The 1890 Treaty of Honolulu was initially signed by the Republic of Shinra, Tian Xia, and Wilkonia, with Tonkin, Cascadia, and Shroomania ratifying it in 1896, 1892, and 1901 respectively. It recognized the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Hawaii and pledged the signatories to protect Hawaiian independence in exchange for trade guarantees, the imposition of tariffs on non-signatories by the Hawaiian government, and forbidding Hawaii from hosting foreign military forces within certain guidelines.
Background[]
By 1889 the situation with the Kingdom of Hawaii was becoming troublesome. All of the American states except for Alaska, as well as the world-spanning Sovereignty of Shroomania and Tonkinese Republic, had interests in the Pacific island kingdom and its abundant agricultural bounty. The Kamehameha Dynasty had played the competing nations against one another to maintain independence. But a number of war scares between various American nations, Tonkin, and Shroomania had built in the states a desire to settle the issue of Hawaii through diplomacy. The 1888 Colorado Dispute, the last of the great disputes between the great American powers that preceded the formation of what became MESS, cemented the urge in the three nations' leaderships to find permanent solutions to their disputes.
Their first act of solidarity was to stand together in the Von Schyster Affair. King Kamehameha VI's government had disputed an old contract with the Shroomanian Von Schyster Bank, accusing the bank of attempting to impose interest on a loan improperly. When the Von Schysters summarily called in the note, justifying it by accusing the Hawaiians of bad faith, the Hawaiian government refused to pay, indeed, could not easily pay due to a recent bad harvest. The Shroomanian government, as it was wont to do, stepped in and ordered naval units to Hawaii to force payment.
Seeking to take advantage of the situation and improve their own inroads into Hawaii, Tonkin offered the Hawaiians a loan and materials to shore up their defenses against the Shroomanians and other potential threats, a clear bid to try and gain ascendancy in the islands.
In response the three powers issued the Gabarone Doctrine, named after the Wilkonian Foreign Secretary of the time who first proposed it to his Shinra and Tian Xia opposites, threatening to intervene if Shroomanian forces attempted to seize control of any portion of the Hawaiian Islands. Faced with the threat of war against the three powers the Shroomanians delayed sailing the fleet but refused to back down on the issue. King Hamehameha VI, recognizing his opening, responded to the announcement by offering to host talks to settle the issue "and all others". The three American states agreed. Tonkin, recognizing they'd been outflanked, nevertheless agreed in an attempt to salvage the situation. The Shroomanians would reluctantly send an observer.
Negotiations[]
The Hawaiian monarchy had spent decades up to this point updating their new capital of Honolulu, on the island Oahu, to match the standards of the Old Continent and America. For negotiators anticipating straw huts and half-naked savages plucking pineapples off trees, the sight of Honolulu's grandeur was quite the shock, as was the fully modern amenities of the Royal Palace where the negotiations took place. The Hawaiians dealt in expert fashion with their guests, making their lives comfortable in and out of the conference room and smoking rooms where the terms for the treaty were hammered out.
The final result was a treaty that recognized the existing foreign influences and which declared that Hawaii's independence and continued sovereignty would be guaranteed by all signing nations. Although mention of the "swift payment of proper debts" was made, the actual dispute with Shroomania went unnoted and the language gave Kamehameha VI's government wide latitude to resist the Von Schyster loan repayment.
The Shroomanians were outraged at the result, their envoy refusing to even attend the signing ceremony, but recognized there was little they could do about it save hope that it didn't get ratified. Tonkin also expressed disapproval at the failure of the treaty to impose stricter guidelines on Hawaiian debt repayments and would take six years to ratify the treaty. Cascadia, which had not attented the talks, signed the treaty in 1891 and saw it ratified at the beginning of the 1892 Senate session.
Results[]
With the three main powers ratifying it in the span of a year, the Treaty of Honolulu was in full force. It sparked a boom in investment in the Islands. Hawaii's standard of living, while never to reach that of the richest in the "civilized" world, would become high enough to be among the richest among the island nations of the Pacific. Immigration turned Hawaii into a melting pot of ethnicities and provided the workforce to make it a leading world producer in exotic tropical fruits like breadfruit and pineapples.
The Von Schyster Bank collapsed in the Panic of 1898. The rights to the Hawaiian loan that started the entire affair were bought by Kalman Brothers Financial of Caprica City. The Canissian bank offered to refinance the loan for Hawaii, an offer that was accepted.
With the point of the dispute made moot, the barriers to Shroomanian acceptance of the new structure in Hawaii lifted. After a failure to get approval in the 1900 sessions of Parliament, proponents of closer relations with the powers that were in the midst of forming what became MESS succeeded in winning Shroomanian ratification of the Treaty of Honolulu in 1901, eleven years after it's negotiation.
The Treaty of Honolulu still remains in effect, allowing the island nation to enjoy security most others do not have. The bounty of its agriculture, whether it's sugarcane, pineapples, or macadamias, are enjoyed around the world.