Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress, With the Annual Message of the President, December 4, 1876
No. 167.
Mr. Peirce
to Mr. Fish.
Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands, June 20, 1876. (Received July 6.)
Sir: I have the honor to inclose herewith three printed copies of the Hawaiian government’s proclamation, to carry into effect the treaty of commercial reciprocity between the United States and this kingdom.
Nothing more is necessary to be done here in the premises, except to instruct the collector general of the customs to admit free of duty articles from the United States named in article 2 of the treaty, made contingent on a like instruction being given by the United States Government to admit free of duty articles from these islands named in article 1.
With great, &c.,
[Hawaiian Gazette extra.]
proclamation.
Whereas, by the advice and approval of the legislature of our kingdom, we did enter into a convention with the United States of America on the subject of commercial reciprocity, which said convention was concluded and signed by our plenipotentiaries and the plenipotentiary of the United States of America at the city of Washington, on the 30th day of January, 1875, and, as amended by the contracting parties, is word for word as follows:
The United States of America and His Majesty the King of the Hawaiian Islands, equally animated by the desire to strengthen and perpetuate the friendly relations which have heretofore uniformly existed between them, and to consolidate their commercial intercourse, have resolved to enter into a convention for commercial reciprocity. For this purpose, the President of the United States has conferred full powers on Hamilton Fish, Secretary of State, and His Majesty the King of the Hawaiian Islands has conferred like powers on honorable Elisha H. Allen, chief-justice of the supreme court, chancellor of the kingdom, member of the privy council of state, His Majesty’s envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to the United States of America, and honorable Henry A. P. Carter, member of the privy council of state, His Majesty’s special commissioner to the United States of America.
And the said plenipotentiaries, after having exchanged their full powers, which were found to be in due form, have agreed to the following articles:
Article I.
For and in consideration of the rights and privileges granted by His Majesty the King of the Hawaiian Islands in the next succeeding article of this convention, and as an equivalent therefor, the United States of America hereby agree to admit all the articles named in the following schedule, the same being the growth and manufacture or produce of the Hawaiian Islands, into all the ports of the United States free of duty.
schedule.
Arrowroot, castor-oil, bananas, nuts, vegetables, dried and undried, preserved and unpreserved; hides and skins, undressed; rice; pulu; seeds, plants, shrubs, or trees; muscovado, brown, and all other unrefined sugar, meaning hereby the grades of sugar heretofore commonly imported from the Hawaiian Islands, and now known in the markets of San Francisco and Portland as “Sandwich Island sugar;” sirups of sugarcane, melado, and molasses; tallow.
[Page 319]Article II.
For and in consideration of the rights and privileges granted by the United States of America in the preceding article of this convention, and as an equivalent therefor, His Majesty the King of the Hawaiian Islands hereby agrees to admit all the articles named in the following schedule, the same being the growth, manufacture, or produce of the United States of America, into all the ports of the Hawaiian Islands free of duty:
schedule.
Agricultural implements; animals; beef, bacon, pork, ham, and all fresh, smoked, or preserved meats; boots and shoes; grain, flour, meal, and bran, bread and bread-stuffs of all kinds; bricks, lime, and cement; butter, cheese, lard, tallow; bullion; coal; cordage, naval stores, including tar, pitch, resin, turpentine, raw and rectified; copper and composition sheathing; nails and bolts; cotton and manufactures of cotton, bleached and unbleached, and whether or not colored, stained, painted, or printed; eggs; fish and oysters, and all other creatures living in the water, and the products thereof; fruits, nuts, and vegetables, green, dried or undried, preserved or unpreserved; hardware; hides, furs, skins and pelts, dressed or undressed; hoop iron and rivets, nails, spikes, and bolts, tacks, brads, or sprigs; ice; iron and steel and manufactures thereof; leather; lumber and timber of all kinds, round, hewed, sawed, and unmanufactured, in whole or in part; doors, sashes, and blinds; machinery of all kinds, engines and parts thereof; oats and hay; paper, stationery, and books, and all manufactures of paper, or of paper and wood; petroleum and all oils for lubricating or illuminating purposes; plants, shrubs, trees, and seeds; rice; sugar, refined or unrefined; salt; soap; shooks, staves, and headings; wool and manufactures of wool, other than ready-made clothing; wagons and carts for the purposes of agriculture or of drayage; wood and manufactures of wood, or of wood and metal, except furniture, either upholstered or carved, and carriages; textile manufactures, made of a combination of wool, cotton, silk, or linen, or of any two or more of them, other than when ready-made clothing; harness and all manufactures of leather; starch; and tobacco, whether in leaf or manufactured.
Article III.
The evidence that articles proposed to be admitted into the ports of the United States of America, or the ports of the Hawaiian Islands, free of duty, under the first and second articles of this convention, are the growth, manufacture, or produce of the United States of America or of the Hawaiian Islands, respectively, shall be established under such rules and regulations and conditions for the protection of the revenue as the two governments may from time to time respectively prescribe.
Article IV.
No export duty or charges shall be imposed in the Hawaiian Islands, or in the United States, upon any of the articles proposed to be admitted into the ports of the United States or the ports of the Hawaiian Islands free of duty under the first and second articles of this convention. 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, harbor, 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 privileges, relative to the admission of any articles free of duty hereby secured to the United States.
Article V.
The present convention shall take effect as soon as it shall have been approved and proclaimed by His Majesty the King of the Hawaiian Islands, and shall have been ratified and duly proclaimed on the part of the Government of the United States, but not until a law to carry it into operation shall have been passed by the Congress of the United States of America. Such assent having been given, and the ratifications of the convention having been exchanged as provided in article VI, the convention shall remain in force for seven years from the date at which it may come into operation; and, further, until the expiration of twelve months after either of the contracting parties shall give notice to the other of its wish to terminate the same, each of the high contracting parties being at liberty to give such notice to the other at the end of the said term of seven years, or at any time thereafter.
[Page 320]Article VI.
The present convention shall he duly ratified, and the ratifications exchanged at Washington city, within eighteen months from the date hereof, or earlier, if possible.
In faith whereof the respective plenipotentiaries of the high contracting parties have signed this present convention, and have affixed thereto their respective seals.
Done in duplicate, at Washington, the thirtieth day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.
| [seal.] | HAMILTON FISH. |
| [seal.] | ELISHA H. ALLEN. |
| [seal.] | HENRY A. P. CARTER. |
And whereas the said convention, as amended, was ratified by ourselves on the 17th of April, 1875, and by His Excellency the President of the United States of America on 31st May, 1875, and the said ratifications were exchanged at the city of Washington June 3, 1875:
Now, therefore, we do proclaim and make public the same, to the end that it and every clause and article thereof may be observed and fulfilled with good faith by every person within our kingdom. And the said convention shall go into effect as soon as intelligence is received that the Government of the United States has made the necessary provisions for carrying it into operation.
[seal.]
By the King:
W. L. Green, Minister of Foreign Affairs.