Kamehameha III, King of Hawaii

Manuscript document signed ("Kamehameha"), text written in a clerical hand, 2 pages (13 3/4 x 7 1/4 in.; 352 x 184 mm) on a single sheet, Honolulu, 24 April 1849, being James Jackson Jarves's appointment as "Our Special Commissioner to the Government of France," countersigned by the Hawaiian premier and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, embossed seal of the Kingdom of Hawaii. Rustic green burlap portfolio, early woodcut portrait of Kamehameha mounted on inside front cover.

James Jackson Jarves had been a newspaper editor and publisher in Hawaii; following this appointment he never returned from Europe, eventually settling in Florence where he became an influential art critic and collector. The present commission authorized him to act for Kamehameha "upon matters relating to the Treaty of the 26th of March 1846 [of peace and commerce with Great Britain], to the preservation of Our Independence and the security of Our neutrality during all wars, and the greater regularity and uniformity of Our Relations with all Foreign Nations."