Treaty of peace, amity, and commerce between France and the Sandwich Islands, signed at Honolulu, March 26, 1846

Time having shown the expediency of substituting a general treaty for the various conventions mutually concluded heretofore by France and the Sandwich Islands, the French and Hawaiian Governments have mutually agreed upon the following articles, and have signed them, after acknowledging and decreeing that all other treaties and conventions now existing between the contracting parties, shall be hereafter considered as void and of no effect.

ARTICLE 1. There shall be perpetual peace and friendship between His Majesty the King of the French and the King of the Sandwich Islands, and between their heirs and successors.

ART. 2. The subjects of His Majesty the King of the French, residing in the possessions of the King of the Sandwich Islands, shall enjoy, as to civil rights, and as regards their persons and their property, the same protection as if they were native subjects, and the King of the Sandwich Islands engages to grant them the same rights and privileges as those now granted, or which may be granted hereafter, to the subjects of the most favored nation.

ART. 3. Any Frenchman accused of any crime or offense shall be tried only by a jury composed of native residents, or of foreigners proposed by the consul of France, and accepted by the Government of the Sandwich Islands.

ART. 4. The King of the Sandwich Islands will extend his protection to French vessels, their officers and crews. In case of shipwreck, the chiefs and inhabitants of the various parts of the Sandwich Islands must lend them assistance and protect them from all pillage.

The salvage dues will be settled, in case of difficulty, by umpires appointed by both parties.

ART. 5. Desertion of sailors employed on board French vessels, will be severely repressed by the local authorities, who must use every means at their command to arrest the deserters. All expenses, within just limits, incurred in their recapture, will be refunded by the captain or owners of the said vessels.

ART. 6. French goods, or those recognized as coming from French possessions, can not be prohibited nor subjected to a higher import duty than five per cent ad valorem. Wines, brandies and other spirituous liquors are excepted, and may be subjected to any just duties which the Government of the Sandwich Islands may think proper to impose upon them, but on condition that such duty shall never be high enough to become an absolute obstacle to the importation of the said articles.

ART. 7. Tonnage and import duties and all other duties imposed upon French vessels, or upon merchandise imported in French vessels, must not exceed the duties imposed upon the vessels or merchandise of the most favored nation.

ART. 8. The subjects of the King of the Sandwich Islands will be treated upon the footing of the most favored nation in their commercial or other relations with France.

Made at Honolulu, March 26, 1846.

[L.S.] Em. Perrin,
Consul of France,
Charged with a special mission to the Sandwich Islands.

[L.S.] R. C. Wyllie,
His Hawaiian Majesty's Minister of Foreign Relations.

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