although Mrs. Judd obstinately refused to yield the place which belonged to the wife of Minister Carter, I turned my attention to other and more important matters.
While I was a prisoner in Iolani Palace, now called Executive Building, it seems that the little comedy of precedence was re-enacted under the “Republic” in the rooms beneath mine, at the assembling of the legislature. Minister Cooper arrived with his wife; and to his astonishment and anger, there was Mrs. Judd again, seated in the place which should have been reserved for Mrs. Cooper. In order to secure the coveted precedence, Mrs. Judd had arrived very early, secured for herself the seat of honor, and, as before, absolutely refused to leave it. Words passed between the chief justice and the minister. Mr. Judd claimed that he was the highest officer in the islands. To which Minister Cooper retorted that he held no cabinet position, and was certainly out of place among cabinet ministers; while he, Cooper, as the minister of foreign affairs, should be entitled to the first place in the government after that held by the president himself. The disputants did not on this occasion send to me for an opinion on this perplexing question. Had they done so I should have decided without a moment’s hesitation that the position of Mr. Cooper was the correct one, according to the usages of nations, whatever may be the relative rank in republics as between the executive and judicial departments. But it would seem from this second occurrence that the passion for dignity and place is not confined to courts of royalty or to those who sustain them.
