Ali’i / Chiefs / Governance | Page 61

February 8, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Treason

The Penal Code of the Hawaiian Kingdom of 1850 notes, Section

1. Treason defined.
2. Allegiance.
3. Local allegiance.
4. Ambassadors and others.
5. An overt act is requisite to levying war.
6. The war must be levied for the dethroning or destruction of the King, or for some general purpose.
7. An accessory before the fact.
8. The testimony of two witnesses requisite to convict of treason.
9. Punishment.
10. Punishment for concealing knowledge of the commission of treason.

1. Treason is hereby defined to be any plotting or attempt to dethrone or destroy the King, or the levying of war against the King’s government, or the adhering to the enemies thereof, giving them aid and comfort, the same being done by a person owing allegiance to this kingdom.

2. Allegiance is the obedience and fidelity due to the kingdom from those under its protection.

3. An alien, whether his native country be at war or at peace with this kingdom, owes allegiance to this kingdom during his residence therein, and during such residence, is capable of committing treason against this kingdom.

4. Ambassadors and other ministers of foreign states, and their alien secretaries, servants and members of their families, do not owe allegiance to this kingdom, though resident therein, and are not capable of committing treason against this kingdom.

5. To constitute the levying of war, contemplated in the first section of this chapter, it shall be requisite that the persons concerned therein be parties to some overt act, in or towards procuring, preparing or using force, or putting themselves in a condition in readiness to use force, either by being present at such overt act, or by promoting, aiding in, or being otherwise accessory before the fact to the same.

6. In order to constitute the levying of war, the force must be employed or intended to be employed for the dethroning or destruction of the King or in contravention of the laws, or in opposition to the authority of the King’s government, with an intent or for an object affecting some of the branches or departments of said government generally …

… or affecting the enactment, repeal or enforcement of laws in general, or of some general law; or affecting the people, or the public tranquility generally; in distinction from some special intent or object, affecting individuals other than the King, or a particular district.

7. An accessory before the fact to treason is guilty of treason, and shall be subject to prosecution, trial and punishment therefor, though the principals more directly concerned have not been convicted, or are not amenable to justice.

8. No person shall be convicted of treason but by the testimony of two or more lawful witnesses to the same overt act of treason whereof he stands charged, unless he shall in open court, confess such treason.

9. Whoever shall commit the crime of treason, shall suffer the punishment of death; and all his property shall be confiscated to the government.

10. If any person who shall have knowledge of the commission of treason against this kingdom, shall conceal the same, and shall not, as soon as may be, disclose and make known such treason to the Governor of the island on which he resides, he is guilty of a great crime …

… and shall be punished by a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars, or imprisonment at hard labor not exceeding ten years, in the discretion of the court. (Penal Code of the Hawaiian Kingdom, 1850) (Image shows Fort Kekuanohu, Fort Honolulu, later the prison – Judiciary, Yee)

Honolulu Waterfront-Fort-Prison-Judiciary

January 25, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Eleventh Century

There was conflict in various parts of the world …

It was nearing the end of the Heian period in Japan. The battle of Kawasaki was the first major battle of the Early Nine Years’ War (Zenkunen War) (1051-1063.) (The fighting lasted for twelve years (or nine if you subtract short periods of ceasefire and peace.))

The war was fought between the forces of the powerful Abe clan of the far northeast of the main island of Honshū, led by Abe no Sadato, and those of the Minamoto clan, acting as agents of the Imperial Court, and led by Minamoto no Yoriyoshi and his son Yoshiie.

In 1062, Minamoto no Yoriyoshi, along with his son, led an assault on an Abe fortress on the Kuriyagawa. They diverted the water supply, stormed the earthworks and stockade, and set the fortress aflame. After two days of fighting, Sadato surrendered.

At about this time, the seiitaishogun or shōgun became de facto rulers of Japan through powerful regional clans with support from samurai (bushi) serving as the military nobility.

