Hawaii Restoration Day: A Look Back to 1863

In 1843 Lord George Paulet of the HMS Carysfort seized and occupied the Hawaiian Kingdom in the name of the British Empire. Five months later, on July 26, Admiral Richard Darton Thomas arrived in Honolulu aboard the HMS Dublin. 

Admiral Thomas became the local representative of the British Commission (the government of the Provisional Cession) by out-ranking Paulet. Thomas' goal was to end the occupation. 

On July 31, 1843, Admiral Thomas returned the islands back to Kamehameha III at the site we know today as Thomas Square. Kamehameha III proclaimed the words Ua Mau ke Ea o ka 'Āina i ka Pono in a speech during a ceremony to mark his restoration. When translated to English it means "The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness."  Those words serve today as Hawaii's state motto.

One hundred and fifty years ago (1863) this article was published in The Friend, a monthly intelligencer by Rev. Samual Chenery Damon:

The Thirty-First.

The Twentieth Anniversary of the Restoration of the Hawaiian flag, by Admiral Thomas, has just been celebrated with unwonted enthusiasm. Music lent its charms, a procession its imposing display, an oration its power, a feast its satisfaction, and powder its noise, to mark the occasion. About two thousand Hawaiians were present at the feast. The Stone Church was crowded to listen to the eloquent oration of the Hon. R. G. Davis. We are glad to learn that the public will be favored with its publication, and we hope in English as well as Hawaiian. For a full report of the proceedings, we refer our readers to the Polynesian, and the forthcoming Advertiser.