Mr. McBride to Mr. Seward.
Honolulu, September 16, 1864.
Sir: As the United States Government is now paying rent for a piece of ground for a naval depot, and as a permanent depot here will be vastly more important to our Government in the future than it has been in time past, from the increased necessity for naval defense, owing to the States and Territories on the Pacific Slope, the number of American whale ships floating in various parts of the Pacific, the increased and increasing commerce with these islands, and last, though not least, the immense commerce which we have the right to anticipate between the United States, China, and Japan, I hope it will be considered proper in me to suggest that, if a reciprocity treaty should at any time be made with this Government, a fee simple to a piece of land at this port, sufficient for a wharf and buildings for a naval depot and also for a dry dock, should be made one of the conditions of said treaty, as the principal advantage accruing from such a treaty will be to this Government, as shown in my dispatch of yesterday.
I have the honor to be, etc.,