The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1897-02-01

while giving to the United States the
exclusive rights of use in Pearl Harbor
stipulated therein for the sole purposes
stated in the article, and further that
the Article II of the Convention and
the privilege conveyed by it will cease
and determine with the termination of
! the treaty of 1875 under the conditions
/ fixed by this convention.
Il apprehend that my Government
will agree with my conclusions, and
that in considering the ACCESSIBILITY of
| ratifying the Convention with this
amendment inserted by the United
! States Senate, my Sovereign will
| doubtless be aided in coming to a fav-
orable conclusion if it shall be found
that on these questions of interpreta-
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 / have set forth in this note,
shall be fully understood by the Gov
eminent of the United States before
notifications are exchanged
In his reply to this dispatch of Hon.
II. 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.
mo 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
it's present shape, | can see no cause
for misapprehenSiOn by your Govern
ment as to the manifest effect and
meaning of the amendment in ques
tion.''
81 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
to the meaning of the convention, re-
lying 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. 30, 1887 The So
called Mckinley tariff, however, which
went into effect Oct. 1, 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.
1t 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 eff a treaty be ambiguous
in any part of it, the party who had
the power, and on whom 1t was pc
culiarly incumbent to speak clearly |
anu PLAINLY, OuSnI W SuDHllI W tic
most unfavorable to him."
If then, which seems hardly posi- |
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 a debate in the United States Sen |
ate, July 2, 1894, used the following |
language: II 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 Overtures made |
to 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 |
70 retain paramount influence in Ha- |
waiian affairs.
w. d. ALEXANDER.