The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1897-07-03
FORMER EFFORTS
Secretary Sherman Re-
views Negotiations.
Annexation Not Incompatible win
Past Attitude of United States
Towards Islands.

by the following history or negotiations
with Hawaii:
ITO the President:
1.-The undersigned. Secretary of State,
has the honor to lay before the Presi-
dent for submission to the Senate, should
IT be deemed for the public interest to do
so. a treaty signed in the City of Wash
jngton the 18th inst. by the undersigned
and by the duly empowered representa-
tive of the Republic of Hawaii, whereby
the Islands constituting the said Repub-
lie of Hawaii and all their dependencies
are fully ceded to the United States for
ever. 1t does not seem necessary TO the
present purpose of the undersigned to re-
view the incident of 1893, when similar
treaty of cession was signed on Febru-
ary 18th and submitted to the Senate,
being subsequently withdrawn by the
President on the 9Th of March following.
1.-THE negotiation which has eliminated
in the treaty now submitted has not been
a mere resumption OF the negotlatloh OF
1893 but was initiated, and mas Deeh
conducted upon independent lines. Then
an abrupt revolutionary movement mad
brought the dethronement of the late
Queen and set up instead OF the i!eieIoI
fore titulary monarchy a Provisional
Government for the control and manage
ment of public affairs and the protectlon
of the public peace, such Government 70
exist only until terms of union with the
United States shall have been negotiated
and agreed upon. Thus self-constituted,
facto existence until the purpose OF an
nexation in which it took rise should be
.!As time passed and the plan of union
with the United States became an nncer-
tan e4an c6n1 tVe underwent nee
eSSary changes; the temporary CHARACTER
of its first Government gave place 10 "a d
permanent scheme under ConSututlOn
framed by the representatives. OF tine the
electors e OF 5hS Gounci not CHOSEN by
suffrage, but self-appointed, was sue
ceeded by an elective and parliamentary
regime and the ability of the new Gov
eminent to hold, as the Republic OF Ha-
wall, an independent place IN the famlIy
of sovereign States, preserving order at
home and fulfilling international obhga-
lions abroad, has been put to the PROOF;
earfb Seend1ng and receiving ENJOYS, en-
forcing respect for the law ana mann
tanning peace within it's island borders,
Hawaii sends to the United States not
Commission representing SuccesSful
revolution, but the accredited plen1po-
tabiished sovereign State. However suf..
ficient may have been the authority or
ed States Government treated in 1893, and
however satisfied the President may then
have been OF thelr power 70 o1ler to the
United States, the fact remains that
what they then rendered was territory
rather than an established GoVernment,
a country whose administration had been
cast down by a bloodless but complete
revolution and a community In a state
Now, however, the Republic of Ia-
wall approaches the United States as an
equal and points for its authority to that
provision of Article 81 of the Const1tu-
President, with the approval of the, Cab
met. is hereby expressly authorized ano
or commerciai union between the Repub-
lie of Hawaii and the United states OF
America, subject to the ratification OF the
.aThe present negotiation is, therefore,
as has been said not a mere renewal OF
Of IJsayxT QIJ a
1893 but has responded to the purpose
declared in the Hawaiian Constitution
aries have been directed to weighing the
advantages of the political and the COM
merciaI union alternative proposed mere
relatively considering the scope and eX-
tent thereof. 1t soon appeared TO the ne
gotiators that purely commerez1a,II union
on the lines of the German ZollVere1n,
could not satisfy the problems or the
administration in Hawaii and of the Pc
liticaI association between the Islands
and the United States. Such a CONNER
cial union would on the one hand, de-
prive the Hawaiian Government of its
chief source of revenue from customs du-
ties by placing its territory IN a reld-
ton of free exchange with the teT aareet
of purchase and supply. WnlIe Oh on tli !;
other hand it would entail upon Hawan
the maintenance of an internal revenue
system on a par with that of the United
States. or else involve the organization
nue. service within a foreign jurisdiction:
I'VE have had with Hawaii since 1879
practically assimilates the two terri.
tories, with regard to many or thelr most
other nations from enjoyment of its pri-
vi1eges, yet, although thaI IeaIy HaS
outlived other less favored reipT tiE1es
been gravely fmperiled. Under such cir,
cumstances, to enter upon the , raGljai
union between Hawaii and the United
States as independently sovereign, with
out assurance of permanency ana win
nerpetIIaI subsection to the vicissitudes
of public sentiment in the two countries
was not TO be thought of.
Turning then to the various practical
forms of political union, the SeVeral
phases of a protectorate, an na+ionaI
guarantee were passed in review. In all
of these the independence of the supor-
iinated State is the distinguishing Tea
ture and with it the assumption by the
paramount state OF responsibility, with
out domain. The disparity or the reIa-
rive interests and the distance separating
the two countries could not Tan 70 Zen zen
e egf any Ynd d bmrdensome or ilIusory in
its benefits, so far as the protecting otdIe
is concerned; while any atteInP1 10 or
a measure of suZerain control would pe
retrograde moXemqent tow a1ft i5 1e%Ga
dent and incompatible with our national
policy. o,uoa +berefore the annex
alton of the Islands and their complete
absorption into the political system OF
Satisfying all the given conditions and
promising permanently and mutual ben,
eft The present treaty has been framed
on this basis, thus substan TALLY revert,
ling TO the original proposal OF 1898, ana
necessarily adopting many of the TEA
lures of that arrangement. AS TO most
of these the negotiatorS have been con,
strained and limited by the constitutional
powers of the Government OF the United
States.
AS in previous instances when the Unit
ed States has acquired territory Dy
treaty. it has been necessary to reserve
all the organic provisions for the action
Of
case of the transfer to the United states
of part of the domain of a dtular SOW
erefgn as in the cession of Louisiana by
France, of Florida by Spain or of Alas
ka by Russia, it is the more requisite
when the act is not cession, but union,
involving the complete Incorporation e1 ratio Of
an alien sovereignty into the body po-
Iitic of the United States. For this the
only precent of our POLITICAL history is
found in the uncompleted treaty con-
cIuded during President Grants admins
tration, November %, 1869, for the an
nexatfon of the Dominican Republic to
the United States.
''Following that example, the treaty