Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress, With the Annual Message of the President, December 1, 1884
No. 197.
Mr. Daggett to Mr. Frelinghuysen.
Honolulu, December 21, 1883. (Received January 12, 1884.)
Sir: Agreeably to the instruction embraced in your dispatch of November 15, 1883 (No. 38), on the 7th instant (No. 242) I addressed a communication to His Hawaiian Majesty’s minister of foreign affairs, briefly referring to the exclusive permission for the transportation of Chinese laborers to these islands accorded by the Hawaiian Government to the Pacific Mail and Occidental and Oriental Steamship Companies some time in July last; to the transfer of that permission, about [Page 267] three months thereafter, to the Oceanic Steamship Company; of the alleged proffer by the latter to assign the concession, first, to the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, for a consideration, and subsequently to the Occidental and Oriental Steamship Company, a corporation organized under the laws of Great Britain; and claiming that provisions of the treaty of 1849 between the United States and Hawaii forbidding discrimination against the vessels or commerce of the United States had thereby been contravened, and asking the Hawaiian Government to take such measures as would repair and in the future prevent such discrimination.
Replying under date of the 10th instant, his excellency the minister of foreign affairs expresses surprise that the Pacific Mail Steamship Company should have appealed to the United States Government for relief. He refers to the many favors accorded that company by the Hawaiian Government; claims that no contract or agreement with that corporation has been violated; that the privilege of transporting Chinese laborers to these islands was transferred to the Oceanic Steamship Company for sanitary and industrial reasons; that the agreement with the Oceanic Steamship Company carried with it no right or warrant of transfer, nor is the Hawaiian Government aware that any such transfer has been proffered; and that he fails to perceive that any discrimination against vessels of the United States has been made by the Hawaiian Government, or that any of the provisions of the treaty of 1849 have been contravened.
To bring the matter to a more direct issue, I addressed a second communication to his excellency the minister of foreign affairs, on the 13th instant (No. 243), in which, without regarding as essential the facts and circumstances connected with these exclusive contracts, I felt warranted by my instructions in assuming that the substantial cause of complaint was not so much that the agreement had been taken from one company and given to another, either with or without cause, as that it had been made at all; that the making and enforcement of such a contract by the Hawaiian Government with any company owning a particular line of vessels, whether American, Hawaiian, or foreign to both countries,” would be, in the estimation of my Government, repugnant to the covenants of the treaty of 1849, and a hope was expressed that all such discriminating concessions by the Hawaiian Government would be set aside as unauthorized.
In reply to this, under date of the 19th instant, his excellency the minister of foreign affairs incloses a copy of the agreement between the Hawaiian Government and the Oceanic Steamship Company, showing that it is not transferable; asserts that the authority for the admission of further Chinese laborers into the Hawaiian Kingdom limits the number to 600 in every three months, and for social, sanitary, and industrial reasons such immigration should be selected by capable and interested agents and transported under Government control; that the Hawaiian Government claims “the right to regulate measures taken for the re-population and industrial development of the Kingdom,” and is not convinced that in so doing it has violated any treaty stipulation with the United States.
I inclose a copy of this correspondence, together with the inclosures referred to therein—or, rather, such inclosures as may not already be in your possession.
As the Hawaiian Government has placed itself in an attitude where further correspondence with me on the subject, under existing instructions, would be profitless, the attitude of declining to admit that any of [Page 268] the provisions of the treaty of 1849 have been violated, and claiming the right to make special contracts for the transportation of Chinese laborers to these islands, I respectfully submit the matter to you for further instruction.
I am, &c.,
Mr. Daggett to Mr. Gibson.
Honolulu, December 7, 1883.
