Statewide County HI Archives Biographies.....Carter, Henry A. August 7, 1837 - November 1, 1891
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J. Orr orr@hawaii.com August 31, 2009, 4:29 pm

Source: The Story of Hawaii and Its Builders. Published by Honolulu Star Bulletin, Ltd., Territory of Hawaii, 1925.
Author: Edited by George F. Nellist

HENRY A. P. CARTER, One of Hawaii’s Statesmen. Henry A. P. Carter, able 
financier and friend of kings, will best be remembered in his island-home as a 
diplomat. Great as were his contributions to the Hawaiian Islands in the way 
of business accomplishments, greater were his deeds as a statesman.
  Practically self-educated, Henry Carter became as a young man the head of C. 
Brewer & Co., even then an old and honored mercantile house of Honolulu. Mr. 
Carter succeeded Mr. Sherman Peck and, as senior partner, owned two-thirds of 
the firm. It was young Henry Carter who recognized that the commerce of 
Honolulu could not prosper until these Islands produced some commodity that 
could be used in exchange for merchandise which was imported and consumed 
here. Hence, he persisted in accepting sugar agencies, believing that the 
sugar industry could but offer some permanent relief to the trying situation 
that then existed.
  Though born here and intensely loyal to his American parentage, yet he did 
not approve of the policy of annexation. At a public meeting in 1873, held at 
the old Hawaiian Hotel, this young merchant boldly challenged the wisdom of 
annexation but debated in a most winning manner in favor of reciprocity with 
the United States of America. He pointed out the past unsuccessful efforts in 
this direction and the reasons thereof, and urged the wisdom of slower but 
more certain growth of American sentiment in these Islands.
  In 1874, Mr. Carter was sent to Washington to aid Judge E. H. Allen in 
securing a Reciprocity Treaty. There were many obstacles to overcome, but at 
the end of two years success was achieved. The work of Mr. Carter in 
Washington was but the beginning of his long diplomatic service for the 
Kingdom of Hawaii.
  Hardly had he returned and assumed his responsibilities in the firm of C. 
Brewer & Company when his business career was again interrupted. Immediately 
upon the establishment of the Reciprocity Treaty and the reduction of duties 
on certain commodities between the United States of America and the Kingdom of 
Hawaii, a great hue and cry was raised by the residents of other countries in 
Hawaii, over the advantage in trade that this new treaty gave to the Americans 
located here and their home governments’ attention was directed to the so-
called violation of the “favored nation clause” in the older treaties made 
with Great Britain, France and Germany.
   To meet this contingency Mr. Carter was sent as the King’s special envoy to 
those three countries. This mission he felt obliged to undertake as it 
appeared to him to be but the unfinished part of his work in Washington, and 
again he left his partners in charge of his business affairs and crossed the 
Atlantic.
  As England was somewhat compromised by the utterances of a former 
administration, she was not averse to an amicable arrangement. France at the 
times was too much occupied with more important domestic affairs, and 
intimated that she would be glad to know what Germany proposed to do. 
Undaunted, Mr. Carter betook himself and his credentials to Berlin. There 
punctiliously observing the formalities of German court etiquette, he 
eventually was successful in securing his presentation to that eminent 
statesman, Bismarck. On the occasion of the interview, Bismarck aggressively 
asserted that German subjects residing in Hawaii must have equal privileges 
with those granted to the subjects of other nations, indicating that he 
intended to sustain the contentions of the local foreign residents opposing 
the new American treaty.
  Mr. Carter calmly replied that Hawaii was quite prepared to grant this. The 
great German statesman, however, added that this was impossible as the 
American-Hawaiian Reciprocity Treaty had a clause prohibiting Hawaii from 
making similar treaties with other countries. Mr. Carter denied this and a 
copy of the treaty was immediately sent for. While waiting its arrival, 
Bismarck asked how the Hawaiian envoy dared to contradict him.
  Mr. Carter gently suggested that he had drafted the particular treaty in 
dispute and knew its contents. Sure enough, on the arrival of the document, 
Mr. Carter pointed out that the prohibition applied to “similar privileges” on 
a particular and limited schedule of imports but that Hawaii was free to enter 
a like Reciprocity treaty with Germany granting the free admission of other 
imports.
  The Bismarck asked if Mr. Carter’s powers were sufficiently broad to enter 
negotiations for a similar reciprocity treaty with Germany to which Mr. Carter 
replied, “Yes.” All seemed well, the clouded sky cleared and the Hawaiian 
envoy was invited to dinner where the matter could be discussed at ease. Mr. 
Carter mentions in a letter that at that dinner he saw Bismarck’s two famous 
greyhounds, and that after dinner came the long tobacco pipe brought in by the 
faithful German frau, when the subject of the new treaty was resumed. Mr. 
Carter acquiesced that it could be drawn identically with the American Treaty 
provided that the considerations on the part of each of the contracting 
parties would be the same as those which prompted the American Treaty with 
Hawaii, and with this Bismarck seemed content. At this point, Mr. Carter asked 
if Germany was prepared to furnish Hawaii with a vast continent within a 
distance of two thousand miles, populated with millions of German citizens 
ready and willing to consume the produce of Hawaiian soil.