Europe was at war as well; on September 28, 1066, William (William the Conqueror) of Normandy (Northern France) landed in England on Britain’s southeast coast, with approximately 7,000 troops and cavalry.

He then marched to Hastings; on October 14, 1066 William defeated King Harold (England) at the Battle of Hastings. After further military efforts, William was crowned king (the first Norman King of England) on Christmas Day 1066.

At the end of the century, Europe saw the first of the Crusades, launched on November 27, 1095 by Pope Urban II; it was a military expedition by Roman Catholic Europe to regain the Holy Lands taken in the Muslim conquests of the Levant, ultimately resulting in the recapture of Jerusalem in 1099. (Between 1095 and 1291 there were seven major crusades.)

Stuff was happening in the Pacific, as well.

Using stratigraphic archaeology and refinements in radiocarbon dating, recent studies suggest it was about this same time that “Polynesian explorers first made their remarkable voyage from central Eastern Polynesia Islands, across the doldrums and into the North Pacific, to discover Hawai‘i.” (Kirch)

“Most important from the perspective of Hawaiian settlement are the colonization dates for the Society Islands and the Marquesas, as these two archipelagoes have long been considered to be the immediate source regions for the first Polynesian voyagers to Hawai‘i. …”

“In sum, the southeastern archipelagoes and islands of Eastern Polynesia have a set of radiocarbon chronologies now converging on the period from AD 900–1000.” (Kirch)

Research indicates human colonization of Eastern Polynesia took place much faster and more recently than previously thought. Polynesian ancestors settled in Samoa around 800 BC, colonized the central Society Islands between AD 1025 and 1120 and dispersed to New Zealand, Hawaiʻi and Rapa Nui and other locations between AD 1190 and 1290. (Hunt; PVS)

With improved radiocarbon dating techniques and equipment to more than 1,400-radiocarbon dated materials from 47 islands, the model considers factors such as when a tree died rather than just when the wood was burned and whether seeds were gnawed by rats, which were introduced by humans. (PVS)

“There is also no question that at least O‘ahu and Kauai islands were already well settled, with local populations established in several localities, by AD 1200.” (Kirch)

Late and rapid dispersals explain remarkable similarities in artifacts such as fishhooks, adzes and ornaments across the region. The condensed timeframe suggests assumptions about the rates of linguistic evolution and human impact on pristine island ecosystems also need to be revised. (PVS)

While Europeans were sailing close to the coastlines of continents before developing navigational instruments that would allow them to venture onto the open ocean, voyagers from Fiji, Tonga and Samoa began to settle islands in an ocean area of over 10 million square miles.

The settlement took a thousand years and involved finding and fixing in mind the position of islands, sometimes less than a mile in diameter on which the highest landmark was a coconut tree. By the time European explorers entered the Pacific Ocean in the 16th century almost all the habitable islands had been settled for hundreds of years.

The voyaging was all the more remarkable in that it was done in canoes built with tools of stone, bone and coral. The canoes were navigated without instruments by expert seafarers who depended on their observations of the ocean and sky and traditional knowledge of the patterns of nature for clues to the direction and location of islands. (Kawaharada; PVS)

The canoe hulls were dug out from tree trunks with adzes or made from planks sewn together with a cordage of coconut fiber twisted into strands and braided for strength. Cracks and seams were sealed with coconut fibers and sap from breadfruit or other trees.

An outrigger was attached to a single hull for greater stability on the ocean; two hulls were lashed together with crossbeams and a deck added between the hulls to create double canoes capable of voyaging long distances.

The canoes were paddled when there was no wind and sailed when there was; the sails were woven from coconut or pandanus leaves. These vessels were seaworthy enough to make voyages of over 2,000 miles along the longest sea roads of Polynesia, such as the one between Hawai‘i and Tahiti.

And though these double-hulled canoes had less carrying capacity than the broad-beamed ships of the European explorers, the Polynesian canoes were faster: one of Captain Cook’s crew estimated a Tongan canoe could sail “three miles to our two.”