Sir: I have the honor to apprise your excellency that information is in my possession showing that the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, a corporation of one of the States of the United States of America, has for some years past maintained a line of steam-vessels between San Francisco and Australia, which, both on outward and homeward trips, have regularly stopped at the Hawaiian Islands for the delivery and reception of freights, passengers, and the public mails; and has also maintained a line of steam vessels between San Francisco and China, which have at intervals stopped at these islands on their outward and homeward voyages. The Occidental and Oriental Steamship Company, a corporation organized under the laws of Great Britain, has likewise maintained a line of steam-vessels between China and San Francisco, which have also at intervals stopped at the Hawaiian Islands on their outward and homeward voyages.
On the 13th day of last July, at a meeting of His Majesty’s cabinet, a resolution was adopted rescinding a previous resolution on the subject, and authorizing the admission into the Hawaiian Kingdom of Chinese laborers to the limit of 600 in every three months. About that time a verbal agreement was entered into by the Hawaiian Government and the Honolulu agency of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company conferring upon that company and the Occidental and Oriental Steamship Company the exclusive privilege of transporting such Chinese laborers to these islands. In confirmation of this agreement I respectfully refer to your excellency’s letter of instruction to His Majesty’s consul-general at Hong-Kong under date of July 14, 1883, and to your letter of August 18, 1883, to the Honolulu agents of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, in which the agreement is recognized and the assurance given “that unless some emergency at present entirely unforeseen should arise, no change will be made in the arrangements referred to without reasonable warning being given to you,” and that “the permission just granted is likely to remain in force for some time to come if the immigration taking place under it be conducted in the manner and with the discretion which the Government has reason to expect.” This agreement was made with and confirmed to the Pacific Mail and Occidental and Oriental Steamship Companies for the reasons (expressed in your letters to His Majesty’s minister at Washington and His Majesty’s consul-general at Hong-Kong under dates of July 14, 1883) that these companies had “the only established lines of steamers at present in the trade,” and that their “steamers are always well equipped and provided, and kept in a cleanly condition, and carry experienced physicians.”
This privilege is regarded as of great consequence by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, as it would probably enable it to continue, even through the dull season, the regular trips of its vessels bearing the United States mails. But soon after it was granted, and after His Majesty’s consul-general at Hong-Kong had been instructed to give permission only to the vessels of the Pacific Mail and Occidental and Oriental Steamship Companies to convey Chinese laborers to the Hawaiian Islands, the privilege was, without notice and without apparent cause, taken from these companies and given to the Oceanic Steamship Company, embracing a line of two steamers plying between San Francisco and Honolulu, and controlled by Mr. C. Spreckels, of San Francisco. The notice of this change was given to the Honolulu agents of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company on the 15th day of last October, in a communication from your excellency informing them that His Majesty’s consul-general at Hong Kong would “be instructed to issue permits for the transportation of Chinese immigrants to this Kingdom, after 1st of January next, only to vessels of the Oceanic Steamship Company.”
Through its attorney, Mr. Lauterbach, the Pacific Mail Steamship Company makes representation that, previous to the transfer of the privilege mentioned to the Oceanic Steamship Company, Mr. Spreckels informed the Pacific Mail Steamship Company that unless its steamers to and from Australia ceased to touch at the Hawaiian Islands he [Page 269] would procure the annulment of the privilege to the Pacific Mail and Occidental and Oriental Steamship Companies; that after having secured the privilege for the Oceanic Steamship Company, Mr. Spreckels offered to transfer it to the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, in consideration of the withdrawal of its San Francisco and Australian steamers from the Hawaiian trade; and when this offer was declined—owning or controlling no steamers by which he could fulfill his contract with the Hawaiian Government for the transportation of Chinese to these islands—he proffered to transfer it to the Occidental and Oriental Steamship Company, a corporation organized under the laws of Great Britain; and which proffer, although it has not been accepted, is still under consideration.
Under these circumstances, it is assumed by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company that the provisions of treaty obligations between Hawaii and the United States have been contravened, and relief is asked by that corporation.
