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Around the World with a King

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by William N. Armstrong




  AROUND THE WORLD

  WITH A KING

  Kalakaua, King of the Hawaiian Islands.

  Representatives

  Continental Europe: BOXERBOOKS, INc., Zurich

  British Isles: PRENTICE-HALL INTERNATIONAL, INc., London

  Australasia: BOOK WISE (AUSTRALIA) PTY. LTD.

  101:-108 Sussex Street, Sydney 2000

  Canada: HURTIG PUBLISHERS, Edmonton

  Published by the Charles E. Tuttle Company, Inc.

  of Rutland, Vermont & Tokyo, Japan

  with editorial offices at

  Osaki Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 141-0032

  Copyright in Japan, 1977, by Charles E. Tuttle Co., Inc.

  All rights reserved

  Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 76-1:31:070

  ISBN: 978-1-4629-1150-9 (ebook)

  First edition, 1903

  by Frederick A. Stokes Co., New York

  First Tuttle edition, 1977

  PRINTED IN JAPAN

  To the Memory of my Brother

  THE LATE GENERAL S. C. ARMSTRONG

  CONTENTS

  List of Illustrations

  Introduction to the New Edition

  CHAPTER I

  King Kalakaua Plans a Tour — The First Sovereign to Put a Girdle Around the World — Selects His Companions — His Valet — Proposes to Travel Incognito — Scope of His Tour — Delay in Publication of This Memoir — The King Addresses His Subjects — Ceremonies Attending the Departure — The King's Character — His Minister and Chamberlain — Kalakaua's Knowledge of Royal Etiquette — His Unfortunate Predecessors — Theoretical and Practical Astronomy.

  CHAPTER II

  Arrival in San Francisco — Hoisting the Royal Standard — The King is generously Entertained — Visits the Legislature — "The Colossus of the Pacific" — A Chinese Banquet — The King, Elated, Requires Minister to Wear Diplomatic Uniform — The Valet Gets Drunk.

  CHAPTER III

  Departure for Japan — Logs on the Ocean — Washington's Birthday — Losing a Day — Slapping a King in the Face — Attempts to Instruct the King in Political Science — The Conflict of Races in Hawaii — Failure of Educational Effort.

  CHAPTER IV

  The Bay of Yedo — Fusyama — Saluted by Foreign Warships — The King Becomes the Guest of the Japanese Emperor — Lands to the Music of His Own National Anthem — The Secret of Our Reception — Lessons in Etiquette — Japanese and New England Bells.

  CHAPTER V

  Visit to the Emperor at Tokio — Reception at the Plaoe — The Empress — A Lady in Waiting — Comparison of the Emperor and the King — Lodged in the Palace of the Enriokwan — Robert the Valet Falls Again — The Royal Feather Cloak — The Emperor Returns the King's Visit — Dinners, Luncheons, and Receptions — An Imperial Prince Always Present with the King — Reflections.

  CHAPTER VI

  The Shrines of Shiba — Curious Worship — The King's Aphorism — The Japanese Press Discusses the King — Curiosity about his White Attendants — Count Inouye, Minister of Foreign Affairs — Invitation to Prolong the Royal Visit — An Important Diplomatic Event — Proposed Abrogation of an Unjust Treaty between Japan and Hawaii — Delight of the Emperor and His Government — Drafting a New Treaty — The Great European Powers Disturbed Thereby.

  CHAPTER VII

  Entertainments in Our Palace — The King Receives the Representatives of Foreign Nations — Dr. Benjamin Franklin's Japanese Descendants — The King Carefully Guarded — The Position of the Hawaiian Kingdom in the Pacific — Its Growth — The Japanese Character — The Sudden Rise of the People and Their Reformations — Review of Japanese Troops — An Earthquake — The Skeleton in Our Military Closet — The Hawaiian Army and Navy — A Japanese Drama — The King Presents a Drop — Curtain to the Theatre — The Hawaiian Minister Visits Count Inouye — His Residence — Strange Adventures of Two Japanese Statesmen.

  CHAPTER VIII

  The King Proposes a Matrimonial Alliance Between the Royal Families of Japan and Hawaii — The Plan Fails — The King Visits the Christian Church in Yokohama — Japanese Views Regarding Christian Missions — Their Political Danger.

  CHAPTER IX

  Lunch with the Imperial Princes — Japanese Women — Hawaiian Use of English — Dinner in Japanese Style at the Noblemen's Club — Japanese Costumes — The Geisha Girls and the Musicians — Visits to the Naval Academy, the Military Barracks, Museums, and Factories — Dinner with the Emperor — Decoration of the King and His Suite — A Like Compliment Paid to the Emperor — Telegram Announcing Assassination of the Tsar of Russia Suppressed — The Grand Banquet — Reception by the Empress — The Assassination of the Tsar Announced, and the King Leaves — A Great Ball Postponed — The Court in Mourning — The Emperor Dines with the King in the Enriokwan, and Takes Leave of Him — Presents from the Emperor.

