independent American and Canadian surveys, and by continuing its demarcation by joint survey, having been accepted, negotiations are in progress toward a convention with Great Britain or the organization of an international survey commission, as contemplated by the act approved February 20, 1896.

"The prospects of immediate negotiations for the precise demarcation of the coastwise Alaskan boundary are good. The preliminary survey of that region under the convention with Great Britain of July 22, 1892, was completed within the stipulated time, and, having before them the necessary topographical data, the two Governments are now in a position to consider and establish the boundary line in question according to the facts and agreeably to the true purpose of the treaties between Great Britain and Russia, and between Russia and the United States, whereby it is described." (Report of Mr. Olney, Sec. of State, to the President, Dec. 7, 1896; For. Rel. 1896, lxxiv.)

"In my last annual message I referred to the pending negotiations with Great Britain in respect to the Dominion of Canada. By means of an executive agreement a Joint High Commission had been created for the purpose of adjusting all unsettled questions between the United States and Canada, embracing twelve subjects, among which were the questions of the fur seals, the fisheries of the coast and contiguous inland waters, the Alaskan boundary, the transit of merchandise in bond, the alien labor laws, mining rights, reciprocity in trade, revision of the agreement respecting naval vessels in the Great Lakes, a more complete marking of parts of the boundary, provision for the conveyance of criminals, and for wrecking and salvage.

"Much progress had been made by the Commission toward the adjustment of many of these questions, when it became apparent that an irreconcilable difference of views was entertained respecting the delimitation of the Alaskan boundary. In the failure of an agreement as to the meaning of articles 3 and 4 of the treaty of 1825 between Russia and Great Britain, which defined the boundary between Alaska and Canada, the American Commissioners proposed that the subject of the boundary be laid aside and that the remaining questions of difference be proceeded with, some of which were so far advanced as to assure the probability of a settlement. This being declined by the British Commissioners, an adjournment was taken until the boundary should be adjusted by the two Governments. The subject has been receiving the careful attention which its importance demands, with the result that a modus vivendi for provisional demarcations in the region about the head of Lynn Canal has been agreed upon; and it is hoped that the negotiations now in progress between the two Governments will end in an agreement for the establishment and delimitation of a permanent boundary." (President McKinley, annual message, Dec. 5, 1899.) "The work of marking certain provisional boundary points, for convenience of administration, around the head of Lynn Canal, in accordance with the temporary arrangement of October, 1899, was completed by a joint survey in July last. The modus vivendi has so far worked without friction, and the Dominion Government has provided rules and regulations for securing to our citizens the benefit of the reciprocal stipulation that the citizens or subjects of either power found by that arrangement within the temporary jurisdiction of the other shall suffer no diminution of the rights and privileges they have hitherto enjoyed. But however necessary such an expedient may have been to tide over the grave emergencies of the situation, it is at best but an unsatisfactory makeshift, which should not

be suffered to delay the speedy and complete establishment of the frontier line to which we are entitled under the Russo-American treaty for the cession of Alaska.

"In this relation I may refer again to the need of definitely marking the Alaskan boundary where it follows the one hundred and forty-first meridian. A convention to that end has been before the Senate for some two years, but as no action has been taken I contemplate negotiating a new convention for a joint determination of the meridian by telegraphic observations. These, it is believed, will give more accurate and unquestionable results than the sidereal methods heretofore independently followed, which, as is known, proved discrepant at several points on the line, although not varying at any place more than 700 feet." (President McKinley, annual message, Dec. 3, 1900.)

Mr. Hay, Secretary of State, in a report of April 24, 1902, as to alleged sur-
veys and encroachments by British and Canadian officials on American
territory near the border, stated that investigation of the allegations would
be continued till the truth was ascertained. (H. Doc. 576, 57 Cong. 1
sess.)

See Mr. Hay, Sec. of State, to Mr. Choate, amb. to England, June 23, 1899,
MS. Inst. Gr. Brit. XXXIII. 201.

