Further treaties were signed between the United States and Hawaii, including the Reciprocity Treaty of 1875. Relations between the two countries were aggravated following the 1893 Overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, in which then-Minister John L. Stevens had participated; he was accused of inappropriate conduct by the Blount Report, and was forced into retirement by the United States government that same year. After the Republic of Hawaii was proclaimed, a new minister, James Henderson Blount, was sent to the country to investigate the overthrow of the monarchy. After Blount issued his report, he was succeeded by Albert Sydney Willis, who convinced the deposed queen to grant an amnesty to the instigators of the coup, and then demanded that the Provisional Government turn power back to the monarchy. This was refused by Sanford B. Dole.