  CHAPTER X

  Departure for Yokohama, Kobe, and Nagasaki — The Emperor sends Imperial Commissioners with His Guest — Japanese Evolution — Kobe, and the Old Capital of Kioto — Mistakes about the King's Identity — Visit to Osaka — Attempt to Dine Incognito at Japanese Inn — The Disguise Penetrated — Visit to an Old Missionary in Kobe — The Inland Sea — Salutes — The King's Reflections — Favours Buddhism — At Nagasaki — Japanese Navigation — Promiscuous Bathing — Imperial Commissioners Leave at the Boundary of the Empire — Chinese and Japanese Morality — The Steamer Coaled by Women and Children.

  CHAPTER XI

  The Yellow Sea — The King Wishes to See the Emperor of China — Decided to be Impracticable — Shanghai — Received by the Taotai — An American Negro in China — A Large Steamer Placed at the King's Service — The Boy and the "Cannibal King" — Departure for Tientsin — Danger from Pirates — The Peiho River and the Taku Forts — "Blood is Thicker than Water" — Received at Tientsin by the Taotai and Viceroy Li Hung Chang's Secretary — Difficulties About Visiting Pekin — The King Only a Foreign Devil — Calling on the Viceroy — Li Asks Questions and Smokes — The Viceroy Returns the King's Call and Asks More Questions — His Opinion About the Japanese — People Gather to See the "Black Foreign Devil" — Dinner with the Viceroy — The Viceroy's Son — Chinese Democracy — Presents from the Viceroy.

  CHAPTER XII

  Return to Shanghai — Cordial Receptions — Chinese After — Dinner Customs — Sail for Hongkong — Chinese Superstitions — The Missionary Misunderstands Them.

  CHAPTER XIII

  At Hongkong — The King Becomes Queen Victoria's Guest at Government House — Conversations with the Governor — Saluted by Forts and Warships — Official Announcement in English and Chinese — A Tramp Steamer Direct to Siam — Colonel Mosby, American Consul — Banquets and Other Entertainments — Captain Cook's Indiscretion — Reception to Chinese Merchants — Importance of Hongkong — British Rule — The King's Nap at the Banquet — A Lady's Strategy — Chinese Absorption of Christianity.

  CHAPTER XIV

  We Sail on the "Killarney" for Siam — The Irish Captain and the German Valet — Cochin — China — The Captain Disturbs the King with Stories of Piracy — Enter Gulf of Siam — Received at Mouth of Menan River by Siamese Officials — Reach Bangkok in the Royal Yacht — The Royal Barge — Our Reception — Siamese Attendants — "The Wine of the Coral Reef".

  CHAPTER XV

  Pagodas — A Floating City and an Amphibious Population — Darwin Mistaken — Visit to the King of Siam — The King's Conversation — Cats Disturb the Reception — Call on Second King, and on Uncle of Siamese King — Dinner with the Minister of Foreign Affairs — Drownicg of a Queen and Child — Sacredness of the Royal Person — A Costly Cremation — The Royal Chapel — Visits from the Sia
mese King, the Second King, Princes, and Consular Corps — The Royal Elephants — A Play in a Court Theatre — Siamese Dancers Sing a Missionary Hymn — Dinner with the Siamese King — Conferring of Decorations — The Durien — Kings Say Good — Bye — Buddhist Rites to Protect Steamer — The Chinese in Siam — Siamese Statesmen do Not Understand Christendom — Presents of Fruit.

  CHAPTER XVI

  Arrival at Singapore — The King Tired of Royal Etiquette — Visits and Receives the Governor — Drive over the Island — Importance of the Place — A Colossal Missionau Station — The King and the Tiger — A State Banquet — Effect of the "Climate" on Englishmen in the Tropics — Visit to the Maharajah of Johore — His Grand Palace — The Sword of State and the Great Umbrella — The Valet and the Feathered Cloak — Tiffin with the Maharajah — The Sovereigns Discover Each Other's "Strawberry — Marks" — A State Banquet — Dreams of Residence in Marble Halls — Moonlight and Native Music — A Morning Scene — Farewell to Singapore — More Trouble for the Valet — Loss of the Feather Cloak — Embarkation for Calcutta.

