No. 362.
Mr. Hastings to Mr. Bayard.
Legation of
the United States,
Honolulu, November 22, 1886.
(Received December 8.)
No. 92.]
Sir: Your dispatch No. 33, of the 15th of October
last, in relation to the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of His
Majesty King Kalakaua, has been received at this legation.
[Page 565]
With a view to carrying out the instructions to Minister Merrill contained
therein, I at once communicated to the minister of foreign affairs the
friendly desire of the President, at the same time informing him of other
arrangements to honor the occasion had our Government had sufficient notice
beforehand of the intended celebration.
In reply to my communication the minister of foreign affairs informed me that
His Majesty was extremely gratified to learn of the interest felt by our
President and people in the celebration of his fiftieth anniversary, and
requested that as the representative of the legation I should convey
personally the President’s cordial message, naming an hour on which His
Majesty would be pleased to receive me in special audience for the
purpose.
I append hereto an account of the audience, published by authority of the
Hawaiian foreign office.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure in No. 92.]
This day had audience of the King, Frank P. Hastings, esq., acting chargé
d’affaires and vice and deputy consul-general for the United States of
America, to present to His Majesty the congratulations of the President
of the United States on his fiftieth birthday. To which audience he was
introduced by his excellency Hon. Walter M. Gibson, minister of foreign
affairs.
Mr. Hastings addressed His Majesty in the following terms:
“Your Majesty: By special direction of the
President of the United States, it becomes my agreeable duty to convey
on this auspicious event the President’s cordial felicitations on the
attainment of your fiftieth year.
“It is needless for me to refer to the many evidences 3 our Majesty has
received of the steady friendship of the Government and people of the
United States, or to repeat the many expressions of regard and good-will
that have so often been made by them in regard to the welfare and
success of Hawaii and its people.
“In assuring your Majesty of the continuance of all these friendly
wishes, I am requested to add the sincere hope of our President and
people that the close and mutually beneficial relations now existing
between Hawaii and the United States may be maintained and developed.
Added to these sentiments of national good-will, allow me to express the
hope, that the prosperity with which this Kingdom has been blessed
during your Majesty’s reign may long continue, and that many years may
be added to your Majesty’s life as well as to that of each member of
your royal family, with the attendant blessings of health, happiness,
and peace.”
Mr. Hastings then proceeded to say: “I can not let this occasion, so
kindly granted tome by your Majesty, pass without expressing on behalf
of the people of Charleston, S. C., their deep gratitude for the
gracious message of sympathy so promptly sent to them in their distress;
It will be remembered by them so long as kindly sympathies shall exist
in the human heart.”
To which His Majesty replied, expressing his gratitude for the kindly
message sent to him in thin special manner by the President of the
United States, a message which was peculiarly pleasing as being the
first to reach him and coming from the head of so great a nation as the
United States of America.
His Majesty was attended on this occasion by his excellency Hon. Walter
M. Gibson, minister of foreign affairs and premier; Major-General the
Hon. Curtis P. Iaukca, governor of Oahu, His Majesty’s chamberlain; Maj.
John D. Holt, of the staff of the governor of Oahu; and Capt. Samuel
Nowlein, quartermaster-general of the forces.
