Mr. Seward to Mr.
McCook
No. 20.]
Department of State,
Washington,
February 5, 1867.
Sir: I received Mr. Rouse’s despatch No. 14, of
the 14th of last December, containing a copy of a note which had been
addressed to him by the minister for foreign affairs, on the 10th of
that month, informing him that no discriminating duties of tonnage or
impost are imposed or levied in the ports of Hawaii upon the produce,
manufactures, or merchandise imported in vessels of the United States,
and asking that a similar exemption be exercised in favor of Hawaiian
vessels in this country, in conformity with the act of Congress approved
May 24, 1828.
Accordingly the President, on the 29th ultimo, issued a proclamation
suspending from the 10th of December the levying discriminating duties
on vessels of Hawaii or the goods imported therein. A copy of that
proclamation you will find enclosed. The minister for foreign affairs
states, however, that the notice which he gives in his note to Mr. Rouse
had already been given on various previous occasions by the chargé
d’affaires of Hawaii to this country, and especially on the 19th of
January, 1865, and that no reply had ever been received from this
government to his communication on that subject. Our
[Page 295]
records do not show that any such
communication to that effect has ever reached the department from the
representative of Hawaii to this country.
You will transmit a copy of this despatch and of the proclamation to the
minister of foreign affairs.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
Edward M. McCook, Esq., &c., &c., &c.
By the President of the United States of
America.
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas by an act of the Congress of the United States of the
twenty-fourth of May, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight,
entitled “An act in addition to an act entitled ‘An act concerning
discriminating duties of tonnage and impost,’ and to equalize the
duties on Prussian vessels and their cargoes,” it is provided that,
upon satisfactory evidence being given to the President of the
United States by the government of any foreign nation that no
discriminating duties of tonnage or impost are imposed or levied in
the ports of said nation upon vessels wholly belonging to citizens
of the United States, or upon the produce, manufactures, or
merchandise imported in the same from the United States, or from any
foreign country, the President is thereby authorized to issue his
proclamation declaring that the foreign discriminating duties of
tonnage and impost within the United States are and shall be
suspended and discontinued, so far as respects the vessels of the
said foreign nation, and the produce, manufactures, or merchandise
imported into the United States in the same from the said foreign
nation, or from any other foreign country, the said suspension to
take effect from the time of such notification being given to the
President of the United States, and to continue so long as the
reciprocal exemption of vessels belonging to citizens of the United
States and their cargoes, as aforesaid, shall be continued, and no
longer:
And whereas satisfactory evidence has lately been received by me from
his Majesty the King of the Hawaiian islands, through an official
communication of his Majesty’s minister of foreign relations, under
date of the tenth of December, one thousand eight hundred and
sixty-six, that no other or higher duties of tonnage and impost are
imposed or levied in the ports of the Hawaiian islands upon vessels
wholly belonging to citizens of the United States, and upon the
produce, manufactures, or merchandise imported in the same from the
United States, and from any foreign country whatever, than are
levied on Hawaiian ships and their cargoes in the same ports under
like circumstances:
Now, therefore, I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United States of
America, do hereby declare and proclaim that so much of the several
acts imposing discriminating duties of tonnage and impost within the
United States are and shall be suspended and discontinued so far as
respects the vessels of the Hawaiian islands and the produce,
manufactures, and merchandise imported into the United States in the
same from the dominions of the Hawaiian islands, and from any other
foreign country whatever, the said suspension to take effect from
the said tenth day of December, and to continue thenceforward so
long as the reciprocal exemption of the vessels of the United
States, and the produce, manufactures, and merchandise imported into
the dominions of the Hawaiian islands in the same, as aforesaid,
shall be continued on the part of the government of his Majesty the
King of the Hawaiian islands.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal
of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of
Washington, the
twenty-ninth day of January, in the year of our Lord one
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, and of the
independence of the United States of America the
ninety-first.
[seal.]
ANDREW JOHNSON.
By the President:
William H. Seward, Secretary of State.
