WASHINGTON, _August 14, 1852_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
I have received a resolution from your honorable body of the 6th
instant, appearing to have been adopted in open legislative session,
requesting me "to inform the Senate, if not incompatible with the public
interests, whether any propositions have been made by the King of the
Sandwich Islands to transfer the sovereignty of these islands to the
United States, and to communicate to the Senate all the official
information on that subject in my possession;" in reply to which I have
to state that on or about the 12th day of June last I received a similar
resolution from the Senate adopted in executive or secret session, to
which I returned an answer stating that in my opinion a communication of
the information requested at that juncture would not comport with the
public interest. Nothing has since transpired to change my views on that
subject, and I therefore feel constrained again to decline giving the
information asked.