The San Francisco call., 1898-02-12
CONGRESS-
 WILL NEVER
 CONSENT Neither England Nor France Can Lay
 the Cal ble. Hawaii Cannot Act With out the Authority of
 Uncle Sam. Why Concessions Sought in the Past Have Not Been
 Granted. SHARP CORRESPONDENCE. It Shows That the Treaty With the United States Excludes Other
 Nations.
Why Concessions Sought ir the Past Have Not Been
 Granted.
SHARP CORRESPONDENTS.
It Shows That the Treaty With the United States Excludes Other
 Nations.
Special Dispatch to The Call.
Call Office. Riggs House,


 The Call correspondent inquired at the State Department to-day concern ing the report that France had an- nounced her intention of laying q ca ble from Tahiti to Honolulu.
 Assistant Secretary Cridler said that no advices had been received either from the French Government or through MT. Hatch, the Hawaiian Min ister The latter could not be inter- viewed. He is in New York City. Cridler called attention to the fact that in 1894 Great Britain desired to lease from the Hawaiian Government Neck CT Island for a cable landing, and that after examination of the treaty be- tween the United States and Hawaii 1t was clearly shown that such a prfvi- lege could not be granted without the consent of the United States Congress. Under the conditions existing to-day France would also have to gain the consent of Congress.
 The diplomatic correspondence in re- lation to this cable concession is given below. In October, 1894, Minister Will lis wrote Secretary Gresham from Hon. Olulu:
 Negotiations have been pending dur ing the past week between this Gov ernment and the representatives of Great Britain in regard to an ocean cable between Canada and Australia, touching al Necker Island or at this city. AS there is clause in our treaty with the Hawaiian Islands which pro- vides against the cession of any one of them to a foreign Government without our consent, it is not thought that any definite agreement will at present be reached. On the 18th inst. MT. Verlaye, the French commissioner, requested that your attention be called to the fact that his countrymen had just com- pleted a cable to New Caledonia, and would probably desire to extend it to Tahiti, the Hawaiian Islands and the United States. For this reason he hopes that our Government would not be nasty in the matter. Minister Hatch of Hawaii conceded that the consent of Congress was necessary, when he wrote as follows: TO the Commissioners-I beg to again express my regret that this Government, by the provisions of cur treaty of reciprocity with the United States, as we read it, is at this time precluded from consid- eration of the terms proposed.
 In 1895 President Cleveland sent a special message to Congress Tn which he said: The Hawaiian Government desires to lease to Great Britain one of the uninhabited islands belonging to Hawaii as station for a subma- rine telegraph cable to be laid from Canada to australia, with connection between the island leased and Hono- lulu. Both the Hawaiian Government and the representatives of Great Bri- tain in this negotiation concede that the proposed lease cannot be effected without the consent of the United States, for the reason that in our re- ciprocity treaty with the King of Ha- waii he agreed that as long as said treaty remained in force he would not lease or otherwise dispose of, or ere ate any lien upon any port, harbor, or other territory in his dominion or grant any special privileges or right of use therein to any other power, State or Government At the request of the Ha- Waiian Government this subject Is laid before Congress for it's determination upon the question of so modifying the treaty agreement above rec1ted as to permit the proposed lease. l hope the Congress will see fit to grant the re- quest of the Hawaiian Government, and our consent to the proposed lease will be promptly accorded. It seems to me we ought not, by refusal of this request, to stand in the way of the ad- to be gained by isolated Ha- waii, through telegraphic commun1ca- tion with the rest of the world. espe ciaIly in view of the fact that our own | with that country i would thereby be greatly improved | without apparent detriment to any le- | gitimate American interest"
 Senators and Representatives with | whom The Call correspondent talked | to day were of the opinion that Con- gress would never give its consent to i the landing in Hawaii of a British or French cable line.