By the time Europeans arrived in Hawai‘i in the 18th-century, voyaging between Hawai‘i and the rest of Polynesia had ceased for more than 400 years, perhaps the last voyager being Pā’ao or Moʻikeha in the 14th-century. The reason for the cessation of voyaging is not known.

However, after the 14th-century, the archaeological evidence reveals a dramatic expansion of population and food production in Hawai‘i. Perhaps the resources and energies of the Hawaiian people went into developing their ‘āina; and ties with families and gods on the islands to the south weakened. (Kawaharada; PVS) (Lots of information here from Kirch, Kawaharada and Polynesian Voyaging Society.)

January 7, 2022 by Peter T Young 3 Comments

Martial Law 1895

Following the overthrow of the constitutional monarchy of Queen Liliʻuokalani on January 17, 1893, the Committee of Safety established the Provisional Government of Hawaiʻi as a temporary government until an assumed annexation by the US.

The Provisional Government convened a constitutional convention and established the Republic of Hawaiʻi on July 4, 1894. The Republic continued to govern the Islands.

From January 6 to January 9, 1895, patriots of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi and the forces that had overthrown the government were engaged in a war that consisted of three battles on the island of Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi.

This has frequently been referred to as the “Counter-revolution”. It has also been called the Second Wilcox Rebellion of 1895, the Revolution of 1895, the Hawaiian Counter-revolution of 1895, the 1895 Uprising in Hawaiʻi, the Hawaiian Civil War, the 1895 Uprising Against the Provisional Government or the Uprising of 1895.

In response, President Sanford B Dole, on January 7, 1895 proclaimed martial law:

“The right of the writ of habeas corpus is hereby suspended and Martial Law is instituted and established throughout the Island of Oahu, to continue until further notice, during which time, however, the Courts will continue in session and conduct ordinary business as usual, except as aforesaid.”

During the afternoon of January 7, several of the rebels were captured, and it was learned that the insurgents were under the command of Robert Wilcox and Samuel Nowlein, with Carl Widemann, WHC Greig and Louis Marshall as Lieutenants.

Wilcox had received military instruction in Italy during the days of King Kalākaua (he previously led a rebellion in 1887.) Nowlein served in the military under the Monarchy, and after the overthrow of 1893 had lived at Washington Place as a retainer of the ex-Queen.

Widemann was the son of a judge (who was one of Liliʻuokalani’s Commissioners to President Cleveland. Greig and Marshall were young clerks in business houses in Honolulu.

On January 14, Nowlein, Widemann, Greig and Marshall surrendered themselves to the authorities, and during the afternoon Robert Wilcox was captured in the outskirts of the city.

On the forenoon of January 16, Deputy Marshal Brown and Senior Captain Parker of the police force served a military warrant on the ex-Queen at her Washington Place residence.

President Dole, as Commander in Chief, ordered a Military Commission “to meet at Honolulu, Island of Oahu, on the 17th day of January, A. D. 1895, at to A. M., and there after from day to day for the trial of such prisoners as may be brought before it on the charges and specifications to be presented by the Judge Advocate.”

The trials were held in the Legislative Hall of the Executive building and were open to the general public, special accommodations also being made for the attendance of the diplomatic corps.

One of the first moves of the lawyer for the defense was to raise objection to the jurisdiction “That no military or other law exists in the Hawaiian Islands under which a Military Commission is authorized to try any person for a statutory crime.”

“That under the proclamation of martial law the general authority of the Courts of the Republic created by the Constitution continues, and they have authority to conduct all business which comes properly before them, and have the sole authority to try persons accused of offenses such as are specified in the charges before the Commission.”

The Judge-Advocate stated that martial law is a law of necessity, in which the question of necessity rests in the discretion of the Executive and nobody can call it in question. The right had been exercised; there was nothing more to say.

During its session of thirty-six days, 191-prisoners were brought before the Commission. The most prominent persons were ex-Queen Liliʻuokalani and Prince Kūhiō. Some were acquitted, others found guilty; by January 1, 1896, the last of the prisoners was released from prison, typically under conditional pardons.

