Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-06-17

the welfare OF the inhabitants thereof
WILLIAM MCKINLEY.
Executive Mansion. Washington. June 10.
1897
SECRETARY sHERMAN'S REPORT.
Narrative OF the Progress Of the
Negotiations.
ACCOMMODATING the Presidents message
was the following report from Secretary
Sherman:
The President
The undersigned. Secretary OF State. has
the honor to lay before the President for
submission to the Senate. should 1t be
deemed for the public interest to do so. a
treaty signed In the city Of Washington on
the 18th instant by the undersigned and by
the duly empowered representative of the
republic of Hawaii whereby the islands
constituting the said republic and all their
dependencies are fully and absolutely coded
to the United States of America forever.
1t does not seem necessary to the pres
ent purpose of the undersigned to review
the incident Of 1893, when q similar treaty
of cession was signed on February IA and
submitted to the Senate. being subsequently
withdrawn by the President on the 9th of
March following. The negotiation which
has eliminated in the treaty now submitted
COLLATION. of 1893 but was initiated and has
been conducted upon independent lines.
Then an abrupt revolutionary movement
had brought about the dethronement Of the
late queen and set up instead Of the hereto
fore titular monarchy a provisional govern
ment for the control and management of
public affairs and the protection Of the
public peace. such government to exist only
until terms OF union with the United States
should have been negotiated and agreed
upon. Thus self-constituted. its promoters
claimed for 1t only de facto existence until
the purpose Of annexation in which 1t took
rise should be accomplished
AS time passed and the plan of union with
the United States became an uncertain con-
tingency, the organization of the Ha-
waiian commonwealth underwent necessary
changes, the temporary character of Its
first government gave place to a permanent
scheme under a constitution framed by the
representatives of the electors of the
islands. administered by an executive coun-
Gil not chosen by suffrage. but self-appoint-
ed. was succeeded by elective and par
Elementary regime. and the ability of the
new government to hold-as the republic of
Hawaiian independent place in the family
of sovereign states, preserving order at
home and fulfilling international obliga-
tons abroad. has been put to the proof.
Recognized by the powers of the earth,
sending and receiving ENJOYS enforcing re-
Spect for the law and maintaining peace
within it's island borders, Hawaii sends TO
the United States, not a commission repre-
senting successful revolution, but the ac-
credited plenipotentiary of a constituted
and firmly established sovereign state.
However sufficient may have been the
ttority of the commissioners with whom
the United States government treated in
1873. and however satisfied the President
may then have been of their power to Of
fer the domain of the Hawaiian Islands to
the United States. the fact remains tina.
what they then rendered was territory
rather than an established government: a
nd ,fot-
east down by blOodless but complete revo-
luton. and community in "a state of po-
litical transition.
Now. however. the republic of Hawaii ap-
proacheS the United States an equal and
points for Its authority to that provision of
article 81 of the constitution, promulgated
July n. 1894, whereby
The president. with the approval of the
cabinet is expressly authorized and en-
powered 10 make a treaty of political or
commercial union between the republic of
Hawaii and the United States of America
subject to the ratification of the Senate.
The present negotiation is, therefore, as
has been said. not a mere renewal of the
tender Of Hau allan territory made in 1893.
but has responded to the purpose declared
In the Hawaiian constitution. and the CON-
1erences OF the pienipotentiaries have been
directed to weighing the advantages of the
political and the commercial union alter
nadVeiy proposed and relatively considering
the scope and extent thereof.
1t soon appeared to the negotiators that
a purely commercial union on the lines of
the German Zoliverein could not satisfy
the problems Of the administration in Ha-
wah and Of the political association be-
tween the Islands and the United States.
Such a commercial union would on thu,
ore hand deprive the Hawaiian govern
men. of its chief source of revenue from
customs duties by placing it's territory in
a relation of free exchange with the ter
ritory of the United States, its main mar
ket OF purchase and supply, while on the
other hand 1t would entail upon Hawaii the
maintenance of an internal revenue sys-
ten on par with that of the United
states or else involve the organization of a
corresponding branch of our revenue sery-
ice within foreign jurisdiction.
We have had with Haw ali since 1878
treaty of commercial union, which practi-
cally assimilates the two territories with
regard to many of their most important
productions. and excludes other nations
from enjoyment of its privileges. yet, al
though that treaty has outlived other less
favored reciprocity schemes its perma-
mency has at times been gravely imperiIed
L nder such circumstances to enter upon
the radical experiment OF a complete COM
mercial union between Hawaii and the
United States Independently sovereign
without assurance of permanency and with
perpetual subsection to the vicissitudes of
public sentiment in the two countries. was
not 10 be thought of.
Turning then to the various practical
forms OF the Political union. the several
phases OF protectorate, an offensive and
defensive alliance and national guarantee
were passed In review. In all of these the
independence of the subordinated state is
the distinguishing feature and with 1t the
assumption ny the paramount state of re-
sponsihility. without domain. The dispa--
fty OF the relative interests ard the dis
lance separating the two countries csuld
not fall to render any form of protective
association either unduly burdensome or
nlusory in its benefits, go far as the pro-
teoting state is concerned. while any at
tempt 10 counterfeit this by tributary de-
pendence OF a measure of suzerain control
would be retrograde movement toward
a feudal colonial establishment alike
lEexpedient and Incompatible with our IA
tional policy.
There remained, therefore, the annexa-
ton OF the islands and their complete Alb
sorption into the political system of the
United States as the only solution satisfy
Ing all the given conditions and promising
permanency and mutual benefit. The pres
ent treaty has been framed on that basis.
thus Substantially revertfng to the original
proposal of 1893. and necessarily adopting
many of the features of that arrangement
As 70 most of these. the ne2otiators have
been constrained and limited by the con-
stituuonal powers of the government of
the United States.
As In previous instances, when the United
states mas acquired territory by treaty 1t
has been necessary to reserve all the or