1276	HAWAIIAN  ISLANDS.

communications before any intimation of their character can be telegraphed.
I will on Tuesday acknowledge the receipt of the answer of the Provisional Government, notifying it that the 
President of the United States will be informed thereof, and that no further steps will be taken by me until I shall 
have heard from him. I shall deliver a similar communication to the Queen.
The very great excitement prevailing here and the peculiar conditions surrounding this people prompt the above 
course, which, I trust, will meet with the approbation of the President and of yourself.
I think it proper to acknowledge in this public way the efficient services rendered to the Government of the United 
States by our consul-general, Mr. Mills, since my arrival at this place. 
I have, etc.,
Albert S. Willis. 

[Inclosure with No. 18.] 

Mr. Dole to Mr. Willis.

Department of Foreign Affairs, 
Honolulu, December 23, 1893.
Sir : Your excellency's communication of December 19, announcing the conclusion which the President of the 
United States of America has finally arrived at respecting the application of this Government for a treaty of political 
union with that country, and referring also to the domestic affairs of these islands, has had the consideration of the 
Government.
While it is with deep disappointment that we learn that the important proposition which we have submitted to the 
Government of the United States, and which was at first favorably considered by it, has at length been rejected, we 
have experienced a sense of relief that we are now favored with the first official information upon the subject that 
has been received through a period of over nine months.
While we accept the decision of the President of the United States, declining further to consider the annexation 
proposition, as the final conclusion of the present administration, we do not feel inclined to regard it as the last word 
of the American Government upon this subject, for the history of the mutual relations of the two countries, of 
American effort and influence in building up the Christian civilization which has so conspicuously aided in giving 
this country an honorable place among independent nations, the geographical position of these islands, and the 
important and, to both countries, profitable reciprocal commercial interests which have long existed, together with 
our weakness as a sovereign nation, all point with convincing force to political union between the two countries as 
the necessary logical result from the circumstances mentioned. This conviction is emphasized by the favorable 
expression, of American statesmen over a long period in favor of annexation, conspicuous among whom are the 
names of W. L. Marcy, William H. Seward, Hamilton Fish, and James G. Blaine, all former Secretaries of State, and 
especially so by the action of your last administration in negotiating a treaty of annexation with this Government and 
sending it to the Senate with a view to its ratification.
We shall therefore continue the project of political union with the United States as a conspicuous feature of our 
foreign policy, confidently hoping that sooner or later it will be crowned with success, to the lasting benefit of both 
countries.
The additional portion of your communication referring to our domestic affairs with a view of interfering therein, is 
a new departure in the relations of the two governments. Your information that the President of the United States 
expects this Government "to promptly relinquish to her (meaning the ex-Queen) her constitutional authority," with 
the question "are you willing to abide by the decision of the President?" might well be dismissed in a single word, 
but for the circumstance that your communication contains, as it appears to me, misstatements and erroneous 
conclusions based thereon, that are so prejudicial to this Government that I cannot permit them to pass 
unchallenged; moreover, the importance and menacing character of this proposition make it appropriate for me to 
discuss somewhat fully the questions raised by it.
We do not recognize the right of the President of the United States to interfere in our domestic affairs. Such right 
could be conferred upon him by the act of this

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