No. 97.] Mr. Rives to Mr. Webster. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: I inclose herewith the copy of a letter I received a few days ago at Vichy, from the minister of foreign affairs in answer to the one I addressed to him on the 8th instant, in relation to the Sandwich islands. You will observe that after expressing the painful surprise my communication had caused him, he states that the information which had been received in the United States respecting the pending measures and intentions of the French Government towards those islands, and on which your despatch No. 28 was founded, is erroneous; which he has instructed Monsieur de Sartiges to rectify in his communications with you at Washington, while he awaits my return to Paris to give me viva voce the same eclaircissemens here. I waited upon the minister of foreign affairs as soon as I returned, and after some moments of conversation on general topics he entered upon the subject of our recent correspondence. He said that he had been surprised and even pained at the apparent facility with which the Government of the United States had given credence to the rumors which had reached it respecting the supposed designs of France toward the Sandwich Islands; that there was in truth no real foundation for those rumors; that the French Government had ordered no hostile demonstrations whatever to sustain M. Perrin's mission to coerce the submission of the islands to its demands; that not having the advantage which both England and the United States possessed in the presence and controlling influence of natives of each of those countries in the Hawaiian councils, it might sometimes find it necessary to employ a more energetic tone of negotiation than either of those powers to obtain an equal treatment with them, but that the Government of the United States might be assured that France would always respect the independence of these islands, which she had a common interest with other commercial nations in maintaining; and that nothing was more remote from her wishes or intentions in any event than to subject them to her dominion or to acquire territorial sovereignty over them. I told Monsieur Baroche that I should have great pleasure in communicating to you these explicit and honorable declarations on the part of the French Government; and having already presented to him in writing the views of the Government of the United States, as expressed in your dispatch of the 19th ultimo, I did not think it necessary to add anything further than to say that the rumors which he seemed to think had met with too easy a credence at Washington, had come through a semiofficial channel which it would have been difficult wholly to disregard. I will take this occasion to remark that there seems to have been an entire misconception on the part of Mr. Judd as to the nature of the instructions received from the Department of State, in June, 1850, respecting the controversy between France and the Hawaiian Govern In both of his letters, which accompanied your dispatch No. 28, he speaks of my being authorized to propose to the French Government the good offices of the United States for the adjustment of the controversy. It will be seen, however, on reference to the instructions addressed to me, that, without any proposal of the good offices of the United States for settling the matters in dispute, I was to take a "proper opportunity" in my intercourse with the minister of foreign affairs, "if circumstances, in my judgment, should warrant it," to WarM intimate to him the deep interest which the United States have in maintaining the independence of the Sandwich Islands, and to employ the other topics of persuasive consideration suggested in those instructions "toward a satisfactory accommodation of the dispute;" all of which was to be done with "prudence," and without entering into the merits of the controversy between the French and Hawaiian authorities, on which the Department of State did not consider "the occasion as calling for the expression of an opinion." My understanding of these instructions at the time was manifested by my dispatch No. 49, acknowledging their receipt, to which you refer, and in which I say: I shall, in the exercise of the discretion they commit to me, profit of the first occasion which may seem suitable and proper to bring the views and considerations they suggest to the aid of an amicable adjustment of the difficulties between the Sandwich Islands and this Government without intruding officially or offensively in the controversy between the parties. These instructions were accordingly fulfilled in my conversations with Gen. de La Hitte, while he was minister of foreign affairs, as stated in my dispatch No. 95, being persuaded that if anything further were deemed necessary, I should receive instructions to that effect as soon as the occasion arose to call for them. I was the more convinced of the propriety of not going beyond the line of my original instructions, until it should plainly become my duty to do so, because I saw evidences of an undue anxiety on the part of the British Government, as represented here, to put us forward in an invidious and delicate office which might compromise our friendly relations with France, when that Government itself was particularly required and called upon by the joint engagement entered into by France and England on the 28th November, 1843, for the mutual respect of the independence of the Sandwich Islands, to take the iniative on the occasion, and also because I had every reason to believe from the declarations of Gen. de La Hitte that there was no design on the part of the French Government to menace or endanger their independence. I have the honor, etc., Mr. Rives to Mr. Webster. W. C. RIVES. No. 109.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: After disposing of the particular object of my call, Monsieur Viel-Castel took occasion to remark to me in a friendly, but at the same time very earnest, tone that the Government of the Republic had been very much annoyed by the consequences, as it had been sensibly wounded by the manner of the intervention of the Government of the United States in their difficulties with the Sandwich Islands. He said that since the communication you had addressed to the commissioner of the United States in the islands had been known there, the Hawaiian authorities had refused absolutely to listen to any of the demands of the French Government, and made no other reply to the French consul than that if those demands were pressed they would immediately put themselves under the protectorate of the United States. He further observed that all they asked or wished of the Ha waiian Government was a fair and substantially equal treatment of their commerce, navigation, and the religion of their citizens, relatively to that which the same interests of England and the United States enjoyed; that the French Government had never had the slightest intention of pursuing any measures toward the Sandwich Islands inconsistent with a just respect of their independence; that after the receipt of the letter I had addressed to the minister of foreign affairs in July last, Monsieur de Sartiges had been instructed to give you the fullest and most formal assurances to that effect; but if they had known at the time, or could have anticipated, the course which was pursued by the Government of the United States in the matter, the dignity of the French Government would not have permitted them, in such circumstances, to give the frank and unreserved explanations which had been authorized. He spoke of the manner in which the interposition of the United States had taken place as being unusual and wounding (blessante) to the dignity of the French