The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1893-06-17
Grave Obstacles to Hawaiian
Annexation.
BY HON. THOMAS m. COOLEY.

| son lmmeulately dlS0Wned the protector
ate when 1t became known, but the Min
lister, still without authority. hoated the
national flag of the United States above
the government building at Honolulu,
and the Provisional Government thereby
still continued to have the moral support
which had assisted in its establishment at
first. When the removal of the flag was
ordered. it seemed to be necessary for the
Provisional Government to make careful
provisions for putting down by force any
expression of opposition to its action on
the part of those who did not favor it.
This distant country, then, seems to be
offered to the United States by what is at
most pro tempore government, which, in
making the offer, does not present the
evidences that proves it to have the sup
port of the majority of the people. The
number supporting the offer may or may
not be majority; we do not know. The
foreigners settled in the islands with the
privileges of citizenship are few in num-
! Der as compared with the native popula-
! ton, who were not consulted but it is
foreigners who effected the revolution
and even they, az we now learn. are not
/ unanimous in desiring the transfer.
A strong effort was made to accomplish
the annexation before the people of the
islands could even be heard upon the
subject, and it seemed to have been taken
for granted by large portion of our peo-
pie that there was something nnpatriotic
in raising any question of propriety or
justice in declaring the immediate annex
alton which the commission offered; as il
patriotism could Justify a public wrong
to friendly people.
The islands were very rich, it was said.
We wanted them for naval station. We
needed them in the event of war with
Great Britain or with any other of the
great naval powers of the world: if we
did not take them Great Britain would,
to our immense disadvantage, and so on.
The commissioners were ready to assent
| to any terms that should be demanded,
and there was Importance in immediate
action before there could be opportunity
for thwarting the proposed measure in
the interests of some foreign nation. 1t
was case for the application of the maxim,
'In time of peace prepare for war" for it
was precisely in the event of war that
these islands were to be of special value
to U.S.
Now how far the United States should
be moved by an appeal to this maxim,
I'm time of peace prepare for war" is a
question to which patriots as we'll as
philanthropists are likely hereafter to give
some attention. 1t is maxim that comes
to us from barbarous times. and at the
present time is being made use of in such
manner as to grind the people of leading
states of Europe into the dust. Immense
armies and immense navies are created
as the necessary preparation for war, and
maintained at enormous expense at all
times, in order that they may be ready
for immediate use in case of hostilities
! springing up with some foreign nation.
Their very existence is a menace to the
peace of the world; the more powerful
are the armies and navies of leading
nations, the greater the liability to
destructive conflicts. The United States
is now sufficiently strong to expect that
its rights will be regarded and its interests
respected by other nations without this
crushing expenditure for possible wars,
and it's people may we'll question whether
the true rendering of the maxim is not.
I'm time OF peace prepare against war;"
and whether this does not demand the
establishing of such relations with foreign
countries and making such provision for
the settlement of disputes peacefully as
will reduce the danger of war to a mini
mum. And then in the case of these
islands they may we'll inquire further
whether. situated as they are, two thou
sand miles away, they will not in our
hands constitute an element of weakness
rather than of strength in case of a war
with Great Britain, or any other great
naval power, unless we proceed at once
to create navy as great as that which
could at the beginning of a war be hurled
by our antagonist against them.
Questions like these are raised. But
they are questions of policy, and as such
will be left for Others to discuss What
we are concerned with now are the ques-
tions whether the Provisional Govern
ment is shown to possess delegated power
to propose and whether the United
States has constitutional power to accent
the annexation of these islands. We
speak of it all the while as the an
nexation of the islands to the United
States; the addition of a smaller to
a greater, as it in fact would be; but
the question of power involved is pre-
cisely thu same that it would b, if it were
proposed to annex any other independent
country in the world to the United
States; Russia, for instance or France.
The government of Hawaii is that of
an independent country, recognized as a
point Of international law. the equal of
any other nation. If we annex it, it will
be because an Independent nation con-
sents to be annexed. 1t may ba on terms
that will assume the existence of a certain
inferiority, but these will be created by
the treaty of annexation itself The
treaty will be the law that will govern
thereafter. Apparently it is expected
that these islands will be taken in as an
outlying colony OF the United States,-
not as territory of the sort we now
possess and govern,-and not, so far as
we are notified, with any expectation that
they are to be by and by accepted as one
of the states of the American Union.
Government as colony is what it is said
those proposing the annexation would
prefer
Now outlying colonies are not within
the contemplation of the Constitution of
the United States at all. The structure
of government created under it never
had in view such colonies, and the peo-
pie OF the United States would never
have consented to provide for our hold
ing them. Our government Is not suited
to that purpose. The proposal that we
should vie with England and France and
Germany in establishing colonies in dis,
tant quarters of the globe would now be
secuted at once by the people and by
Congress as being altogether foreign tc
our institutions. We are asked to accept
this proposed transfer as something pos
| BeSsing peculiar attractions; aa having q