"The people of these islands are entitled to the benefits and privileges of our Constitution, but in the absence of any act of Congress providing for Federal courts in the islands, and for a procedure by which appeals, writs of error, and other judicial proceedings necessary for the enforcement of civil rights may be prosecuted, they are powerless to secure their enforcement by the judgment of the courts of the United States. It is manifestly important, therefore, that an act shall be passed as speedily as possible erecting these islands into a judicial district, providing for the appointment of a judge and other proper officers and methods of procedure in the appellate proceedings, and that the government of this newly acquired territory under the Federal Constitution shall be fully defined and provided for." President McKinley, Third Annual Message, Dec. 5, 1899. By an executive order of Sept. 11, 1899, President McKinley directed that all proceedings for the sale or disposition of public lands in Hawaii should be discontinued; and that if any sales or agreements of sale thereof had been made since the adoption of the resolution of annexation, the purchaser should be notified that they were null and void, any consideration paid to the local authorities to be refunded. (Mr. Hill, Acting Sec. of State, to the Sec. of the Interior, Oct. 10, 1899, 240 MS. Dom. Let. 450.) As to lands in Honolulu for naval purposes, see proclamation of Nov. 10, 1899. By another executive order of May 13, 1899, the general election provided for by the Hawaiian constitution, to be held on the last Wednesday in the ensuing September, was suspended, and elective officers were continued in their places. (Mr. Cridler, Third Assist. Sec. of State, to Mr. Kahn, Feb. 23, 1900, 243 MS. Dom. Let. 181.) A government for the Territory of Hawaii was provided by the act of Congress of April 30, 1900. See H. Report 305, 56 Cong. 1 sess. As to the extension of the laws relating to commerce, navigation, and merchant As to the extension of customs and internal-revenue laws over the islands, see Information as to the Hawaiian land system may be found in S. Doc. 72, 56 Provisional meas- "The United States minister at Honolulu ceased to consular discharge his diplomatic functions on July 4, 1898.” ures; representation. Mr. Hay, Sec. of State, to Mr. Buchanan, min. to Argentine Rep., Nov. 17, 1898, For. Rel. 1898. The date in this quotation should be August 12, 1898. On that day the ceremonial transfer of sovereignty took place, and Mr. Sewall, United States minister at Honolulu, his diplomatic functions ceasing, was provisionally invested with the character of agent of the United States, pending further legislation by Congress. December 9, 1898, the embassy of the United States at Berlin reported that some time previously, no official information having been received of the annexation of the islands, it had declined to grant a passport to a citizen of the Hawaiian Islands, although it was known that a law had been passed to make them a part of the United States. The applicant subsequently obtained a passport from Mr. Glade, the Hawaiian chargé d'affaires and consul-general in Berlin. The embassy also reported that at the then recent opening of the Reichstag, to which the diplomatic corps received a formal invitation, the Hawaiian chargé was present, and that his name still appeared in the official list of the diplomatic corps. The embassy requested instructions. The Department of State replied: "As stated in my telegram of the 4th instant, the diplomatic functions of the Hawaiian representative as chargé d'affaires ceased upon the annexation of the islands. With reference to his commercial capacity, I enlarge upon my telegrams as follows: "By the joint resolution of Congress, approved July 7, 1898, providing for the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands to the United States, it is provided that 'until legislation shall be enacted extending the United States customs laws and regulations to the Hawaiian Islands, the customs relations of the Hawaiian Islands with the United States and other countries shall remain unchanged.' "This Government had regarded that provision of law as continuing the commercial relations of the Hawaiian Islands with other states pending such legislation by Congress concerning the Hawaiian Islands as may be deemed necessary or proper, and consequently the United States continues to conduct its commercial business through its own consular officer at Honolulu as a de facto commercial agent, while the Hawaiian consuls in this country continue to act in a similar capacity. Until the commercial dependency of the Hawaiian Islands upon the United States shall be regulated by law, it would seem desirable that the present representatives of the Hawaiian Islands should continue to discharge their commercial functions as such agents in foreign countries, and until such laws shall be passed this Government is not prepared to commission those consular officers as full consular officers of the United States or to merge their functions in those of existing consular representatives of the United States in the same localities. "With regard, however, to the consular officers of foreign governments in the Hawaiian Islands the case is somewhat different, and inquiries on this point have been, in several instances, answered by expressing the opinion of this Government that it would be desirable for the existing foreign consuls in the Hawaiian Islands to receive new commissions from their governments, upon which this Government H. Doc. 551-33 could issue its exequatur covering the present provisional arrangement with respect to the commercial intercourse of Hawaii with foreign countries." Mr. Hay, Sec. of State, to Mr. White, ambass. to Germany, Jan. 10, 1899, For. Statements substantially the same may be found in Mr. Hay, Sec. of State, to See, also, Mr. Hay, Sec. of State, to Mr. Romano, Ital. chargé, Oct. 7, 1898, Mr. Hay, as Secretary of State, in a letter of January 27, 1899, informed Mr. When the joint resolution of July 7, 1898, was passed, Mr. William Haywood was instructed, as United States consul-general at Honolulu, in view of the important connection of his office with the then-existing customs relations between the United States and Hawaii, to remain at his post till further notice. Again, on July 21, 1899, Mr. Hay, as Secretary of State, issued