  CHAPTER XVII

  Brief Visit to Malacca — Reception at Penang by the Lieutenant — Governor — A Rich Chinaman's House — A Nautch Dancer's Performance — Hindu Caste — Maulmain — Eiephants in the Lumber Yards — Animal Intelligence — A Burmese Wedding — Rangoon — Buddhist Pagodas — Women's Emancipation in Burmah — The Queen's Birthday in the East — The British Power Everywhere — A Mohammedan at His Prayers — Entering the Hooghly — "Ganga! Ganga!".

  CHAPTER XVIII

  Reception at Calcutta — The English Civil Service — The Secret of Britain's Power in India — The American Negro Problem Compared with Race Problems in the East — The Reign of the "Plug" Hat — An Ex — King of Oude — Circumventing the King — Babu Literature — Robert Again Seeks to Rise to His Hereditary Level — Leave Calcutta for Bombay — Cooling the Train — Desolation of the Country — Need of Irrigation — An Indian Statesman's Views on European Civilisation — The King Creates a New Order of Merit — The Sacred City of Benares — Visit the Temples and the River — The Monkey Temple and the Imperturbable Goat — Priestly Logic — Reception at Bombay — Parsees — The Towers of Silence — Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy's Magnificent Residence.

  CHAPTER XIX

  From Bombay to Suez — Some Modest British Heroes — Anecdotes of the Candahar Campaign — The Valet's Relations to the King Explained — Aden — No Trace of the Lost Lenore — Black Arab Boys with Red Hair — Diving for Coins; an Old Trick of the King and His Suite — Mount Sinai — An Englishman's Comments on its Possessors — Surprised by the Khedive's Officers at Suez — The King Invited to Be the Khedive's Guest — The Suez Canal — "Sandwiches" at Zigazag — Mohammedan Abstinence — Mussulman Comments on Christianity.

  CHAPTER XX

  Cairo — General Stone — The Pyramids — In the Khedive's Palace — Egyptian Donkeys — Drive through the Streets of Cairo — The Massacre of the Mamelukes — The Museum and Its Curator — Received atAlexandria by the Khedive — Palace "Number Three" — The Harem — Mohammedan Views of Woman's Position — The King Returns the Khedive's Visit — Jewelled Pipes and Coffee — Cups — The Khedive's Views on Polygamy — Egypt under the Lion's Paw — The King's Belief in His Divine Origin — Dinner with the Khedive — Political Unrest — Polygamy a Divine Institution — Leprosy — The Khedive's Stables — Ball at the Palace of the Ras-el — Tin — Captain Cook's Old Frigate, the "Resolution" — A Greek Beauty — Historic Ground: Alexander the Great, Julius Cresar, Mark Antony, and Cleopatra — Departure for Italy — The Vice — Regal Barge.

  CHAPTER XXI

  Comments of Egyptian Press — The King's Masonic Rank — Voyage to Naples — A Comet — Catalonia — Volcanoes of Hawaii and Sicily — Divine Stoppage of Lava — Flows — An Italian Adventurer in Honolulu — He Reappears at Naples and Abducts the King — Pursuit and Recapture of His Majesty — Visit to the King and Queen of Italy — The Adventurer Dismissed — Italian Poems of Adulation to Strangers — Ex—Khedive Ismail Calls — Troubles with Hotel — Keepers Begin — News of Attack on President Garfield.

  CHAPTER XXII

  Rome — Cardinal Jacobini — Interview with the Holy Father — Pleasant Conversation — Cardinal Howard — A Picturesque Scene — The King Prevented by his Suite from Visiting St. Petersburg — Leave for England via Paris — A Scheming Hollander — Ride through Paris and Leave for London — Violation of French Etiquette.

  CHAPTER XXIII

  London, Claridge's Hotel — Royal and Ministerial Callers — The Duke of Edinburgh's Visit to Hawaii — The Prince of Wales Makes a Social "Lion" of the King — The Royal Family Takes the King up Without Reserve — The Queen's Carriages at His Service — Patti at the Royal Italian Opera — An Old Schoolmate, General Armstrong — The Houses of Parliament — The "Plug" Hat the Symbol of British Power — Volunteer Review in Windsor Park — The Crown Prince of Germany — Novelty of Our Situation — Westminster Abbey — A Trip on the River with Lord Charles Beresford.

  CHAPTER XXIV

  Luncheon at Earl Granville's with Mr. Gladstone and Members of the Cabinet — Visit to the Queen at Windsor Castle — Her Majesty Inquires for Queen Emma — Luncheon at the Castle — Visit from the Crown Prince of Germany — Call at Marlborough House — The Prince and Princess of Wales — Lunch with the Prince at Lord Charles Beresford's — American Women — Lord Beresford's Escapade in Hawaii — The Prince of Wales's Visit to the United States — Garden Party at Marlborough House — The Queen Present — Mr. Lowell, the American Minister — An Informal Gathering of Royalty and Its Friends — The King Approved of — Lambeth Palace and the Archbishop of Canterbury — Reception to Prince and Princess of Wales at Kensington Museum — Earl Spencer's Mistake — A Royal Procession — Aristocratic Life a Bore.

