The herald., 1897-07-12
WAR CLOUD TO THE WEST
OF US

rOI tuc uISl tfIIle III HldHy oSCdueS tHe
country is threatened with foreign
war. the probability of which is at once
Imminent and serious. Under other cir
cumstances war of this character could
have the effect of relieving the domestic
congestion that is so widely prevalent,
and would not, In all probability, prove
to be an unmixed evil. But as circum-
stances have taken shape under our own
prepared to contend upon an equality
of advantage in the direction from which
the menace Is directed.
This time it Is not the "toothless old
WOLF of the Antilles, but the young die
tator of the east, and therein lies the
gravity Of the situation. As military
people the Japanese stand we'll up in the
front rank of the nations. Their equip
of the very best in quality and are suffi-
cient in quantity to render the nation
formidable. The esprit de corps of the
japanese troops is conceded by military
soldiers of Europe, while their discipline
will rank with that of the troops of Ger
many or France.
The Japanese foreign office has practi-
cally informed the Washington govern
ment that Japan will resist any attempt
upon the part of this country to annex
the Hawaiian islands. The language in
which this manifesto is couched is, of
course, diplomatic, but it is, neverthe-
less, sufficiently plain to leave no room
for reasonable doubt as to- its mean
ing.
The annoying feature of the case at
this time is the fact that Japan is strong
enough in the waters of the Pacific to-
make her threatened resistance a most
successful reality for the present. We
have no fleet in these waters that could
begin to cope with the navy of Japan.
We have no army available for service
in Hawaii, and no means of landing an
army there that could resist an upris-
ing of the japanese soldiery now at
..
The fact is painfully apparent that in
the proposed plan of annexation we have
been anticipated and outwitted, and that
Japan has already an army Of more
than twenty thousand men in the is
lands, and a navy strong enough to pre-
vent us from landing any American
troops there.
Nor is this the full measure of our
humiliation in this wretched affair, for
the thing that the administration seeks
to do and cannot accomplish, Japan
is in the position to do for herself with
out our permission-to assume the SOW
ereignty of Hawaii.
These are ugly facts and ought to ad
monish our politicians that it is about
time to call halt in the work of propa-
eating domestic discomfort and give
some attention to other interests than
the brawls of office seekers and the
special privileges of partisan favorites.
A humiliation such as that to which
the nation may be subjected in this in
stance would have been an impossible
ity at any period in the past history of
this country. But there lies our crow.
cooked to turn, and what are we to do
about it? The senate dare not now
confirm the treaty of annexation ex-
cept at the risk of a war with Japan,
and this we could not successfully pros
ecute at sea at the present time.
On the other hand, there is no guaranty
that the bone of contention will not be-
come a colony of japan within the next
ninety days. Indeed, the indications are
all in that direction. Of course in the
event of such war the ultimate de-
struction of the Japanese power would
be inevitable, but this would eventuate
only at the close of a protracted and
destructive contest