The negotiations for annexation are in the same condition as when my
dispatch (No. 51) of the 7th instant was written. On Saturday last
the cabinet had an audience of the King and laid before him a copy
of the treaty in the Hawaiian language, and through Mr. Armstrong,
as interpreter, explained it in all its particulars. He expressed
himself satisfied, as I am advised, but stated that he wished to
consult
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particularly with
a few of his chiefs before final action was taken. Unfortunately he
has since been in such a state of infirmity as to be able to consult
with no one, and it is difficult to predict when his present fit of
illness will terminate.
I have insisted upon the immediate signature of the treaty, and Mr.
Wyllie admits that, according to diplomatic usage, there should be
no further delay. In my last dispatch I stated that I had notified
him that the negotiations must be at once concluded. I have since
addressed him a letter to the same effect, setting forth strongly
the reasons which induced me to take this course. A copy of it is
herewith inclosed for your information. Its representations I
considered would have an important bearing in bringing matters to an
issue, and I still think this will be the effect. I hope I did not
go further than the President will be willing to approve. The
peculiar circumstances which exist seemed to demand a strong
expression on my part, with all the incidental references and
suggestions which are employed. I acted with regard to what I
supposed to be the peculiar exigencies of the times, and it has been
intimated to me that my course will probably contribute to hasten
matters to a conclusion.
I forward also a copy of the treaty, the terms of which were finally
settled between Mr. Wyllie and myself on the 19th ultimo. I have
already informed you of the utter impossibility of such provisions
as I desired in the second and eighth articles. As they stand they
will be regarded as ad referendum so far as
the United States are concerned. This, of course, was the only
ground upon which I could place my assent to them, especially the
last. From the protocols, which are not yet all in a condition to be
copied for transmission, the true character of the negotiation and
its embarrassing circumstances will more fully appear. I shall
probably be able to send them by the next mail.
The provisions of the separate article were made a matter of positive
demand by the Hawaiian cabinet. I refused to incorporate them into
the body of the treaty, because they contemplate an object which, if
effected at all, must be brought about before any final ratification
can take place. The ratification of the treaty by this Government
would undoubtedly quell any disturbances that might arise from
American sources, but a conditional cession, as contemplated by such
article, would forever practically settle all questions as to future
influence and jurisdiction. The moment our flag was raised a flood
of immigration from California would pour in, sufficient, at least,
to make the islands thoroughly American and to secure an equitable
and fair arrangement if the terms of the present treaty are deemed
unsatisfactory.
The return of Judge Lee from the island of Maui is expected in a few
days. It was through his persuasions that the King made advances for
annexation, and his influence with the chiefs and native population
generally is greater than that of any man on the islands. I learn
that he objects to the second article of the treaty on the ground
that he does not think it provides explicitly enough for a State
government. In this respect I have gone to the utmost limit of what,
in my judgment, the Constitution allows, and if his advice leads
this Government to exact impracticable conditions I shall, of
course, be fully prepared to reject them.
The British consul-general has advised this Government that he will
not, for the present, seek the audience which he formerly demanded,
as I advised you in my last dispatch.
The effect of the publications in the New York Daily Tribune of July
20 has been unfortunate here in giving to the British consul-general
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weapons to fight
against the United States. I regret very much that any opportunity
should have occurred at this juncture to confirm, in the minds of
the Hawaiians, the false impressions which are constantly sought to
be created in regard to our purposes and policy. If the present
negotiations fall through 1 shall attribute it almost entirely to
the effect of such publications as that of the Tribune and other
papers of like character.
