No. 378.
Mr. Bayard to Mr. Carter.
Washington, August 9, 1886.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 5th instant, saying that in view of the interest taken by your Government in the trans-Pacific Ocean telegraph service, the Legislative Assembly had authorized His Majesty’s Government to assist in the laying and maintaining of a cable connecting the United States and Hawaii to the extent of $20,000 a year for fifteen years. You accordingly express the hope that this Government will look with favor upon the enterprise and give substantial assistance towards its completion and support.
The United States would certainly regard the accomplishment of such an enterprise as favorable to the intimate relations this Government is anxious to maintain with that of Hawaii. Beyond this moral support, however, the United States has no existing authority to go in the direction of substantial assistance. But if American and Hawaiian capital built up the enterprise, its quasi-international character might be -recognized by treaty guaranties, ad hoc.
Accept, etc.,