"The treaty had no champion among the members of the Senate Committee on ... Johnson's term expired, and Hamilton Fish became Secretary of State before all hope of the treaty was abandoned. . . . In 1870 the Committee on Foreign Affairs reported unanimously against ratification, and the Senate seems to have given a unanimous acquiescence in that opinion." (Bancroft's Seward, II. 486, citing Pierce's Sumner, IV. 623, 329, 624.) See, also, Schuyler's Am. Dip. 23; "The St. Thomas Treaty; a Series of Letters to the Boston Daily Advertiser," New York, 1869; Parton's The Danish Islands, Boston, 1869. In a confidential dispatch of November 28, 1892, Mr. Carr, then minister of the United States at Copenhagen, stated that he was unofficially authorized to say that the Danish Government would favorably consider a proposal from the United States to revive the convention of 1867." Mr. Foster, as Secretary of State, expressed appreciation of the friendly attitude of Denmark, but declared that, in view of the approaching end of the Administration then in power, the consideration of the subject at the moment was impracticable. He added, however, that the question of the acquisition of the islands was "one of far-reaching and national importance, the extent of which is appreciated by no one more than the President." 6 A similar intimation as to the favorable disposition of Denmark was conveyed to the United States in 1896, and informal discussions took place at Copenhagen and in Washington. January 24, 1902, a convention was signed at Washington by Mr. Hay, Secretary of State, and Mr. Brun, Danish minister, for the cession to the United States of the islands of Saint Thomas, Saint John, and Sainte Croix, in the West Indies, with the adjacent islands and rocks," for the sum of $5,000,000. The convention was ratified by the United States Senate February 17, 1902. The treaty was approved by the lower house of the Danish Rigsdag; but, Oct. 21, 1902, the Landsthing (the upper house) by a vote of 32 to 32 declined to ratify it. d (9) MOLE ST. NICOLAS. "Successive Administrations have labored to secure a West Indian naval station. During the war of the rebellion the United States leased the harbor of St. Nicolas from Hayti for this purpose. Report of Mr. Lodge, from the Committee on Foreign Relations, March 31, 1898, S. Doc. 284, 57 Cong. 1 sess. 19. eS. Doc. 284, 57 Cong. 1 sess. 20. Mr. Foster, Sec. of State, to Mr. Carr, min. to Denmark, confidential, Dec. 20, 1892, S. Doc. 284 57 Cong. 1 sess. 22. CS. Doc. 284, 5 Cong. I sess. 24-25. d S. Doc. 284, 57 Cong. 1 sess. In this document will be found the report of Mr. Cullom, from the Committee on Foreign Relations, Feb. 5, 1902, in favor of the approval of the convention. See, also, as to the purchase of the islands and the alleged part of Captain Christmas in the transaction, report of Mr. Dalzell, from the Select Committee on Purchase of the Danish West Indies, July 1, 1902, H. Report 2749, 57 Cong. 1 sess. In 1882, and again in 1884, while Mr. Frelinghuysen was Secretary of State, the United States declined to entertain a proposal from President Salomon, of Hayti, for the cession of a naval station in that country. In 1891, however, Rear-Admiral Bancroft Gherardi, U. S. N., was sent as special commissioner to Hayti, to endeavor, in cooperation with the United States minister at Port-au-Prince, to obtain a lease to the United States of Mole St. Nicolas for that purpose.' The Haytian authorities objected to the form of the commissioners' powers.c This objection was removed by sending new powers; but the Haytian Government ultimately declined to entertain the American proposals. The American minister reported that much excitement was caused in Hayti by the presence of the United States fleet at Port-au-Prince and by the negotiations for the lease of the Mole." @Supra, § 100. Mr. Blaine, Sec. of State, to Adm. Gherardi, Jan. 1, 1891, MS. Inst. Hayti, III. 160; Mr. Blaine, Sec. of State, to Mr. Douglass, Jan. 1, 1891, MS. Inst. Hayti, III. 159; same to same, Feb. 12, 1891, id. 169. Mr. Blaine, Sec. of State, to Admiral Gherardi, Feb. 18, 1891, MS. Inst. Hayti, III. 171. d Mr. Adee, Acting Sec. of State, to Mr. Douglass, May 20, 1891, MS. Inst. Hayti, III. 187, acknowledging the receipt of the latter's dispatch No. 164, of May 7, 1891; see, also, Mr. Blaine, Sec. of State, to Adm. Gherardi, Feb. 27, 1891, MS. Inst. Hayti, III. 172; Mr. Blaine, Sec. of State, to Mr. Douglass, Feb. 28, 1891, id. 173. e Mr. Adee, Acting Sec. of State, to Mr. Douglass, May 19, 1891, MS. Inst. Hayti, III. 186, acknowledging the receipt of Mr. Douglass' No. 159, of May 2, 1891; "Haiti and the United States," by Mr. Douglass, N. Am. Rev., Sept. 1891, 337, and Oct., 1891, 450: The Haytian Question, by Verax, New York, 1891. As to a coaling station in Peru, see Mr. Blaine, Sec. of State, to Mr. Hurlbut, min. to Peru, Nov. 22, 1881, and Dec. 3, 1881, For. Rel., 1881, 948, 955; Mr. Blaine, Sec. of State, to Mr. Hicks, min. to Peru, June 27, 1889, MS. Inst. Peru, XVII. 388; Mr. Blaine, Sec. of State, to Mr. Hicks, min. to Peru, tel., Dec. 4, 1889, MS. Inst. Peru, XVII. 399, saying: "Postpone consideration of coaling station until further advised." The Department of State "has received no recent information as to the proposed sale of the Galapagos Islands by the Republic of Ecuador to Great Britain or to any other European power." (Report of Mr. Hay, Sec. of State, to the President, Dec. 13, 1899, S. Doc. 41, 56 Cong. 1 sess.) See, generally, Mr. Frelinghuysen, Sec. of State, to Mr. Hall, min. to Cent. Am., April 7, 1884, 18 MS. Inst. Cent. Am. 374; Mr. Hay, Sec. of State, to Mr. Sampson, min. to Ecuador, April 22, 1899, MS. Inst. Ecuador, I. 569; same to same, Dec. 11, 1899, MS. Inst. Ecuador, II. 15; same to same, March 28, 1900, id. 34; Mr. Hay, Sec. of State, to Sec. of Navy, Aug. 1, 1900, 246 MS. Dom. Let. 653; Nov. 15, 1900, 249 MS. Dom. Let. 116; Jan. 18, 1901, MS. Dom. Let. |