_Reply by His Majesty to the Address of Hon. D. L. Gregg, Commissioner
of the United States, on Presentation of the Letter of the President of
the United States, condoling with His Majesty on the Death of His
Predecessor, and congratulating Him on His Accession to the Throne._
I trust it is almost unnecessary for me to assure you, Mr.
Gregg, that the letter you have just delivered to me from the
President of the Great American Republic could not have
reached me through a more agreeable channel than the hands of
the United States' Commissioner.
I will not do my own feelings the injustice of attempting to
disguise the fact that, at the present moment this
communication from the Head of your Government, according to
my appreciation of it, loses entirely its formal character,
and appears to express only the sentiments of a Friend, who
has proved himself worthy of that high name. The Treaty
recently negotiated between my Envoy at Washington and Mr.
Marcy, on the part of the Government of the United States, is
indeed but one link in the chain that binds the two countries
in relations of the most happy kind. But it is a convention of
the greatest importance not only to those who are numbered
among my subjects, but to every American citizen who has any
interests upon these islands. I do not doubt but that its
effect will be to call hither more of your enterprising
countrymen, and direct towards the now partially developed
resources of this archipelago, the attention of your
judicious, but ever ready capitalists. Under this treaty we
may expect to see American citizens raising the produce which
American ships will carry to an American market. But their
prosperity will be ours. Indeed, the mutual interests of the
two countries are so interwoven in this regard, that it would
be a difficult task to define a line between them.
Whatever may be the future in store for these islands, it will
be impossible for any Hawaiian while the nation exists to
forget or undervalue the fostering care which your Great
Country, as a Parent, has extended towards them; and among the
names of individual Americans that will stand out prominently,
I foresee a high place assigned to those of Mr. President
Pierce, and the gentleman I have the pleasure to address.