letter siv.] A POLYNESIAN SOVEREIGN. 



139 



Their rooms, not very large, were quite full. When the 

 king entered, the company received him standing, and the flute 

 band in the verandah played the national anthem, and after- 

 wards at intervals during the evening sang some Hawaiian 

 songs of the king's composition. I was presented to him, and 

 as he is very courteous to strangers, he talked to me a good 

 deal. He is a gentlemanly, courteous, unassuming man, hardly 

 assuming enough in fact, and apparently very intelligent and 

 well read. I was exceedingly pleased with him. He spoke a 

 good deal of Queen Emma's reception in England, and of her 

 raptures with Venice,- and some other cities of the continent. 

 He said he had the greatest desire to visit some parts of 

 Europe, Great Britain specially, because he thought that by 

 coming in contact with some of our leading statesmen, he 

 might gain a more accurate knowledge than he possessed of 

 the principles of constitutional government. He said he hoped 

 that in two years Hawaii-nei would be so settled as to allow of 

 his travelling, and that in the meantime he was studying French 

 with a view to enjoying the continent. 



He asked a great many questions regarding things at home, 

 specially concerning the limitation of the power of the Crown. 

 He cannot reconcile the theoretical right of the sovereign to 

 choose his advisers with his practically submitting to receive 

 them from a Parliamentary majority. He seemed to find a 

 difficulty in understanding that the sovereign's right to refuse 

 his assent to a Bill which had passed both Houses was by no 

 means the same thing in practice as the possession of a veto. 

 He said that in his reading of our constitutional history, the 

 power of the sovereign seemed almost absolute, while if he 

 understood facts rightly, the throne was more of an "orna- 

 ment," or " figure-head," than a power at all. He asked me if 

 it were true that Republican feeling was spreading very much 

 in England, and if I thought that the monarchy would survive 

 the present sovereign, on whose prudence and exalted virtues 

 he seemed to think it rested. He said he thought his little 

 kingdom had aped the style of the great monarchies too much, 

 and that he should like to abolish a good many high sounding 

 titles, sinecure offices, the household troops, and some of the 

 " imitation pomp " of his court. He said he had never enjoyed 

 anything so much since his accession as the hookupt of the 

 morning, and asked me what I thought of it. I was glad 

 to be able to answer truthfully that I had never seen a state 

 pageant or ceremonial that I had enjoyed half so much, or 