the following order: "In view of the anomalous condition of affairs between the United States and the Hawaiian Islands arising in consequence of the act of Congress approved July 7, 1898, providing for the annexation of those islands, and the failure of Congress to provide a form of government therefor, it is hereby ordered, until action by Congress is taken to effect a change in the existing conditions with those islands, that William Haywood, appointed secretary of legation and consul-general of the United States at Honolulu, June 1, 1897, be directed to continue as consul-general and sign as such, as a measure of urgent and public necessity; and that his salary be paid as heretofore from the appropriation for the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands." (238 MS. Dom. Let. 562.) Mr. Haywood's consular functions ceased at the close of June 13, 1900, the act of April 30, 1900, "to provide a government for the Territory of Hawaii,” going into effect on the following day. (Mr. Cridler, Third Assist. Sec. of State, to Mr. Haywood, cons. gen. at Honolulu, May 23, 1900, 172 MS. Inst. to Consuls, 442.) The Department of State held that his consular bond would not cease to be in force "until after June 13, 1900, and then only upon the formal submission of his accounts and their auditing by the proper officers of the Treasury Department." (Mr. Cridler, Third Assist. Sec. of State, to the Fidelity and Casualty Co., May 31, 1900, 245 MS. Dom. Let. 345.) Mr. W. P. Boyd, who was appointed vice and deputy consul-general at Hoonlulu, June 20, 1892, was also regarded as authorized to continue to perform his duties as such after the joint resolution of July 7, 1898. (Mr. Adee, Second Assist. Sec. of State, to the Title Insurance & Trust Co., Oct. 18, 1899, 240 MS. Dom. Let. 548.) The United States consul at Buenos Ayres, where the Hawaiian Government was never represented, was instructed to act for Hawaiian commercial intercourse so far as was necessary and proper. (Mr. Hay, Sec. of State, to Mr. Buchanan, min. to Argentine Rep., tel., Nov. 17, 1898, For. Rel. 1898, 6. See, also, Mr. Hay, Sec. of State, to Sec. of the Treasury, Nov. 16, 1898, 232 MS. Dom. Let. 577.) "Cannot authorize captain [Hawaiian] schooner Americana hoist United States flag in absence Congressional legislation. Hawaiian vessels. Hawaii formally annexed August 12, but legislation necessary to carry into operation internal and foreign commercial arrangements." Mr. Hay, Sec. of State, to Mr. Buchanan, min. to Argentine Republic, tel., It was held by the Treasury Department that Hawaiian vessels could not be "I enclose. a copy of the Executive order of the President dated the 18th instant, directing that the issue of registers to vessels by the authorities of Hawaii, entitling such vessels to all the rights and privileges of Hawaiian vessels in the ports of nations, or upon the high seas, shall hereafter cease.' "For your further information I also enclose copy of the opinion of the Attorney-General upon which the President's Executive order was issued." Mr. Adee, Acting Sec. of State, to Mr. Sewall, agent at Honolulu, Sept. 20 "I had the honor to receive your personal note of the 24th instant in which you express the apprehension of Her MajNavigation. esty's Government lest one of the results of the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands to the United States may be to interfere with the carrying trade between those islands and the United States, no inconsiderable portion of which is now done in British bottoms.' You state your understanding that there is at present nothing to preclude foreign vessels from trading between the United States and the Hawaiian Islands and that no legislation is contemplated which would interfere with the trade, and request information on these points. "As the question is one properly for the consideration of the Treasury Department, I referred your inquiries to the Secretary of the Treasury and am now in receipt of a letter from Acting Secretary Spaulding in reply. "Your understanding that there is at present no regulation to preclude foreign vessels from such trade, coincides with the view of the Treasury Department, based on an opinion of the Attorney-General, set forth in the appended circulars. "The Acting Secretary of the Treasury is, however, unable to concur in your further understanding that no legislation is contemplated which would interfere with this carrying trade. While he does not undertake to forecast the form which legislation by Congress may take, the general policy of this country to reserve to American vessels trade between American ports is so firmly established that its reaffirmation by Congress in the legislation providing for the extension of American laws to the Hawaiian Islands does not appear to him to be doubtful. He thinks it possible that this policy may be not put into effect until there has been an adjustment of American tonnage to meet the situation created by annexation, but he thinks it probable that at an early date trade between the United States and the Hawaiian Islands will be confined to American vessels. "It may be noted that, in obedience to traditional policy, trade between the United States and Porto Rico has already by regulation been confined to American vessels. "There would seem to be no occasion to apprehend serious interference with the carrying trade between the United States and the Hawaiian Islands as a result of such legislation as Congress may enact. The total combined entries and clearances of vessels from and to Hawaiian ports and ports of the United States during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1897, were 461 vessels of 361,173 net tons, of which 394 vessels of 283,211 net tons were American, and only 13 vessels of 19,040 tons were British. These figures do not include steamers which merely touch at Honolulu to leave or take on mail and a few cabin passengers and their baggage to and from Asiatic and Australian ports. With regard to these the American consul-general at Honolulu, under date of January 24, 1898, reported: "The majority of these steamers are British, and as they carry very little freight to and from these islands it is misleading to include them in any report of the nationality of vessels employed by the Hawaiians in their commerce with the world."" Mr. Adee, Act. Sec. of State, to Sir J. Pauncefote, Brit. amb., Sept. 30, 1898, |