In the afternoon, in the royal carriages, we called upon the King of Portugal. The drive was along the Tagus to the Palace of Adjuda, situated on high ground overlooking the river. At the gates of the palace men armed with ancient halberds lined the way to the entrance, where we were met by Dom Luis, "King of Portugal and the Algarvies, without and beyond the seas, in Africa, Lord of Guiana, and of the Navigation and Commerce of Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia, and the Indies." He and his predecessors had been robbed of many of these possessions by an envious and thieving world, but he retained the titles as certificates of the past glory of his throne.
The monarchs walked beside each other through several chambers to the reception-room, where the Queen, with her ladies, was standing. Her Majesty Maria Pia, a sister of Victor Emmanuel of Italy, was tall and graceful, but extremely homely; an excellent rider on horseback, a good shot, quick in retort, the owner of costly jewels, and withal most charitable and fond of botanic study. Dom Luis was short and stout, and with something of the bluffness of a sailor; he was in command of the warship "Bartolommeo Diaz" when his brother died, and from the deck he ascended the throne.
After a brief conversation the King presented me, and then his Chamberlain and Col. Macfarlane, his new aide, and Mr. Abram Hoffnung, now an attache. The Portuguese King, looking up at the Chamberlain, who towered above him in his military uniform, said, "Ah! you belong to his Majesty's army? How large is it?" The little skeleton rattled again in the royal closet; but the Hawaiian King, relieved from taxing his brain for an answer, smiled as he saw his own Chamberlain in the pitiless bog, and left him with a free hand to extricate himself. The reply, as usual, referred to volunteers and regulars, but neglected figures, and adroitly changed the subject by a statement about the navies of the world which protected our independence,—a matter which greatly interested his Portuguese Majesty.
We retired with the usual ceremony, and within an hour Dom Luis returned the visit. He presented to the King the insignia of the Grand Cross of "Our Lady of the Conception," and the decorations of a lesser rank to each of the suite; and in return he and his Ministers received the promise of Hawaiian Orders, which were later sent to them from Paris.
Following the Portuguese King, Dom Fernando, his father, who had been Regent during the minority of Dom Luis's brother, called. He had been a conspicuous figure in Europe. He had refused the crowns of Greece and of Spain, on the ground, he said, that they would only be crowns of thorns. His suggestion of placing Prince Leopold, a Hohenzollern, who had married his daughter, upon the throne of Spain, was the immediate or ostensible cause of the Franco-Prussian war. For his third wife he had married Miss Hensler, of Boston, Massachusetts, an opera-singer, who was an attractive person, but who was not, at the time of our visit, in favour with the court. This refuser of two crowns, and the apparent cause of one of the great wars of the world, was to us a most interesting person. He was a good linguist, promoted the arts, and had wide knowledge of affairs. He was extremely simple in manners, and plied us with questions about our own country and its Portuguese inhabitants.
Dom Fernando, Regent of Portugal (1881).
Again appeared the curious relations of our little and remote kingdom with the European countries. At this time several thousands of Portuguese subjects had emigrated from the Azores and had settled in Hawaii as labourers on the sugar plantations. They remained Portuguese subjects, but were in fact joint subjects of the two kings. I was authorised to initiate a treaty between the two countries which would enlarge this emigration. Within three years from this time the Portuguese had emigrated in such numbers to Hawaii that under a good military leader they would have been able to have taken possession of the country and made it a Portuguese colony, provided the American star of empire did not rain a "ghastly dew" upon the scheme.
We visited Cintra the next day. From the palace, which was the Alhambra of the Moorish kings, rose two lofty cones, visible at a long distance and most impressive. But on entering the building it appeared that these impressive cones were vast chimneys, expanded at the base, and invented by some eccentric architect to discharge the smoke and odours of the kitchen into the clouds. By far the most magnificent site for a palace which we saw during our tour was Pena, built near by, on a pinnacle of rock, with a sheer, vertical descent of a thousand feet from its bastions to the ocean. A winding road leads up to this palace on the summit, which is an old castle in the Moorish style, with Gothic archways, picturesque drawbridges, great chambers with frescoed ceilings and innumerable carvings. One may step from the banquet-hall to the balcony and toss a pebble over its low parapet into the surf at its base. The land-ward view takes in Torres Vedras, where, during the Peninsular War, Wellington forced the beginning of the end of Napoleon's career; from its towers the old King, Dom Manuel, daily looked seaward for many months, in 1497, for the return from India of his great captain Vasco da Gama. Like the tall lighthouses against which the flying birds strike in the dark, it is a cloud-piercing structure against which angels would scrape their wings unless they carried lanterns. The views from the highest mountain summits are incomparable with this, because here are united the grandest views of ocean and land.
