He  had  attracted  the  aflfection  of  those  who  knew  him
in  his  boyhood  and  adolescence ;  and  in  after  years  he
did  not  lose  their  kind  regard.  As  to  his  qualifications
for  his  high  office,  one  who  had  been  long  intimate  with
the  King  writes  thus:  *Not  unconscious  of  his  own
powers,  he  wanted  to  employ  them  in  the  service  of  the
Htate,  and  he  always  felt  that,  as  a  constitutional
monarch,  he  was  rather  the  arbitrator  between  opposing
views  than  the  supporter  of  any  line  of  policy  which
recommended  itself  to  his  own  judgment,  and  which,
oflf  the  throne,  he  could  have  better  vindicated  with  his
o^n  logic.  As  General  Commanding  in  Chief,  to  give
an  instance,  he  showed  an  appreciation  of  system  and  a
knowledge  of  detail  which  proved,  beyond  controversy,
his  executive  talent.'  Again,  the  same  writer  says,
*  that  the  King's  talents  were  brilliant,  his  feelings  keen


1


446  HAWAIIAN   ISLANDS.
