The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-12-17
TUESDAY, DECEMBER IA. 1897.
TWO CASES MUCH ALIKE

Sey, TT should not he forgotten that I'M
der General Grants administration an
attempt was made quite similar in
character to that which is now being
attempted in regard to those undesira-
BILE islands out in the Pacific ocean,
200 miles way from our own shores.
General Grant had many good quail
ties but among them was not great
craftsmanship. No great statesman
being a patriot soul, would have ever
favored the annexation of San DOmin
go in 1870. 1t would have been a mon
strous act if it had been carried out,
although so near the time Of the great
war and Grant was the idol of So, 600, 900
OF northern people, the sense Of the
country was positively set against it.
The people didn't desire n such ad-
-dition to this country. The idea Of ex-
tending our rule by annexation had
not become at all popular and if the
sentiment in favor of another annexa-
ton shall prove to have developed into
great potency, it will he a sure sign of
decay and another evidence of the de-
crepid condition Of American states
manship. We are reminded by the
New York Evening Post, that in the
wv propositions Of annexation, that of
San Domingo and Hawaii, there is a
remarkable analogy between the cir
-cumstances under which the acquisition
of new territory vas sought then and
lis sought now. We make this quotation
for it is instructive:
Hawaii is now offered to the United
States by a government which does not
rest upon the consent of the Hawaiian
people, which owes it's origin to a revO-
luton against the government estab-
qished by the natiVes-a revolution that
would have failed but fol. the support of
the United States navy. In like man
ner San Domingo was offered to the
United States nearly thirty years ago
by a. President who had uSurped the
position, whose power was constantly
threatened by a rival with better claims
tic the office, and who was assured the
possession of his place only by the pre-
sence in the neighbOring waters OF
United States men-of-War For the
time being the navy of the United
States was the navy of Baez, and a
dispatch from Commodore Green, July
n, 1870, stated that without the support
or our ships of war he could not nave
maintained himself against his own
people, and would have been obliged to
leave the sland. Except that n
secretary, Babcock, went a little further
IN 1870 than Minister Stevens did at
in 1893, the analogy between
the two cases is complete"
The New York paper thinks the SINH
larity so striking as the arguments
are so identical that one needs only to
substitute Pacific for Atlantic and make
q few verbal changes in General Grants
message to apply it to the case of Ha-
wall, and it would not prove a case
of misfit, and from the argument of the
Evening Post the cases are indeed
strikingly alike For instance it was
OF a Domingo hat it was desirable
because of it's geographical position
that it commands the entrance to the
Caribbean sea and iSthmus transit of
commerce." Then it was strikingly
urged as now and the need will fit the
present case, ''its possession by us, will
Tn a few years build up a coast wise
commerce of immense magnitude and
give US 'the controlling influence over
the greater commercial traffic, soon to
flow from east to west by way of the
Isthmus of Darien." But this is not all
the resemblance. It was farther said
by Grant, urging the OF san
Domingo, what is said now by the
cranks, having in charge the very OBJ
i%ectSonaEble scheme on hand, the annex
- 4L1 ~, IF ic1 and in rho
Pacific. "In case of foreign wal it will
give us command of all the West India
islands," General Grant, strange to
say, tried to make it appear that San
Domingo had sought this annexation,
while in fact it was in defiance of the
viii of the people that annexation
should occur. This of course will at
once suggest what Major Mckinley
said this year in regard to Hawaii that
1.-THE treaty was unanimously ratified
by the senate and president of the re-
public while as a matter Of fact there
were but three thousand people allowed
fs vote, nearly two of whom were for
while there was a protest sent
to h United States senate signed by
more than $1,000 men and women of
the original inhabitants. The whole
scheme is one fraught with danger to
our country and is violative of the
rights of at least 100, 900 people who are
left on those islands in the Pacific now.
"A few thousand foreigners, not exceed
Ing four thousand, have the matter in
HAND and arc doing what they choose
and what will satisfy their own selfish
demands and schemes
We must not omit referring to an
-0ther point, suggested by h resem-
hlance spoken of. In 1870 General
Grant referring to San Domingo, ad-
United that it was a"weak power
and continuing said that it a 120,0 0(