On our return to Lisbon we assumed our uniforms and went to the palace to dine. After the formal reception we were taken through its halls, adorned with pictures and statuary, until dinner was proclaimed by a herald. The King of Hawaii was seated upon the right of the Queen, while Dom Luis was seated at the middle of the opposite side of the table, and I was placed on his right with our own suite; other guests, numbering thirty, were arranged according to their rank. As the Queen did not speak English, the flashes of royal silence were prolonged, being broken only by occasional interpretations by Dom Luis. On my right was one of the Queen's ladies of honour, who was a lineal descendant of Vasco da Gama. She spoke English fluently. She asked who was the discoverer of the Hawaiian Islands. I replied, an Englishman, Captain Cook, who had been killed by the people he had discovered. She said that it was indeed fortunate that her illustrious ancestor had passed around the Cape of Good Hope to India, instead of taking the passage around Cape Horn; for if he had taken the Western course he might have anticipated Captain Cook and been killed by the King's predecessor.
The King of Portugal (1881).
The ceiling of the banquet-chamber was superbly frescoed, and its walls were tinted in soft ashes-of-rose colouring; great glass chandeliers, with myriads of candles, lit up the flowers; and the table service was of gold and silver.
The Kings now toasted the Queen and each other. The band on the balcony played the native hymns of Portugal and Hawaii. We then sat for a short time in the balcony, from which we looked down on the Tagus, where so many fleets have ridden at anchor in many wars.
We left with the usual escort of honour. It was the last of the royal banquets which we attended during our tour.
Dom Luis had requested the King to attend a bull-fight on Sunday, the next day; he placed the royal box at the King's pleasure. Unlike the cruel fights which the Spanish people delight in, the one we attended was a respectable affair. It opened with six cavallei:ros on noble horses with rich trappings riding around the arena. At a point opposite the royal box and on the farther side of the arena, they formed in line and moved slowly with majestic steps to the royal box, where the riders saluted; then, instead of turning, they backed slowly and in straight alignment to the point from which they started. The bull-fighters, the bandarilha, in rich, close-fitting costumes and cloaks, then approached the royal box, saluted and retired, backing across the arena. Two horsemen entered the ring; a door was opened, and a bull with long horns galloped into the arena, stood bewildered for a moment, and then charged on a red flag. These fights are described in detail in tourists' books, and a description will not be repeated here. The fine horses were too valuable to be slaughtered; they engaged in no serious business, but with much intelligence kept out of the hull's way; they added to the fascination of the scene. Nor are the bulls bu
tchered. When they are tired or cease to show pluck, the audience clamours, and they are withdrawn. Thirteen bulls entered the arena, but some of them were without hatred or malice toward mankind, and refused combat. These Quaker beasts, preferring grass to glory, stolidly looked around the vast amphitheatre and seemed to say: "It takes two to make a fight."
Aside from the wounds made by the barbed darts, which are not serious, the bulls are not injured. Many of them, which show spirit, are, after an interval of some weeks, brought into the arena again. But even these lose their spirit, or take a reasonable view of the situation, and seem to say, "What is there in this for us?" The excitement of a Portuguese bull-fight, which is somewhat regulated by a Humane Society, does not lie in the cruelty to the beasts, as it does in Spain, but in the fascinating gymnastics of the fighters and the dangerous risks they invite. They fence with opponents who have horns instead of rapiers, and are not governed by any rules of the duelling code. The advantage of the fighter is that he moves with much greater rapidity than the bull and makes an unerring calculation of the value of space. Three inches serves him as well as a hundred feet in avoiding the touch of a horn.
At the close of the exhibition the cavalleïros and bandarilha approached the royal box, bowed to the King, and retired; the chief and most popular of them soon appearing at the hotel for a kingly remembrance in gold.
The next day we went to the palace to bid goodbye to our royal hosts. The Queen placed flowers on his Hawaiian Majesty's coat and handed bouquets to the suite. When we had reached the door of the royal carriage, the two monarchs stood for a moment facing each other; the Portuguese King gave his Royal Brother an embrace, but his head hardly reached the shoulder of the Hawaiian sovereign, and his arms were clasped about his thighs; Kalakaua, towering above him, and unable to embrace him, patted his back.
In order to initiate a treaty between the two countries which would regulate the emigration of Portuguese to Hawaii, I remained in Lisbon for several days. The King, with the remainder of his suite, returned to Madrid for two days, from which place they travelled continually through France and England to Scotland, and from that country left for Liverpool and embarked for New York.
On completing the general form of a treaty between Hawaii and Portugal, I left for Paris, London, and Liverpool, and arrived in New York in advance of the King and waited for him.
As Robert, the Count von O——, was more or less prominent in our tour through the Orient, this memoir would not be complete without including some record of his services in Europe.
After reaching Italy the King quickly saw that any parade of the royal feather cloak would be a grotesque affair; it would be ridiculous even to float the royal standard. Robert was virtually deposed from his office and left to the discharge of his exhilarating menial duties. He also abandoned with indignation his secret office of historian or biographer, because the person who had secured for him this office, and had promised him remuneration, had evidently not put a high financial value on the literary work which he had furnished, and had made him no remittance. As the King treated Robert as valet or friend, as his moods changed, it was not easy for me to treat him as a servant, and I listened occasionally to his grievances. He bitterly criticised the King and his Chamberlain for not recognising his own superior education, for he said to me, "Your Excellency, you and I are the only educated men in this party." I replied to this discrimination," It is not education which is at issue, but your extraordinary capacity for getting drunk at the wrong time." He continued to serve the King during the rest of the tour, in his own irresponsible way, receiving at times, when the demand for decorations was pressing, some considerations from the hungry applicants for the privilege of seeing the King.
