CONGRESS. (PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE.) 



149 



as to command the support and approval of the 

 civilized world. 



By a special message, dated the 16th day of June 

 last, I laid before the Senate a treaty signed that 

 day by the plenipotentiaries of the United States 

 and of the republic of Hawaii, having for its pur- 

 pose the incorporation of the Hawaiian Islands as 

 an integral part of the United States and under its 

 sovereignty. The Senate having removed the in- 

 junction of secrecy, although the treaty is still 

 pending before that body, the subject may be 

 properly referred to in this message, because the 

 necessary action of the Congress is required to de- 

 termine by legislation many details of the eventual 

 union should the fact of annexation be accom- 

 plished, as I believe it should be. 



While consistently disavowing from a very early 

 period any aggressive policy of absorption in regard 

 to the Hawaiian group, a long series of declara- 

 tions through three quarters of a century has pro- 

 claimed the vital interest of the United States in 

 the independent life of the islands and their inti- 

 mate commercial dependence upon this country. 

 At the same time, it has been repeatedly asserted 

 that in no event could the entity of Hawaiian 

 statehood cease by the passage of the islands under 

 the domination or influence of another power than 

 the United States. Under these circumstances, 

 the logic of events required that annexation, here- 

 tofore offered but declined, should in the ripeness 

 of time come about as the natural result of the 

 strengthening ties that bind us to those islands, 

 and be realized by the free will of the Hawaiian 

 state. 



That treaty was unanimously ratified without 

 amendment by the Senate and President of the 



public of Hawaii on the 10th of September last, 



d only awaits the favorable action of the Ameri- 

 can Senate to effect the complete absorption of the 

 islands into the domain of the United States. What 

 the conditions of such a union shall be, the political 

 relation thereof to the United States, the character 

 of the local administration, the quality and degree 

 if the elective franchise of the inhabitants, the ex- 



nsion of the Federal laws to the territory or the 

 enactment of special laws to fit the peculiar condi- 

 tion thereof, the regulation if need be of the labor 

 system therein, are all matters which the treaty has 

 wisely relegated to the Congress. 



If the treaty is confirmed, as every consideration 

 of dignity and honor requires, the wisdom of Con- 

 gress will see to it that, avoiding abrupt assimila- 

 tion of elements perhaps hardly yet fitted to share 

 in the highest franchises of citizenship, and having 

 due regard to the geographical conditions, the most 

 just provisions for self-rule in local matters with 

 the largest political liberties as an integral part of 

 >ur nation will be accorded to the Hawaiians. No 



:ss is due to a people who, after nearly five years 

 of demonstrated capacity to fulfill the obligations 

 of self-governing statehood, come of their free will 

 to merge their destinies in our body politic. 



The questions which have arisen between Japan 

 und Hawaii by reason of the treatment of Japanese 

 laborers emigrating to the islands under the Ha- 

 waiian-Japanese convention of 1888 are in a satis- 

 factory stage of settlement by negotiation. This 

 Government has not been invited to mediate, and, 

 on the other hand, has sought no intervention in 

 that matter, further than to evince its kindliest dis- 

 position toward such a speedy and direct adjust- 

 ment by the two sovereign states in interest as shall 

 comport with equity and honor. It is gratifying 

 to learn that the apprehensions at first displayed on 

 the part of Japan lest the cessation of Hawaii's 

 national life through annexation might impair priv- 

 ileges to which Japan honorably laid claim have 



given place to confidence in the uprightness of t\n- 

 Government and in the sincerity of its purpose 

 to deal with all possible ulterior questions in tin 

 broadest spirit of friendliness. 



As to the representation of this Government to 

 Nicaragua, Salvador, and Costa Rica, I have con- 

 cluded that Mr. William L. Merry, confirmed as 

 minister of the United States to the states of Nica- 

 ragua, Salvador, and Costa Rica, shall proceed to 

 San Jose, Costa Rica, and there temporarily estab- 

 lish the headquarters of the United States to th<-M- 

 three states. I took this action for what I regarded 

 as the paramount interests of this country. It un- 

 developed upon an investigation bv the Secretary 

 of State that the Government of Nicaragua, while 

 not unwilling to receive Mr. Merry in his diplomatic 

 quality, was unable to do so because of the compact 

 concluded June 20, 1895, whereby that republic 

 and those of Salvador and Honduras, forming what 

 is known as the Greater Republic of Central Amer- 

 ica, had surrendered to the representative Diet 

 thereof their right to receive and send diplomatic 

 agents. The Diet was not willing to accept him 

 because he was not accredited to that body. I could 

 not accredit him to that body because the appropri- 

 ation law of Congress did not permit it. Mr. Baker, 

 the present minister at Managua, has been directed 

 to present his letters of recall. 



Mr. W. Godfrey Hunter has likewise been accred- 

 ited to the governments of Guatemala and Hon- 

 duras, the same as his predecessor. Guatemala is 

 not a member of the Greater Republic of Central 

 America, but Honduras is. Should this latter Gov- 

 ernment decline to receive him, he has been in- 

 structed to report this fact to his Government and 

 await its further instructions. 



A subject of large importance to our country and 

 increasing appreciation on the part of the people is 

 the completion of the great highway of trade be- 

 tween the Atlantic and Pacific known as the Nica- 

 ragua Canal. Its utility and value to American 

 commerce is universally admitted. The commis- 

 sion appointed under date of July 24 last "to con- 

 tinue the surveys and examinations authorized by 

 the act approved March 2, 1895," in regard to "the 

 proper route, feasibility, and cost of construction of 

 the Nicaragua Canal, with a view of making com- 

 plete plans for the entire work of construction of 

 such canal," is now employed in the undertaking. 

 In the future I shall take occasion to transmit to 

 Congress the report of this commission, making at 

 the same time such further suggestions as may then 

 seem advisable. 



Under the provisions of the act of Congress 

 approved March 3, 1897, for the promotion of an 

 international agreement respecting bimetallism, I 

 appointed on the 14th day of April, 1897, Hon. 

 Edward 0. Wolcott, of Colorado, Hon. Adlai E. 

 Stevenson, of Illinois, and Hon. Charles J. Paiiu'. 

 of Massachusetts, as special envoys to represent the 

 United States. They have been diligent in their 

 efforts to secure the concurrence and co-operation of 

 European countries in the international settlement 

 of the question, but up to this time have not been 

 able to secure an agreement contemplated by their 

 mission. 



The gratifying action of our great sister republic 

 of France in joining this country in the attempt to 

 bring about an agreement among the principal com- 

 mercial nations of Europe, whereby a fixed and 

 relative value between gold and silver shall be 

 secured, furnishes assurance that we are not alone 

 among the larger nations of the world in realizing 

 the international character of the problem and in 

 the desire of reaching some wise and practical solu- 

 tion of it. The British Government has published 

 a resume of the steps taken jointly by the French 



