Ka Leo o ka Lahui, Volume II, Number 130, 16 Pepeluali 1891 — TEMPORA MUTANTUR. [ARTICLE]

TEMPORA MUTANTUR.

K«w tbat the funeral obsequies of tbe.King are over and the reuaains are consigned to their last resting plaee, a few reflections upon the v attending the event may not now be an|iss. The records of events for the past twe weeks Will stand out as a creditable page 111 Hawaiian History. The re«iains of our dead Sovereign t returned in soleran state, hy a : nohle warship of a friendly power, j the nation plunged in grief, the ®ational Oapital dressed in the habilaments of uiourning, all classes. and nationalities viemg with eaeh other in exlfMiition #f sorrow. The Royal Body lying in regal state at the Palaee, honored withall ancient and modern rites, aad visited by thousands, who shed genuihe tears in recollection of the many good (iualities of their dead *King and friend. Mass meetings of Hawaiiang and foreigners passing resolutions $t condolence to the Royal Family, • of thankB to the People of the United States, and paying high tribute to the eharacter, and works of the King during His reign. The feelings of deference. respect and syni|3athy being universai as of a loyai people. Could this record stand out in history alone, we might be proud of it, but when the hist6rian comes to look further back into the re- < erd, he will exclaim 4 'o temporp, .6.mores/' It is scarcely more than three years since, when some of the very nuan who arē now conei>icuous with their mourni'ng and their resolutions in honor of the departed, raised the red flag of revolution in Hawaii, and placed a price on the head of the same Ki»g, at the point of the bayo*et, they forced the King te sign a C'onstitution, whieh is faulty and unjust and is not respected by th» Hawaiian people. Thev continued to belittle th"e person and th« dignity of the Sovereign, and made him thc appendage of the four unanointed monarchs whom they save to the countfy in the persons of four unpop»lar Ministers. Are these then crocidile tears that we have been witnessing, or the conscientious regret of repentants who try to atone for the deeds that helped to hurry the King to his grave. At any rate, we congratulate the country at the ehange of feeling that has eome over these people, and hope it may no longer be considered a mtritoriouF boast, or the principal qualiiication for office that they ' 4 earried a gun" i n 1887.