The western boundary of Alaska, as defined in the treaty of cession (Art. I.), takes as a place of beginning "a point in Bering's Straits on the parallel of 65° 30′ north latitude, at its intersection by the meridian which passes midway between the islands of Krusenstern or Ignalook and the island of Ratmanoff or Noonarbook." From this point the line in its upward course "proceeds due north, without limitation,” into the "Frozen Ocean;" and, in its downward course, "beginning at the same initial point, proceeds thence in a course nearly southwest through Bering's Straits and Bering's Sea, so as to pass midway between the northwest point of the island of St. Lawrence and the southeast point of Cape Choukotski to the meridian of one hundred and seventytwo west longitude; thence from the intersection of that meridian in a southwesterly direction, so as to pass midway between the island of Attou and the Copper Island of the Kormandorski couplet or group, in the North Pacific Ocean, to the meridian of one hundred and ninetythree degrees west longitude, so as to include in the territory conveyed the whole of the Aleutian Islands east of that meridian."

9. HAWAIIAN ISLANDS.
§ 108.

September 19, 1820, John C. Jones was appointed to reside in the Hawaiian, then commonly called the Sandwich, Islands, as "agent of the United States for commerce and seamen."

Early relations.

In 1826 the islands were visited by Capt. Thomas ap Catesby Jones, commanding the U. S. S. Peacock, who was sent thither to adjust certain matters affecting the interests of American residents. He accomplished his mission successfully, and besides concluded the first treaty

formally negotiated with the Hawaiian king by the representative of a foreign power; but this treaty was not ratified by the United States. In 1829 Captain Finch, of the U. S. S. Vincennes, who visited the islands, bearing presents and a letter written in the name of the President by the Secretary of the Navy, estimated the number of American vessels that called at the islands in the course of a year at one hundred, their aggregate tonnage at 35,000, and their value with their cargoes at upwards of $5,000,000. All these vessels were concerned, in one way or another, with the pursuit of commerce in the East.

A treaty with the king of the islands was concluded by a British naval officer November 16, 1836. A treaty and a convention were concluded by a French naval officer in 1839.

Report of Mr. Allen, Chief of the Bureau of Rolls and Library of the Depart-
ment of State, February 9, 1893, S. Ex. Doc. 77, 52 Cong. 2 sess.; For.
Rel. 1894, App. II; Relation of the United States to Asiatic Politics, The
Independent, May 4, 1899, 1206.

Mr. Webster's letter, 1842.

"The United States have regarded the existing authorities in the Sandwich Islands as a Government suited to the condition of the people, and resting on their own choice; and the President is of opinion that the interests of all commercial nations require that that Government should not be interfered with by foreign powers. Of the vessels which visit the islands, it is known that the great majority belong to the United States. The United States, therefore, are more interested in the fate of the islands and of their Government than any other nation can be; and this consideration induces the President to be quite willing to declare, as the sense of the Government of the United States, that the Government. of the Sandwich Islands ought to be respected; that no power ought either to take possession of the islands as a conquest or for the purpose of colonization, and that no power ought to seek for any undue control over the existing Government, or any exclusive privileges or preferences with it in matters of commerce.'

Mr. Webster, Sec. of State, to Messrs. Haalilio and Richards, agents from Hawaii, Dec. 19, 1842, 6 Webster's Works, 478; H. Ex. Doc. 35, 27 Cong. 3 sess.; For. Rel. 1894, App. II. 44.

President Tyler's

message.

"Owing to their locality and to the course of the winds which prevail in this quarter of the world, the Sandwich Islands are the stopping place for almost all vessels passing from continent to continent across the Pacific Ocean. They are especially resorted to by the great numbers of vessels of the United States which are engaged in the whale fishery in those seas. The number of vessels of all sorts and the amount of property owned by citizens of the United States which are found in those islands in the course of a year are stated, probably with sufficient accuracy, in the letter of the agents.

"Just emerging from a state of barbarism, the Government of the islands is as yet feeble; but its dispositions appear to be just and pacific, and it seems anxious to improve the condition of its people by the introduction of knowledge, of religious and moral institutions, means of education, and the arts of civilized life.