  CHAPTER XXV

  Ball at Hyde Park Barracks — Grand Decorations — The Prince of Wales, as Colonel of the Second Life Guards, Receives the Guests — Colonial Banquet at Guildhall — Builders of the British Empire — The Prince and King Make Speeches — The King Offends the Irish — The Consequences — Entertained by Lord Brassey at Normalhurst — Lunch with Prince of Wales at Sir Christopher Sykes's — Dinner at Trinity House — General Grant's Mistake — Places of Interest — Handsome Jewish Women — Dinner with Baroness Burdett — Coutts — The King Decorated — He also Decorates the Queen and Prince of Wales — "Punch" and the King — Ball at Marlborough House — Lunch with the Duke and Duchess of Teck — The "Lion" Leaves England — The King and the British Government.

  CHAPTER XXVI

  Belgium — Consular Offices — The Battlefield of Waterloo — Civilised and Pagan Warfare — Visits from and to King Leopold — Berlin — Visit to Prince William and Other Princes in Pottsdam — Dines with Prince William — Military Reviews — The Skeleton Dances — The Royal Hawaiian Band — Dinner with the Red Prince — Krupp's Gun Factory.

  CHAPTER XXVII

  Vienna — The Royal Family Represented by Archduke Albrecht — Mr. Phelps, the American Minister, and Mr. Schuyler, the United States Consui-General — A Yale Jubilee — The King Reviews Austrian Troops — Proposed Guarantee of Hawaiian Independence — The King En joys Himself on the Prater — Reporters — Paris — No Reception by the French Government — Unravelling the Mystery — Our Bad Manners — Question of Declaring War Against France — Reconciliation — An Incident of the Commune — Minister St. Hilaire Calls — Requests for Decorations — Count de Lesseps — The Ballet Girls at the Opera.

  CHAPTER XXVIII

  At the Spanish Frontier — The Escurial — Reception at Madrid — Our Car Derailed by a Cow — Portugal — The Royal Car — Received by the King and Queen — The Little Skeleton Again — Mutual Decorations — Dam Fernando — Portuguese in Hawaii — Cintra — Pena — A Magnificent Outlook — Dinner with the Portuguese King — A Narrow Escape for Vasco da Gama as Told by His Descendant — A Bull — Fight — Good — Bye to Portugal — The Monarchs Em
brace — Negotiating a Treaty — The King Starts for Home via Spain, France, England, Scotland, and the United States — The Valet's Estimate of His Position.

  CHAPTER XXIX

  New York, Philadelphia, and Washington — On the Cobble — stones of Democracy — The King Presented to President Arthur — Fortress Monroe and Hampton Normal School — The King Buys Horses in Kentucky — Banquet in San Francisco — Sailing for Home — Casting Up Accounts — What Wisdom Has His Majesty "Sucked" — He Agrees with Learned Men — Reception at Honolulu — The Girdle Around the Earth is Clasped.

  CHAPTER XXX

  The End of the Monarchy — The King and His Divine Origin and Mission — Insists on Coronation — Ministers Resign — The King Resists Parliamentary Government — Confronted with the Bayonet and Yields — He Instigates Revolution, but Fails — Visits California and Dies — Liliuokalani His Successor — She Attempts to Make a New Constitution, and the Monarchy is Overthrown — Annexation to the United States — The Work of the Missionaries.

  LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

  Kalakaua, King of the Hawaiian Islands Frontispiece

  Colonel C. H. Judd, King Kalakaua's Chamberlain Facing page 2

  Ito (1881) " " 60

  Li Hung Chang (1881) " " 94

  Menu of Dinner given in honour of King Kalakaua, by Li Hung Chang " " 98

  Extract from Hongkong Newspaper, " " 106

  Invitation to dine with the King of Siam " " 130

  The Maharajah of Johore (1881) " " 140

  The Viceroy of Egypt (1881) " " 190

  Humberto, King of Italy (1881), " " 198

  Margherita, Queen of Italy (1881) " " 200

  The Crown Prince of Italy (1881) " " 204

  Pope Leo XIII (1881) " " 208

  The Duke of Edinburgh (1881) " " 214

  The Prince of Wales (1881) " " 216

  The Prince Imperial of Germany (1881) " " 220

  The Princess of Prussia (1881) " " 222

 

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