The trial of the last case brought before the Commission ended March 1; however, the Commission did not adjourn until March 18, 1895 and the martial law was lifted.

This was not the first proclamation of martial law in the Islands. On January 17, 1893, martial law was declared by the Provisional Government of the Hawaiian Islands. Later, following the attack on Pearl Harbor, martial law was in effect in the Islands from December 7, 1941 to October 24, 1944.) (Lots of information here is from Alexander and Farrington.)

December 29, 2021 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Transit of Venus

Interest in the heavens goes back far into the ancient fabric of Polynesian culture. Many of the early Polynesian gods derived from or dwelt in the heavens, and many of the legendary exploits took place among the heavenly bodies.

Early Polynesians, who trusted their navigational instincts and skills to the nighttime stars above, currents, winds and waves, sailed thousands of miles over open ocean across the Pacific to Hawai‘i.

They had names for their star guides: Ka Maka – the point of the fishhook in the constellation Scorpius; Makali‘i – the Little Eyes within the Pleiades; Hoku‘ula – The Red Star in the constellation Taurus; and Hokupa‘a – the North Star (fixed star,) as well as others.

After the Polynesians came, in 1778, the Europeans, under the command of Captain James Cook, arrived. He brought with him spyglasses, clocks, sextants, charts, foreign ideas and techniques – new tools of navigation.

A new awareness of the skies was reborn under the scientific patronage of King David Kalākaua, (Kalākaua reigned over the Kingdom of Hawai‘i from 1874 to 1891.)

Kalākaua had a great interest in science and he saw it as a way to foster Hawai‘i’s prestige, internationally.

The opportunity to demonstrate this interest and support for astronomy was made available with the astronomical phenomenon called the “Transit of Venus,” which was visible in Hawai‘i in 1874.

The King allowed the British Royal Society’s expedition a suitable piece of open land for their viewing area; it was not far from Honolulu’s waterfront in a district called Apua (mauka of today’s Waterfront Plaza.)

They built a wooden fence enclosure and soon a well-equipped nineteenth-century astronomical observatory took shape, including a transit instrument, a photoheliograph, a number of telescopes and several temporary structures including wooden observatories.

Subsequently, auxiliary stations – though not so elaborate as the main station in Honolulu – were established in two other island locations: one at Kailua-Kona and the other at Waimea, Kauai.

In addition, Hawai‘i was not the only site to observe the transit; under the British program, observations were also made in Egypt, Island of Rodriquez, Kerguelen Island and New Zealand. (Other countries also conducted Transit observations.)

On Dec. 8, 1874, the transit was observed by the British scientists; however, the observation at Kailua-Kona was marred by clouds. But the Honolulu and Waimea sites were considered perfect throughout the event, which lasted a little over half a day.

After the Transit of Venus observations, Kalākaua showed continued interest in astronomy, and in a letter to Captain RS Floyd on November 22, 1880, he expressed a desire to see an observatory established in Hawai‘i. He later visited Lick Observatory in San Jose.

It was not long after this that a telescope was purchased from England in 1883 and set up at Punahou School.

In 1884, the five-inch refractor was installed in a dome constructed above Pauahi Hall on the school’s campus (the first permanent telescope in Hawai‘i.)

In 1956, this telescope was installed in Punahou’s newly completed MacNeil Observatory and Science Center. (Unfortunately, it is not known where that telescope is today.

Why was the Transit of Venus important?

Although Copernicus had, by the 16th century, put the known planets in their correct order, their absolute distances remained unknown. Astronomers still needed a celestial yardstick of “Astronomical Units” with which to measure distances among the planets and to link the planets to the stars beyond.

The mission of the British expedition was to observe a rare transit of Venus across the Sun for the purpose of better determining the value of the Astronomical Unit – that is, the Earth-to-Sun distance – and from it, the absolute scale of the solar system.

