Birmingham state herald., 1897-06-18

Recognized by the powers of the earth, sending and receiving envoys, enfo c ng respect for the law and maintaining D ace within it's own bCnders, Hawaii sent to the United States not commission rep resenting a successful revolution, but the accredited pdenfp0tentiary or a consit- .tuted and firmly established sovereign state. However sufficisnt may have been the authority of the commissioners with whom the United States govetnn- meDt treated ih 1893 and how satisfied the president then may have been of their power ito offer the domain of the Ha- waiian islands to the United States, the fact remains that what they then tender cd was a territory rather than an estab- hs}acd government. a country win SC a1- mhnistratiDn had been cast down by a hloodless but complete revolution and a community in a state of political transi- tion.
 Now, however the republic eff Hawaii approaches the United States as an equal and points fer its authority to the pro- vision of article S2 of the con ~titutioI D O. mulgated lJuly 24 1894 wh ereby the prs si- dent, with approval of the cabinet. is expressly authorized and empowered to make a treaty eff political or commercial uGion between the republic of H avail and the United States of America, subject to theI rati6e ation of the senate. The p@ @es- eflss pegotia iatfon is, therefore, as las been said, rot a mere renewal of the tender
  e eresponded to the purpose declared in the Haw9iians ccns titUltion si1d the confet~ enIees of the plenipote ntiaries have b en direcHnlg. to weighing the advantages of the political and the commercial union alternativelyf proposed relatively c h. F sidsTing. the scope and extent thereof z. It Soen appeared to the negotia tors tha t B. purely commercial union on the l'nes of the German zollverein could not satisfy the iproblenss of the administration in In nxn-a ~11ftf ff1r1 d ,l. tween the islands and the United States Is such a c7l.prnercia1 union would o1 the one hand derrive the Hawaiian fyov 7rn- ment of its chief source of revenue from customs duties by placing its territory in a relation eff free exchange with the fterritqrx CIf the United States, its main market es purchase and supply. while on the other hand it would entail upon Hawaii the maintenance oe an inte-nal rererpe system on a par with that of the United States or else involve the crgan- izatiqn ofsa 'corresnoni1ing branch c' our revenue system within foreign iuris5ic- ton
 We have had with Hawaii sroe 1855 a. treaty eff commercial urity wiNich p-ac'i- Ic7lly assimilates the two torrteries with regard to many Of their most comp'ete prr1uictl6rs arlI excludes other nations from erihyn1ent of it's privileges. vet5 d. though That treaty has outlived e'II- less favored reciprocity schemes. it's 'erma- nerl.v has at times been graveflv im- perilfs1 2. Urder snich circlIr-etan,es 10 entfr upon the radical cxpedition cf a eanHplete commeroia! union between Hawaii an1 the Unlter1 States as in1e- peFTfef1 thy scvereien without ass1r;~4nee of pcltnanerry end with pernetusl sub tectiorn 10 the vfcissitudes of public sen tin1eht in tho two countries was not to be thought of
 Turning then to the various practical forms of the political union the several phases of the protectorate, an offensive and defensive alliance and a national guarantee were passed in review. In all of these the Independence of the subordi- nate state is the distinguishing feature, and with it the assumption by the para mount state of responsibility without domain. The disparity of the relative in terests and the distance separa ting the two countries could not fail to render any forfneof protective association either unduly burdensome or i.lusory in its ben efits, 50 far a s the protecting state is con cerned, while any attempt to counteract this by tributary dependence or a meas ure of suzerain control would be a retro grade movement toward a feudal or colo nial establishment alike inexpedient and with our national policy. ' There remained therefore the annexa- tfon of the islands and their complete absorption into the political system of the United States as the only solution
 
 and. promising permanency and mutual benefit. The present treaty has been framed on that basis, thus substantially reverting to the original proposal of 1893, and necessarily adopting many of the features of that arrange ment. As to the most of these. the negotiations have been constraiped and limited by the constitu- tional powers of the government of the United States.
 As. in previous instances when the United States. has acquired territory by treaty. 1t has been necessary to reserve all the organic provisions for the enact ment of, congress. If this was requisite in the case of the transfer to the United States, of a par1 of the domain of a titu- lar sovereign, as in the transfer of Lou isiana by France, of Florida by Spain, of Alaska by Russia 1t is the more requi- site when the act involves the complete Incorporation of an allen sovereignty into the body polite of the United States. q For this the only precedent of our po- htical history is found in the uncomplet- cd treaty concluded during President Grants administration, November 29 1879, for the annexation of the Domini- elan republic to the United States.
 Following that example the treaty now signed by the plenipotentiaries of the United States and the republic of Ha waii reserves to the congress of the United States the determination of all questions, affecting the form of govern ment of the annexed territory, the cit izenship and elective franchise of its in habitarlts and the manner in which the laws of the United States are to be ex- tended to the island.
 In order that this independence of con- gress shall be completely unquestionaible and pursuant to the recognized doctrine of public law that treaties expire with the independent life of the contracting state, thene has baer introduced out of abundant caution an expression of the determination of all treaties heretofore concluded by Hawaii with foreign coun- 'a.i@s ofl their extension to the United StetesaaThfs leaves congress free to deal with such special regulations as the con- tract ,laherI system of the islands. as cir cumstances may decide. There being no general provision of existing statutes to pnescribe the form of government for newly Incorporated territory, it was nec- essary to stipulate, as in the Dominician precedent for continuing the existing ma chinery of rlhe government of the islands until provisions shall be made by law for the government as a territory of the United States of the domain thus incor- porated into the. union, but having In view the peculiar status created in Hawaii by laws enacted in execution of