The practical effect of the proposed exclusive grant or concession by the Hawaiian Government to the Oceanic Steamship Company and the transfer of the franchise to the Occidental and Oriental Steamship Company would be to establish and maintain a discrimination against the Pacific Mail Steamship Company in regard to an important and profitable element of its carrying trade, and this, it is conceived by my Government, would be in contravention of the first and second articles of the treaty of December, 1849, between the United States and the Hawaiian Islands, and directly at variance with the letter and spirit of the sixth article of that treaty, the provisions of which are as follows:
“Steam-vessels of the United States which may be employed by the Government of said States in the carrying of their public mails across the Pacific Ocean, or from one port in that ocean to another, shall have free access to the ports of the Sandwich Islands, with the privilege of stopping therein to refit, to refresh, to land passengers and their baggage, and for the transaction of any business pertaining to the public mail service of the United States, and shall be subject in such ports to no duties of tonnage, harbor, light-houses, quarantine, or other similar duties of whatever nature or under whatever denomination.”
It is true that the Oceanic Steamship Company is an American corporation; but the transfer of its exclusive grant to an English company, and the instruction of the Hawaiian Government to its consul-general at Hong-Kong to grant permits to Chinese laborers to take passage alone on the vessels of the line enjoying the exclusive privilege of receiving them, accomplishes by indirection precisely what the treaty forbids being done directly, that is, the establishing of a discriminating policy in navigation and commerce against steam-vessels of the United States plying between the eastern and western shores of the Pacific Ocean and carrying its mails.
The right of the Hawaiian Government to admit to or 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 vessels, whether American, Hawaiian, or foreign to both countries, is believed to be unjust, and, as already observed, inconsistent with the due maintenance of the treaty of 1849.
The Pacific Mail Steamship Company has no right to demand an exclusive privilege in such carrying trade, but it may, with manifest propriety, under the treaty, insist that no discriminating measures against its vessels shall be maintained or permitted by the Hawaiian Government.
In a spirit of the largest friendship, I am instructed to submit these views to His Majesty’s Government not doubting that, in its enlightened sense of justice, it will adopt such measures in the premises as may be necessary to relieve American vessels and American interests of a threatened discrimination against them.
I have, &c.,
Mr. Gibson to Mr. Daggett.
Honolulu, December 10, 1883.
Sir: I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your excellency’s dispatch of 7th instant, No. 242, in which you recite certain services of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company in the Pacific Ocean in connection with the commerce of this Kingdom, and state that it is assumed by the company that the provisions of treaty obligations between Hawaii and the United States have been contravened, and that relief is asked by that corporation.
I cannot refrain, Mr. Minister, from expressing, on the part of His Majesty’s Government, [Page 270] their feeling of surprise that the Pacific Mail Steamship Company should enter a complaint against this Government and seek relief from the Government of the United States, The company has always received the most generous consideration from this Government, which has gone to the full limit of the means at its command for the purpose of encouraging the company’s enterprise in connection with these islands. Fifteen years ago, when the company proposed to allow the steamers of their China line to touch at this port, the Hawaiian Government, at the urgent request of the manager of the company, built a new and expensive wharf, constructed especially for their use, and therefore unsuitable for the other shipping which at that time used the wharves of Honolulu. Subsequently the contract for the mail line between Australia and San Francisco was taken up by this company, and they applied for a subsidy from the Hawaiian Government, in addition to the other valuble facilities and exemptions which were freely accorded to them. This application met with a ready response, and the Hawaiian Legislature has ever since made provisions for its continuance. From the beginning of the year 1876 up to the present date the company has received on this account $84,500. This I estimate to be equivalent to an annual subsidy of 20 cents per head from the population of these islands, or equal in proportion to what an annual payment of $10,000,000 would be to the people of the United States.
In addition to this subsidy the Government has extended the Esplanade wharf for their accommodation, placed extensive sheds upon it, and erected large stone warehouses in connection with it. The wharf and buildings are as entirely at the disposal of the company as if they were their own property, and even, under the circumstances, more advantageous to their interest than if owned by them.
