PROCLAMATION.

Whereas, It has come to my knowledge from the highest official sources, that my Government has been recently threatened with overthrow by lawless violence; and whereas the representatives at my Court, of the United States, Great Britain and France, being cognizant of these threats, have offered me the prompt assistance of the Naval forces of their respective countries, I hereby publicly proclaim my acceptance of the aid thus proffered in support of my Sovereignty. My independence is more firmly established than ever before.

KAMEHAMEHA.

Keoni Ana.
Palace, 8th December, 1854.
By the King and Kuhina Nui.

  R. C. WYLLIE

PROCLAMATION.

Whereas, It has pleased Almighty God to remove from this world our beloved Sovereign, His late Majesty, Kamehameha III.; and whereas, by the will of His late Majesty, and by the appointment and Proclamation of His Majesty and of the House of Nobles, His Royal Highness, Prince Liholiho, was declared to be His Majesty's Successor. Therefore, Public Proclamation is hereby made, that Prince Alexander Liholiho is KING of the Hawaiian Islands, under the style of Kamehameha IV. God preserve the King.

KEONI ANA,
Kuhina Nui.

December 15th, 1854.

Chiefs:—I have become by the Will of God, your Father, as I have been your Child. You must help me, for I stand in need of help.

To you Ministers, and other high officers of State of Our late King, I return my sincere thanks for the expressions of condolence with which you have this morning comforted me. I request of you to continue your labors, in the several positions you have hitherto held, until when my grief shall have allowed me time for reflection, I make such new arrangements as shall seem proper.

I thank the Members of this Council, in general for their condolence, who will, also, I hope, assist me with their advice, as though they had been appointed by myself.

I solemnly swear, in the presence of Almighty God, to maintain the Constitution of the Kingdom whole and inviolate, and to govern in conformity with that and the laws.

Give ear Hawaii o Keawe! Maui o Kama! Oahu o Kuihewa! Kauai o Mano!

In the providence of God, and by the will of his late Majesty Kamehameha III., this day read in your hearing, I have been called to the high and responsible position of the Chief Ruler of this nation. I am deeply sensible of the importance and sacredness of the great trust committed to my hands, and in the discharge of this trust, I shall abide by the Constitution and laws which I have just sworn to maintain and support. It is not my wish to entertain you on the present occasion with pleasant promises for the future; but I trust that the close of my career will show that I have not been raised to the head of this nation to oppress and curse it, but on the contrary to cheer and bless it, and that when I come to my end, I may, like the beloved Chief whose funeral we yesterday celebrated, pass from earth amid the bitter lamentation of my people.

The good, the generous, the kind hearted Kamehameha is now no more. Our great Chief has fallen! But though dead he still lives. He lives in the hearts of his people! He lives in the liberal, the just, and the beneficent measures which it was always his pleasure to adopt. His monuments rise to greet us on every side. They may be seen in the church, in the school house, and the hall of justice; in the security of our persons and property; in the peace, the law, the order and general prosperity that prevail throughout the islands. He was the friend of the Makaainana, the father of his people, and so long as a Hawaiian lives his memory will be cherished!

By the death of Kamehameha III., the chain that carried us back to the ancient days of Kamehameha I. has been broken. He was the last child of that great Chieftain, but how unlike the father from whom he sprung. Kamehameha I. was born for the age in which he