The Hawaiian gazette., 1897-02-02

ton of the Convention the two Gov
ernments do not differ, and the Hawai-
ian Government will doubtless desire
that their understanding, which l be-
lieve l have set forth in this note
shall be fully understood by the Gov
ernment of the United States before
ratifcations are exchanged"
In his reply to this dispatch of Hon.
H. A. P. Carter, Secretary Bayard
wrote as follows: THE amendment
relating to the harbor of Pearl River
was adopted in its executive session
| by the Senate, and l have no other
means of arriving at its intent and
meaning than the words employed ma
turally import.
No ambiguity or obscurity in that
amendment is observable, and | can
| discern therein no subtraction from
Hawaiian Sovereignty over the harbor
TO which it relates, nor any language
! importing a longer duration for the
interpolated Article II than is provid-
ed for in Article / of the Supplement-
airy Convention.
''The limitation of my official powers
does not make it competent for me in
this connection to qualify, expand or
explain the amendments engrafted on
that Convention by the Senate, but in
the present case / am unable to per-
ceive any need for auxiliary interpre-
tation or ground for doubt as to the
plain scope and meaning thereof, and
as the President desires a ratification
of the Supplementary Convention in
rI,n No
for misapprehension by your Govern
ment as TO the manifest effect and
meaning OF the amendment in ques-
ton
q therefore trust that it will be
treated as it is rendered, in simple
good faith, and accepted without doubt
or hesitation"
After this interchange of views as
10 the meaning of the convention, re
living on the assurance given by Sc
cretary Bayard, and on the honor and
good faith of the United States, the
Hawaiian Government ratified the Sup
Elementary Convention, which went
into effect Nov. 20, 1887. The So
called Mckinley tariff, however, which
went into effect Oct. i, 1890, deprived
Hawaii of nearly all the benefits for
which the concession in Pearl Harbor
had been granted, and that too before
the convention had run three years.
For certainly no one can pretend that
the said grant was made in consider
alton of former benefits received be-
fore the Supplementary Convention
had been concluded.
It is maxim of international law
that treaties 'are to receive fair and
liberal Interpretation, according to the
intention of the contracting parties,
and to be kept with the most scrupu-
lous good faith" in the words of Chan
cellor Kent. furthermore, Vattel de-
clares that IF treaty be ambiguous
in any part of it, the party who had
the power, and on whom it was pc
culiarly incumbent to speak clearly
and plainly, ought to submit to the
construction most unfavorable to him.
If then, which seems hardly possi-
BILE, a controversy should arise over
this article, Hawaii need not fear to
leave it to the decision of any disin-
terested arbitrator.
Senator Frye of Maine, in the course
of debate in the United States Sen
ate. July 2, 1894, used the following
language: q ask the Senator if he
would face the nations of the earth
and declare that notwithstanding we
have deprived them of all the benefits
which we gave for Pearl Harbor, we
demand that the cession shall be per-
petual.' Would the Senator dare to do
that? -. This Republic would
be disgraced in the eyes of all civilized
nations, if it undertook to stand on
such ground for a single moment"
The moral to be drawn from the
foregoing is this: that should the Great
Republic reverse its policy of the past
fifty years, reject the oyertures made
10 it for a closer union by the little
republic Of Hawaii, and abrogate the
Reciprocity Treaty, closing American
markets to that extent against its
products, it could no longer claim any
special privileges in Hawaii, or expect
to retain a paramount influence in Ha-
waiian affairs.
w. D. ALEXANDER.