Mr. Buchanan to Mr. Ten Eyck, August 28, 1848.
Mr. Calhoun, in a note addressed to Messrs. Richards and Haalilio, the Hawaiian commissioners, dated on the 6th July, 1844, informed them that “the President regarded his message to Congress of the 31st December, 1842, the proceedings of the House of Representatives thereon, and the appropriation made for the compensation of a commissioner of the United States, who was subsequently appointed to reside in the islands, as a full recognition on the part of the United States of the independence of the Hawaiian Government,” Besides, the letter of President Polk to the King which you bore with you, dated on the 10th September, 1845, treated him as an independent sovereign.
This Government, having thus pledged itself to accord to that of the Hawaiian Islands the rights and privileges of a sovereign state, can not in honor or justice demand from it anything which, under like circumstances, it would not demand from the most powerful nations. I [Page 70] can discover nothing which would justify this Government in objecting to the decisions of the Hawaiian courts in ordinary cases arising under the municipal laws of the country or in dictating the policy which that Government should pursue upon any domestic subject, and especially that of the tenure of real estate by resident foreigners.
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For these reasons it is my conviction that if, in a conciliatory spirit, you would devote your efforts to acquire a just and honorable influence over the Hawaiian authorities, you might accomplish the object. Such a result would be highly advantageous to both countries. You might thus by your counsel and advice render the Hawaiian Government as well as the citizens of your own country important services. We ardently desire that the Hawaiian Islands may maintain their independence. It would be highly injurious to our interests if, tempted by their weakness, they should be seized by Great Britain or France; more especially so since our recent acquisitions from Mexico on the Pacific Ocean.
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Having been the first to welcome the Hawaiian Islands into the community of nations, it is our true policy, weak and feeble as they are, to treat them with as much kindness and forbearance as may be consistent with the maintenance of our own just rights. Such is the opinion of the President.
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