Treaty of annexation concluded between His
Majesty the King of the Hawaiian Islands and the United
States of America
His Majesty the King of the Hawaiian Islands, being convinced
that plans have been, and still are, on foot hostile to his
sovereignty and to the peace of his Kingdom, which His Majesty
is without power to resist, and against which it is his
imperative duty to provide, in order to prevent the evils of
anarchy and to secure the rights and prosperity of his subjects,
and having in conscientious regard thereto, as well as to the
general interests of his Kingdom, present and future, sought to
incorporate his Kingdom into the Union of the United States, as
the means best calculated to attain these ends and perpetuate
the blessings of freedom and equal rights to himself, his
chiefs, and his people; and the Government of the United States,
being actuated solely by the desire to add to their security and
prosperity and to meet the wishes of His Majesty the King of the
Hawaiian Islands, and of his Government, have determined to
accomplish by treaty objects so important to their mutual and
permanent welfare.
For that purpose His Majesty Kamehameha III, King of the Hawaiian
Islands has granted full powers and instructions to Robert
Crichton Wyllie, esquire, his minister of foreign relations, his
secretary at war and of the navy, member of his privy council of
state, member of the house of nobles, and chairman of the
commissioners of his privy purse; and the President of the
United States has invested with like powers David Lawrence
Gregg, esquire, commissioner of said States to the said Kingdom;
and the said plenipotentiaries, after exchanging their full
powers, have agreed to and concluded the following articles:
Article I.
His Majesty the King of the Hawaiian Islands, acting in
conformity with the power vested in him by the constitution of
his Kingdom, and with the wishes of his chiefs and people, and
of the heads of every department of his Government, cedes to the
United States his Kingdom, with all its territories, to be held
by them in full sovereignty, subject only to the same
constitutional provisions as the other States of the American
Union. This cession includes all public lots and squares,
Government lands, mines and minerals, salt lakes and springs,
fish ponds, public edifices, fortifications, barracks, forts,
ports and harbors, reefs, docks, and magazines, arms, armaments
and accouterments, public archives, and funds, claims, debts,
taxes and dues existing, available, and unpaid at the date of
the exchange of the ratifications of this treaty.
Article II.
The Kingdom of the Hawaiian Islands shall be incorporated into
the American Union as a State, enjoying the same degree of
sovereignty as other States, and admitted as such as soon as it
can be done in consistency with the principles and requirements
of the Federal Constitution, to all the rights, privileges, and
immunities of a State as aforesaid, on a perfect equality with
the other States of the Union.
Article III.
His Majesty the King of the Hawaiian Islands, his chiefs and
subjects of every class, shall continue in the enjoyment of all
their existing personal and private rights—civil, political, and
religious—to the utmost extent that is possible under the
Federal Constitution, and shall possess and forever enjoy all
the rights and privileges of citizens of the United States, on
terms of perfect equality, in all respects, with other American
citizens.
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Article IV.
The decisions of the board of land commissioners made and not
appealed from, at the date of the final ratification of this
treaty, shall be and remain forever valid and undisturbed, and
all titles to real estate which are now, or shall have then been
declared valid under the laws of the Hawaiian Kingdom, shall be
held to be equally valid by the United States, and measures
shall be adopted by the United States for the speedy and final
adjudication of all unsettled claims to land in conformity with
the laws and usages under which they may have originated.
Article v.
All engagements of whatever kind, affecting the rights of
corporations or individuals, validly contracted, and lawfully
incumbent upon the King’s Government or the Hawaiian nation to
pay and discharge, shall be respected and fulfilled in as
prompt, full, and complete a manner as they would have been
respected and fulfilled had no change of sovereignty taken
place.
Article VI.
The public lands hereby ceded shall be subject to the laws
regulating the public lands in other parts of the United States,
liable, however, to such alterations and changes as Congress may
from time to time enact. The grants of land for the promotion of
education heretofore made by the Government of the King of the
Hawaiian Islands shall be confirmed by the United States, which
in addition thereto, shall grant and set apart for the purposes
of common schools, seminaries of learning, and universities so
much of the public lands and of the proceeds thereof as may be
equal proportionally to the grants for such purposes in any of
the States of the Union.
Article VII.
The laws of the Hawaiian Kingdom, so far as they are compatible
with republican institutions and conformable to the Constitution
of the United States, shall be and remain in full force and
effect until modified, changed, or repealed by the legislative
authority of the State contemplated by this treaty.
