Mr. Calhoun to Mr.
Brown.
No. 4.]
Department
of State,
Washington, January 20,
1845.
Sir: Your dispatches to No. 16, inclusive, have
been received. It is to be regretted that a case like that of Mr. John
Wiley, to which the last principally relates, should have occurred so
soon after the recognition of the Hawaiian Government by that of the
United States, Your course in regard to it is approved by the President,
who concurs in the views which you express. Notwithstanding the United
States have no treaty stipulation with the Government of the islands,
they can not, under the circumstances, consent that the privilege of
being tried by a jury of foreigners shall be withheld from our citizens
while it is accorded
[Page 68]
to the
subjects of Great Britain and Prance. We have every reason to expect our
citizens shall have, in the dominions of that Government, the same
privileges as the citizens or subjects of the most favored nation. You
will accordingly communicate these views to the minister for foreign
affairs and repeat, in the name of the Government of the United States,
your firm protest against the proceedings of the Hawaiian authorities in
regard to Mr. Wiley, assuring him in the strongest terms that the United
States will not submit to discrimination so unjust in their nature and
so unfriendly in spirit as respects their citizens, and that the
Government of the islands will be held responsible for all damages which
may have been sustained in this case, or which may hereafter be
sustained by citizens of the United States under similar
circumstances.
The United States, if it be desired by the Hawaiian Government, are
willing to enter into treaty stipulations on the basis of those now
existing between it and Great Britain, and I herewith transmit to you
full powers to conclude such a convention. But it is to be understood
that the treaty is not to bar the claim for damages in the case of Mr.
Wiley (if any have been sustained), nor of any citizen or citizens of
the United States for injuries accruing prior to its ‘adoption, should
it be made. I have further to say that if Great Britain or France should
hereafter consent, in cases involving the rights of their respective
citizens, to a trial by jury de mediatate lingua,
the United States would be willing to make the same concession. But,
whether there be or be not treaty stipulations between us and the
Islands, the United States can never consent that their citizens should
be put on any other footing than those of the most favored nations.
I have the honor to be, with highest respect, sir, your obedient
servant,
[Translation.]
Treaty of peace, amity, and commerce between
France and the Sandwich Islands, signed at Honolulu, March 26,
1846.
Time having shown the expediency of substituting a general treaty for
the various conventions mutually concluded heretofore by France and
the Sandwich Islands, the French and Hawaiian Governments have
mutually agreed upon the following articles, and have signed them,
after acknowledging and decreeing that all other treaties and
conventions now existing between the contracting parties, shall be
hereafter considered as void and of no effect.
- Article 1. There shall be perpetual
peace and friendship between His Majesty the King of the French
and the King of the Sandwich Islands, and between their heirs
and successors.
- Art. 2. The subjects of His Majesty
the King of the French, residing in the possessions of the King
of the Sandwich Islands, shall enjoy, as to civil rights, and as
regards their persons and their property, the same protection as
if they were native subjects, and the King of the Sandwich
Islands engages to grant them the same rights and privileges as
those now granted, or which may be granted hereafter, to the
subjects of the most favored nation.
- Art. 3. Any Frenchmean accused of
any crime or offense shall be
[Page 69]
tried only by a jury composed of native
residents, or of foreigners proposed by the consul of France,
and accepted by the Government of the Sandwich Islands.
-
Art. 4. The King of the Sandwich
Islands will extend his protection to French vessels, their
officers and crews. In case of shipwreck, the chiefs and
inhabitants of the various parts of the Sandwich Islands
must lend them assistance and protect them from all
pillage.
The salvage dues will be settled, in case of difficulty, by
umpires appointed by both parties.
- Art. 5. Desertion of sailors
employed on board French vessels, will be severely repressed by
the local authorities, who must use every means at their command
to arrest the deserters. All expenses, within just limits,
incurred in their recapture, will be refunded by the captain or
owners of the said vessels.
- Art. 6. French goods, or those
recognized as coming from French possessions, can not be
prohibited nor subjected to a higher import duty than five per
cent ad valorem. Wines, brandies, and other spirituous liquors
are excepted, and may be subjected to any just duties which the
Government of the Sandwich Islands may think proper to impose
upon them, but on condition that such duty shall never be high
enough to become an absolute obstacle to the importation of the
said articles.
- Art. 7. Tonnage and import duties
and all other duties imposed upon French vessels, or upon
merchandise imported in French vessels, must not exceed the
duties imposed upon the vessels or merchandise of the most
favored nation.
- Art. 8. The subjects of the King of
the Sandwich Islands will be treated upon the footing of the
most favored nation in their commercial or other relations with
France.
Made at Honolulu,
March 26,
1846.
[
l. s.]
Em. Perrin,
Consul of
France,
Charged with a special mission to the Sandwich
Islands
.
[
l. s.]
R. C. Wyllie,
His Hawaiian Majesty’s Minister of Foreign
Relations.
