Jere Krischel at 09:51, 11 February 2006

2006-02-11T09:51:22Z

Ken Conklin at 02:27, 7 February 2006

2006-02-07T02:27:00Z

Ken Conklin at 02:22, 7 February 2006

2006-02-07T02:22:56Z

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Jere Krischel at 05:20, 12 December 2005

2005-12-12T05:20:43Z

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1 1 6 2 HAWAIIAN ISLANDS.
By personal request of Admiral George Seymour and Gen. Miller, in company
with Mr. Wylie and the Danish consul, I sat in arbitration and
settlement of a number of these British claims in 1845, and no doubt
satisfactory settlements would have been made by the constituted
authorities had they been permitted to take.their usual course. Of
one large claim, Maj. Low, of the British army, said that in traveling
through the islands he had not found one respectable man who
believed it to be valid. But I have said enough to show why I thought
that possession of the islands has entered into the wishes and plans
of both the British and French in the past. I have no comments to
make upon these plans. It is the practice of nations, and no doubt
will continue to be so until causes of war are removed. The plea of
necessity is used to justify it. The interests of the aggressing party
require it. But no injustice is intended to individuals, and the general
good is enhanced by it. So large numbers of good men felt when
Great Britain occupied the Fijis arid many other places. It meant
safety to persons, stable government, civilization, Christianity, progress,
and toleration. So also when the French occupied Algiers and other
places, and so I think it will be better for the United States to extend
its laws over all Indians in its territory, making them citizens and
treating them as they do the white citizens. The case here is a little
different, for under the auspices of a highly civilized nation the Hawaiians
were making rapid progress in civilization. Safety and justice
were as fully secured to all as they were anywhere else. If there were
any preempted rights to the islands under any circumstances, it would
seem to vest in those under whose auspices and at whose expense these
improvements have taken place. And this is what had been done by
the labors and at the expense of citizens of the United States. The
complaint had been made to the British authorities that Americans,
and particularly missionaries, were getting an undue influence and
playing into the hands of the United States. Gen. William Miller, the
British commissioner and consul-general with whom I had a very
friendly acquaintance, invited me to listen to a letter from the Earl of
Aberdeen, then the British foreign minister.
He wrote that complaints had been made to him of the undue influence
of the missionaries, and the reply said that upon inquiry he could
not find that they had acquired or used any influence which they were
not legitimately entitled to. These complaints, by whomsoever made,
were no doubt made to excite national jealousy and provoke national
interference. Mr. Wylie, himself, a British subject, but Hawaiian foreign
minister at that time, told me that all the interests of the islands
by their local position would attach them to the United States if their
independence should lapse, and that upon these views being communicated
to Lord Clarendon, the then British foreign secretary, he wrote
to the consul that Mr. Wylie was right; that by their adjacent position
their interests called for their union to the States. The political question
for the States would be: " Does our interest call for any such union
or the maintenance of any such paramount influence as shall serve our
purpose in case of war with any maritime power?" I have quoted both
British and American views from their different standpoints, and I
deduce French views from their course of action, and, in an account
written by myself and published in the Hawaiian Spectator in October,
L839, giving an account of the French aggressions of July, 1830, I was
sustained in my views of its character by a written request that sixteen
of the commissioned officers of the United States East India squadron
We in October, 1839, to reprint 1,000 copies of the account at their
HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 1163
expense for gratuitous distribution, which I did, and an indorsement
of my views by the Hon. Rufus Choate in the North American Review.
Mr. Jarves, the historian of Hawaii, says:
They hold the key of the Pacific Ocean, Ibr no trade could prosper or even exist
-whilst a hostile power, possessing a powerful and active marine, should send out its
cruisers to prey upon commerce; but once firmly established upon them it might put
to defiance any ineiins of attack which could be brought to bear-against them. Hence
the commercial countries have been jealous lest some oi them should have a superior
influence.
Mr. Seward, in a speech in the Senate on the subject of the commerce
of the Pacific, says:
Who does not see that henceforth every year European commerce, European politics,
European thought, European activities, although actually gaining greater
force, and European connections, although becoming more intimate, will nevertheless
ultimately sink in importance while the Pacific Ocean, its shores, its islands, and
the vast regions beyond, will become the chief theater of events in the world's
great hereafter f
President Lincoln said:
In every light in which the state of the Hawaiian Islands can be contemplated it
is an object of profound interest for the United States. Virtually it was once a
colony. It is now a near and immediate neighbor. It is a haven of shelter and
refreshment for our merchants, fishermen, seamen, and other citizens, when on their
lawful occasions they are navigating the Eastern seas and ocean. The people are
free and its laws, languages, and religion are largely the fruit of our own teaching
and example.
The minority report of the Committee on Ways and Means regarding
the treaty says:
Much stress is laid in the report of the majority upon the importance to the
United States of obtaining a foothold upon these islands in the interest of our
Pacific commerce with the continent of Asia, and of our safety in case of future war
with any great naval power.
The undersigned are not insensible to these considerations. No European power
should be permitted to claim sovereignty of these islands or to gain such influence
in them as to menace our security. To allow this would be contrary to the wellestablished
canons of American policy by nearly a century of traditions and the
conceded maxims of international law. No European power can deny to us the
peculiar right to exclude them from possessing what would be a standing menace of
danger to us and the possession of which by us would be no menace of danger to
them.
War we hope never to see, and shall bless the time, if we are permitted to see it,
when the reign of peace and good will to men shall be universal everywhere. But
while the state of men continues to make it wise, " In time of peace to prepare for
war."
I think I have shown, by the events related as occurring within the
last fifty years and quotations from competent naval, military, and civil
authorities, that it is both wise and proper for the United States to
seek and retain such paramount influence and control of the islands as
will prevent their being used as a menace to them in case of war. It
will be noted that the incidents narrated and the remarks quoted from
writers and speakers were nearly all of them many years antecedent to
the treaty, and could only have related to the intrinsic value of the
islands for their location and capability of production, and it is now
nearly seventy years, as I am informed, since President Monroe uttered
his views on this subject.
I may remark that Kamehameha IV said to me, while yet heir
apparent, that if the nation died out and its sovereignty passed away,
as it seemed by the course of events must inevitably be the case, they
should and would go to the States, and the question when was only a
question of time. If the authorities could enforce neutrality against
all belligerents their strategic positions would not be so important, but

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{p|1162}}
 By personal request of Admiral George Seymour and Gen.
 Miller, in company
@@ Line 109: / Line 108: @@
 {{p|1163}}
 expense for gratuitous distribution, which I did, and
 an endorsement of my

@@ Line 175: / Line 175: @@
 Asia, and of our
 safety in case of future war with any great naval
-power.  The undersigned
+power.</small>
 are not insensible to these considerations.  No
 European power should be
@@ Line 200: / Line 202: @@
 of peace to prepare for war."</small>
-<small>I think I have shown, by the events related as occurring within the last fifty years and quotations from competent naval,
+I think I have shown, by the events related as occurring within the last fifty years and quotations from competent naval,
 military, and civil
 authorities, that it is both wise and proper for the
@@ Line 217: / Line 219: @@
 nearly seventy years,
 as I am informed, since President Monroe uttered his
-views on this subject.</small>
+views on this subject.
 I may remark that Kamehameha IV said to me, while

Template:1162-1163 - Revision history

Jere Krischel at 09:51, 11 February 2006

Ken Conklin at 02:27, 7 February 2006

Ken Conklin at 02:22, 7 February 2006

Jere Krischel at 05:20, 12 December 2005