Mr. McBride to Mr. Seward.
Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands , October 9, 1863 .
Sir: Notwithstanding the subject is a delicate one, yet regarding it as a duty to my Government to transmit information concerning the policy and views of that to which I am accredited, I ask your undivided attention to a few facts in reference to this Government, and some things connected with it.
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First. The King is strongly predisposed in favor of the British in preference to Americans, or those of any other nationality. English policy! English etiquette, and English grandeur seem to captivate and control him. His familiar associates are Englishmen, and where an office becomes vacated by death, resignation, or otherwise, it is filled by the appointment of an Englishman. In a word, English diplomacy here has been so adroit and sagacious as to win the esteem and confidence of His Majesty and the royal family, while American diplomacy has been a complete failure in this respect.
It is plainly to be seen that the British Government places a high estimate on the future value of these islands, believing, no doubt, that the Pacific and other railroads will be built, and that these islands will become very important as a “half-way house” between Europe and America on one side and China and Japan on the other, and also in their capacity for growing the sugar cane, coffee, rice, and cotton, which, no doubt, will be very great when fairly and fully developed. The salubrity and peculiar pleasantness of the climate must also add much to the intrinsic worth and importance of this country.
- Secondly. The King’s health is poor, being afflicted with asthma and other chronic affections, and therefore it is not at all probable that he will live many years, and, like other valetudinarians, his death would not surprise his acquaintances at any time. The English influences which are thrown around the King in the persons of English school teachers recently imported, and a number of English clergymen sent here by Her Britannic Majesty at the request of the King, and he not a pious man, and the filling of vacant offices by Englishmen, on the whole, being considered, is shrewdly suspected of being a political affair under the garb of religion and intended at least to supersede Americans holding office under His Majesty’s Government, American school teachers, and American clergymen, many of whom have already been turned out 5 in other words, an endeavor to thoroughly Anglicize this place and prepare it for a British regency.
- Thirdly. The native population is decreasing so rapidly as to produce the general, if not the universal, belief that within a short period, say from twenty to forty years, there will not be enough of them remaining to perpetuate this Government. This being the case, these islands must, of necessity, pass into other hands and their destiny be controlled by other people. The question then is, to what nation shall they belong, and to whom ought they belong, the English or the Americans! They are the only competitors.
- Fourthly. An Englishman a little over a year ago loaned this Government $90,000 for ten years at 10 per cent per annum, interest to be paid annually. This Government, in all probability, will not be able to pay more than the interest, if that, and will be more likely to hypothecate lands to Englishmen or to the English Government for more money. Such an event would be a sufficient excuse for Great Britain (Napoleon-like) to take and hold these islands as an indemnity, and everybody knows what the result would be. The payment of this debt by the United States, and, if need be, the loan of half a million more, together with presents both ornamental and useful to their majesties and to the heir apparent, cautiously and wisely bestowed, might be the means of giving Americans the vantage ground in point of court influence and other interests which may come up in the future.
I beg leave to further say that American interests greatly predominate here over all others combined, and not less than four-fifths of the commerce connected with these islands is American. The merchants, traders, dealers of all kinds, and planters are principally Americans. The English have no commerce here worthy of the name and but one or two retail stores; the Germans about the same amount of business as the English. Many American merchants here are doing quite a large business, and would extend their business still more but for the danger of British rule over this group, which, if it should become the dominant or governing power, American interests would be crushed out with eagerness and dispatch. Such is the universal belief of all American citizens with whom I have conversed, and such is my own opinion. It would be a flagrant injustice to American citizens, after they have labored for the good of these islands for the last forty years, after they have brought these people out of barbarism and taught them civilization, science, and religion; in a word made them an intelligent and Christian nation, and have done all that has been done in the development of the resources of the country, and given it a world-wide popularity, to be either driven out or so treated and harassed as to make it necessary for their interests to sacrifice their property and leave, which is believed would be the case provided the English obtain greater influence with the King than they now have; which influence it is the desire of Americans here and for the interests of the American Government to avert. Some merchants and planters are contracting their business, so that they may not suffer so heavy a loss in the event of the change which seems probable at no very distant day.
I am also informed that the British Government since the commencement of the rebellion in the United States sent a deputation to examine and report on the cotton-growing capacity of this group, and the report is said to be remarkably favorable. This may aid in explaining the lively interest which Her British Majesty’s Government takes in this Government and the final disposition of these islands so far as conduct is a faithful index to design. The cotton growing capacity of these islands has been sufficiently tested to demonstrate it as a fact [Page 136] that it is not at all inferior to Alabama, Georgia, or Mississippi, either as to quality or quantity per acre. There is some cotton now growing in the suburbs of this city as rich and luxuriant a growth as I ever saw in the Southern States. The capacity of these islands for growing sugar cane is of world-wide celebrity and is known to be not inferior to that of any other country. All the sugar plantations of any note on these islands, with the exception of two or three, belong to Americans. Coffee grows here well and it is believed that with proper care and skill it might become equal to those more celebrated coffee-growing countries. A great deal is now raised here, although for the last few years there has been in some localities what is here called the blight on the tree,’ This soil grows rice of an excellent quality in great abundance.
Indian corn grows well here and yields from 20 to 40 bushels per acre. Garden vegetables also grow well here.
This group of islands under the control of our Government, in my judgment would be far more valuable than the ownership of both Cuba and the Bahama Islands. All of which is respectfully submitted.
I have the honor, etc.,