The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1903-06-05
A DECISIVE EPOCH-MANlFEST DIES.
TINY.

honolulu, WAS prODaDly the ITst man
publicly to declare that, in the twen-
tieth Century, the Pacific Ocean would
be the theatre of the worlds greatest
commercial and financial progress in
which he predicted the United States
would bear the most conspicuous part.
The accuracy of these representations
is now generally conceded. At that
time, of course, there was no thought
of any political entrance of the United
States into the wide and stagnant a
reas of Asia, insular or continental.
The war with Spain did not appear on
the horizon, and the acquisition of the
Philippines, whether or no they be per-
manently retained, was beyond the re-
gion of conjecture. There were states
men and writer's, who looked to the
ultimate annexation of Hawaii, or the
establishment of protectorate, as prac-
ticable and even desirable, but these
anticipations rested upon purely
speculative basis, and were mainly en-
tertained for their bearing upon the
western shore of the Republic.
Territorial expansion and the extern
sion of political systems are not me-
cessarily, certainly not directly, con-
nected with the aggressive activities of
commerce and finance, to which ma
| tional boundaries and national insti-
| tutions, though of importace in mat
tiers of detail, interpose very slight OBJ
stacles. For the purpose of this arti-
Gle 1t would be superfluous to discuss
the question of the applicability of the
American system to the Philippine ar
chipelago. 1t may be safely assumed,
that, except in contingencies of which
there is no visible sign, the political
destiny of Hawaii Is determined and
| that these islands are the advanced
guard of the mightest of world powers.
The designs of Russia on China,
therefore, as manifested by it's policy
in Manchuria and pointed by it's re-
cent acts of tergiversation, are of di-
rect, immediate and absorbing, inter-
est to the American people. Itself
largely Of Asiatic, and chiefly of Tar
tar, extraction, it pursues, remorseless-
ly and with unprincipled astuteness, a
consecutive policy that has existed for
centuries, and the final object of which
is the domination of Monaghan Asia
and the Pacific.
In the march towards ideals of ma
terial, intellectual and moral suprema-
cy, there is sense in which genera
I,
is another sense, in which the deter
mination of moment may deeply or
permanently color the future. Such a
moment though it may be Temperate
ly deferred is in plain sight. and may
be seized or alphabetically disregarded
as the executive branch of our govern
ment may be reused to decisive action
or persuaded or bullied into torpor,
Shall the boarded wealth of China, Co.
rea and other Asiatic territory, in
evitably to be swung into the tides Of
modern advancement, feed the Musco-
Vite or the composite race, of which
the United States and the British En-
pire are the representatives? This is
the problem, in the solution of which
present movements will be most iniu-
entail, and probably controlling.
The power and craftsmanship of Rus
STA are not to be under estimated The
map of the World on Mercator's Pro-
lection, which is most convenient for
the purpose, shows the territorial uni
fication of the Muscovite Empire, from
st. Petersburgh to Behring Straits, its |
southern boundary being coincident |
with the northern line of China for |
seventy degrees of longitude or there |
abouts. The transfer of Alaska to the |
United States was at once the settle |
ment of the eastern line of the Empire |
upon Asiatic soil and withdrawal from |
dangerous position in the northwest |
ern part of North America, which on |
all sides was flanked by the United |
States and the Canadian Dominion. |
And the seizure or retention of Man |
churia would mean the driving of a |
wedge into the northeastern part OF |
m mir hnt
to Russia an impregnable position in |
China itself would give it the mears J
by few more blows, of breaking its |
unity, would insure the ascendancy Of |
the Russian sphere of influence, and |
would also enable that power to COM
mand the seas adjacent to the easterly |
coast of China, to Corea and to Japan,
and clear entrance to the North Pa |
cific Ocean.
This a time for breadth, prescience
and definiteness in American state |
manship. The nice adjustments of |
what is termed the balance of power"
in Europe, is only fully understood by
students of history, geography and pro-
duction, and by the chief engineers of
governments. A period has now been |
reached, when comprehensive thought, |
correct knowledge of details, and posi- |
tive and firm executive force, must be |
applied to issues, not identical but |
similar, in the Orient and in the Paci- |
fc. Great Britain practically holds the |
eastern approaches to Asia by way of |
the Cape of Good Hope and the 18TH |
mus of Suez. The United States, which |
has approximately one-half of the |
wealth of the globe, and by the ire |
sistible trend of events has been forced |
out of its exclusiveness into intimate |
and charging relations with the great |
powers, must be equally commanding |
towards Cape Horn and the Panama |
or Nicaragua Canal.
1t must not be forgotten that, in the |
struggle which Russia, isolated and |
medieval, is forcing in the East, Japan.
formally as respects Great Britain and |