In 1827, and ten years later, Roman Catholic missionaries arrived, and were sent away by order of the government; but in 1839 the priests of that denomination were finally landed under the guns of a French frigate and allowed to remain. Meantime churches, schools and printing-presses had been established, the Hawaiian had become a written language, and the laws and decrees of the government were promulgated in printed form.
In 1840 the first written constitution was given to the people, guaranteeing to them a representative government. In February, 1843, Lord Paulet, of the English navy, took formal possession of the islands, but in the July following their sovereignty was restored through the action of Admiral Thomas. In November of the same year France and England mutually agreed to refrain from seizure or occupation of the islands, or any portion of them, and the United States, while declining to become a party to the agreement, promptly acknowledged the independence of the group.
Kamehameha III. died in 1854 and was succeeded by Kamehameha IV. The latter reigned until 1863, when he died and was succeeded by Prince Lot, with the title of Kamehameha V. In 1864 Lot abrogated the constitution of 1840 and granted a new one. He reigned until 1872, and died without naming a successor, and the Legislative Assembly elected Lunalilo to the throne. He was of the Kamehameha family, and with his death, in 1873, the Kamehameha dynasty came to an end. He, too, failed to designate a successor, and as but two of the accepted descendants of the first Kamehameha remained—one a sister of Kamehameha V. and the other a female cousin of that sovereign—David Kalakaua was elected to the throne by the Legislative Assembly in 1874, receiving all but five votes of that body, which were cast for the queen-dowager Emma, widow of Kamehameha IV.
Provision having been made for the event by a previous Legislative Assembly, King Kalakaua, with his queen, Kapiolani, was formally crowned on the 12th of February, 1883, in the presence of the representatives of many of the nations of the Old World and the New. Since the coronation the last of the Kamehamehas has passed away, including the queen-dowager Emma, and King Kalakaua remains the most direct representative in the kingdom of the ancient sovereigns of Hawaii. He draws his strain from Liloa through the great I family of Hawaii, who joined their fortunes with the first Kamehameha in the conquest of the group. His queen, Kapiolani, is a granddaughter of the last independent sovereign of Kauai, and is thus allied in blood with the early rulers of the group. She is childless, and the Princess Liliuokalani, the elder of the two sisters of the king, has been named as his successor. She is the wife of His Excellency John 0. Dominis, an American by birth and present governor of the islands of Oahu and Maui. The only direct heir in the families of the king and his two sisters is the Princess Xaiulani, daughter of the Princess Likelike,* wife of Mr. Cleg-horn, a merchant of Honolulu.
Following is a list of the sovereigns of Hawaii, with the dates and durations of their several governments, from the eleventh to the nineteenth century. It embraces only the rulers of the island of Hawaii, who eventually became the masters of the group. Until the reign of Kalaniopuu, which began in 1754, the dates are merely approximate:
| Pilikaeae, | from A.D. | 1095 to 1120 |
| Kukohau, | " | 1120 to 1145 |
| Kaniuhi, | " | 1145 to 1170 |
| Kanipahu, | " | 1170 to 1195 |
| Kalapana (including the usurpation of Kamaiole), | " | 1195 to 1220 |
| Kahaimoelea, | " | 1220 to 1260 |
| Kalaunuiohua, | " | 1260 to 1300 |
| Kuaiwa, | " | 1300 to 1340 |
| Kahoukapu, | " | 1340 to 1380 |
| Kauholanuimahu, | " | 1380 to 1415 |
| Kiha, | " | 1415 to 1455 |
| Liloa, | " | 1455 to 1485 |
| Hakau, | " | 1485 to 1490 |
| Umi, | " | 1490 to 1525 |
| Kealiiokaloa, | " | 1525 to 1535 |
| Keawenui, | " | 1535 to 1565 |
| Kaikilani and Lonoikamakahiki, | " | 1565 to 1595 |
| Keakealanikane, | " | 1595 to 1625 |
| Keakamahana, | " | 1625 to 1655 |
| Keakealaniwahine, | " | 1655 to 1685 |
| Keawe and sister, | " | 1685 to 1720 |
| Alapanui, | " | 1720 to 1754 |
| Kalaniopuu, | " | 1754 to 1782 |
| Kamehameha I | " | 1782 to 1819 |
| Kamehameha II —Liholiho, | " | 1819 to 1824 |
| Kaahumanu regency | " | 1824 to 1833 |
| Kamehameha III —Kauikeaouli, | " | 1833 to 1854 |
| Kamehameha IV | " | 1854 to 1863 |
| Kamehameha V —Lot, | " | 1863 to 1872 |
| Lunalilo, | " | 1873 to 1873 |
| Kalakaua, | " | 1874 to—— |
Having thus briefly sketched the outlines of the prominent political events of the islands, the ancient religion of the Hawaiians