The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1893-06-13
Continued from Fourth Page J

consul, ! sat in arbitration and settle
ment of a number cf these British
claims in IS45, and no doubt salts
factory settlements would have been
made by the constituted authorities had
they been permitted to take their
usual course. OF one large claim
Major Low, of the British Indian army
said that in travelling through the
islands he had not found one respect
able man who believed 1t to be valid
But have said enough to show why
| thought that possession of the Islands
has entered into the wishes and plans
of both the British and French IN the
past. | have no comments to make
upon these plans. 1t is the practice OF
nations, and no doubt will continue to
be until causes Of war are removed.
The plea of necessity is used to justify
it. The interests of the aggreSsng party
requires it, but no injustice is intended
to individuals, and the general good Is
enhanced by it. SO large numbers of
good men felt when Great Britain
occupied the Fiji and many other
places. 1t meant safety to persons,
stable government, civilization, christi
anity, progress and federation. So also
when the French occupied Algiers and
other places, and so, | think it would
be better for the United States to eX-
tend its laws over all Indians, in its
territory, making them citizens and
treating them as 1t does its white
citizens. The case here is little differ
ent, for under the auspices OF a highly
civilized nation the Hawalians were
making rapid progress in civilization.
Safety and Justice were as fully secured
to all as they were anywhere else. If
there were any preemptive right to the
Islands, under any circumstances, 1t
would seem to vest in those under
whose auspices and at whose expense
these improvements had taken place ;
and this work had been done by the
labors and at the expense Of citizens Of
the United States. The complaint had
been made to the British authorities
that Americans, and particularly mis-
sonaries, were getting an undue lnt1u
enCe and playing into the hands of the
United States. General William Miller,
the British Commissioner and Consul
General, with whom | had very
friendly acquaintance, invited me to
listen to a letter from the Earl OF Aber.
deem, then the British Foreign Minister.
He wrote that complaints had been
made to him of the undue influence of
the missionaries, and in reply said that,
upon inquiry, he could not find that
they had acquired or used any influence
which they were not Iegltlmately entitled
to. These complaints, by whomsoeVer
made, were, no doubt, made to excite
national jealousy and provoke national
interference. Mr.. WyIlie, himself a
British subject, but Hawaiian Foreign
Minister at the time, told me that ali
the interests Of the Islands, by their
local position, would attach them to
the United States if their independence
should lapse, and that, upon these
views being communicated to Lord
Clarendon, the then British Foreign
Secretary, he wrote to the Consul that
Mr.. Wylie was right; that by their ad-
iacent position, their interests doubtless
call for their union to the States. The
political question for the States would
be: Does orr interest call for any
such union or the maintenance Of such
paramount influence as shall serve
our purpose in case Of war with any
maratime power? | have quoted bott
British and American views from theI
different standpointS, and | deduCt
French views from their course c
action and in an account written b,
myself and published in the Hawaiian
Spectator of October, 1889, giving al
account of the French aggressions 0
July, 1880, | WAS sustained in m,
views Of its character by a written re
quest of sixteen of the commissioner
officers of the u. S. East India squad
ron here in October, 1889, to reprin
1000 copies of the account at their ex
pense for gratuitous distribution; which
| did, and an Endorsement of my view
by the Hon. Rufus Choate IN tht
North american Re0ie1o.
Mr. Jarves, the historian of Hawaii
says that "they hold the key of thu
Pacific Ocean, for no trade coulC
prosper, or even exist, whilst hostil,
power, possessing powerful and active
marine, should send out its cruisers t.
prey upon commerce, but once frml,
established on them it might put a
defiance any means of attack which
could be brought to bear against them
Hence the commercial countries bavt
been jealous lest some one of then
should have a superior influence"
Mr. Seward, in a speech in the Sen
ate on the subject of the commerce 0
the Pacific, says: "Who does not SCI
that henceforth every year European
commerce, European politics, Euro
pean thought and European activity
although actually gaining greater force
and European connections, although
actually becoming more intimate, vii
nevertheless ultimately sink in lmpor
lance, whilst the Pacific Ocean, it
shores, It's islands and the vast region
beyond will become the chief lheate
of events in the worlds great here
after.