The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1897-03-13

party u this agreement, but signifi-
cantly declined And yet, some little
time after this the Times. commenting
on the proposed cession of Pearl Har-
Dor, near Honolulu, TO the United
States, declared that THE maritime
Power that holds Pearl river and moors
it's fleets there possesses the key TO
the Northern Pacific
In these DAYS, when our existence as
an Empire is dependent on our naval
supremacy, and our ability to possess
naval depots and coaling stations. it
is certainly important to notice that
the Hawaiian Islands almost exactly
bisect one Of our longest and weakest
naval nerves, between Vancouver and
Fiji; in fact, it lies directly between
Canada and Australia.
Admiral Colomb, in his Develop
ment of Naval Power" says regarding
the Pacific" 'The nerve system here
is the most defective of any.
There is nowhere in the world so large
a space of ocean unstudded by British
possessions as the great triangle formed
by the Falklands, Fiji, and Vancouver.
France and America already
possess the Pacific Islands most eligi-
BILE for affording support to ships oper~
ating within the triangle. On the other
hand, the whole of the American Paci-
fic States south of Mexico are so sltu-
ated that their interest would lie in an
alliance with that Power which had
the chief command of the sea. 1t ap-
pears to me that on such alliances
the safety of the Eastern Pacific
route must depend. If these alliances
were not contracted by us, inimical
European Powers would at least meet
us in the Pacific on equal terms, a
thing which it is of vital Importance
for us to prevent" The moral is plain.
Moreover, any argument based on the
viciuage of Hawaii to the United States
Git is 2.100 miles from San Francisco
applies just as strongly to its position
as regards British Columbia, from
which it is only 2,400 miles distant.
A legal luminary of Honolulu points
out that the Hawaiian Islands are on
the same line of longitude as that
which runs through the western part
of Alaska, and are. therefore, actually
within the longitudinal boundaries of
the United States"
1t is refreshing to find western man
recognizing any boundaries at all, but
on the longitude-latitude system we
might put in a far stronger claim for
Hawaii for the British Empire on the
ground that it is on the same latitude
as lEomhay, and on the same lOngi-
tude (pToduced through the POle) as
Natal. By this logic. therefore, it lies
already within our dominiOns. Seri-
ously, however, if the Americans OBJ
ject to any foreign Power holding Ha-
waii as a naval station, we as recOg-
nized maritime and colonial Power
have far more reason to object to any
foreign Power establishing itself SINH
larly in what President Cleveland
terms 'the halfway house, the central
point, the radiating focus of the great
Pacific ocean, Captain Mahan, the
great American naval expert, thor
oughIy recognizes the value of Ha-
waii when he says, "These islands are
the key to the entire Pacific, and for
a foreign nation to hold them would
mean that our Pacific coast ports and
our Pacific ocean commerce would be
at the mercy of that nation"
At the present moment, when the
war-hatchet is buried deep, and the
calumet of peace is being smoked over
Venezuela, it is to be hoped that the
sinister Monroe doctrine may be ex-
cluded. To apply it to Hawaii would
be ridiculous. The monarchical gov
ernment, inaugurated by the wise King
Kaehameha l., was certainly no me-
mace to the States, and in the opinion
of many a distinct improvement on the
present mongrel republic. Would not
the world laugh if we started British
Monroe doctrine. and objected to the
formation of republics within two
thousands miles of our mOnarchlcal
coasts? We have as much right TO do
so as our progressive cousins.
Let us chaff each other over our
little hypOcrisies. but let us never be
but friends The group is
big enough for both of us. Can we
not discover two Pearl harbors. and
by constructing joint naval depots
hold the Pacific trade routes open
against the encroachments of any for
eign Power in the joint commercial in
erests we both possess in the vast
mainland OF North America, and in the
still higher interests of the peace and
progress Of mankind?
SIIFRNInN'S F~IGNATlON-