The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1893-10-04

Texas, the Importance OF ObldIliIhS
Cuba had been urged. John quincy
Adams, when secretary of state under
President Monroe, declared in his IN
structions to our minister TO Spain,
that Cuba and Porto Rico were natur-
al appendaGes to our continent, ana
| that Cuba had become an OBJECT OF
transcendent moment TO the CONNER
cial and political interests OF our l n
| ion. jefferson, writing to President
Monroe about the same time, salG
that, while he would not approve OF
going to war for Cuba, yet, II we couId
get it peaceably, it would MI up the
measure of our weIl-being. President
Polk tried to buy it from Spain, and
President Fillmore refused to accede
! TO the agreement 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 tnat
| "teritorially and commercially, Cuoa
would, in our hands, be an extremely
valuable possession, and, under GER
tain contingencies, might be almost
essential to our safety" The Ostende
manifesto of 1854 emphasized this con-
sideration, and President Buchanan,
| in his second annual message in 1885,
devoted much space TO the cuban
question, dwelling on the TACT 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-
cbanan administration explicitly al
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, ~
ing between San Domingo and Jamai-
ca, is now part of the United states.
The exposition of our consistency IN
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 i'll 1913 on
the payment of $15, 100000, cesslon
followed, five years later, by the
Gadsden purchase, which added
southern Arizona at cost OF SlO,OGO,-
| 600 more. The outcome OF the whole
story is that, between the acknoWl-
edgement of our independence by
] Great Britain and the rebellion OF the
| Southern States, we had, by adherlhS
| 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 i'm return for s., 2GO, 900 we obtained
an additional domain of over half
| million square miles. In the same
wear Mr.. Seward, as secretary OF state,
negotiated a treaty with Denmark Tor
| the cession of the West India lSianuS
of st Thomas and st. John, on the
| payment of S7,500.000. The inhablt-
ants of both islands voted IN favor Oh
Ian
| iected in 1868 by senate, mainly, no
doubt, Oh account OF its unfriendiy
| relations to President Johnson. n
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, now
ever, ciinging to the traditional policy
OF the government, managed 10 pro
cure i'm 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-
siye privilege of establishing a coal
ing station at the port of Pango-P range,
and the privilege has since been
turned to account.
With regard to the latest petitioner
for the application OF our historian
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 commercial relations
with this country. For half century
our government has acted upon the
assumption that we possess peculiar
claim upon the Hawaiian group.
Thus, when in 1913 an Engllsh oIilcer,
without authority, took possession OF
Hawaii. our secretary of state de-
clared that these islands bore such re-
| Iations to us that we should be justi-
| fled 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 1893,
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 wears later, he informed our min
| lister to Honolulu that we were ready
to accept transfer of sovereignty over
them. In 1868 the matter of annex
| ing the Hawaiian islands was again
brought up, and would doubtless nave
been pressed by Secretary Seward put
| 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
good faith of the nation is not still
bound by the Clayton-Bulwer treaty
against further extension to the south
ward. But the long array of facts
brought forward by Mr.. Baldwin con-
clusively demonstrate that the per-
sistent historical policy of the United
| States points to the eventual absorb
tlon of the North American continent,
with every island on the east and the
Hawaiian group upon the west.-New
York Sun, September 4.