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adjust them as to obtain the consent of the two ratifying bodies, and foreclose future legislative action by the Congress of the United States indefinitely, or for a term of years, would be exceedingly presumptuous. The United States have proceeded upon broad considerations of political advantage to themselves in receiving the cession of St. Thomas and St. John from Denmark, but they have not overlooked the rights and interests of the inhabitants of the ceded islands.

Our constitutional system of government is established upon the principle that every people incorporated into the American Union by annexation, or even by conquest, acquire, in the act of annexation, their due and equal share in the protection of the United States and of the liberties and rights of American citizens. Another principle is found at the base of the American Constitution, which is that every community which is received into the national family secures rights and privileges of local self-government with due representation in the councils of the Federal Union.

It is believed by the United States that no portion of the American people can need or reasonably desire any higher or broader guaranties for the protection of life, liberty, and property than those which the Constitution of the United States affords equally and indiscriminately to all the States and the whole American people. The United States are an aggregation of fortyseven distinct political communities, thirty-seven of which are States and ten preparing to be States. They occupy a region which extends from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Ocean, and which stretches from the Atlantic coast. to the furthermost of the Aleutian islands in the Pacific Ocean.

All these political communities have at some time belonged to foreign states and empires.

Such has been the benignant operation of self-government in the United States that no one of these distinct communities could now be induced to assume independence, much less to return to its ancient allegiance, or to accept any other sovereign.

The questions which Governor Birch presents in his proposed amendments were long and elaborately discussed, and were finally overruled in the debates which preceded the treaty of Copenhagen.

The United States were unwilling to make the treaty conditional upon the consent of the people of the islands ceded, because, first, they suppose that the King and legislature of Denmark would not, in any case, make a treaty prejudicial to the rights and liberties of those inhabitants; and secondly, because they were satisfied that, through the constitutional guarantees I have alluded to, the inhabitants would secure rights superior even to those which they have so long enjoyed as a colony under the protection of Denmark. The popular vote which is to be taken in the islands is asked by the Danish

Government for its own satisfaction, and not for that of the United States. It is, therefore, a Danish question, into which the United States can in no case enter. They are willing to accept the cession, if notified by the Senate and confirmed by the Rigsdag of Denmark.

In the judgment of the President supplemental negotiations would only tend to embarrassment and delay, while they are deemed altogether unnecessary. I am therefore not at liberty either to negotiate upon the subject with the local authorities or the royal commissioner extraordinary here, or to reopen the negotiations already closed at Copenhagen.

Your agency at St. Thomas was, as you are aware, constituted in deference to wishes expressed by the Danish Government. I am happy to learn from the royal Danish commissioner, now here, that he anticipates no considerable obstacle or delay of the proceeding with which he is charged at that place, and that he is aware of no necessity for further attendance on your part. these circumstances the agency will be terminated.

Under

I give you the President's thanks for the propriety, ability, and fidelity with which you have performed duties equally delicate and important. I am, sir, your obedient servant,

Rev. Charles Hawley, etc., St. Thomas.

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

The Result of the Election1

St. Thomas, Saturday, January 11, 1868

According to official announcement, the poll was opened on Thursday morning, 9th, precisely at 8 o'clock. The board appointed to conduct the poll consisted of the Honorable Judge Rosenstand, chairman; Messrs. S. B. Lange, G. W. Smith, E. de Leon, and H. Krebs. Present were His Excellency Chamberlain Carstensen, K.D.; His Excellency Governor Birch, K.D., and His Excellency Chamberlain Rothe, K.D. The first ticket (blue) put in the urn was by Mr. James B. Gomez, native proprietor and head of a family. From that time to the closing of the poll the tide of voters continued without abatement. At the close the polling stood thus:

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1 From the St. Thomas Tidende, January 11, 1868. U. S. Sen. Doc. No. 231, pt. 8, 56th Cong., 2d sess., p. 221.

When we bear in mind that the population is 13,000, from which must be deducted women, children, old, infirm, and the fluctuating portion (transient) that of course does not come within the requirements for qualifying a voter, it is too evident that a more satisfactory vote could not well be expected. The result could not otherwise than have been satisfactory to every participant therein, and doubly so to those who ventured to predict its success. The majority for the cession of the islands is so overwhelmingly great compared with those against it, that it admits of no comparison, while the action of the voters on the blue tickets exhibits a peculiarity unusual in the transactions of men, since it can justifiably be said of them that they have pleased and served both parties a circumstance that it will be owned is not common in voting. The voters have really conformed to the wishes of His Majesty the King, on the one side, and at the same time reasonably met the wishes of the United States Government on the other.

