The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1893-10-10

a J. 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 legisla-
ture. Even before the acquisition of
Texas, the importance of obtaining
Cuba had been urged. John Quincy
Adams, when secretary of state under
President Monroe, declared in his in
structions to our minister te Spain,
that Cuba and Porto Rico were natur-
al appendages to our continent, and
that Cuba had become an object of
transcendent moment to the CONNER
cial and political interests of our I'm
ion. Jefferson, writing to President
Monroe about the same time, said
that, while ne would not approve of
going to war for Cuba, yet, if we could
get it peaceably, it would fill up the
measure of our well-being. President
Polk tried to buy it from Spain, and
President Fillmore refused to accede
to the agreemtAt proposed by Great
Britain and France that none of the
three powers would ever seek to OBJ
tain possession of the island. Edward
Everett, when secretary of state in
1852, wrote to the British minister that
Hteritorially and commercially, Cuba
would, in our hands, be an extremely
valuable possession, and, under GER
tain contingencies, might be almost
essential to our safety.n The Ostende
manifesto of 1854 emphasized this con-
sideration. and President Buchanan,
in his second annual message in 1855,
devoted much space to the Cuban
question, dwelling on the fact that
former administrations had repeatedly
tried to purchase the island, and pro-
posing renewed negotiations to that
end.
The fact is pointed out by Mr.. Bald
win that an act passed under the Bu-
chanan administration explicitly az
firms the power of the United States
to acquire foreign territory by right of
discovery. Under this act the island
of Navassa, some two miles long, ly-
ing between San Domingo and Jamai-
ca, is now a part of the United States.
The exposition of our consistency III
| the policy of annexation up TO the
outbreak of the civil war does not, OF
course. overlook the acquisition of
/ New Mexico and California, which
were ceded to us by treaty in lS4S on
! the payment of $15,000,0OO, cession
| followed, five years later, by the
| Gadsden purchase, which added
southern Arizona at cost OF SlO,OOO,-
! 600 more. The outcome of the whole
story is that, between the acknowI-
edcement of our independence by
Great Britain and the rebellion of the
| Southern States, we had, by adherinS
to the annexation programme, almost
! trebled our original territory.
The civil war had hardly ended
when we reverted to our historical
policy, by purchasing Alaska, where
| by in return for 81, 2G0, 900 we obtained
an additional domain of over half
million square miles. In the same
wear Mr.. Seward, as secretary OF state,
negotiated treaty with Denmark for
the cession of the West India Islands
of St Thomas and st. John, on the
payment of ST,500.000. The inhabIt-
ants of both islands voted in favor OF
| annexation, but the treaty was re-
| iected in 1865 by senate, mainly, no
| doubt, on account of its unfrlendly
relations to President johnson. A
little later, under Grants administra-
ton, the treaty providing for the an
nexation of the republic of San Do
mingo was rejected only by tie vote
| in the Senate, chiefly owing to sum
ner's opposition. General Grant, how
ever, ciinging to the traditional policy
of the government, managed to pro-
cure in the Pacific the fOothold which
he had failed to gain in the Atlantic.
He obtained in 1872 from the chief OF
one of the Samoan Islands the eXclu-
sive privilege of establishing 4 coal
ing station at the port of Pango-Pango,
and the privilege has since been
turned to account. ,..
With regard to the latest petitioner
for the application of our historical
policy, the Sandwich islands, these,
as Mr.. Baldwin points out, are nearer
by three hundred miles to san Fran
cisco than is the outermost OF the
Aleutian islands, which came to us as
a part of the Alaska purchase. Ihey
were civilized by American mission
aries, and they have always main
tanned intimate cOmmerclal relaulons
with this country. For hall century
our government has acted upon the
assumption that we possess peculiar
claim upon the Hawaiian group.
| Thus, when in 1913 an Engllsh offlcer,
without authority, took possession OF
Hawaii, our secretary OF state de-
clared that these islands bore such re-
lations to us that we should be Justl-
fed in interfering by force TO prevent
their conquest by any of the great
powers of Europe. In the same year,
to allay our apprehensions, Great
Britain and France entered into con-
vention by which each OF them
covenanted never to take possession
of the islands or to assume
a protectorate over them. In 1858,
Mr.. Marcy, as secretary of state, eX-
pressed the opinion that the Hawaiian
islands would eventually come under
the control of our government; and,
two years later, he informed our MN
lister to Honolulu that we were ready
70 accept a transfer ofsovereignty over
them. In 1868 the matter of annex
ing the Hawaiian islands was again
brought up, and would doubtless have
been pressed by Secretary Seward but
for his recent rebuff in connection
with the Danish West Indies at the
hands of President Johnson's oppon-
ents.
1t may be question whether the
/ % iG NOT still