to see the great and beautiful world which God made, and on which man has built so many magnificent cities and works of art? Why should he not have felt this interest? But the master motive for this enterprise was the good of the people of the Hawaiian Islands over whom he had been called to rule. I have already spoken of his visit to Washington for the purpose of assisting at the ratification of the reciprocity treaty. That negotiation successfully carried through by his commissioners created a new want in his domains. The sugarfields demanded laborers, and at this time it was a problem to decide from whence these could be obtained. Soon after landing at San Francisco, the king first visited Japan; from there he proceeded to China; with the statesmen of both these nations, including the celebrated Li Hung Chang, my brother conferred upon questions of international interest, but more especially in regard to the emigration of their subjects from their territory to the sugar plantations of our islands. While he was thus working for the prosperity of the residents of his kingdom, and for an immigration which should result in the wealth of those of foreign ancestry or affiliations, they were accusing him of a reckless spending of money, and of the waste of time and revenues in foreign travel. From China the king went on to Siam, where he was most royally entertained by the ruling monarch; then to India, whose climate, resembling ours, caused him to be in favor of initiating an emigration thence to our cane-fields. Nothing, however, resulted from his examination of the chance of employing the coolies of India; but China and Japan have since then
