ly
deserve.

MARCH 3, 1856.

_His Majesty's Remarks to the Hon. W. L. Lee, on his being officially
presented and resuming his Seat in the Privy Council, after his return
from the Embassy to the United States._

I take great pleasure, Judge Lee, in your return to my
islands, and I extend to you on behalf of myself and Chiefs a
hearty welcome. Your valuable services in the United States
have been such as to merit our warmest thanks and approval,
and I trust the success of your mission may strengthen the
friendly relations existing between the United States and my
Kingdom. It is my desire that you should resume the duties of
your department as head of the Judiciary, as soon as
convenient, but that in so doing you should make your labors
secondary to the improvement of your health.

APRIL 5, 1856.

_His Majesty's Speech on the Occasion of the Opening of the Session of
the Hawaiian Legislature of 1856._

NOBLES AND REPRESENTATIVES:--I have convoked you to meet this
day under the provision of our Constitution now in force,
which provides for an Annual Session of the Legislative Body;
and with humble thankfulness to the Ruler of Nations, I
felicitate you upon the prosperity which has attended us, as a
people, during the past year.

I am happy to inform you that since your last meeting I have
received from the Heads of nearly all the first class Powers
of the present century, assurances of friendship, accompanied,
in some instances, with promises of assistance should occasion
require it. Never did I consider our hope of stability as a
nation so well founded as they are at this moment.

One of the most important features in my Foreign Relations
during the past year, is that of the Mission upon which my
Special Envoy, the Honorable William L. Lee, proceeded to
Washington, where he was most cordially received, and whose
exertions have been attended with the happiest results. They
have opened, in the minds of our agriculturists and those who
study the progress of our people as producers, hopes, which
only need the confirmation of the Senate of the United States
to become permanently realized, and greatly conducive to our
prosperity.

Negotiations have