The Queen of Portugal (1881).
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.
AS the King had visited New York six years before this time and had been the guest of the city, we did not remain there, for it was now the month of August, but went to Philadelphia and Washington. At the railway station in Philadelphia, where we remained one day, there was an incident which illustrated the democratic ideas of the hack-men. The "boss" of the carriage-stand was asked to provide a vehicle for the King. As it drove up, the "boss," smoking a cigar, shouted to the driver, "Here, Jim, here's your load!" Nor did we find in any place a willingness to use the term, "Your Majesty;" the use of it seemed to be an approval of effete civilisation. Nor were there offered the carpeted walks which elsewhere protect the royal feet from dirt; we were on the plain cobble-stones of democracy.
In Washington the King was received by Mr. R. B. Hill, the Assistant Secretary of State, by whom he was presented to President Arthur, who by the death of General Garfield had become President. I had known Mr. Arthur for many years in the city of New York while he was engaged in the practice of law. By the "conjunction of the stars" he was President of the Great Republic; the quiet citizen whom for many years I had seen quietly strolling up Broadway had suddenly become the equal of monarchs; and he smiled as he saw me in this new and strange relation. Both President and King were alike in physical structure and weight; moreover there was some resemblance in their facial lines and deportment. If the President had been a dark or a black man, the resemblance would have been a singular one.
Through the kind services of Mr. Hill the government placed a despatch boat at the King's service, and he visited Fortress Monroe, and the Hampton Normal and Agricultural School, of which his old friend, General Armstrong, was Principal.
In the course of our journey across the continent we visited some of the Kentucky farms where fine horses are bred, and the King purchased some excellent animals.
When we reached San Francisco his Majesty was again entertained at a large banquet. But he was now above democratic simplicity; he missed, perhaps, the companionship of monarchs, the perfumed air of royal courts, the spontaneous reverence which crowned heads command. He attracted respectful attention in the United States, but he did see, though dimly, that he only amused the American populace and excited their curiosity. One of the papers stated that "while he was a good fellow, his throne was only a relic of barbarism," and others likened his court to the royal families in opéra bouffe.
We steamed down toward the Southern Cross. The pomp and circumstance of the world were behind us. In our debit and credit account with these we had much to the good; we had taken much and given little; our assets in a little kingdom which appeared, comparatively, like a few bullets rising out of the vast expanse of the Pacific, had been turned over repeatedly and profitably.
As we ran down the latitude and entered the trade-wind belt I once more and finally made an effort to find what knowledge or wisdom my royal master had "sucked" out of these travels in many lands. I asked him what benefit he took back to his people, to whom he had promised much. He replied that his subjects were already better off than the majority of the people in the many lands we had visited; they had enough to eat and wear, and they were certainly happier than any people he had seen; they were never in debt, because no one trusted them; their kulianas (little homesteads) brought them a living; they enjoyed music and out-of-door life; he did not believe that one of his subjects ever went to bed hungry; no one robbed them; they had no dyspepsia, which, he said, was common in America. I said:
"Your people are dying out and will soon be extinct."
"Well, if they are," he replied, "I've read lots of times that great races died out, and new ones took their places; my people are like the rest. I think the best way is to let us be. What good do you think the Europeans and Americans have done them, Mr. Minister? Captain Cook, and
the fellows who came after him from New England, filled my people with disease and leprosy, and, besides, they forced rum on us. Where one missionary did good, there were five hundred of his countrymen who debauched our women, filled them with disease, and sold liquor to the people. The missionaries told our people to keep Sunday and stop dancing, but the countrymen of the missionaries called them blasted fools and told us not to mind them." His Majesty admitted that the missionaries were always honest, and were the best friends of the people, and did them good by establishing schools and churches. He read Herbert Spencer's works in a desultory way, and thought he knew more about the world than the missionaries did. So his conclusion was that he had seen nothing which his people needed but some well-bred horses and cattle.
When, on my part, I examined what I had sucked out of this tour, I realised the vast conceit of the nations and their humiliating ignorance of each other's capacity, virtues, and character. This ignorance was lamentable, for it was astonishing. The Englishmen despised all other nations, not excepting the Germans and French. The French looked with contempt on the English, Germans, and Americans. The literature of each nation was filled with untrue and unjust comments upon the character of every other. And all the nations of Christendom were agreed that the Chinese, Japanese, and East Indians were "pagans," without noble traits, and, according to the creeds of Christendom, were incapable of moral and intellectual progress, though they included more than two thirds of the inhabitants of the earth.
And yet there were a few able and broad-minded men who spoke with freedom and observation. I had noted some of their opinions, and I cite them, because they singularly resemble in many respects those of this Polynesian chief, though there was a wide gulf which divided their racial instincts and inherited traditions. In the closing chapter of "The Malay Archipelago," written by Professor A. R. Wallace, the contemporary and rival of Darwin, who for eight years had studied the Asiatic races in their native land, not in the interests of trade or religion, but in that of science only, are these words:
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