The orbits of Mercury and Venus lie inside Earth’s orbit, so they are the only planets which can pass between Earth and Sun to produce a transit (a transit is the passage of a planet across the Sun’s bright disk.) Transits are very rare astronomical events; in the case of Venus, there are on average two transits every one and a quarter centuries.

Ironically, on December 8, 1874 the big day, the king was absent, being in Washington to promote Hawaiian interests in a new trade agreement with the United States.

When American astronomer Simon Newcomb combined the 18th century data with those from the 1874/1882 Venus transits, he derived an Earth-sun distance of 149.59 +/- 0.31 million kilometers (about 93-million miles), very close to the results found with modern space technology in the 20th century.

Observation_Huts_in_Honolulu-(copyright-RoyalObservatoryGreenwich)-1874

Testing_in_advance_of_the_Transit-Honolulu-(copyright-RoyalObservatoryGreenwich)-1874

George-Forbes-leader_of_Transit_of_Venus-Honolulu-University-of-Strathclyde-1874

Leader_of_Transit_of_Venus-Honolulu-at_telescope-1874

Transit of Venus-Honolulu-(IfA-Hawaii-edu)

Transit of Venus-Honolulu-Honolulu-Apua-Map-1874

Transit of Venus-Waimea-Kauai-Map-1874

Kauai-Transit_of_Venus_Monument-1874-(thegardenisland-com)

Transit of Venus Plaque-Hulihee_Palace

Transit of Venus Survey Marker-Hulihee_Palace-(KonaSkies)

Transit of Venus-Location-at-Hulihee_Palace-(KonaSkies)

December 26, 2021 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kaʻiana

Recorded history suggests that in May 1787 Wynee (also spelled Winee) was the first Hawaiian to leave the islands on a western ship, the British ship Imperial Eagle. She served as the personal servant of the captain’s wife. They headed to China. (Duncan)

“This lady (Barclay’s wife) was so pleased with the amicable manners of poor Winee, that she felt a desire to take her to Europe; and for that purpose she took her, with the consent of her friends, under her own particular care and protections.” (Meares)

Shortly thereafter, on about August 27, 1787, “Tianna (Kaʻiana (also spelled Tyaana & Tyanna,)) a chief of Atooi (Kauai,) and the brother of the sovereign of that island was alone received to embark with us, amid the envy of his countrymen.” (Meares) He was the first Hawaiian Chief to sail from the islands in a western ship.

“Tyanna is tall; being six feet two inches in height and so exceedingly well made, that a more perfect symmetry and just proportion of shape is rarely to be met with … (he) has a pleasing animated countenance (and) a fine piercing eye”. (Portlock)

His father, ʻAhuʻula, was a younger son of King Keaweikekahialiʻiokamoku of the island of Hawaiʻi, making Kaʻiana a young first cousin of that island’s most powerful aliʻi, including King Kalaniʻōpuʻu, Keōua (father of Kamehameha I) and Keawemauhili of Hilo.

Kaʻiana’s mother was the Chiefess Kaupekamoku, who on her father’s side was descended from the ruling houses of Oʻahu and
Hilo, and on her mother’s side was a member of the Maui royal family, being a half-sister of King Kekaulike.

Kaʻiana was thus a first cousin to Kekaulike’s numerous children who included King Kahekili of Maui, King Kāʻeo of Kauaʻi, Namahana (mother of Kaʻahumanu,) Kekuamanoha (father of Kalanimōku) and Kalanihelemaiʻiluna (grandfather of Bernice Pauahi Bishop.) (Miller)

Kaʻiana had two younger half-brothers, Nāmakehā and Nahiolea, sons of his mother by two chiefs of the Maui royal family. The brothers were closely allied throughout their lives; all three were acclaimed warriors. (Miller)

Captain John Meares took Kaʻiana as a passenger to Canton, China (now called “Guangzhou”) with a cargo of furs from America.