In remission of wharfage, of custom-house charges, warehouse rent, storage of coal, and water charges, the company has enjoyed a further advantage equal to a subsidy of $35,600, besides which all cargo arriving by their steamers has been exempt from the wharfage charge of 25 cents per ton; and even now the agents of the company, by letter dated the 8th instant, have applied to this Government for an extension of the accommodation for the company’s storage of coal on the Esplanade, which has been granted entirely without charge, in accordance with the liberal spirit that has ever characterized the action of His Majesty’s Government towards this steamship company.
Therefore, I think, Mr. Minister, that it may be reasonably assumed, in view of this substantial assistance rendered by Hawaii to the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, that the latter might have seen reason to regard this country as enlightened and liberal in its action in the aid and encouragement of steamship enterprises, and might have been expected to submit their complaint directly to this Government for consideration.
His Majesty’s Government altogether disclaim any purpose of creating or permitting a discrimination against American vessels and American interests. A correct review of the events out of which the present complaint of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company has arisen will not warrant such an inference. About four months ago (August 18) His Majesty’s Government intimated to the agents of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company in Honolulu (and the letter of this date is the only authoritative assurance they ever had) that it would permit the carrying of Chinese immigrants to these islands in the vessels of their company (which are partly British vessels) and of the Oriental and Occidental Company (which are altogether British), on account of their superior character and sanitary management, as in contrast with a certain class that had been transporting immigrants previously. But the Government did not, and could not with propriety, enter into any agreement or contract in respect to this Chinese immigration for any period of time, as it was not an immigration promoted or regulated by the Government, and might (as it had already been) be stopped at any time for considerations of state. The object of thus indicating a preference for the time being was to avoid the risks of the introduction of contagious diseases from Chinese ports by other vessels, as had already happened. No definite agreement was entered into. Some time after this temporary arrangement had been made (subject to termination at any time on notice being given), proposals were addressed to the Government by a new steamship company, exclusively American in capital and in the construction of its vessels, and which engaged to make Honolulu its headquarters and to be in every respect a domestic Hawaiian line, which would afford the most ample opportunity during a period of days for the landing or quarantine control of passengers, and which would not, as in the case of the Pacific Mail and Occidental and Oriental ships sailing from Chinese ports, be too large to enter our harbor, and have to discharge passengers hurriedly, perhaps in the night time, outside the harbor. This new company, the Oceanic Steamship Company, requested to be permitted to undertake the Chinese or other Asiatic immigrant passenger traffic. In reply the Government has engaged that “in the event” of the company placing proper vessels in service for the Chinese trade, to afford them all the opportunity for the transportation of immigrant passengers that may properly be within the discretion of the Government. [Page 271] Ample notice of this new arrangement was given to the Pacific Mail Steamship Company.
The privilege, or rather opportunity, afforded by His Majesty’s Government cannot have been of great consequence to the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, since, after enjoying it for four months, they have not availed themselves of the permission nor brought a single Chinese immigrant directly from Hong-Kong to this Kingdom.
The statement made by the attorney of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company of an alleged transfer of a certain privilege or assumed franchise for the transportation of immigrant passengers to this Kingdom, I beg to say, is without the cognizance of His Majesty’s Government, and is not warranted by any authorization of this Government. Such a statement should form no part of the complaint of the company.
I make bold to submit, Mr. Minister, that there has been no contravention of the sixth or any other article of the treaty with the United States. Steam-vessels of the Republic, whether “employed by the Government of the said States” or” not so employed (as is, I believe, the case with the Pacific Mail Company’s boats, which touch at the ports of this Kingdom), have had “free access to the ports of the Sandwich Islands, with the privilege of stopping therein to refit, to refresh, to land passengers and their baggage, and for the transaction of any business pertaining to the public mail service of the United States,” and have not been subject in such ports to any duties of tonnage, harbor, light-houses, quarantine, or other similar duties; and have, moreover, been favored by the remission of many charges imposed upon other shipping, and have been liberally aided by grants of money that were generous in consideration of the resources of this country; and whatever discrimination has been contemplated was in accordance with the estimate of His Majesty’s Government of what was proper to be considered in connection with the immigration and sanitary measures of this country.
