f June, A.D. 1898,--said right,
privilege, and exemption being subject to the terms and conditions set
forth in said Indenture;

And whereas among said terms and conditions it is declared and agreed by
said Indenture that the party of the second part within two years from
the approval (within eighteen months from the date of said contract) of
an act by the Congress of the United States authorizing the party of the
second part to construct and operate a submarine cable line between the
United States and the Hawaiian Islands shall construct, lay in proper
working order, and establish a submarine telegraph cable from a point or
points on the Pacific coast of the United States to a landing place or
places in the Hawaiian Islands with terminus at Honolulu, Island of
Oahu, according to the specifications of said Indenture, and further,
within three years from the approval of such act by the Congress of the
United States, shall in like manner construct, lay in proper working
order, and establish a submarine telegraph cable from a point or points
at or near said Honolulu to Japan;

And whereas it is provided by said Indenture that the contract therein
made and set forth shall not take effect, if at any time within six
months from the date thereof, to wit, the 2d day of July, A.D., 1898,
"the United States State Department" shall express its disapproval
thereof;

And whereas, pursuant to a Joint Resolution of the Senate and House of
Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
approved July 7, 1898, to provide for annexing the Hawaiian Islands to
the United States, the sovereignty of the said Hawaiian Islands was
yielded up to the United States on the 12th day of August, A.D., 1898,
becoming thenceforth vested in the United States of America.

And whereas, in view of the provisions of said Joint Resolution for the
determination by the Congress of the United States of all matters of
municipal legislation concerning the Hawaiian Islands, and because the
subject matter and provisions of said Indenture are deemed to be proper
subjects for the consideration and determination of the Congress of the
United States, it is deemed expedient and necessary that the Congress of
the United States consider and adopt such legislation, especially in
regard to grants and contractual obligations to be controlled by and
rest upon the United States of America as vested with sovereignty over
said Hawaiian Islands, without