By the King: Henry A. P. Carter to Henry A. Peierce, June 25, 1878

Report of the Hon. H. A. P. Carter.

Sir: In response to your excellency’s request for a brief résumé of my late mission to Europe, I beg leave to report that I was received with courtesy and respect by the Governments of Her Britannic Majesty, and of His Imperial and Royal Majesty the Emperor of Germany and King of Prussia, to whom I presented the credentials with which I was intrusted by His Majesty the King.

With the former government it was hoped that I should be enabled to conclude an arrangement on the basis of a protocol, signed here by Her Majesty’s representative, Major Wodehouse, and His Majesty’s minister for foreign affairs, which should harmonize some differences growing out of the interpretation of the Anglo-Hawaiian treaty of 1851; and, further, if it seemed practicable to enter into a scheme of East Indian immigration, I was instructed to negotiate, if possible, a convention with Her Majesty’s Government defining the conditions of such immigration from the East Indian possession of Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain and Empress of India.

In regard to the first object, although I had the valued assistance of Major Wodehouse, it was found, upon discussing the protocol and declarations based thereon, that even with the best desires on both sides to attain the object by such means, any declaration which could be accepted by the British Government in view of their relations with other countries could not be signed by myself without exceeding the limits of my instructions and infringing the constitutional rights of the legislative assembly.

I had, however, the pleasure of receiving the assurances of Lord Derby, Her Majesty’s principal secretary of state for foreign affairs, that my explanations of the peculiar circumstances of the commercial position of the Hawaiian Islands led Her Majesty’s Government, as an especial mark of friendship and good will, to propose a mode of settlement, which he submitted to me. This proposition involved a modification of our tariff laws, which could only be made with the sanction of the legislative assembly, and I was obliged to point out that objection to it. Owing to these limitations on both sides, it became obvious that we could not meet the wishes of the British Government without legislative action.

On the 9th of November, I had an interview with Lord Derby, in which, after pointing out some of the reasons which had led the Hawaiian Government to adopt the interpretation of the treaty of 1851 which it holds, and explaining the constitutional and other objections to the proposed form of declarations, I suggested that so much of Article IV of the treaty of 1851 as formed a subject of difference between the two governments be declared inoperative by mutual consent, thus saving as much as we could of a treaty for which, I assured his lordship, we had a traditional regard, and had never knowingly violated.

His lordship expressed himself satisfied with the intentions of the Hawaiian Government, saying that Her Majesty’s Government did not accuse the Hawaiian Government of any wilful neglect of its treaty obligations, and promising to give my suggestions careful consideration.

I subsequently had conferences with Lord Tenterden and other gentlemen of the foreign office, in the hope that some form of declaration might be arrived at which would meet our mutual wishes, but with the same result.

Lord Tenterden, in a “private” note to myself, dated December 28, stated that my propositions had been carfully considered, but that Her Majesty’s Government regretted that they could not entertain them, as they were obliged to consider them not only as regarded their relations with the Hawaiian Islands, but also their bearing upon the relations and engagements of Great Britain with other foreign states. Lord Tenterden courteously assured me that it was on general grounds, therefore, that they were unable to accept them. He again repeated Lord Derby’s assurances of the friendly sentiments of Her Majesty’s Government toward Hawaii, and that they fully accepted the statements I had made in regard to the reciprocity treaty with the United States, and stating that Her Majesty’s Government had no wish that the friendly relations now subsisting between the two nations should be affected by that treaty.

Lord Tenterden further stated that, apart from the treaty, there were two subjects with regard to which Her Majesty’s Government might have ground for complaint. First, the maintenance of the recent augmentation of duties upon British goods, and, secondly, the unnecessary denunciation of Articles V and VI of the treaty of 1851.

With regard to the second matter, I pointed out to Lord Tenterden that the withdrawal of the notice of termination of those articles could not be accomplished, except by a mutual arrangement, without prejudging the notice as regarded Article IV, and that I had already, on November 9, proposed such mutual action to Lord Derby without eliciting any response. This matter, you inform me, has been arranged upon the assurance of Major Wodehouse that it should not affect the notice regarding Article IV.

With regard to the first matter, it depends partially upon the action of the Legislative Assembly whether the tariff of 1876 shall be maintained or not. It was clearly beyond the scope of my powers to make any promises regarding it.

One of the happy results of my mission was the acceptance by the British Government of our explanations regarding the reciprocity treaty with the United States, and the assurance of that government of its desire that the operation of that treaty should not in any way affect our friendly relations.

I am quite convinced that so long as our legislation and the execution of our laws shall continue to be just and equitable towards that great power those friendly relations can be maintained, and that legislation which can be shown to be for the best interest of this country will meet with no unfriendly interpretation.

Through my mission a clearer understanding has been arrived at with the British Government upon all points, and it shows every disposition to respect our views, and there has been no diminution of that friendship and good-will which it was my constant desire to promote. Lord Salisbury, at present Her Majesty’s principal secretary of state for foreign affairs, in a dispatch as late as the 4th of May of the present year, while expressing his regret at the termination of my mission, informs me that Her Majesty’s Government fully share in my hope that the termination of any part of the treaty of 1851 may not in any way interfere with the relations of friendship which now happily subsist between Great Britain and the Hawaiian Islands.

This dispatch closed my official intercourse with the Government of Her Britannic Majesty.

On my arrival in Berlin, on the 8th of January of the present year, I communicated with the minister of state for foreign affairs, and was in due course of time received, as I advised the department, by His Imperial and Royal Majesty the Emperor of Germany and King of Prussia, by Her Imperial Majesty the Empress, by their Imperial and Royal Highnesses the Crown Prince and Princess, and all the members of the royal family, after which my official intercourse with the imperial government began.

My negotiations with that government were retarded by its reluctance to make a commercial treaty without providing for the fullest equality in respect to import duties. They, however, finally acknowledged that the peculiar circumstances of our position justified them in so doing, and an article was framed by which it was agreed that the special advantages granted to the Government of the United States in consideration of equivalent advantages should not in any case be invoked in favor of Germany.

Certain considerations which I have explained to your excellency led me to desire that the articles of a projected treaty framed should not take the form of a definite treaty until fully approved by His Majesty’s Government, and consequently a protocol was framed, of which they formed a part, providing for a formal treaty, of which they should be the basis.

This protocol was duly signed by the German plenipotentiaries and myself on the 23d day of April last past.

By command of His Majesty, I had the honor of tendering to His Imperial and Royal Majesty the Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Kamehameha I, which he graciously received, and consented to allow His Imperial and Royal Highness the Crown Prince to receive the same. I was then informed by his excellency the minister of state for foreign affairs that it was His Imperial Majesty’s intention to send the Grand Cross of the First Class of the Royal Order of the Red Eagle to His Majesty as a mark of high regard and esteem.

In conclusion, I beg to give expression to my grateful sense of the many courtesies which, as His Majesty’s envoy, I received at the courts of St. James and Berlin, and the many kindly sentiments of regard and esteem which were expressed for the Hawaiian nation. I am deeply imbued with the conviction that, by the judicious and dignified exercise of the functions of government, Hawaii may maintain an honored place among the nations of the world, which shall make it no slight honor to be known as a Hawaiian subject.

With sentiments of high consideration, I am your excellency’s humble obedient servant,