I hasten, Mr. Minister, to welcome with cordial regard the assurances that the instructions from your excellency’s Government in respect to a question with this Government are inspired by a spirit of the “largest friendship,” and I recognize that the dispatch of your excellency is the evidence of a friendly solicitude towards Hawaii on the part of the Government of the United States, and I beg to assure you that His Majesty’s Government are ever guided in their public action by a sense of obligation to a great and magnanimous neighboring state; and that it can never enter into their policy to discriminate unfavorably against American interests, or seek to contravene in the slightest degree the treaty obligations so happily maintained between the Republic of the United States and the Hawaiian Kingdom. I venture to believe that the perusal of what I have now had the honor to lay before your excellency will convince your Government that this assurance is not vain, and that the complaint of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company is without foundation.
I have, &c.,
Minister of Foreign Affairs.
His Excellency Rollin M. Daggett,
United States Minister Resident.
Mr. Daggett to Mr. Gibson.
Honolulu, December 13, 1883.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your excellency’s communication of the 10th instant, in reply to my letter of the 7th, relating to certain exclusive agreements entered into by the Hawaiian Government for the transportation of Chinese laborers to these islands.
You admit the essential facts upon which is based the complaint of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, but deny that any injustice has thereby been suffered by that corporation, or that any treaty obligation with the United States has been contravened by the Hawaiian Government, either in granting to the Pacific Mail and Occidental and Oriental Steamship Companies the exclusive right to transport Chinese laborers to the Hawaiian Islands, or in less than three months thereafter transferring that privilege to the Oceanic Steamship Company, coupled with an alleged disposition and purpose by the latter to re transfer the franchise in its fullness to a line of exclusively English steamers.
Your excellency refers at some length to the many favors heretofore granted to the Pacific Mail Steamship Company by the Hawaiian Government, and assumes that gratitude should have closed its mouth of complaint. I fail to observe the pertinence of this recital.
The attention of the Hawaiian Government is directed to the exclusive agreement [Page 272] under notice, not for the benefit solely of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, but in the interest of any and every American steamship or steamship company capable of properly performing a service from the equal advantages of which they would be unjustly debarred by special concessions. Hence, the favors accorded the Pacific Mail Steamship Company by the Hawaiian Government cannot be considered in connection with the broad question involved, nor can the implied ingratitude of that corporation be avenged upon American commerce or be made the pretext for a violation of treaty obligations.
Your excellency assumes that “the privilege, or rather opportunity, afforded by His Majesty’s Government cannot have been of great consequence to the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, since, after enjoying it for four months, they have not availed themselves of the permission nor brought a single Chinese immigrant directly from Hong-Kong to this Kingdom.” Although but of small consequence, this assumption, I am persuaded, will be found less tenable if your excellency will consider it in connection with a somewhat more concise statement of the facts, namely, that your letter to His Majesty’s consul-general at Hong-Kong, under date of July 14, 1883, giving effect to the agreement with the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, could scarcely have reached that officer before the middle of August, while your note to the Honolulu agents of that company giving notice of a discontinuance of the privilege was dated October 15, 1883.
But, however the annulment of this agreement may have affected the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, your excellency seems to find justification for it in the alleged advantage which would accrue to the Hawaiian Government in the transfer of the service to a line of steamers capable of entering the harbor of Honolulu, and which would “be in every respect a domestic Hawaiian line.” Considering that the contract was transferred to a company without steamers to perform the service, and without specific agreement as to the character of the vessels to be constructed or chartered to perform it, and that one of the first acts of that company after securing the contract was to offer it for a consideration to an established line of steamers, the assumed advantages to the Hawaiian Government of the transfer of the agreement can scarcely be regarded as sufficiently substantial to sustain either the breach of a private contract or the violation of a public treaty.
