Mr. Blaine to Mr. Comly.
Washington, July 27, 1881.
Sir: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your dispatch, marked “separate and confidential,” of the 4th instant, touching the reply of the Hawaiian Government to her Britannic Majesty’s commissioner in the matter of the British claims.
Adverting to that part of your dispatch suggesting “that the Hawaiian Government would be glad to have an intimation of the opinion of the Secretary of State” upon the subject, I desire to refer you to my instruction No. 102, of the 30th ultimo, in which I have distinctly stated that the claim of Great Britain for the same privileged treatment by Hawaii as that enjoyed by the United States pursuant to its reciprocity treaty was wholly inadmissible.
I am, etc.,