"It can not but be in conformity with the interest and the wishes of the Government and the people of the United States that this community, thus existing in the midst of a vast expanse of ocean, should be respected, and all its rights strictly and conscientiously regarded. And this must also be the true interest of all other commercial states. Far remote from the dominions of European powers, its growth and prosperity as an independent state may yet be in a high degree useful to all whose trade is extended to those regions, while its nearer approach to this continent and the intercourse which American vessels have with it, such vessels constituting five-sixths of all which annually visit it, could not but create dissatisfaction on the part of the United States at any attempt by another power, should such an attempt be threatened. or feared, to take possession of the islands, colonize them, and subvert the native Government. Considering, therefore, that the United States possess so very large a share in the intercourse with those islands, it is deemed not unfit to make the declaration that their Government seeks, nevertheless, no peculiar advantages, no exclusive control over the Hawaiian Government, but is content with its independent existence, and anxiously wishes for its security and prosperity. Its forbearance in this respect, under the circumstances of the very large intercourse which American vessels have with the islands, would justify this Government, should events hereafter arise to require it, in making a decided remonstrance against the adoption of an opposite policy by any other power. Under the circumstances, I recommend to Congress to provide for a moderate allowance, to be made out of the Treasury, to the consul residing there, that, in a Government so new and a country so remote, American citizens may have respectable authority to which to apply for redress in case of injury to their persons and property, and to whom the Government of the country may also make known any acts committed by American citizens of which it may think it has a right to complain."

Message of President Tyler, Dec. 30, 1842, 6 Webster's Works, 463–'4; H. Ex.
Doc. 35, 27th Cong. sess.; For. Rel. 1894, App. II. 39.

The foregoing message of President Tyler and the letter of Mr. Webster grew out of the visit to Washington of William Richards, a clergyman, and Timoteo Haalilio, a native, who visited the United States, England, and France with a view to secure recognition of Hawaiian independence. While saying that the United States regarded the existing authorities in the Islands "as a government suited to the condition of the people" and that that government "ought to be

respected," Mr. Webster also stated that the President did not see any present necessity for the negotiation of a formal treaty, or the appointment or reception of diplomatic characters. A consul or agent would, he said, continue to reside in the islands; and he intimated that the correspondence would be communicated to Congress and would also be "officially made known to the governments of the principal commercial powers of Europe."

Action of Great
Britain, 1843.

Lord George Paulet, of the British man-of-war Carysfort, in 1843, seized the islands in the name of Her Britannic Majesty, and compelled the King to sign a deed of cession. Lord Paulet immediately appointed a commission to conduct the government. Commodore Kearney, U. S. N., who arrived July 11 in the same year, on the frigate Constellation, protested against the cession and also against the acts of the commission so far as they injuriously affected the rights of American citizens. On July 31, 1843, Rear-Admiral Thomas, R. N., who had arrived at Honolulu on the man-of-war Dublin, restored the Hawaiian flag and disavowed the act of seizure. June 25, 1843, the British minister at Washington informed the Department of State that the seizure was "entirely unauthorized by Her Majesty's Government." On the 13th of the same month, Mr. Legaré had written, as Secretary of State, to Mr. Everett, then United States minister in London, that "we might even feel justified, consistently with our own principles, in interfering by force to prevent its [the Hawaiian Kingdom] falling into the hands of one of the great powers of Europe.' November 28, 1843, Lord Aberdeen, then foreign secretary, and the French ambassador at London, signed a declaration to the effect that Great Britain and France, "taking into consideration the existence in the Sandwich Islands of a government capable of providing for the regularity of its relations with foreign nations, have thought it right to engage, reciprocally, to consider the Sandwich Islands as an independent state, and never to take possession, either directly or under the title of protectorate, or under any other form, of any part of the territory of which they are composed."

British-French declaration.

"The President has learned with regret and astonishment the probable refusal of the Hawaiian Government to conclude a treaty with the United States upon the terms of the treaty with Great Britain. He entertains the hope that this may not be their final determination. If it should be, he will be compelled to consider it as evidence of a want of friendly feeling toward this Government . . . This Govern

a For. Rel. 1894, App. II. 113. See also Mr. Upshur, Sec. of State, to Mr. Fox, Brit. min., July 5, 1843, MS. Notes to Brit. Leg. VI. 289; Mr. Marcy, Sec. of State, to Mr. Buchanan, March 11, 1854, MS. Inst. Great Britain, XVI. 274.

For. Rel. 1894, App. II. 64.