_His Majesty's Speech Proroguing the Legislature of 1859._
NOBLES AND REPRESENTATIVES:--I congratulate you upon having
concluded the labors of a Session protracted beyond my
expectation, and, I imagine, that of the country at large. I
trust that after all the attention which has been expended on
the revised Civil Code, the result will prove a compilation
sound in its principles and convenient in its arrangement. If
it have no other effect than to encourage a decrease of
litigation, by exposing in its proper place the law applicable
to every civil regulation which legislation makes the
frame-work of our national system, your time, and the expenses
of the session, will not have been consumed in vain.
I have heard with satisfaction that the amendments of the
Constitution which I suggested and laid open to your
consideration, have been acted upon, and I do not doubt that
the next session will see them confirmed and made effective. I
think they will initiate a more wholesome system of
legislation, prevent unnecessary delays and expenses, and
place the Executive Government in a position better calculated
for giving explanations and receiving instructions from that
House which originates every fiscal measure.
I thank you, Representatives, for the provision you have made
for myself and those nearest to me; and, while alluding to the
Bill of Appropriations, I cheerfully notice the fact, that in
making distribution of the revenue, you have, for the first
time, proposed for the country a system of expenditure
strictly proportioned to the estimated receipts.
I confess that the act of your two Houses which I regard with
most complacency, is that in which you commit the public
Treasury to the aid of Hospitals. You, Representatives,
amongst whose constituents are those very persons for whom
these places of refuge are principally designed, have
expressed a kind and grateful feeling for the personal share
which I and the Queen have taken in the labor of securing the
necessary means for the establishment of a Hospital in
Honolulu. Whilst acknowledging your courtesy, I wish to take
this first public occasion to express the almost unspeakable
satisfaction with which I have found my efforts successful
beyond my hopes. It is due to the subscribers as a body, that
I should bear witness to the readiness, not less than the
liberality, with which they have met my advances. When you
return to your several places, let the fact be made known,
that in Honolulu the sick man has a friend in everybody. Nor
do I believe that He who made us all, and to whose keeping I
commend in now dismissing you, has seen with indifference how
the claims of a common humanity have drawn together, in the
subscription list, names representative of almost every race
of men under the sun.