HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 
 
Mr. DEV. I do not wish to see the Lackawanna back here. I hope 
when she does return she will have orders to leave immediately. 
McC. For what reason? 
DENV. The commander of the Lackawanna, Capt. Reynolds, is person- 
ally obnoxious to this Government. 
McC. WhyI 
DEV. Because when a resident of these islands his political senti- 
ments were displeasing to His Majesty and his ministry. 
MoO. What were those political sentiments ? 
DEV. I can not tell; they were very obnoxious. 
MoO. Do you wish to establish the principle that, before any Amer- 
ican man-of-war can touch these islands, you have the right to desig- 
nate who shall command her, and what his political principles shall be? 
Mr. DEV. We have the same rights with regard to a man-of-war 
which we would have in relation to a diplomatic agent-the principle 
is precisely the same, and we have the right to refuse to receive the 
one or permit the other to remain in our ports; and if the Lackawanna 
returns to stop here, we will order her peremptorily to leave; we will 
send her away for the reasons I have mentioned about. Capt. Reynolds, 
and for other and more serious reasons-this is our right and we are 
determined to exercise it. 
Mc0. I decline discussing this matter any farther at present. Your 
mind appears to be made up,, and you saw proper to refer the whole 
matter directly to the Secretary of State of the United States, with- 
out making your communication through the legation, and Mr. Seward 
will no doubt take such action as will be just and proper and i hope 
satisfactory to you. I would suggest, however, at this time, if your 
Government really desires the ratification of the reciprocity treaty, it

would probably be highly impolitic and imprudent to order away from 
your waters any man-of-war belonging to the United States, just at the 
time when my Government is endeavoring by the most substantial 
proof in their power to show their friendship for the Hawaiian Govern- 
ment. 
About 10:30 a. m. I called on His Majesty and stated that I-desired 
to talk with him unofficially. I repeated the conversation between Mr. 
De Varigny and myself and suggesteal that, as I intended going to 
Washington sometime during this fall or winter, it would probably be 
better to take no action in the premises, even should the Lackawanna 
remain, until he heard from me. On my arrival in Washington I would 
lay the whole matter before the Secretary of State and call his atten- 
tion to the objections of the Hawaiian Government to the presence of 
the Lackawanna here. His Majesty replied that this had better be un- 
derstood before I left. I called his attention to the dispatch of the 
Secretary of State, No. 31, containing renewed assurances of the desire 
of the United States to maintain just and amicable relations with the 
King of the Hawaiian Islands, and also to all my past assurances that 
the Lackawanna was here on a friendly mission and for no unusual pur- 
pose. I thought that after all these assurances of friendship from all 
the representatives of my Government he ought to be satisfied as to 
their feelings. The past conduct of the United States toward the Gov- 
ernment of these islands should be the best assurance that his sover- 
eignty would always be respected in the future as it had been in the 
past. 
His Majesty spoke of newspaper articles in the press of the United 
States, advocating the annexation or acquisition of those islands. I 
said that the newspapers of a country did not always represent the 
 
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