The position assumed by your excellency that neither the sixth nor any other article of the treaty of 1849 has been contravened by the Hawaiian Government in entering into and seeking to give force to these exclusive agreements, the last of which involves its probable transfer to a line of English steamers, does not seem to be in harmony with the second article of that treaty, which provides that “the subjects or citizens of any other state shall not enjoy any favor, privilege, or immunity whatever in matters of commerce and navigation which shall not also at the same time be extended to the subjects or citizens of the other contracting party.” Can these stipulations be faithfully observed by the Hawaiian Government in making exclusive contracts with particular lines of vessels for the transportation to these islands of Chinese immigrants—in making exclusive contracts which their holders consider legitimate subjects of barter? It is not enough that a transfer of the contract of the Oceanic Steamship Company to a line of English steamers “is not warranted by any authorization “of the Hawaiian Government. The emergency of the situation would be more completely met by the information that no such transfer would be permitted.
But, in dwelling somewhat upon matters of specific complaint, I fear that I have failed to make clear, as was the purpose in my first communication to you on the subject, the views of my Government in relation to these discriminating contracts or agreements. Permit me now to say, without reference to any alleged breach of contract, that it is not asked that the Pacific Mail and Occidental and Oriental Steamship Companies be restored in their agreement with the Hawaiian Government, since it was entered into in derogation of treaty rights affecting American interests. Nor is the contract with the Oceanic Steamship Company any the less repugnant to treaty obligations existing between the United States and the Hawaiian Government.
The gravamen of the matter at issue is not that the contract was taken, either with or without cause, from one company or two companies and given to another, but that such an agreement was made at all. Nor would an exclusive contract with a Hawaiian company be admissible, since the according of an exclusive and discriminating privilege in the premises to any one company owning a particular line of ships, whether American, Hawaiian, or foreign to both countries, is believed to be unjust, and, I am instructed to say, inconsistent with the due maintenance of the treaty of 1849.
It will gratify me to learn that these views accord so closely with those of His Majesty’s Government that it will feel it an act of justice, as well as friendship, to the people of the United States to set aside as unauthorized any discriminating agreement now existing for the exclusive transportation of Chinese immigrants to the Hawaiian Islands.
I have, &c.,
Mr. Gibson to Mr. Daggett.
Honolulu, December 19, 1883.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your excellency’s dispatch of 13th instant, replying to mine of the 10th, and restating the views of your Government that the arrangement existing between His Majesty’s Government and the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, and that which it is contemplated to make with the Oceanic Steamship Company, for the purpose of the regulation of immigration of Chinese laborers into this Kingdom, is repugnant to treaty obligations existing between the United States and this country.
Your excellency refers to the arrangement with the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, which was a permission revokable at will, as one of binding obligation, and speaks of the recall of a temporary permission, after giving due notice, as a “breach of contract.” This arrangement or permission, which is contained in a letter of which I annex a copy (the only authoritative assurance on the subject given to the Pacific Mail Steamship Company), will not, I feel assured, bear such a construction; and I respectfully submit to your excellency that in this matter there has been no agreement or mutual obligation entered into between two contracting parties, and consequently no breach of contract. If the phrase “breach of contract” were admissible in connection with this matter, it would have to be read the other way, since the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, after making frequent application to His Majesty’s Government for leave to bring Chinese laborers into the Kingdom, and promising to do so, have failed to bring any, notwithstanding permission to do so of long standing.
