The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1897-05-18

The Sandwich Islands are destined
to present TO our statesmen for con.
sideration some new and intricate pc.
litical problems Our country cannot
become Indifferent to this island neigh
Dor in our Western sea. 1t is the pos
tern door of our continent. 1t is the
natural outpost, in military sense, OF
this Western side of our country, nee
essary for our protection and defense
and necessary as an adjunct to our
commercial intercourse with all the
people beyond us. The United States
has had no colonial policy, further
than the general resolve that the coun-
try needed no dependencies off her
main land. Hence, all attempts looking
toward the acquisition of Cuba or San
10 Domingo have met with but little
favor Cuba belongs TO Spain, and, so
far as We are concerned, is substantial
ly well governed The Hawaiian arch
ipelago presents different conditions in
all respects. 1t is sui generis among
nations. It's original people are rapidly
passing away, destroyed by disease.
Worn out by attrition with other peo-
pie. the native population is wasting,
and now numbers. all told, about 49,
900 people-a native population about
equaling that of Alameda County, and
vet persisting in the parody of a royal
government. 1t supports a Kanaka
King. with a crown costing $4,000,
with $4,000 TO be added for the eX-
pense of a coronation frolic; palace
costing as much as a wealthy gentle
mans country seat: an army not as
large as a city's police force: a navy
not equal TO a yacht club: a house of
mobiles and a legislative assembly of
half-civilized pagans. who own no ap-
probable part of the country's prop
erty. and pay no percentage of the ma
lions taxes: orders of nobility with
decorations Of honor; all the pomp.
ceremony. and small nonsense of a
court; all the trappings, pageantry and
bright cOlors of a national baby show
The King has just returned from a trip
around the world where he has been
received as a monarch Only think of
Victoria Regina. Empress Of India and
Queen of Great Britain and ireland.
giving a reception TO this monarch of
a country not half so large as her
crown lands, but who draws from his
taxed people a ROYAL salary nearly
twice as large as the Republic of the
United States with its 80 600 OON neO-
pie paws 10 its Chief Magistrate. In
this age when the people are asserting
the majesty Of their mower in this
generation. which has ACCOMPLISHED
the unifcation of Germany into a
great empire. and Italy into a consoli-
dated kingdom. that has taken civil au-
JhoTitv from the Pope: that in France
has DESTROYED the dynasty of Napoleon,
and on its bloody ruins laid broad and
deep the foundations of a republic, this
little Kanaka sugar-patch seems the
very Jravesty on government 1t NAV
live and for q tine endure Its very
feebleness and insignifcance may pre-
serve ii. But it seems strange. when
nihilism shakes the foundations of the
rule of the Romanoffs, when agrarian
Ireland sets at defiance the power OF
the British law, and socialism colors
the legislation of the German Empire
that this burlesque exhibition. with a
King in the center. a native bones al
one end of the Cabinet and a Mormon
adventurer at the other. can endure
Ii cannot endure. for it is even now
with all its seeming prosperity, but a
bubble dancing in the wind
The future of these Islands belongs
10 the intelligent Americans and Eu,
rOpeans. Between the Americans and
Europeans, those who have gone there
identified their interests with the Isl.
ands, made their homes. and taker
their future with them, there should be
a community of feeling. Between the
Englishman and the American there
should be a sentiment of common
brotherhood. Whatever the English
Hawaiian may think of the American.
Hawaiian citizen. the fact is that they
are both of the same family. the same
religion, the same language, the same
traditions. and the same everything
that viii in time make their children
as native Hawaiians. one in sympathy
and one in interest. Out of these Eu.
ropesns there should in time come tC