The age-herald., 1897-12-12

pose our national power to prevent any l nation or peopls from any direct or in direct conquest, or absorption or Hawaii. ''11he native people of Hawaii are Wor- 1 thy of citizenship in lhe Great Republic
 and 'bhose who are intellige ent and free to choose, and have property and rights that they know how to vSque, earnesly desire the peace, security and prosperity that everyone knows will result to the HawsIians, of all classes, from annex ation. It must be admitted by even the
 most despairing of i.hoas who clamor for
 plebiscite in Hawaii that the United States have no design to rob those pso- pie of liberfy or property, or of any of their rigbs, or of their social privi- leges.
 They must admit also. that the gov ernment of the United States will ex- tend and secure to them the full meas
 ure of our constitutional protection for all the rights and liberties they could have under any form of nonarchic gov ernment
 Ut is equally true that if they are
 in danger of loss or damage from any local oligarchy in HaWaai the best way to protect themselves is by talking shelter under the constitution of Ehe United States. It must also be perceived by those who favor a return to monarchy in Hawaii that rhe United States, in the public and declared relations they have always held to the people of those is- lands, could not consent to such a wrong tO 'tiDe EpliIJ or our lnS'tlJul1OnS, or to our pledges And, knowing all these
 things they could mot rationally sup pose that the United States could ex-
 tend to them any sort of protection after
 they had destroyed free republic and
 pu. monarchy in it's stead
 As Hawaii cannot stand alone with
 out our support in the pressure of great
 commercial powers that covet it's geo.
 graphical ard stnag tic advanI ages, these
 friends of the royal government must
 ox pat11 ft,fa, ,a1a i-Io ra7s. unGsr the protection of some monarch
 and,. when tha,s is attempted, the duty
 OF the United States will be very plain
 and impel atve, and it will be performed.
 ''It will be duty that this govern
 ment owes to ltself, from which our pso-
 pie would not tol rate any withdrawal If the royalists in Hawaii were in the majority their votes in that direc ion would compel us to demand that they should not destroy the republic and place the people of those islands, inciud- ing the Americans th-re, and their valu- able property, beyond the reach of our own power to protect them, except by going to war with some e, her nation. Tt is clear that the Hawaiian situa- tion, in any view that can be taken of 1t. makes it an emsrgent duty on our part to act promptly, dec.sively and finally on the question of annexation. 'If we refuse to annex Hawaii we must as a necessary corollary, decline to
 protect her agains5 foreign aggression and make an end to that lire Of policy to which we are so thoroughly commit ted. It is certain that our people and | .heir property in Hawaii will be expos d to extrsme peril.
 "It is equally certain that anarchy will prevail there and that civil strife will ensue to the loss of lives and destruc don, of property, and thab the islands will
 drift into the possession of some great commercial nation.
 "Then we will have lest the only place in the North Pacific ocan where whips can be sheltered, provisioned, or repair ed, and 1t will become a fortress in the sea stronger than Gibraltar or Mal1a or | Bermuda, or the Bahamas, in easy dis | tanee of all of our Pacific coasts, that would enable any second or third rate power, with concentrated fleets, to de- | stroy our commerce and to close our Pa. | cific sea ports.
 'The Pacific shores of Asia are, on an | average, 15,000 miles from our coast, | while Hawaii is only 2,300 miles away | at rha farthest pCint. With Hawaii in | our possession, all the advantages of | short lines and of naval supplies would | enure to us in the defen5e of our coasts | or the protection of our comrnerce; with l the otier immense advantages that, in | eWsry pert of ours protected by shore de- | f5 5nseS, an invading enemy would be sub | je9t to resistance on shore and at the 1 same dime open to assault 9,. both ends | of line drawn from the point of attack
 
 | whena our harbor dafenses would proteo- l our naval station and set free our war | ships for operations on the . ca. in cCn- 1 junction with the shore batteri S that de- | is a great economy in this situat on | that would CT able us to protect our l coasts and our commsrce with a smaller l feet of war ships than we can do in our | preserI. situation
 Tt is equally obvious that the great l iriarpaSa in EnesS fhat | the Pacific ocean will soon drive us to | the alternative Of increasing our Pacific fleet, to correspond with the magnitude | of our trade and the sea power of ether | gpsat commercial nations, leave it at l the mercy elf other powers, including Japan and China.
 l ''The possession of Hawaii by any for l eign commercial power would be equiva- | lnit to drawing the sea power of that nation to the shefSer of our impregnla- I be fortress in thu mid-ocean, within
 2,3OO miles of all our Pacific sea ports. l "As it is, they would have to come
 from 15.0O0 so 30000 miles from their | bases eff support in order to attack US, | and bring coal enough to fight battles l and to beleag1ls our shore deferses. l That Is now impossible, but 1t woul1 be l quite the reverse wi h any great naval l power that should occupy Hawaii and ] fortify Pearl harbor.
 'Ilt may incite a cry of 'jingoism' ito | refer to the fact that Great Britain, l if she should acquire Hawaii, would cut l in two our coast line of defense, als, ap- l paren.ly, she can now do from the-straits | of Fuca, with her fer reiss at Esqufrhatt | and her coal supply ca Vanc uver Island. l But, with the possession of Hawaii and ] Pearl harbor, she would increase her l power over our coast a hundred fold. NO imagination of peace being as- l sured by our brotherhood with the En- l gl.sh people could justify us in refusing
 to provide for the safety of our house hold against such temptation held out, l even to our English cousins.
 When more than half of the popu- | lation of Greater New York Is foreign 1 born, and comes from all races, of all | colors, it seems to be needless to discuss | the influence that 31,000 native people 1 might exer- over our country with its l 75,G00000 of citizens
 "Tf they should do as good work in our l union as th=y have done in preparing | themselves to enter it, we should rejoice 1 at their coming