Mr. Clayton to Mr. Judd and Mr. Jarves.
Washington, June 3, 1850.
To Messrs. G. P. Judd and James J. Jarves,
Washington:
Gentlemen: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 30th ultimo, with the accompanying documents, relative to the difference between His Hawaiian Majesty’s Government and the Government of France, growing out of certain proceedings of the late consul-general of France and of the naval commander of that Republic at the Hawaiian Islands. Your note has been submitted to the President, who has directed me to state, in reply, that as the United States have strong motives both of sympathy and interest for desiring that His Hawaiian Majesty’s Government should be upon the most friendly terms with all others and especially with those of powerful commercial States, he ardently hopes that the misunderstanding adverted to may be adjusted to the mutual satisfaction of the parties, and will cheerfully do anything in his power, compatible with the cardinal policy of this Government, to bring about that desirable result. An instruction will accordingly be addressed to Mr. Rives, the United States minister at Paris, directing him to employ his good offices, either separately or in conjunction with the British minister, for the purpose of accommodating [Page 87] the dispute between His Hawaiian Majesty’s Government and that of France.
The desire which you express in behalf of His Hawaiian Majesty that the United States should become a party to an arrangement with Great Britain and France to secure His Majesty’s neutrality in all wars and provide for the settlement of any future difficulty which may arise between the Hawaiian Islands and either of the three powers, by a reference to the other two, shall be taken into respectful consideration.
I avail myself of the occasion, gentlemen, to offer to you the assurance of my very high regard.