Striding through the streets clad in a malo (loincloth,) ʻahuʻula (feathered cape) and mahiole (feathered helmet) and carrying his spear, Kaʻiana was a gigantic figure who terrified the Chinese. (Miller)

“Tyaana often expressed his dislike for the Chinese, particularly that custom of shutting up and excluding the women from the sight of all strangers.” (Portlock)

In China, according to Captain Nathaniel Portlock, “his very name (was) revered by all ranks and conditions of the people of Canton.” From 1787-1788 Kaʻiana visited China, the Philippines and the Northwest Coast of America.

Wynee and Kaʻiana later met in China; Captain Meares acquired two new ships, the Felice and the Iphigenia, and they set sail in January of 1788 for Northwest America, with Kaʻiana and Wynee aboard.

There, in Kaʻiana’s honor, Captain Douglas gave the name “Tianna’s Bay” to the place where the Iphigenia anchored overnight on August 5, 1788, near Alaska’s Mount Saint Elias. It was probably the first foreign place to be named for a Hawaiian person, but modern maps show that site as Icy Bay.

The return voyage began badly; sickness broke out among the crew and Wynee became ill. “Tianna, in his constant attendance upon Winee, had caught a fever, which, with the humane anxiety he felt on her account, confined him for some time to his bed.” (Meares)

“Winee, a native of Owyhee, one of the Sandwich Islands, who possessed virtues that are seldom to be found in the class of her countrywomen to which she belonged”, died aboard the Iphigenia February 5, 1788.

After time in the Northwest, Kaʻiana returned to the Islands on December 6, 1788 on the Iphigenia, captained by William Douglas. They first landed at Wailuku, Maui, with Kaʻiana greeting old friends, leaving the same day for the Island of Hawaiʻi. They touched at Kawaihae and Kailua, where friends and relatives of Kaʻiana crowded on board to see him.

Anchoring at Kealakekua Bay on December 10th Kamehameha came on board to greet Kaʻiana. “(A)fter crying over Tianna for a considerable time, the King (Kamehameha I) presented Captain Douglas with a most beautiful fan, and two long feathered cloaks.” (Meares)

Within a few days, Kaʻiana had decided to remain on Hawaiʻi, as Kamehameha, recognizing the advantage of having with him a chief familiar with foreign ways, had granted him a large property on the island. (Miller)

This was a time of conquest by Kamehameha and warfare across the islands.

“Among the distinguished Hawaiian chiefs connected with the final conquest and consolidation of the group by Kamehameha the Great, and standing in the gray dawn of the close of the eighteenth century, when the islands were rediscovered by Captain Cook and tradition began to give place to recorded history, was Kaiana-a-Ahaula.”

“After giving to the conqueror his best energies for years, and faithfully assisting in cementing the foundations of his greatness, he turned against him on the very eve of final triumph, and perished in attempting to destroy by a single blow the power he had helped to create.” (Kalākaua)

In the battle of Nuʻuanu (1795,) when the army of Kamehameha conquered Oʻahu, John Young (a close advisor to Kamehameha) is credited with firing the shot that killed Kaʻiana.

“By some the defection of Kaʻiana has been attributed to coldblooded and unprovoked treachery; by others to an assumption by Kaʻiana that by blood Kamehameha was not entitled to the sovereignty of the group, and that his defeat in Oʻahu would dispose of his pretensions in that direction, and possibly open to himself a way to supreme power.” (Kalākaua)

By 1795, having fought his last major battle at Nuʻuanu on O‘ahu with his superior use of modern weapons and western advisors, Kamehameha subdued all other chiefdoms (with the exception of Kaua‘i.)

However, after a short time, another chief entered into a power dispute with Kamehameha, Nāmakehā (the brother of Kaʻiana.) Hostilities erupted between the two that lasted from September 1796 to January 1797. (Brumaghim) The battle took place at Kaipalaoa, Hilo. Kamehameha defeated Nāmakehā.

The undisputed sovereignty of Kamehameha was thus established over the entire Island chain (except Kauaʻi and Niʻihau;) in 1810, negotiations between King Kaumuali‘i and Kamehameha I took place and Kaumualiʻi yielded to Kamehameha making Kamehameha leader of all the Islands.