No. 14.
The Hawaiian
special commissioners to Mr. Foster.
Sir: In accordance with the statement this day made by you to us that, by order of the President, you had confirmed the recognition of the Provisional Government of the Hawaiian Islands already extended to such Provisional Government by his excellency John L. Stevens, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the United States of America at Hawaii; and in accordance with your further statement, then made, that you accepted the credentials presented by us as special commissioners from the said Provisional Government to the Government of the United States of America for the purpose of negotiating a treaty between the said two governments by the terms of which full and complete political union may be secured between the United States of America and the Hawaiian Islands, and that you are now prepared to receive from us as such commissioners proposals in connection with the formation of such treaty for your consideration, we have the honor to state that, although we are invested by our Government with full discretionary power as to the terms of such treaty, subject to its final ratification, it is the desire of our Government that certain terms and conditions shall be incorporated in such treaty, and we hereby submit to you a general outline of such terms and conditions, viz:
- (1)
- That such treaty may secure full, complete, and perpetual political union between the United States of America and the Hawaiian Islands.
- (2)
- That the form of local government to be established in the Hawaiian Islands shall be substantially the form now existing in Territories of the United States, with such modifications, restrictions, and changes therein as the exigencies of the existing circumstances may require and as may be hereafter agreed upon.
- (3)
- That all appointments to office in the Hawaiian Islands shall be made from among persons who have lived in said islands for a term of not less than five years.
- (4)
- That the payment of the Hawaiian national debt, including the amounts due by the Government to depositors in the Hawaiian Postal Savings Bank shall be assumed by the Government of the United States of America.
- (5)
- That the lands located at the said Hawaiian Islands heretofore known as government lands and crown lands and all other government property, and all the proceeds thereof and receipts therefrom shall continue to be the property of the local government of the said islands, under whatever form it may be established, and all the proceeds thereof devoted to the purposes and uses of such local government.
- (6)
- That within a given period, say one year, or such other period as may be mutually agreed upon, the Government of the United States of America shall lay and thereafter maintain a telegraphic cable between the Pacific coast of the said United States of America and the Hawaiian Islands.
- (7)
- That the United States Government shall, so soon as is reasonably practicable, open the entrance to Pearl Harbor and establish a coaling and naval station adjacent thereto.
- (8)
- That articles, the produce or manufacture of the Hawaiian Islands, shall in all respects be treated and considered as products of the United States.
- (9)
- That the United States laws now or hereafter to be enforced in the United States of America shall not be taken to prohibit at any time the introduction into the Hawaiian Islands of laborers who may be introduced exclusively for the purpose of agricultural labor and domestic service, and who by appropriate legislation shall be confined to such employment and to the Hawaiian Islands.
- (10)
- That contracts for labor under the Hawaiian labor-contract laws now existing, or which shall be entered into prior to the promulgation of notice of the final ratification of such treaty, shall not be abrogated, but shall continue in force to the end of the several terms thereof! That with the exception of such labor contracts no labor contracts shall hereafter be penally enforcible.
- (11)
- That all laws and the system of criminal and civil jurisprudence in force at the Hawaiian Islands at the date of the ratification of such treaty, which are not specifically abrogated or modified by the terms of such treaty, or which are not inconsistent with the Constitution of the United States, shall remain in force until the same are regularly repealed by the appropriate authority.
- (12)
- That appropriate financial provision be made for the support of the ex-Queen Liliuokalani and the ex-heir presumptive Kaiuloni as long as they shall in good faith submit to the authority and abide by the laws of the government established by virtue of this treaty.
We have, etc.,
- L. A. Thurston.
- W. C. Wilder,
- J. Marsden,
- Wm. R. Castle,
-
Charles L. Carter,
Special Commissioners of the Provisional Government of the Hawaiian Islands.