The 1881 world tour of King Kalākaua of the Hawaiian Kingdom was his attempt to save the Hawaiian culture and population from extinction by importing a labor force from Asia-Pacific nations. His efforts brought the small island nation to the attention of world leaders, but sparked rumors that the kingdom was for sale. Critics in Hawaii believed the labor negotiations were just an excuse to see the world. The 281-day trip gave Kalākaua the distinction of being the first monarch to circumnavigate the globe; his 1874 travels had made him the first reigning monarch to visit the United States and the first honoree of a state dinner at the White House.
Tour summary
Kalākaua met with heads of state in Asia, the Mideast and Europe, to encourage an influx of sugar plantation labor in family groups, as well as unmarried women as potential brides for Hawaii's existing contract laborers. While in Asia, he tried to forestall American ambitions by offering a plan to Emperor Meiji for putting Hawaii under the protection of the Empire of Japan with an arranged marriage between his niece Kaʻiulani and a Japanese prince. On his visit to Portugal, he negotiated a treaty of friendship and commerce with Hawaii that would provide a legal framework for the emigration of Portuguese laborers to Hawaii. The king had an audience in Rome with Pope Leo XIII and met with many of the crowned heads of Europe. Britain's Queen Victoria and the splendor of her royal life impressed him more than any other monarchy; having been greatly affected by the ornate trappings of European sovereigns, he would soon have Hawaii's monarchy mirror that grandeur.
The king traveled with no security guards; only a small group of personal friends made the journey with him. Except for land transportation in cities, and two loaned ships in China and the US, his modes of transportation were seldom reserved exclusively for him. He shared regularly scheduled steamships and rail transport with fare-paying passengers. On the Red Sea, he played cards and danced with other passengers. Like other tourists, he visited the white elephants of Siam, the Giza pyramid complex in Egypt, tourist sites in India, and museums in Europe. Along the way, he exceeded his original budget, shopping regardless, and sent letters back home.
President James A. Garfield died four days before they arrived back in the United States, and Kalākaua paid a courtesy call to newly inaugurated President Chester A. Arthur at the White House in Washington, D.C. There were no public or private appearances for the king in New York, only a day at Coney Island. Before leaving the eastern US, the king met with Thomas Edison to see a demonstration of electric lights, and visited Virginia's Fort Monroe. He toured Hampton Normal and Agricultural School, and shopped for horses in Kentucky. The royal party boarded a train to California, where they were house guests of Claus Spreckels at his estate in Aptos (near Santa Cruz), and spent a few days seeing the sights before sailing back to Hawaii. Kalākaua was successful in jump-starting new immigration, the first transplants arriving in Hawaii less than a year later. In the years that followed, he began emulating the lifestyles of European royalty with expensive furnishings in Iolani Palace, a public coronation for himself, and a two-week public celebration of his birthday.
Background
No other sovereign ruler had ever accomplished the feat of circling the globe, but Kalākaua, the last king of the Hawaiian Islands, had previously set other records. He was the first reigning monarch to visit the United States during his 1874 visit to Washington, D.C., for negotiations on the Reciprocity Treaty of 1875. The state dinner in his honor hosted by President Ulysses S. Grant was the first White House state dinner ever given. According to the personal writings of Queen Dowager Emma, a political opponent of his, Kalākaua supposedly had the intention in 1874 of making a world tour "for his personal gratification and vanity".
The islands were officially the Hawaiian Kingdom but had generally been known as the Sandwich Islands since the 1778 visit of Captain James Cook. The estimated population of Native Hawaiians when Cook arrived was 800,000. With the arrival of whaling ships and missionaries in the early 19th century, the Native Hawaiians were exposed to diseases for which they had no immunity and began dying in large numbers. The official 1878 census showed only 44,088 individuals who claimed Hawaiian ethnicity. The sugar plantation work force in the islands and the dwindling population of the Hawaiian race had been Kalākaua's ongoing concerns. On December 24, 1880, he signed an act of the legislative assembly acknowledging corruption in the immigration system and authorizing Minister of the Interior Henry A. P. Carter to take charge of licensing immigration brokers.
Immediately following the signing of the legislation, he visited each major island in the kingdom for a personal look at how the reciprocity treaty had affected his people. In a speech before an audience of Native Hawaiians at a Congregational church on Kauai, Kalākaua related his concerns, "I will speak to you of one of our great questions, which is the supply of people, not only to meet the requirements of all our industries but to assist in the increase of a Hawaiian population." He wanted to bring in immigrants from Asia-Pacific nations, as well as Europe and the United States, to save the declining population of the Hawaiian race from completely dying out. Prior labor immigration had been mostly unmarried men, and he hoped to attract unmarried women as potential wives for them, as well as bringing in family groups.
