A remote guarantee would need bricks and mortar. Ships, a storehouse, a hospital, and perhaps a British harbor master would show that protection was continuously present. The senior official could not be a governor because Hawaii remained outside the colonial system, while an ordinary ambassador would not express Britain's responsibility for the protectorate's foreign relations. The proposed title is commissioner or high commissioner. Britain would handle foreign-policy questions that affected its obligations while leaving ordinary Hawaiian government alone.
Notable Point · 33:52-35:51
A high commissioner connects the base to foreign policy
Ships, stores, a hospital, a harbor master, and a high commissioner provide the visible institutions needed to make a distant protectorate credible.