The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1893-09-30

IL Is not ltnpIoDdDlt uHN We oH'u'b
have obtained Canada at that time, had
not the influence OF France been
clandestinely exerted against us.
Thus, we see that the annexation
programme was put forth in the birth
hour of our Government I'll
continued to be advocated by the
trainers and the first administrators of
our Constitution. Gouyerneur Morris,
whose pen put the Constitution in
form, explained that "no decree de
cyeseendo imberio was inserted IN 1t,
because no boundaries could be wisely
or safely assigned to our future expan-
sion. / knew" he said, Gas well then
as | do now, that all North America
must at length be annexed to it" 1t
seems plain, indeed, that, had the in.
tention Of the Constitution been to
keep the Union within the limits then
existing, an express prohibition to that
effect would have been inserted. Such
was the view taken by Galatin when
jefferson consulted him with regard to
the Louisiana negotiations. Such was
the current opinion at the time when
many of the authors and acceptors of
the Constitution were still living; and
it is we'll known that the purchase of
the Louisiana territory for Sis, 700, 900
met with general approval. When,
sixteen years later, we bought the
Floridas from Spain for $4,000, 900,
John Marshall, Chief Justice of the
United States Supreme Court, decided
that the right of our Federal Govern
ment to wage war and made treaties
necessarily implied the right to acquire
new territory, whether by conquest or
purchase.
The somewhat different question Of
the absorption of foreign sovereignty
was raised in 1896 by the application
of the Republic of Texas for admission
into the Union. In this case, as is
well known, annexation was ultimately
effected not by treaty but by virtue Of
an act of Congress, corroborated by a
similar act on the part of the Texan
Legislature Even before the acqulsi-
ton of Texas, the importance of OBJ
tanning Cuba had been urged. John
Quincy Adams, VIXEN Secretary of State
under President Monroe, declared in
his instructions to our minister to Spain
that Cuba and Porto Rico were natural
appendages to our continent, and that
Cuba bad become an object of tran,
Scendent moment to the commercial
and political interests of our Union.
Jefferson, writing to President Monroe
about the same time, said that, while he
would not approve of going to war for
Cuba, yet, if we could get it peaceably,
it would fill up the measure of our we'll
being. President Polk tried 10 buy it
from Spain, and President Fillmore re-
fused to acceed to the agreement pro.
posed by Great Britain and France that
none Of the three powers would ever
seek to obtain possession of the island.
E Edward Everett, when Secretary of
State in 1852, wrote to the British
Minister that "territorially and COM
mercialy, Cuba would, in our hands,
be an extremely valuable possession,
and, under certain contingencies, might
be almost essential to our safety. "The
Ostend manifesto of 1854 emphasized
this consideration, and Presiden. Blu
chanan, in his second annual message
in 1858, devoted much space to the
Cuban question, dwelling on the fact
that former Administrations had repeat
| eddy tried to purchase the island, and
proposing renewed negotiations to that
end.
The fact is pointed out by Mr..
Baldwin that an act passed under the
Buchanan administration explicitly af-
firms the power of the United States
to acquire foreign territory BY right Of
discovery. Under this act the island
Navassa, some two miles long, lying
between San Domingo and Jamaica, is
now part of the United States.
The exposition of our consistency in
the policy of annexation up to the out
break of the civil war does not, of
course, overlook the acquisition of New
Mexico and California, which were
coded to us by treaty in IS4S on the
payment of SIS, 900, 900. A cession fol-
lowed, five years later, by the Gadsden
purchase, which added Southern Ari-
IONA at a cost of $Io,ooo,ooo more.
The outcome of the whole story is that,
between the acknowledgment of our
, independence by Great Britain and the
, rebellion of the Southern States, we
had, by adhering to the annexation
6 program, almost trebled our original
2 territory.
E The civil war had hardly ended
S when we reverted to our historical
! policy by purchasing Alaska, whereby,
in return for $7,2oo,o 900, we obtained
an additional domain of over half a
, million square miles. In the same
: year Mr.. Seward, as Secretary of State,
negotiated a treaty with Denmark for
/ the cession of the West India Islands
Of St Thomas and St, John, on the
payment of $7,5oo,ooo. The inhablt-
ants of both islands voted in favor OF
annexation, but the treaty was rejected
S in 1868 by the Senate; mainly, nc
: doubt, on account of its unfriendly re
= lations TO President Johnson. A little
, later, under Grants administration, the
treaty providing for the annexation Of
the republic of San Domingo was re.