quick succession, the lives of some of them being shortened by intemperance and immorality. The line of the Kamehamehas became extinct, and one ruler after another dying without a designated successor, disorder and riots ensued, growing out of the election of a head to the enfeebled government, and the presence on shore of American marines was time and again invoked to preserve the public peace.

During the administration of President Grant, Secretary Fish authorized new negotiations for reciprocity, so ardently desired by the Hawaiians. In his instructions to the American minister he referred to the condition of the government and its evident tendency to decay and dissolution, to the danger of its falling under foreign control, and stated that "we desire no additional similar outposts [as Bermuda] in the hands of those who may at some future time use them to our disadvantage." While authorized to entertain propositions for reciprocity, the minister was not to discourage any feeling which might exist in favor of annexation. The negotiations were opened at Honolulu, but King Kalakaua, impressed with the importance of the matter, sent two commissioners to Washington, and their action resulted for the third time in a treaty of commercial reciprocity, those of 1855 and 1867 having failed, as noted, in the United States Senate.

This treaty provided for the free reciprocal introduction of practically all the products of Hawaii into the United States, and of those of the United States into Hawaii. The opposition of the advocates of annexation was overcome by the insertion of a stipulation that

none of the territory of Hawaii should be leased or disposed of to any other power, and that none of the priv ileges granted by the treaty should be conferred upon any other nation. With this clause added, the treaty was regarded as insuring the ultimate acquisition of the islands by the United States, and it was ratified by the Senate and went into operation in 1876.

This treaty is justly regarded as one of the most important events in Hawaiian history. Its final result was to bring about annexation. Its immediate effect was to create a great revival in commerce and the native industries. Though sugar cultivation had commenced twenty years before when the demand for it arose in California, it had not been possible to compete in the United States markets with the slave-grown sugar of other countries. The free introduction of Hawaiian sugar under the treaty gave a strong impetus to its cultivation, as also to that of rice. The total value of exports in a few years was increased more than sixfold, a corresponding increase resulted in the revenues of the government, and the wealth of the country was greatly multiplied.

As a consequence, public and private enterprises were stimulated, and an unexampled era of prosperity fol lowed. Government buildings and other improvements of public utility were constructed; railroads and telegraph lines put in operation; expensive systems of irrigation were installed; many artesian wells were sunk for sugar cultivation; and new schools, hospitals, and churches were erected—all as the direct result of the reciprocity treaty.

It had still another effect which brought about a radical change in the population of the islands. As sugar cultivation became very profitable, it was largely extended, and this occasioned an unusual demand for labor. It could not be supplied from the native population, as the aboriginal race was unwilling to undergo the fatigues and hardships of the plantations. Efforts were made to obtain laborers from the other Polynesian islands, but they proved unsatisfactory. Over ten thousand Portuguese were brought from the Azores, but the supply from that source was limited. As the area brought under cultivation was enlarged, the planters turned to the overflowing populations of China and Japan, and more than twenty thousand from each of those countries were brought into the islands. By these means the native inhabitants, decreasing steadily in numbers, became a minority, idle, thriftless, and comparatively unimportant. The property and wealth had, in great measure, passed into the hands of people of

alien races.1

The duration of the reciprocity treaty was fixed at seven years, but after some negotiation it was renewed in 1884 with an important additional clause. This was the granting to the United States of the exclusive use of Pearl Harbor for a naval station, with the right to improve and fortify it. In 1873 General Schofield had been sent by President Grant to the islands to make a survey with a view to the location of such a station, and he made a report in favor of Pearl Harbor, and later appeared before a Congressional committee and

1 Allen's Report (cited), 19-22; Alexander's Hist. Hawaii, 303–311.

urged the importance of some measure looking to the control of the islands.

The action of the Hawaiian government in ceding Pearl Harbor to the United States led to a protest from the British minister in Honolulu, who said that such cession "would infallibly lead to the loss of the independence of the islands," but he based his objection to it on the ground that it was in violation of an article of the British treaty with that country which gave to British vessels of war liberty of entry to all harbors to which ships of other nationalities were admitted. The Hawaiian government, however, did not admit the British contention.

During the first administration of President Cleveland action was taken on several subjects indicating the paramount influence or authority of the United States in Hawaii. One of his first acts was to proclaim the renewal of the reciprocity treaty, with the Pearl Harbor clause. In 1886 an attempt to make a loan in London of $2,000,000 upon the hypothecation of the customs revenues of Hawaii was defeated, Secretary Bayard taking the position that it was in conflict with the clause of the reciprocity treaty which forbade the cession of territory to any other country or the creation of a lien upon any port. In 1887 the British minister approached the government at Washington with a request that the United States join Great Britain and France in the compact of 1843, whereby they guaranteed the neutrality and independence of Hawaii. Mr. Bayard declined on the ground that by the reciprocity treaty Hawaii was enjoying material prosperity, had

entered into special obligations as to the cession of a port and alienation of territory, and occupied towards the United States a relation different from that towards all other countries. King Kalakaua had made an alliance with the Samoan king, and in 1887 the approval of the government of the United States was asked to the compact. Mr. Bayard pointed out the inexpediency of it, and withheld approval.

The prosperity which attended the reciprocity arrangement replenished the royal treasury, and Kalakaua sought to make the most out of his good fortune. He first visited the United States, where he was received in a manner becoming a royal neighbor. Afterwards he made a tour of the world and was entertained by the governments and crowned heads of Asia and of Europe. He returned home with ambitious ideas for himself and his kingdom. In 1883 he published a protest against the seizure by Great Britain and France of various groups in Polynesia, while the alliance with Samoa was another of his schemes for giving importance to his reign.

An adventurer named Gibson had ingratiated himself into the favor of Kalakaua, and had been made prime minister, and the Samoan alliance was attempted under his auspices. Gibson claimed to be the heir of a great English family; he had been imprisoned in Java, whence he escaped to Salt Lake City, and was sent by Brigham Young as a Mormon apostle to Hawaii ; becoming involved in trouble with the "Saints," he became a Protestant, but in a little while transferred his spiritual allegiance to the Pope, and was soon an