Article VIII.
In consideration of the cession made by this treaty, and in
compensation to all who may suffer or incur loss consequent
thereon, the United States shall pay the aggregate sum of three
hundred thousand dollars ($300,000) as annuities to the King,
the Queen, the crown prince, those standing next in succession
to the throne, the chiefs, and all other persons whom the King
may wish to compensate or reward, to be apportioned as may be
determined by His Majesty the King, and his privy council of
state, which amounts to be apportioned as aforesaid, shall be
paid ratably without deduction or offset on any ground or in any
shape whatever, to the parties severally named in such
apportionment, at Honolulu, on the first day of July of each
successive year so long as they may live. It is, however,
expressly agreed upon that on the demise of His present Majesty
the annuity of the immediate heir to the throne shall then be
increased to the same amount before allowed and paid to the King
himself.
As a further consideration for the cession herein made, and in
order to place within the reach of the inhabitants of the
Hawaiian Islands the means of education, present and future, so
as to enable them the more perfectly to enjoy and discharge the
rights and duties consequent upon a change from monarchical to
republican institutions, the United States agree to set apart
and pay over for the term of ten years the sum of seventy-five
thousand dollars per annum, one-third of which shall be applied
to constitute the principal of a fund for the benefit of a
college or university, or colleges or universities, as the case
may be, and the balance for the support of common schools, to be
invested, secured, or applied as may be determined by the
legislative authority of the Hawaiian Islands, when admitted as
a State into the Union, as aforesaid.
Article IX.
Immediately after the exchange of the ratifications of this
treaty the President of the United States shall appoint a
commissioner, who shall receive in due form, in the name of the
United States, the transfer of the sovereignty and territories
of the Hawaiian Islands; also all public property, archives, and
other things hereinbefore stipulated to be conveyed, and who
shall exercise all executive authority in said islands necessary
to the preservation of peace and order, and to the proper
execution
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of the laws,
until the State contemplated in this treaty can be duly
organized and admitted as such State; and until the arrival of
such commissioner, all departments of His Majesty’s Government
shall continue as now constituted.
Article X.
This treaty shall be ratified by the respective high contracting
parties, and the ratifications exchanged at the city of Honolulu
within eight months from the date hereof, or sooner, if
possible, but it is agreed that this period may be extended by
mutual consent of the two parties.
In witness whereof, we, the undersigned, plenipotentiaries of His
Majesty the King of the Hawaiian Islands and of the United
States of America, have signed three originals of this treaty of
annexation in Hawaiian and three in English, and have thereunto
affixed our respective official seals.
Done at Honolulu this—day of—, in the year of our Lord one
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
separate and secret
article.
Whereas it is desirable to guard against the exigencies declared
in the preamble to the foregoing treaty, and to secure the King
of the Hawaiian Islands, his chiefs and all who reside under his
jurisdiction from the dangers therein referred to and expressed,
it is hereby provided and expressly agreed that at any time
before the final exchange of the ratifications of said treaty,
if the same shall be duly ratified on the part of His Majesty
the King and satisfactory notice thereof given to the
commissioner of the United States, it shall be competent for His
Majesty, by proclamation, to declare his islands annexed to the
American Union, subject to the provisions of such treaty as
negotiated; and the commissioner of the United States, for the
time being, shall receive and accept the transfer of the
jurisdiction of the said islands, in the name of the United
States, and protect and defend them by the armed forces of the
United States, as a part of the American Union, holding the same
for and in behalf of his Government and exercising the
jurisdiction provided for in said treaty, with the
understanding, however, that in case the said treaty is not
finally ratified, or other arrangement made by the free consent
and to the mutual satisfaction of the contracting parties, the
sovereignty of the islands shall immediately revert, without
prejudice, to His Majesty, or his immediate heir, in the same
conditions as before the transfer thereof; and it is further
understood and agreed that this article shall be as binding for
all the ends and purposes herein expressed as if it formed a
part of the foregoing treaty.
