princes, the heir apparent and his brother. The commission spent ten weeks in Paris seeking to negotiate a treaty, but without success. In London the basis of a new and equitable treaty was agreed upon with Great Britain, similar to the one signed with $he United States. Returning by way of Washington, they solicited the United States to join with England and France in a tripartite convention respecting Hawaii, which was again declined; but the government agreed to use its good offices with France for a settlement of existing difficulties. Its attempts in that direction led to animated conferences between the American minister in Paris and the minister for foreign affairs, in which the French government was given to understand that the United States, owing to its paramount interest in those islands, would allow no forcible occupation of them by any foreign power.
The French government, being still apparently bent upon forcing its demands, sent out a special commissioner, Mr. Perrin, who arrived at Honolulu in a war vessel in December, 1850. He presented anew the former demand with its ten articles, and entered upon a voluminous and irritating correspondence which continued through three months. The king, perplexed by these persistent demands and threats of violence, with the advice of his privy council, signed a proclamation in due form, in which he declared that, "despairing of equity and justice from France, we hereby proclaim as our royal will and pleasure that all our islands, and all our rights as sovereign over them, are from the date hereof placed under the protection and safeguard of
