2250
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
TLC.O. 885
6
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
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4. That the island leased shall be surrendered and vacated by the lessee or lessees if and when the cable and the connecting line to Honolulu are finally and permanently abandoned, and if and when any of the above covenants on the part of the lessees is broken.
Mr. HATCH to Messrs. FLEMING and Mercer.
Department of Foreign Affairs, Honolulu,
October 17, 1894.
DEAR SIRS,
In acknowledging the receipt of your letter of this date, enclosing a fair copy of the agreement proposed by you in the hope that it would prove mutually satisfactory, I beg to again express my regret that this Government, by the provisions of our Treaty of Reciprocity with the United States, as we read it, is at this time precluded from the consideration of the terms proposed.
Our position is fully stated in the Memorandum heretofore submitted to you, a copy of which is enclosed as a part of this note.
I desire to repeat the assurance that this Government is fully alive to the importance to this country of telegraphic communication with North America, and hope that the speedy settlement of all difficulties of a diplomatic nature may lead to the early consum- mation of this so-long-desired project.
Availing myself of this opportunity to express my high personal regard.
I am, &c.
FRANCIS M. HATCH,
Minister of Foreign Affairs.
STATEMENT of the Attitude of the HAWAIIAN CABINET in regard to the Scheme for laying a Pacific Cable from Canada to Australia, as submitted by MESSES. MERCER AND FLEMING, representing the British, Canadian, and Australasian Governments. Tais undertaking being of such magnitude that it is apparent that to insure success it must be conducted by, or under, the auspices of the British Government, the proposition that the Hawaiian Government should grant a lease of Neckor Island, or of sonie other uninhabited island of this group, as a cable station, at once raises the question of the power of the Hawaiian Government to act in the premises without first obtaining the sanction of the United States. The Treaty of Reciprocity between the United States of America and Hawaii has the following provision
*
“It is agreed on the part of His Hawaiian Majesty that, so long as this Treaty shall remain in force, he will not lease, or otherwise dispose of, or create any lien upon any port, harbour, or other territory in his dominions, or grant any special privilege or rights of use therein to any other Power, State, or Government, nor make any Treaty by which any other nation shall obtain the same privilege relative to the admission of any articles free of duty hereby secured to the United States."
The Hawaiian Cabinet do not feel disposed to enter upon any considerations of a verbal nature touching the extent of and scope of the above-quoted Article. Its intent is so clear that they feel it would be improper for them to enter into any engagement in regard to the suggested lease of an island until the consent of the United States has been obtained.
Upon The matter will be at once submitted to the United States Government. obtaining the approval of the United States and a waiver in this instance of the Article above quoted, reference will be made to the Hawaiian Legislature of the propositions submitted by Messrs. Mercer and Fleming, which are embodied in the draft Memorandum hereto annexed.
With such approval, no possible objection by the Legislature is anticipated to a lease of Necker Island, or any other uninbabited island of this group, upon condition that Honolulu is put into telegraphic connexion with the main line, and that fair rates, not out of proportion with the general tariff determined upon, be given. The question of financial aid is exclusively within the province of the Legislature. Upon this point, it need only be said that the Cabinet feel confident that the Legislature will meet the matter in a spirit of liberality which its great and unquestioned importance to the country at large demands.
FRANCIS M. HATCH,
Minister of Foreign Affairs.
19790.
DEAR MEADE,
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No. 40.
W. H. MERCER, Esq., to Sin R. H. MEADE.
(Received November 13, 1894.)
S.S." Alameda,” October 22, 1894. We are on our way to San Francisco, where we expect to arrive on 26th October. I shall then send you a short telegram and post this account of our proceedings.
We reached Honolulu on Saturday, 6th October, and after putting up at the hotel, where we found the best suite of rooms had been reserved for us by the British Cotamissioner, we called on that officer, who showed us every kindness and attention, and arranged an interview for us with the Government for the following Monday.
The character of the negotiations which ensued will perhaps be better understood. if I state shortly the nature of political feeling here and its effect on our object. The Republican Government has admittedly managed the actual work of administration very well. But their power rests on a very insecure basis. The natives are so generally against them, and also a considerable proportion of the whites, that they have been obliged to confine the right of voting to such an extent that in Honolulu, for instance, there are only about 2,000 votes in a population of 25,000. The Government buildings, and even the private houses of the Ministers, are protected by soldiers and cannon. Rumours of risings by the Royalista are constantly flying about. In this uncomfortable state of things, the Ministers and their supporters have one object, which they make of vital importance-annexation to the United States. To this they are urged not only by considerations of safety and the strong sentimental desires of the American community, but also by commercial interests, as they regard them. Annexation means free admission of their sugar and other plantation products. It is true that they have this at present under the Reciprocity Treaty. But that Treaty can be terminated now at any time at 12 months' notice, and they live in daily fear of it being done. If it were done, Mr. Hatch observed to me once, 25 per cent. of the plantations would at once be bankrupted. Nothing, therefore, will be done by the Hawaiian Government which would endanger either the Reciprocity Treaty or the cause of annexation, and their anxiety on these inatters is carried to an extreme point.
In the second place, there is a strong anti-British feeling to reckon with. Of course there is always the trade rivalry between English and Americans, but there is here the political aspect. The Princess who was declared in 1891 to be the Heir Apparent to the throne is the daughter of Mr. Cleghorn, an Englishman. She is, I believe, now in England, and under the guardianship of an Englishman (Mr. T. Davies). Mr. Cleghorn is the father of another Princess, who murried Mr. Wodehouse, the son of the British Cominissioner, Major Wodehouse. This connexion of the Royal family with Major Wodehouse has had the effect of strongly enlisting the sympathies of the English community with the Royal cause, and they give expression to their dislike of the Republican Government and all their objects without any concealinent or reserve. The moment we landed, we were, so to speak, enveloped by this section of the society, and we found it very difficult to dispel the prejudice or distrust which the American There was a general euspicion at first that our party felt against us on these accounts. purpose was to increase the British interests, so as to prevent annexation to the States. One Government partisan quoted by the newspapers put it that it was only a design by England to "get her nose to the ham "I
At our first interview we were received by the Foreign Minister, Mr. Hatch, to whom Mr. Hawes introduced us. Mr. Damon, Minister of Finance, and Captain King, Minister of Interior, then came in. It was rather unfortunate that. Mr. Dole, the President, was away on a holiday among the other islands, and could not be communicated with in time. Mr. Smith, the Attorney-General, was also away. We thus had three Ministers out of five to deal with; but they had evidently all considered the subject together and decided their policy in advance.
Fleming had asked me to be spokesman, and I began by mentioning shortly the history of the project-its official initiation at the London Conference of 1887 and the discussions at the Ottawa Conference this year. I read the resolution making the Canadian Government the agent or representative of the delegates for the purpose of making enquiries into the cost and promoting the establishment of the undertaking; and explained that the Canadian Government, acting under that authority, had sent Fleming, and procured me to be sent, to negotiate with them. I then read the two resolutions bearing on the subject, and called attention to the words "foreign control " and "neutral,”
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