  The great German statesman smiled and perhaps for the first time recognized 
a new principle in international law. After a brief silence, he good-naturedly 
said, “Are all the men of your little country as bold as you are?”
   Mr. Carter replied, “Yes, when they know they are right.”
  After this incident, it was largely a question of saving appearances and to 
effect this, a new German Treaty was made.
  However, reason as he might with Bismarck, the latter insisted on the clause 
being inserted: that Germany would waive her right to equal treatment only so 
long as the American-Hawaiian Treaty existed. To this, Mr. Carter was obliged 
to yield. This very clause, however, proved to be a “boomerang” for Germany, 
as in later years, at Washington, it was with pleasure that Mr. Carter called 
the attention of the American officials to this provision in the German 
Treaty, which proved a material factor in preventing the United States from 
cancelling this treaty.
  This European mission lasted until 1879 when again Mr. Carter turned his 
attention to the affairs of C. Brewer & Co. The development of the sugar 
industry caused the labor question to become acute, and in 1882 Mr. Carter was 
sent on a diplomatic mission to Portugal where he was successful in securing a 
new treaty regulating the Portuguese immigration to Hawaii, and upon this 
treaty’s going into effect Mr. Carter was able to make arrangements with 
friends in London which greatly facilitated the transportation of the first 
group of these desirable laborers to these islands.
  On Jan. 1, 1883, the Hawaiian Minister Resident at Washington, Judge Allen, 
died suddenly in the midst of a reception at the White House. In February, Mr. 
Carter was sent to Washington as his successor. Again, Mr. Carter’s efforts 
were successful in protecting the Reciprocity Treaty from various attacks, and 
finally in securing its definite renewal. This renewal, which went into effect 
in 1887, carried for the first time the Pearl Harbor clause, by which the 
United States was granted the use of a naval station at Pearl Harbor. This 
clause was the subject of much official correspondence between Mr. Carter and 
the secretary of State.
  Mr. Carter continued to reside in Washington as the Hawaiian Minister until 
his death. During this period he became dean of the Diplomatic Corps. It 
invariably happened upon Mr. Carter’s return from his various missions abroad 
that some local ministerial position would be created for him by the King. 
Therefore, Mr. Carter is credited with having had more royal Hawaiian 
commissions issued to him than had been given to any other person.
  As has been stated, Mr. Carter had won substantial business success while 
still a young man before his public service began. It is said that in the late 
50’s, when a clerk in the old firm of C. Brewer & Co., Mr. Carter made more 
money through his private trading ventures than was made by the concern 
itself, and it was because of this business sagacity that he was made a 
partner.
  Mr. Carter brought into the business in 1871, as a junior partner, Mr. P. C. 
Jones. The wisdom of this choice was evident when Mr. Carter began his 
diplomatic career for Mr. Jones proved to be just the man needed to carry the 
heavy burden of debt and risk during those years of uncertainty, when the 
sugar plantations were getting under way.
  Mr. Carter was born in Honolulu, Aug. 7, 1837. He was the son of Captain 
Joseph O. and Hannah (Lord) Carter. His father first came to these Islands in 
a sailing vessel from Charlestown, Mass., in about 1825, and later became a 
trader and shipmaster, exchanging goods between Valparaiso, Mazatlan, 
California, Sitka, Siberia, Canton and Macao. Captain Carter had found the 
trade between Alaska and China a profitable one. In 1840, he took his family 
to Boston and left his sons there with relatives that they might there receive 
an education.
  By 1847, Captain Carter had lost his fortune through disastrous trade 
ventures, and two of his sons were brought home. Unable to retrieve and better 
his financial condition, Captain Carter was obliged to send for his small son, 
Henry, in 1849. The lad, but 12 years of age, soon realized that he must not 
only take care of himself but do what he could to help support his family. The 
following year his father died and young Henry, seeking for employment, went 
to California and worked at odd jobs in San Francisco and Stockton. Later, he 
returned to Honolulu where he held a minor position in the post office. Ever 
alert and ambitious for advancement, he made the most of an opportunity to 
learn typesetting in the office of the “Advertiser,” at that time located next 
to the post office.
  At about nineteen years of age, he was employed as clerk by Charles Brewer 
2nd, and this was the beginning of his successful business career. As early as 
1862, he was made a partner in the firm of C. Brewer & Co. Now in a position 
to assume the responsibilities of life, he married that same year Sybil 
Augusta Judd, a daughter of Dr. G. P. Judd of Honolulu, who came here in 1828 
as a physician for the Missionaries and who later became Prime Minister of the 
Kingdom. It was said of Dr. Judd that he was the first white man who expressed 
a willingness to take the oath of allegiance to a Hawaiian king.
  Mr. and Mrs. H. A. P. Carter’s children were five in number, Frances 
Isabelle, now Mrs. F. M. Crehore; Charles L. Carter (deceased); George R. 
Carter, former governor of Hawaii; Agnes, now Mrs. J. R. Galt, and Cordelia, 
who became Mrs. Charles A. Hartwell, now deceased. Mr. H. A. P. Carter died 
Nov. 1, 1891, in New York City, while still Hawaiian Minister at Washington.


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