Government, referring, as I understood him, to the circumstance of a communication on the subject being first addressed to the commissioner of the United States, and immediately afterwards made known by a circular to all the members of the diplomatic corps at Washington. He said it so happened that the first information of the proceeding reached them through the English legation here, which was very prompt to communicate it. He alluded, also, to the circumstance that the United States had been invited to become a party to the convention concluded between France and England in 1843 for mutually respecting the independence of the Sandwich Islands, but the invitation had been declined, a circumstance which, he thought, should protect France from the suspicion of having improper designs upon the independence of the islands. Mr. Viel-Castel concluded by saying that in the position in which they were now placed by the proceedings of the Government of the United States it was not possible they could ask of us our good offices in bringing about an arrangement of their difficulties with the Sandwich Islands, but he trusted the United States itself would be prompted by its own sense of justice and a feeling of common friendship for both parties to use its influence with the Hawiian Government to extend an equal treatment in the spirit of its treaty obligations to French interests with those of other nations. I report to you without comment these observations of M. VielCastel, with as near a conforming to his own language as I have been able to attain. You will best appreciate their bearing and importance on the points which seemed most to touch the susceptibility of the French Government. I made such observations to him in reply as, without departing from the position taken by the Government of the United States, eemed best calculated to exhibit it in a friendly and conciliatory aspect. In this spirit (considering the preservation of the ancient friendly relations between the two countries as a matter of the highest importance to both, and, indeed, to all mankind) I have hitherto endeavored to conduct my official intercourse with this Government, and I am happy to say that I have always found it reciprocated in the fullest measure by the public authorities here. I have the houor, etc., W. C. RIVES. No. 3.1 Mr. Marcy to Mr. Mason. JOHN MASON, Esq., etc.: DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, December 16, 1853. SIR Recent accounts from the Sandwich Islands represent that the political affairs of the Hawaiian Government were in an unsettled state and some changes of high official men had been made. The political agitations were in a great measure composed at the date of the last dispatches from our commissioner, but while they existed the question of transferring the sovereignty of these islands to the United States was much discussed. As it was to be expected, the representatives of Great Britain and France at Honolulu were disturbed by the agitation of this question and used all their influence to repress the rising sentiment of annexation to this country. I have good reason for believing that both Great Britain and France feel much solicitude in relation to the future destiny of the Sandwich Islands and are very unwilling to see them become a territory of the United States. Their respective ministers near this Government have had several conferences with me on that subject in which they appeared to be desirous of getting assurances that this Government would take no measures to acquire the sovereignty of these islands or accept it if voluntarily offered to the United States. Their language to me leaves it doubtful in my mind how far Great Britain and France intend to go in preventing such a transference of them to this country. I am satisfied that these powers will do what they can short of a resort to actual force to defeat that object. Their ministers, particularly the minister of France, labored to impress me with the belief that such a transfer would be forcibly resisted; but I do not believe that these Governments would go to that extreme length unless there should be something in the manner of acquiring the islands which would afford a plausible pretense for such an interference. The object in addressing you at present is to request you to look into this matter and ascertain, if possible, without making it a matter of direct discussion, what would probably be the course of France in case of an attempt on the part of the United States to add these islands to our territorial possessions by negotiation or other peaceable means. I do not think the present Hawaiian Government can long remain in the hands of the present rulers or under the control of the native inhabitants of these islands, and both England and France are apprised of our determination not to allow them to be owned by or to fall under the protection of either of these powers or of any other European nation. It seems to be inevitable that they must come under the control of this Government, and it would be but reasonable and fair that these powers should acquiesce in such a disposition of them, provided the transference was effected by fair means. It has been intimated that Russia takes an interest in the destiny of the Sandwich Islands, and even has an eye on them for herself. I do not doubt that she would prefer that they should remain as they are rather than see them under the control or in the possession of either Great Britain, France, or the United States, but it is scarcely probable that she would actively interfere in the matter. As to England and France, a different conclusion may be adopted. The views of the French Government, and the part it would take in case the United ! States should accept or acquire fairly the sovereignty of these islands I hope you will be able to ascertain, and will apprise your Government thereof. I am, sir, respectfully, your obedient servant, W. L. MARCY. TO THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES: I transmit to the Senate a report from the Secretary of State, with accompanying papers, in answer to their resolution of the 2d instant. FRANKLIN PIERCE. WASHINGTON, March 3, 1854. TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The Secretary of State, to whom was referred the resolution of the Senate of the 2d instant, requesting the President to communicate to that body, if not incompatible with the public interest, "copies of all correspondence between the Governments of the United States and Great Britain in regard to the Sandwich Islands, including copies of all communications between the Secretary of State and Mr. Fox, the British minister, during the years 1843 and 1844, in regard to the independence of those islands, and especially of the letters of Mr. Fox to Mr. Upshur of the 25th of June, 1843, and of Mr. Upshur to Mr. Fox of the 5th of July, 1843; also a copy of any protest or other communication from the King of the Sandwich Islands to this Government in regard to the seizure of those islands by Lord George Paulet, commander of Her Britannic Majesty's ship Carysfort, and of any reply of this Government thereto," has the honor to lay before the President the papers mentioned in the subjoined list. Respectfully submitted. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, February 15, 1854. W. L. MARCY. LIST OF ACCOMPANYING PAPERS. Mr. Everett to Mr. Webster, July 1, 1842, extract. King Kamehameha III to the President, March 10, 1843, copy. Mr. Everett to Mr. Webster, March 28, 1843. extract. Mr. Upshur to Mr. Fox, July 5, 1843, copy. Mr. Everett to Mr. Upshur, August 15, 1813, extract. Mr. Everett to Mr. Upshur, September 28, 1843, extract. Mr. Everett to Mr. Nelson (with inclosure), April 24, 1844, copy, |