There is one point to which your excellency recurs on several occasions, which I think should have no place in the discussion, and that is an alleged probable transfer to a line of English steamers of privileges which are said to be conceded by His Majesty’s Government to the Oceanic Steamship Company. I append herewith copy of the letter to the Oceanic Steamship Company which is the sole warrant or authority for a supposed transferable contract, agreement, or concession from the Government to the company, and I think your excellency will agree with me that the permission assured in this letter is in no sense a negotiable “franchise.” Now, insomuch as the Pacific Mail Steamship Company hold at this time a privilege exactly similar to that which has, under conditions, been promised to the Oceanic Steamship Company, no one should know better than the managers of the former company that the privilege they hold is not of a nature to be transferred. A complaint, therefore, from them about an alleged disposition or purpose on the part of the Oceanic Steamship Company to transfer or barter away an identical privilege or permission, is not a complaint against this Government, and should have no place in the discussion of the international question which your excellency brings forward.
In general reply upon the gravamen of the question as presented by your excellency, I have the honor to say that His Majesty’s Government recognize that the regulation of immigration, especially of the immigration of Chinese male laborers, into this Kingdom, is a measure of vital national importance, and that such regulation is not repugnant to any treaty obligation, and this I am satisfactorily assured by your excellency is the view of the Government of the United States. Now, the method which has been selected for the exercise of this right cannot be called in question unless it can be clearly shown that it contravenes the actual covenants of a treaty. It is entirely in connection with immigration that the discrimination complained of has been made, and for the purpose of controlling the sanitary conditions of such immigrations.
The circumstances that must regulate immigration in the case of Hawaii are extremely different from those which obtain in the United States, where vast territories still wait to be peopled. It is necessary very closely to control the immigration to this country, both as to its character and its numbers, and this is more especially the case in regard to the influx of Chinese. For a while an immigration of Chinese, composed almost exclusively of men, assumed the character of an invasion, and His Majesty’s Government found it necessary to put a stop to it peremptorily. Subsequently evidence was submitted that the Chinese laborers whose engagements on our plantations had expired were returning to their own country at the rate of about two thousand annually, and His Majesty’s Government then decided to permit a limited and regulated immigration of about six hundred Chinese laborers every three months, calculated to replace those that were leaving. In the exercise of their right His Majesty’s Government selected the persons who should be allowed to manage this immigration of Chinese laborers, as it has done in the case of the immigration of laborers and settlers of other nationalities.
The Government has not for several years past deemed it wise to create establishments of its own in other countries for the selection of immigrants, but has from time [Page 274] to time empowered responsible persons to make suitable selection, and to provide for the transportation of immigrant passengers to these islands, under engagements or otherwise, as the case might be, and with free passages or otherwise. In this manner large numbers of people have been brought here from the Portuguese dominions, from Germany, Norway, and the islands of the Western Pacific.
Circumstances to which I have already alluded have shown the imperative necessity for placing the immigration of Chinese upon the same footing. The arrangements that have been made to secure this end are entirely similar in their character to those by which other immigration has been conducted. In selecting influential corporations like the Pacific Mail Steamship Company and the Oceanic Steamship Company to conduct this immigration, His Majesty’s Government have been actuated by the same motives as guided them in the choice of agents who have managed other immigrations, viz, the desire to deal with responsible persons who have too much at stake to misconduct the work intrusted to them, and who will comply with the wishes of this Government in all such matters as the numbers to be brought, the arrangements to be made with the immigrants, and the sanitary precautions to be taken on the voyage and on arrival.
I respectfully submit to your excellency that such arrangements made for the regulation and control of immigration are entirely within the rights of this Government. It is no favor, privilege, or immunity in connection with the ordinary course of commerce and navigation, but an arrangement made by the Government for the conduct and management of affairs which belong exclusively to the domestic interests of the Kingdom. I cannot understand how such discrimination in the carrying out of a national measure of vital importance can be regarded as a violation of treaty obligation. If such were the case, a certain discrimination, heretofore deemed properly warranted, such as the payment of subsidies to steam vessels belonging to United States citizens which trade to our ports, and compete with the sailing vessels, equally the property of Americans, which receive no subsidy, must be regarded as in contravention of treaty obligations; and, pursuing the inference to its just conclusion, so might any contract made by this Government for the transport of cargo the property of the Government be regarded as a discrimination not warranted by treaty.
