"Hawaii, although much farther from the Californian coast than is Cuba from the Floridian peninsula, holds in the western sea much the same position as Cuba in the Atlantic. It is the key to the maritime dominion of the Pacific States, as Cuba is the key to the Gulf trade. The material possession of Hawaii is not desired by the United States any more than was that of Cuba. But under no circumstances can the United States permit any change in the territorial control of either which would cut it adrift from the American system, whereto they both indispensably belong. "In this aspect of the question it is readily seen with what concern this Government must view any tendency toward introducing into Hawaii new social elements destructive of its necessarily American character. The steady diminution of the native population of the islands, amounting to some 10 per cent. between 1872 and 1878, and still continuing, is doubtless a cause of great alarm to the Government of the Kingdom, and it is no wonder that a solution should be sought with eagerness in any seemingly practicable quarter. The problem, . however, is not to be met by a substitution of Mongolian supremacy for native control, as seems at first sight possible through the rapid increase in Chinese immigration to the islands. Neither is a wholesale introduction of the coolie element, professedly Anglo-Indian, likely to afford any more satisfactory outcome to the difficulty. The Hawaiian Islands can not be joined to the Asiatic system. If they drift from their independent station it must be toward assimilation and identification with the American system, to which they belong by the operation of natural laws and must belong by the operation of political necessity. It [the United States] firmly believes that the position of the Hawaiian Islands as the key to the dominion of the American Pacific demands their neutrality, to which end it will earnestly co-operate with the native Government. And if, through any cause, the maintenance of such a position of neutrality should be found by Hawaii to be impracticable, this Government would then unhesitatingly meet the altered situation by seeking an avowedly American solution for the grave issues presented." Mr. Blaine, Sec. of State, to Mr. Comly, min. to Hawaii, Dec. 1, 1881, For. In a confidential instruction to Mr. Comly of the same date (For. Rel. 1894, "A purely American form of colonization in such a case would meet all the phases of the problem. Within our borders could be found the capital, the intelligence, the activity, and the necessary labor trained in the rice swamps and cane fields of the Southern States. And it may be well to consider how, even in the chosen alternative of maintaining Hawaiian independence, these prosperous elements could be induced to go from our shores to the islands, not like the coolies, practically enslaved, not as human machines, but as thinking, intelligent, working factors in the advancement of the material interests of the islands." "Your No. 217, of the 8th instant, in which you report the political tendencies now making themselves manifest in the islands, and the movement in the direction of onerous taxation of capital and property to a degree which can not fail to work injury to the foreign interests and enterprise which have built up Hawaiian prosperity, has been read with attention. "While this Government recognized from the first the constitutional sovereignty of Hawaii, and still recognizes her right to adjust internal matters of taxation and revenue on constitutional principles, yet it can not permit to pass without very urgent protest in all proper quarters a measure subversive of the material interests of so many of its citizens who, on the faith of international comity, have given their wealth, labor, and skill to aid in the prosperity of Hawaii. And it makes this protest the more earnestly, inasmuch as the treaty relations between the two countries (in which Hawaiian interests were even more subserved than our own) are such as to give the United States the moral right to expect that American property in Hawaii will be no more burdened than would Hawaiian property in the United States." Mr. Frelinghuysen, Sec. of State, to Mr. Comly, May 31, 1882, For. Rel. 1882, 343. "The right of the Hawaiian Government to admit to or to exclude from its dominions immigrants of any nationality or race is not for a moment questioned by this, but that the exclusive privilege of carrying immigrants who are admitted to Hawaii should be accorded to any one company owning a particular line of ships, whether American, Hawaiian, or foreign to both countries, is believed to be in itself unjust, and, as I have already observed, wholly inconsistent with the due maintenance of the treaty of 1849. The Pacific Mail Steamship Company have no right to demand an exclusive privilege in such carrying trade, but it may, with manifest propriety, under the terms of the treaty, insist that no discriminating measures against its vessels shall be maintained or permitted by the Hawaiian Government." Mr. Frelinghuysen, Sec. of State, to Mr. Daggett, min. to Hawaii, Nov. 15, 1883, For. Rel. 1883, 567, 568. "I have had the honor of receiving your note of the 18th of October last, inclosing a signed protest on the part of the Hawaiian Government against the annexation of archipelagoes and islands of Polynesia by foreign powers, and especially by Great Britain, in behalf of which protest the sympathies of this Government are asked. "It is unnecessary to assure you that the sympathies of this Government and the people of this country are always in favor of good self-government by the independent communities of the world. "While we could not, therefore, view with complacency any movement tending to the extinction of the national life of the intimately connected commonwealths of the Northern Pacific, the attitude of this Government toward the distant outlying groups of Polynesia is necessarily different. "It is understood that the agitation to which the protest refers as now existing in Australia contemplates the immediate protection and eventual annexation of the New Hebrides, the Solomon Islands, and the immediately adjacent groups of the Australian colonial system. These islands are geographically allied to Australasia rather than to Polynesia. At no time have they so asserted and maintained a separate national life as to entitle them to entrance, by treaty stipulations and established forms of competent self-government, into the family of nations, as Hawaii and Samoa have done. Their material development has been largely due to their intercourse with the great Australian system, near which they lie, and this Government would not feel called upon to view with concern any further strengthening of such intercourse when neither the sympathies of our people are touched nor their direct political or commercial relations with those scattered communities threatened by the proposed change. "The President, before whom the protest