Comly to Henry A. Peirce, July 1, 1878

Mr. Comly to the minister of foreign affairs.

Sir: I have the honor to submit to His Majesty’s Government, through your excellency, my opinion that the integrity of the treaty of reciprocity between the United States and the Hawaiian Island is threatened.

Allow me to call your attention to a clause of Article IV of the treaty, as follows:

“It is agreed on the part of His Hawaiian Majesty that so long as this treaty shall remain in force he will not * * * make any treaty by which any other nation shall obtain the same privileges relative to the admission of any articles free of duty hereby secured to the United States.”

This stipulation is in the nature of a valuable consideration to be paid by one party to the other, as one of the causes which move the contracting parties to enter into an agreement. The failure to pay it would be a breach which would endanger, if not destroy, the whole compact.

No treaty in existence at the time this compact was entered into secured to any other nation the privileges as to the admission of certain articles free of duty, which have been guaranteed to the United States by this treaty. These privileges were secured, not through any general treaty rights or stipulations, but by giving certain valuable considerations in a special treaty of reciprocal covenants. The concession of these privileges to the United States cannot therefore form any just basis for a claim to like privileges by any other nation, under the parity clause of the ordinary form of treaty. The uttermost that might be conceded under such parity clause would be the claim to purchase the same immunities through special treaty, upon like terms with those agreed upon between the United States and the Hawaiian Islands. But this is in the nature of the case impossible. Those concessions by the United States which are of the greatest value to the islands under this treaty would be of no value whatever from other powers, whose great distance from the best markets for island products would be as effectual a bar to the enjoyment of reciprocity as a prohibitory edict. The effect of such an arrangement would be, if attempted with other powers on the same basis, that the United States would remit some millions of duty on island products during the seven years, in order that other nations might not pay duty to His Hawaiian Majesty on goods brought here to compete with American products.

This is the precise thing the treaty does not intend. Its intentions is to secure exclusive benefits to both contracting parties through special privileges granted by each to the other. To admit the claim of a third party to come in and enjoy all the benefits conceded by both principals, without any payment in equivalent special privileges to either, would be an unprecedented thing.

It would be strange if the Hawaiian Government and people should fail to take in the advantages secured to them by the treaty, and should suffer its integrity to be impaired. While I cannot believe that there is real danger of such a result, yet there are circumstances, not necessary to detail particularly, which may excuse this friendly and cautionary mention of some of the rights and privileges of the United States under the treaty.

With the most distinguished consideration and respect, I am, sir, your excellency’s very obedient servant,