I beg to say in conclusion that His Majesty’s Government have not made a contract or granted a franchise in connection with Chinese immigration capable of being subject to transfer or barter; that they claim the right to regulate measures taken for the repopulation and industrial development of the Kingdom; and I respectfully submit that the views on the question presented by your excellency, and in which you invite His Majesty’s Government to coincide, have been entertained and brought forward under a misconception of the nature of the arrangements entered into and of the circumstances which have guided the action of the Government. I hasten, however, to give the assurance to your excellency that His Majesty’s Government, recognizing the fairness and impartiality of the Government of the United States in the treatment of international questions, is anxious to meet the views of your Government, and will, on being convinced that its action even implies the infraction of any article of a treaty with the United States, at once take such steps as wall obviate the fact or the implication.
I have, &c.,
His Excellency Rollin M. Daggett,
United States Minister Resident, &c.
Irwin & Co. to Mr. Gibson.
Sir: We, the undersigned agents for the Oceanic Steamship Company, desire to call your excellency’s attention to the subject of transportation of Chinese passengers from Hong-Kong and other Asiatic ports to Honolulu under Government permission and regulation.
The company are about to place on the route between the ports of this Kingdom and those of Japan and other Asiatic states a line of first class-vessels, fully equal, if not superior, to the Mariposa and Alameda, vessels of their line now plying between the ports of San Francisco and Honolulu. These new vessels will be fitted up in the best manner for the safe and comfortable transportation of immigrant passengers, and will be placed under regulation calculated to insure the best sanitary welfare of such [Page 275] passengers. This line will be virtually a domestic Hawaiian line; therefore, we ask of the Government, in the exercise of its discretion in the control of immigrant Chinese passenger transportation, that it will extend to our company such opportunity for the transportation of Chinese and other Asiatic immigrants as may be within the discretion of the Government, and such as may appear justly warranted by the superiority of the accommodations and conditions our company offer.
We are, &c.,
Agents Oceanic Steamship Company.
Mr. Gibson to Irwin & Co.
Honolulu, October 12, 1883.
Gentlemen: I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 8th instant, in which, on behalf of the Oceanic Steamship Company, you propose to establish a new line of steamships, equal, if not superior, to the Mariposa and Alameda, to run between the ports of Honolulu and Hong-Kong and other Asiatic ports, stating that said line of vessels will be “virtually a domestic Hawaiian line,” and you ask of the Government to “extend to the company such opportunity for the transportation of Chinese and other Asiatic immigrants of this Kingdom as may appear justly warranted by the superiority of the accommodations and conditions which the company offers.”
I have the honor to say in reply, by authorization of His Majesty in cabinet council, that in the event of the Oceanic Steamship Company placing in service, for the accommodation of Chinese and other Asiatic immigrant passengers to this Kingdom, a superior new line of vessels which will be virtually a domestic Hawaiian line, that His Majesty’s Government will extend to your company all the opportunity for the transportation of such immigrant passengers as may be within the discretion of the Government, and such as will be justly warranted by the superiority of the accommodations and conditions which your company offers.
I have the honor, furthermore, to say and to agree, in reply to a verbal statement made by your firm, that in the event of the Oceanic Steamship Company placing on the said route, at an early date, and in advance of the construction of the new vessels, chartered steamships of a superior class and well equipped and organized for the immigration service, to confirm at once to the company, on the arrival of the pioneer of such line in the port of Honolulu, all privileges and opportunities affecting the transportation of Chinese immigrant passengers within the discretion of the Government.
I have, &c.,