has been brought, moved by these considerations, does not regard the matter as one calling for the interposition of the United States, either to oppose or support the suggested measure.” Mr. Frelinghuysen, Sec. of State, to Mr. Carter, Hawaiian min., Dec. 6, 1883, "I express my unhesitating conviction that the intimacy of our relations with Hawaii should be emphasized. As a result of the reciprocity treaty of 1875, those islands, on the highway of Oriental and Australasian traffic, are virtually an outpost of American commerce and a stepping-stone to the growing trade of the Pacific. The Polynesian Island groups have been so absorbed by other and more powerful governments, that the Hawaiian Islands are left almost alone in the enjoyment of their autonomy, which it is important for us should be preserved. Our treaty is now terminable on one year's notice, but propositions to abrogate it would be, in my judgment, most ill-advised. The paramount influence we have there acquired, once relinquished, could only with difficulty be regained, and a valuable ground of vantage for ourselves might be converted into a stronghold for our commercial competitors. I earnestly recommend that the existing treaty stipulations be extended for a further term of seven years. A recently signed treaty to this end is now before the Senate. "The importance of telegraphic communication between those islands and the United States should not be overlooked." President Cleveland, annual message, Dec. 6, 1886. December 27, 1886, the legation of the United States at Honolulu reported that King Kalakaua had commissioned one of his subjects as "minister plenipotentiary to the Kings of Samoa and Tonga, and the independent chiefs and peoples of Polynesia," and that the envoy had departed for Samoa with a secretary of legation and two attachés. This mission resulted in the conclusion, in February and March, 1887, of a treaty of "political confederation" between Hawaii and Samoa. Not long afterwards, however, the legation reported that the special mission had been recalled and that what was commonly known as "the Hawaiian Polynesian policy" had come to an end." "The tenor of your late dispatches coincides with other reports from the Hawaiian Kingdom, and indicates the most unsatisfactory and disturbed condition of affairs in the government of that country, which renders it essential that the strictest vigilance should be exercised by those charged with the care of the rights of American citizens within that jurisdiction, as well as the rights of the United States secured under existing international conventions. "Whilst regretting deeply the existence of domestic disorders in Hawaii, and with no disposition whatever to interfere therein or to obtrude counsel unasked, yet the consequences which may possibly result to the interests of American citizens which have grown up ́under the extension of the commerce between that country and the United States, under the guaranties of existing treaty, must not be jeopardized by internal confusion in the government of these islands, and it is the duty of the United States to see that these interests are not imperiled or injured, and to do all things necessary for their just protection. "The existing treaty between the United States and Hawaii, as was contemplated and intended by the parties thereto, has created and fostered commercial relations more intimate in their nature and of incomparably greater volume and value than Hawaii ever had or ever can have with any other government. "The growth of this commerce and the consequent advancement of these islands in wealth and importance has been most satisfactory to @Mr. Hastings, chargé at Honolulu, to Mr. Bayard, Sec. of State, Dec. 27, 1886; Mr. Merrill, min. to Hawaii, to Mr. Bayard, Sec. of State, March 29 and July 13, 1887, For. Rel. 1887, 566, 569, 581; Mr. Bayard, Sec. of State, to Mr. Carter, Hawaiian min., April 12, 1887, MS. Notes to Hawaii, I. 119; Mr. Bayard, Sec. of State, to Mr. Merrill, min. to Hawaii, Jan. 8, 1887, MS. Inst. Hawaii, III. 28. the United States, and by reason of their geographical position and comparative propinquity to our own territory they possess an interest and importance to us far exceeding that with which they can be regarded by any other power. In the absence of any detailed information from you of the late disorders in the domestic control of Hawaii, and the changes which have taken place in the official corps of that Government, I am not able to give you other than general instructions, which may be communicated in substance to the commanding officer of the vessel or vessels of this Government in the waters of Hawaii, with whom you will freely confer, in order that such prompt and efficient action may be taken as the circumstances may make necessary. 66 Whilst we abstain from interference with the domestic affairs of Hawaii, in accordance with the policy and practice of this Government, yet obstruction to the channels of legitimate commerce under existing treaty must not be allowed, and American citizens in Hawaii must be protected in their persons and property by the representatives of their country's law and power, and no internal discord must be suffered to impair them. Your own aid and counsel, as well as the assistance of the officers of our Government vessels, if found necessary, will therefore be promptly afforded to promote the reign of law and respect for orderly government in Hawaii. "As is well known, no intent is cherished or policy entertained by the United States which is otherwise than friendly to the autonomical control and independence of Hawaii, and no other member of the family of nations has so great and immediate an interest in the welfare and prosperity of Hawaii on such a basis as this Republic. "The vast line of our national territory on the Pacific coast, and its neighborhood to the Hawaiian group, indicate the recognized predominance of our interests in the region of these islands. "This superiority of interest in the welfare of the Hawaiian Islands is accompanied by an appreciation of the right of these friendly inhabitants and their Government to our good offices, which we freely tender whenever they can be efficacious in securing the safety and promoting the welfare of that island group." Mr. Bayard, Sec. of State, to Mr. Merrill, min. to Hawaii, July 12, 1887, For. Rel. 1887, 580. See, also, Mr. Bayard, Sec. of State, to Mr. Phelps, min. to England, May 13, 1887, referring to the visit of Queen Kapiolani, consort of King Kalakaua, to Washington, en route to England to attend the Queen's Jubilee. Queen Kapiolani was attended by the Princess Liliuokalani, sister of the King, and her husband, General Dominis, who was understood to be charged with negotiations concerning steamship facilities and a loan. (MS. Inst. Great Britain, XXVIII. 320.) An account of Queen Kapiolani's reception in Washington is given in Mr. Bayard, Sec. of State, to Mr. Merrill, min. to Hawaii, May 26, 1887, MS. Inst. Hawaii, III. 38. |