The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-06-18
rich insular domain and for the welfare
of the inhabitants thereof.

Tlcn lnSular domain ana 1or the welfare
of the inhabitants thereof.
(Signed.) WILLIAM M'KINLEY.
Executive Mansion, Washington, d. c.,
June 16, 1897.
Accompanying the Presidents message
was the following report from Secretary
Sherman:
The President: The undersigned, Sec
retary of State, has the honor to lay be-
fore the President for submission to
the Senate, should it be deemed for the
public interest to do so, a treaty signed
in the city of Washington on the 10th
instant by the undersigned and by the
duly empowered representative of the re-
public of Hawaii whereby the islands
constituting the said republic and all
their dependencies are fully and abso-
lutely ceded 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 1898, when a similar
treaty of cession was signed on Febru-
ary ii and submitted to the Senate, be-
ing subsequently withdrawn by the Pres
ident ON the 9th of March following. The
negotiation which has eliminated in the
treaty now submitted has not been a
mere resumption of the negotiation of
1893, but was iniated and has been con-
Quoted upon independent lines. Then an
abrupt revolutionary movement had
brought about the dethronement of the
late Queen and set up instead of the here
tofore Titular monarchy a provisional
government for the control and man
agement of public affairs and the protec-
ton of the public peace, such govern
ment 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 it
only de facto existence until the pur-
pose of annexation in which it took rise
should be accomplished.
As time passed and the plan of union
with the United States became an un-
certain contingency, the organization of
the Hawaiian commonwealth underwent
necessary changes, the temporary char
acter of it's first government gave place
to a permanent scheme under a constitu-
ton framed by the representatives of the
electors of the islands, administered by
an executive council not chosen by suff-
rage, but self-appointed, was succeeded
by an elective and parliamentary regime.
and the ability of the new government
to hold as the republic of Hawaii an in
dependent place in the fam
lily of sovereign States, pre-
serving order at home and fulfilling
international obligations abroad, has
been put to the proof.
Recognized by the powers of the earth,
sending and receiving ENJOYS, enforcing
respect for the law and maintaining
peace within its island borders, Hawaii
sends to the United States, not a COM
mission representing successful revolu-
ton, but the accredited plenipotentiary
of constituted and firmly established
sovereign State. However, sufficient
may have been the authority of the COM
missioners with whom the United States
government treated in 1893, and how
ever satisfied the President may then
have been of their power to offer the do
main of the Hawaiian islands to the Unit
ed States the fact remains that what
they then rendered was a territory rather
than an established government; coun-
try whose administration had been cast
down by bloodless, but complete revo-
political transition.
Now, however the Republic of Ha-
waii approaches the United States as
an equal. and points for its authority
to that provision of article 81 of the con-
stitution, promulgated July "a, 1894,
whereby,
The President with the approval Of
the cabinet is expressly authorized and
empowered to make treaty of political
or commercial union between the repub-
lie 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 Hawaiian territory
made in 1893, but has responded to the
purpose declared in the Hawaiian consti-
tuition, and the conferences of the pleni-
potentiaries have been directed to weigh
ing the advantages of the political and
the commercial union alternatively pro-
posed and relatively considering the
scope and extent thereof.
1t soon appeared to the negotiators that
purely commercial union on the lines
of the Lerman Zollverein could not
SdUlSIy IUe pfODleuS VI Ule duullulSlid-
ton in Hawaii and of the political asso-
citation between the island and the Uni
ted States. Such a commercial union
would on the one hand deprive the Ha-
waiian government of it's chief source of
revenue from Custom duties by placing
its territory in relation Of free ex-
change with the territory of the United
States, it's main market of purchase and
supply, while on the other hand it would
entail upon Hawaii the maintenance Of
an internal revenue system on par
with that of the United States or else
involve the organization of correspond
ing branch of our revenue service with
in a foreign jurisdiction.
We have had with Hawaii since 1875 a
treaty of commercial union which prac-
tically assimilates the two territories
with regard to many of the most inn
portant productions and excludes other
nations from enjoyment OF it's privileges,
yet, although that treaty has outlived
other less favored reciprocity schemes,
it's permanency has at times been greatly
l. asr ,%o b