mancipation Day
p. 29 · Read in the full issue
—What is it?
June 4, 1862, is the date on ich civil liberties were granted Tongans. It has been kept up a public holiday—Emancipa n Day—ever since.
On June 4, 1862, King George -the first King of all Tonga— imulgated a Code which pro ved for the first time for a rliament, and for all people to “set at liberty from serfdom i vassalage”. It also provided it taxes be paid to the Govern nt.
Human slavery as Wilberforce ew it did not exist in Tonga, t society was nevertheless a \nd of patriarchalism and ni-feudalism, and there was ich power with the chiefs, e new Code, adopted by the ng on the advice of the ssionaries, moved Tonga '■ward to a Western-type Gov iment, although not immedi dy.
The Tongan Constitution, lich contains a Declaration of ghts, did not follow until 75. The present Constitution still basically the same as that anted in 1875.