The success of the blue ticket relieves both contracting parties from an embarrassing position, since it would have been hard to tell how the treaty could have been finally ratified on either side in the absence of a successful plebiscitum, the only modern method by which one people may now be incorporated with another, and at the same time exempt the contractors from the odium of having handed over their citizens or subjects as simply materials for purchase and sale. It is gratifying to know that while the election naturally produced a certain amount of excitement in the minds of the inhabitants (a goodly portion of which is naturally unfamiliar with manhood suffrage), nevertheless, order and good will seemed to animate everyone, and it may be said that not one indecent act occurred, although, independent of the voters, hundreds of people were drawn from their homes to witness what was going on..

No. 125.)

MR. PERKINS TO MR. SEWARD

St. Thomas, West Indies, January 13, 1868. SIR: I have the honor to inform you that Chamberlain Carstensen, the Danish royal commissioner extraordinary, returned here from Washington on the 1st instant, and in accordance with his publication of that date the voting by the inhabitants of St. Thomas and St. John on the cession of these islands to the United States took place in the former on the 9th and in the latter on the 10th instant, and the result, which I have forwarded to you by telegram from Cuba, has been most satisfactory. In St. Thomas there were 1,039 votes in favor of annexation and only 22 against it. In St. John 205

in favor and none against it. The colored people and the blacks were all in favor of the United States, and the merchants in St. Thomas, from whom I apprehended the chief opposition, behaved remarkably well. Many voted for us and but few against us, while others abstained from voting. It was a holiday here among the people and great enthusiasm was manifested. Early in the day a large number of voters, carrying the American flag and preceded by a band of music, marched to the poll accompanied by a throng of people, the band playing, "Hail Columbia." The mass of the people are rejoiced at the thought of becoming American citizens.

Good order prevailed throughout the day. There has been no naval or other representative of our Government here for some time except Vice-Consul Simmons and myself.

I inclose paper containing the commissioner's address on his return, etc., in separate envelope.

I have the honor to be, your obedient servant,

E. H. PERKINS, United States Consul.

Hon. William H. Seward,

Secretary of State, Washington.

The Period of 1871-1914

ST. BARTHOLOMEW, WEST INDIES, 1877

Treaty Between France and Sweden for the Retrocession of the Island of St. Bartholomew by Sweden to France. Signed at Paris, August 10, 1877 1

TRAITÉ

Le Président de la République française et Sa Majesté le roi de Suède et de Norvège ayant reconnu, d'un mutuel accord, les avantages qui doivent résulter de la réunion de l'île de SaintBarthélemy aux possessions françaises, ont décidé de conclure un traité à cet effet, et ont nommé pour leurs plénipotentiaires, savoir:

Lesquels, après s'être communiqué leurs pleins pouvoirs, trouvés, en bonne et due forme, sont convenus des articles suivants :

ARTICLE 1. Sa Majesté le roi de Suède et de Norvège rétrocède à la France l'île de Saint-Barthélemy et renonce, en conséquence, pour lui et tous ses descendants et successeurs, à ses droits et titres sur ladite colonie. Cette retrocession est faite sous la réserve expresse du consentement de la population de Saint-Barthélemy et, en outre, aux conditions énumérées dans un protocole spécial, qui sera annexé

TREATY

The President of the French Republic and His Majesty the King of Sweden and Norway, having recognized by mutual accord the advantages which should result from the union of the Island of St. Bartholomew to the French possessions, have decided to conclude a treaty to that effect, and have named as their Plenipotentiaries, that is to say:

[Here follow the names of plenipotentiaries.]

Who, having communicated their full powers, found in good and due form, have agreed as to the following articles:

ARTICLE 1. His Majesty the King of Sweden and Norway cedes back to France the Island of St. Bartholomew and renounces, in consequence, for himself and all his descendants and successors all rights and titles over this colony aforesaid. This retrocession is made under the express reservation of the consent of the population of St. Bartholomew and moreover, under the conditions enu

1 De Martens, N. R. G., 2d series, vol. 4, p. 366; de Clercq, Recueil, vol. 12, p. 35. The ratifications were exchanged March 6, 1878.

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