484-485
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maintaining a correct deportment, that no chief may oppress any subject, and that chiefs and people may enjoy equal security under the same system of law; the persons, the lands, the dwelling enclosures, and all the property of all the people are protected while they conform to the laws of the Kingdom, neither shall any of these be taken except by the provisions of law. Any chief who shall perseveringly act in opposition to this constitution shall cease to hold his office as a chief of these Hawaiian Islands; and the same shall apply to governors, officers of Government, and land agents. But if one condemned should turn again and conform himself to the laws it shall be in the power ot the chiefs to reinstate him in the standing he occupied before his trespass.
"FOUNDATION OF LAWS.
"According to the principles above declared, we purpose to regulate this Kingdom, and to seek the good of all the chiefs and all the people of these Hawaiian Islands. We are aware that we can not succeed by ourselves alone, but through God we can; for He is King over all kingdoms; by whom protection and prosperity may be secured; therefore do we first beseech him to point out to us the right course, and aid our work.
"Wherefore, resolved,
"I . No law shall be enacted at variance with the word of the Lord Jehovah, or opposed to the grand design of that word. All the laws of this country shall accord with the general design of God's law.
"II . All men of every form of worship shall be protected in their worshipping Jehovah, and in their serving Him; nor shall any one be punished for merely neglecting to serve God, provided he injures no man and brings no evil on the Kingdom.
"III. The law shall support every unblamable man who is injured by another all shall be protected in every good work, and every man shall be punishable who brings evil on the Kingdom or individuals. Nor shall any unequal law be established to give favor to one through evil to another.
"IV. No man shall be punished unless his crime be first made to appear, nor shall he be punished without being examined in the presence of his accuser. When the accused and the accuser have met face to face, and the trial proceeds according to law, and guilt is established before them both, then punishment shall follow.
"V. It shall not be proper for any man or chief to sit as judge or juror to try his own benefactor, or one directly connected with him. Therefore, if one is condemned or acquitted, and it shall soon be known that some of the triers acted with partiality to favor whom he loved, or perhaps to enrich himself, then there may be a new trial before the impartial."
"EXPLANATION OF THE POSITION OF THE RULERS.
"The nature of the position of the chief magistrates and of the policy of the country is this: Kamehameha I was the head of this Kingdom or dynasty. To him pertained all the lands from Hawaii to Niihau, but they were not his own personal property; they belonged to the people and the chiefs, and Kamehameha was their head and the dictator of the country. Therefore no one had before, and no one has now, the right to convey away the smallest portion of these islands without the consent of the dictator of the Kingdom.
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"These are the dictators or the persons who have had the direction of it from that time down, Kamehameha II and Kaahumanu I, and at the present time Kamehameha III. To these persons only has belonged the direction or dictatorship of the realm down to the present time, and the documents written by them only are the documents of the Kingdom.
"The Kingdom is to be perpetuated to Kamehameha III and to his heirs, and his heir shall be one whom he and the chiefs shall appoint during his lifetime; but if he shall not nominate, then the appointment shall devolve solely on the nobles and representatives.
"PREROGATIVES OF THE KING.
"This is the King's position: He is the sovereign of all the people and all the chiefs. At his direction are the soldiers, the guns, the forts, and all the implements of war of the Kingdom. At his direction is the public property, the revenue from the poll tax, the land tax, and the three days monthly labor tax, to accord, however, with the provisions of law. He shall possess his own private lands, and such as shall be forfeited for the annual tax.
"He is the chief judge of the supreme court, and to him belongs the execution of the laws of the land, the decrees, and the treaties with other countries, in accordance with the provisions of the laws of this country.
"It is for him to make treaties with the rulers of all other kingdoms, and to hold intercourse with ministers sent hither from other countries, and to consummate agreements.
"It is for him to declare war should a period of distress arrive, and the chiefs could not well be assembled; and he shall be commander in chief of the army. All important business of the Kingdom not committed by law to others, belongs to him to transact.
"OF THE PREMIER OF THE KINGDOM.
"It shall be the duty of the King to appoint a chief of ability and high rank to be his prime minister, who shall be entitled premier of the Kingdom, whose office and business shall be like that of Kaahumanu I and Kaahumanu II. For in the life time of Kamehameha, the questions of life and death, right and wrong, were for Kaahumanu to decide, and at the time of his death he gave charge, 'Let the Kingdom be Liholiho's, and Kaahumanu the prime minister.' That policy of Kamehameha, wherein he sought to secure a premier, is to be perpetuated in this Hawaaiian country, but in accordance with the provisions of law.
"This is the business of the premier: Whatever appropriate business of the Kingdom the King intends to do the premier may do in the name of the King. The words and acts of the Kingdom by the premier are the words and acts of the King. The premier shall receive and acknowledge the revenue of the Kingdom and deliver it to the King. The premier shall be the King's special counsellor in all the important business of the Kingdom. The King shall not transact public business without the concurrence of the premier; nor shall the premier transact public business without the concurrence of the King. If the King shall veto what the premier counsels or attempts that is a negative. Whatever important public business the King chooses to transact in person he may do, but only with the approbation or consent of the premier.
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