Kalākaua appointed William Nevins Armstrong as Attorney General in December. Armstrong had been born to Presbyterian missionaries Clarissa and Richard Armstrong in Lahaina. He had known Kalākaua since their early days at the Chiefs Children's School on Maui where he and classmate Charles Hastings Judd became friends with the future king. He graduated from Yale University and became a successful lawyer before returning to Hawaii.; Judd had been on Kalākaua's staff since he was elected king, soon after becoming part of his Privy Council, as well as being his chamberlain and private secretary.
Years later Armstrong remembered the invitation to join the tour as having arisen in a casual conversation, during which he did not believe the king was serious. He realized the proposed tour was not just idle conversation when the king informed his Cabinet of his plans and chose Armstrong, Judd, and his personal cook Robert von Oelhoffen as his only traveling companions. At a state dinner held by Kalākaua and his ministers a week before departure, Armstrong spoke of their youthful dreams of sailing around the world finally being brought to fruition.
Minister of the Interior Carter issued a Bureau of Immigration Ordinance on January 14, 1881, stipulating the terms and conditions under which new immigrants would be allowed into the islands. On January 17, Kalākaua appointed Armstrong as Royal Commissioner of Immigration; Carter became acting Attorney General until their return.; Armstrong had instructions to return with a feasibility study indicating which nations were likely to provide "a desirable population" for the Hawaiian labor force. William L. Green, Minister of Foreign Affairs, followed up with a communique to Hawaii's consulates stating the goals for the tour.
Kalākaua's sister and heir-apparent Liliʻuokalani was to act as Regent during his absence. She devoted a chapter of her 1898 book Hawaii's Story to her brother's tour. Her assertion was that the "missionary party" tried to exert its control by insisting that she only be allowed to be in charge of a temporary council and that all decisions in the king's absence were to be made by the entire council. She balked at the suggestion and demanded that her regency have full royal power; he agreed.
Farewell receptions were held for the king by the Catholic and Protestant communities in Honolulu on the eve of his departure. John Mākini Kapena, a member of the House of Nobles, spoke to the assembled well-wishers gathered at Kawaiahaʻo Church, stating "…The great nations now look with respect on this little Kingdom and will have still more, when they see our king traveling among them for information to benefit his people, Let us all pray every day for the king's health, and safe return to his people." Throughout the night, his subjects serenaded him with traditional oli (chants) and mele (songs) outside the palace.
Kalākaua's Masonic ties as Master of Lodge Le progrès de l'Océanie would give him a global brotherhood in his travels. He and his chosen companions boarded the steamship City of Sydney at 6:30 a.m., January 20, bound for San Francisco. As the king made his way onto the ship, many in the crowd at the dock reached out to touch him. Major George W. Macfarlane, his aide-de-camp, would accompany them as far as California. The king traveled as Aliʻi Kalākaua and as Prince Kalākaua, rather than in his capacity as head of state. The intent was to give the impression of a personal vacation, thereby avoiding the large costly retinue required for official business. The Royal Hawaiian Band, the Hawaiian army, and a large contingent of well-wishers bid them farewell as the City of Sydney sailed out.
California, January 29 – February 8 The City of Sydney arrived at San Francisco during a rain storm a week later, and Kalākaua's party ensconced themselves in the Palace Hotel. On arrival of this port the "royal standard" was flown on the mainmast, and acknowledged by the 21-gun salute, and this recurred at subsequent ports entered by the king's suite during the trip.
Spectators amassed at the train station for their arrival in Sacramento that week, during which the royal group visited the California State Legislature. They were accompanied in California's capital by Governor George Clement Perkins, sugar baron Claus Spreckels, and water engineer Hermann Schussler, who had worked on several projects in Hawaii.
During the week, the king and Judd were made honorary members of the Pacific Yacht Club in Sausalito at a reception hosted by Commodore R. S. Floyd. Kalākaua was also feted at a gala in San Francisco's Chinatown, given by the Chinese Consul-General and attended by leaders of the local Chinese community. It was Armstrong who delivered the after-dinner speech and offered a toast to continued good relations with the Chinese population in Hawaii.
In response to Kalākaua's expressed fondness for music and the company of women, "The Ladies of the Palace Hotel" threw a formal-attire grand ball in his honor. A news commentary on the California visit stated, "… it may be said that every hour of King Kalākaua's stay in San Francisco has been filled up with a grand ovation of activities."
Asia: March 4 – June 7
Japan: March 4–18
The party sailed on RMS Oceanic out of San Francisco on February 8. Reaching the Empire of Japan on March 4,Ono, Philbert (18 October 2020), Robert Walker Irwin (1844–1925), "Emigration to Hawaii: Part 2: Father of Kanyaku Imin" they were surprised by elaborate welcoming ceremonies that included the playing of the anthem Kalākaua had written, "Hawaiʻi Ponoʻī". They had not given advance notice to the Japanese government of their pending visit, but the government had been alerted by a telegraph from the Imperial General Consul in San Francisco. Believing a formal reception was required by their 1871 treaty with the Hawaiian Kingdom, they welcomed the king as a friendly head of state. In deference, Kalākaua acquiesced to his being treated as if he were on an official state visit.