not act without the knowledge of the premier, nor 

 shall the premier act without the knowledge of the king, and the 

 veto of the king on the acts of the premier shall arrest the 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 premier. 



GOVERNORS. 



There shall be four governors over these Hawaiian Islands — one 

 for Hawaii, one for Maui and the islands adjacent, one for Oahu, 

 and one for Kauai and the adjacent islands. All the governors, from 

 Hawaii to Kauai, shall be subject to the king. 



The prerogatives of the governors and their duties, shall be as fol- 

 lows. Each governor shall have the general direction of the several 

 tax-gatherers of his island, and shall support them in the execution of 

 all their orders which he considers to have been properly given, but 

 shall pursue a course according to law, and not according to his own 

 private views. He also shall preside over all the judges of his island, 



