The Saint Paul globe., 1897-10-15
WE'RE THE TOPICS FOR THE
THIRD OF SENATOR DAVIS
SERIES OF LECTURES.
NOT A CAUSE FOR WAR.
OF BELLIGERENCY
OF CUBA NOT A HOSTILE
ACT.
ANNEXATION IS NECESSARY
Islands the Most Strategic
Point in the Pacific
Ocean.

senator n.
third of a series of lectures upon IN
ternational Law" in the chapel OF the
| library building at the state unlver-
sity, yesterday afternoon.
Besides the class in law, which at
tended en- masse, there were a large |
number of others present to listen to |
the able speaker.
In speaking of a country recognizing |
the belligerent state of another, ne
said I'm order to justify one govern
ment in recognizing the independence
of an insurrectionary people, 1t is nee
essary that the contest has gone thls
| far, namely, that the people IN lnsur-
rection shall have obtained hold SUI
ficiently strong upon certain dehned
! territory to the exclusion of the parent |
| government; that they are conducting
| a form of government there, OUTSIDE |
! Of the military form of government, |
| and that the hope of the parent gov
ernment of their subjugation is appar-
entity useless. The conditions which |
Justify a recognition of independence
fall far short in their stringency OF the |
condition necessary to justify coun-
try in recognizing the belligencery of !
people.
| 1T has commonly been thought that
if the United States, or any govern
ment, recognizes the belllgerency or
| independence of an insurrectlonary
people, that it justifies the declaration
of war. For instance, on the part of
| Spain, if we should recognize Cuba
Such is not the law. The recognltlon OF |
belligerency or independence AFFORDS
no cause for the declaration OF war
by the government against Whlch the
| recognition is made. This is hf1nly
| settled, and it is one of the most un-
derlying principles Of the law OF ma
tions. 1t is to be regretted that in the
| discussion which the principles OF rec
ognition have received in the public
press. it has been too often assumed
| that a recognition of belllgerency or
| independence is a hostile act which
! would precipitate the United States
| into war; We never thought of max
ing war when nearly all the powers OF
Europe recognized the Confederacy."
Speaking of annexation, the speaker
said: 1.-The absorption of one state by
| another can be affected in two ways
| By conquest and forcible annihilatlon
| by a government and it's subject1on
| of the governed, or by the mutual con-
| sent Of both parties, as by treaty. EV-
| cry civilized state which submits to |
annexation, whether it's duration has
| been long or short, has many treatleS
with other nations Hawaii has some
thirty or forty treaties with all the
| powers of the world. The, question is:
| What is the effect of the complete abb
| sorption of one state into another, as
Texas was absorbed into another? AS
| Hawaii will be absorbed into the Unit
! ed States? After great deal OF dlS-
| cussion, the principle that has hnally
| come to be settled is this: That the an
nexation of one state by another in
| the sense of it's absorption into a dit
| ferent political system, terminates all
| treaties of the annexed and ABSORBED
state Rights that have vested under
| these treaties before the annexation
| are preserved upon principles OF prop
erty and morality, but the promlssory
portions of all treaties, excepting, no
| matter how strong be their language,
or how long be their terms, all obllga-
tions become void. The people of the
state annexed pass under the sway
! and are subject to the stipulations Of
| the treaties which the anneXing power
may have made with the annexed
! power"
Regarding the annexation of Hawaii,
| he said: THE Hawaiian islands are q
most interesting group. They are some
| twenty or more in number They nave
about 1000 or 5000 square miles, and
| probably in all, a population of over
10000 to 10000 About the year 1920
| American enterprise, American mis-
sionaries went there, and they did what
| has never been done by any other peo-
pie as to any island in the Pacific; they
esta ablished Christianity, and they es-
tablished a civilization on the Hawaii
hn 10 no SJa
to writing; they set up press and
printed newspapers and books. Some
| great rulers arose among the Hawaiian
| kings. About 1888 Hawaii was seized
| twice by the French, and, 1 think, once
by the English. They let go. About
that time, or shortly after, Mr.. Web
ster who was secretary of state, de-
clared that the United States would
never suffer Hawaii to be encroached
upon, much less acquired, by any for
| eign power and it was written upon
manifest destiny, upon the pages of
the future, that there should be OBJ
served coalescence with the people OF
the United States. That declaration OF
Mr.. Webster has been repeated by ev-
cry secretary of state since that time.
Honolulu is about 2,100 miles from San
! Francisco The Hawaiian islands are
the only islands of any account for set
tlement north of the equator. There
Is not an 1SldnQ OIL Importance enough
to be considered or to be desired. The
commerce OF the Pacific will undoubt-
edly, in the course of the next fifty
! years be the most active the world
| has ever seen. China is awakening
from her sumber and Japan is awak-
er:ing to a surprising activity Russia
! is constructing a railroad across ST.
beria The western coast of the United
States is a very vulnerable coast Our
interests in the Pacific, in the present
and in the future, demand better sit
uation than we have at present. Take
the Hawaiian islands as an outward
bulwark 2, 100 miles from San Francisco,
and then look at the Aleutian group,
and the strategetic conditions of the
situation will become Immediately
manifest. In my opinion it is one of
the greatest commercial and strateg-
ic points on the face Of the EARTH
He then gave a detailed explanation
of the provisions of the arbitration
treaty, which congress rejected.