NEW CODE OF LAWS.

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of the earth in unity and blessedness. God has also. bestowed certain rights alike on all men, and all chiefs and all people, of all lands.

"These are some of the rights, which he has given alike to every man, and every chief; namely, life, limb, liberty, the labor of his hands, and productions of his mind.

"God has also established governments and rulers for the purposes of peace; but, in making laws for a nation, it is by no means proper to enact laws for the protection of rulers only, without also providing protection for their subjects; neither is it proper to enact laws to enrich the chiefs only, without regard to the enriching of their subjects also; and hereafter there shall by no means be any law enacted, which is inconsistent with what is above expressed; neither shall any tax be assessed, nor any service or labor required of any man in a manner at variance with the above sentiments.

"These sentiments are hereby proclaimed for the purpose of protecting alike both the people and the chiefs of all these Islands; that no chief may be able to oppress any subject, but that chiefs and people may enjoy the same protection under one and the same law.

"Protection is hereby secured to the persons of all the people, together with their lands, their building lots, and all their property; and nothing whatever shall be taken from any individual, except by express provision of the laws. Whatever chief shall perseveringly act in violation of this constitution, shall no longer remain a chief of the Sandwich Islands; and the same shall be true of the governors, officers, and all land agents."

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Advance

thus made.

ADVANCE THUS MADE.

The laws regulated the poil tax, the rent of lands, the fisheries, and the amount of labor which the king and chiefs might require. They secured to landholders the permanent possession of their lands on paying their rent, the amount of which was prescribed. Labor for the king and chiefs might be commuted by a payment, which was in no case to exceed nine dollars. Parents having four children living with them, were freed from all labor for the chiefs; and if there were five children, the parents were not liable to taxation. Local legislation was forbidden to individual chiefs. The authors of new and valuable inventions were to be rewarded, and the descent of property was regulated. These were the more important items in the code, which was to take effect six months after its promulgation. The chiefs were to meet annually, in the month of April, to enact laws and transact the business of the kingdom.

for despotic

This is perhaps the first recorded instance of a An example hereditary despotic government voluntarily governments. setting limits to its own power for the good of the subjects. Only twenty years before, the king, chiefs, and people were idolatrous, immoral, unlettered pagans.

Death of

Kinau, the premier, died in April, 1839; and Kaikioewa, the aged governor of Kauai, on Kinau. the tenth of the same month. The loss thus experienced by the nation was doubtless unspeakable gain to the departed. Kinau was succeeded in the premiership by Kekauluohi, her halfsister. The latter held office six years, until June, 1845, when she died at the age of fifty-one.

Kinau left no equal in stability of character.

CHARACTER OF KINAU.

ter.

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Ever wakeful to the interests of the nation, she showed no ordinary skill in managing Her characits concerns, even in the most troublous times. She set her face against the prevailing immoralities, and gave satisfactory evidence of a readiness to make personal sacrifices for promoting Christian morals and the best interests of the people. So much was she esteemed by all classes, and so much relied on by all, that her sudden death had an almost paralyzing influence.

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE GREAT AWAKENING.

1836-1838.

THE awakening influences of the Holy Spirit, in their more striking form, were first seen,

Commencement of the awakening.

in the mission itself, at its annual meeting in March, 1836. And it is worthy of special note, as showing how good men are often most effectually roused for local efforts, that the desire then predominating in the hearts of the missionaries, was for the conversion of the whole world. Every mind appears to have been fully occupied with that momentous topic, and under its influence there was the utmost harmony and love among the brethren. The impression was general and strong, that the measure of prayer and exertion among Christians came far short of what was needed to usher in the millennial day; and that they themselves, and all God's people, were called to enter at once upon a broader sphere of action. This they embodied in the printed appeal of great power already mentioned, which they sent to the churches at home.

The state of feeling now described continued through the year, but there was nowhere any very special outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The same interest in the world's conversion appeared in the general meeting of the following year, but it was now

THE MOVING POWER FROM ABOVE. 141

connected with much feeling and mutual exhortations with respect to the field they occupied. This feeling was providentially chastened and intensified by bereavements in several families, but most of all by the sudden removal of one of the youngest of their number, and one of the most promising as to health and usefulness. The Holy Spirit evidently applied the admonition especially to the afflicted husband, who returned home to Waimea on Hawaii, with his motherless child, to witness at his station the commencement of the great awakening. Soon, a similar state of inquiry appeared at Wailuku on Maui, and indeed at most of the stations. The moving power was evidently from above, The moving for there was then in the United States above. such a season of rebuke and darkness, as has rarely been seen, a partial insolvency prevailing throughout the land, such as obliged the Prudential Committee of the Board to curtail their remittances almost universally.

power from

The presence of the Holy Spirit became more marked in the autumn. Of this there was abundant and heart-cheering evidence in the improved spiritual condition of the native churches. The standard of piety in them was so raised that the mission bore testimony, concerning not a few of the church members that, "for their ardent feelings and uniform activity in religion, they would be ornaments to any church in the United States." Hitherto the churches had been composed chiefly of the aged and middle aged, but the work now in progress embraced all ages, many children and youth being among the hopefully converted.

Still more apparent was the divine influence early