Template:1164-1165

-p1164-

they have not the power to do so. Hence their strategic value to the United States, and they can in no way be so well utilized as by the perpetuation of this treaty, which will increase and retain a commanding American influence, such as it needs, and which will be better for all of its wants than annexation. Secretary J.G. Blaine makes the Monroe doctrine to include the islands because of their location.

A San Francisco Bulletin leader of May 2 says:

There seems to be no occasion to distrust what is known as our manifest destiny on this hemisphere, but prudent statesmanship will see that no germs are planted that may bo the cause of unnecessary trouble in the future. Upon this subject of European interference in the affairs of this continent the people are as set and determined in their opinions as they were in their maintenance of the Union of these States.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

S.N. CASTLE.

Hon. ELWOOD THOENE,

Washington, D. C.

If the United States looks to commercial supremacy or even a participation upon equal terms in the great and growing commerce of the Northern Pacific they need a paramount influence in the Hawaiian Islands, and there is no method by which they can so obtain this object as by making reciprocity treaty perpetual. By doing this the islands become a commercial dependency of the United States, for the prosperity of the islands is made very dependent upon the commerce which the treaty promotes and stimulates and the effect would be to bind them closer and closer to the States, and their proximity gives them an advantage over any other maritime power in this respect. Mr. Lincoln truly says, "Virtually they were once a colony." They were nurtured and civilized and Christianized by its citizens and they have earned their right above any other nation. And as the London Times says, "The maritime power that holds the key to the North Pacific," and Sir Geo. Simpson says, "This archipelago is far more valuable that it neither is nor can be shared by a rival."

These are the recorded views of high British authorities, and I repeat, if the United States wish in the future to participate upon equal terms in the commerce of the North Pacific it seems wise to possess themselves of this "key" by making it a commercial dependency, and there is no way in which it can be done so well as to perpetuate this treaty. If the United States are content to control the commerce in her borders only they have no need of the islands. They have only to fortify impregnably their seaports and they will be secure from molestation, but they must be content to resign all commercial supremacy or even parity to others.

Since the incidents which I have narrated have transpired and the quotations which I have made were recorded, all the reasons which then existed to render the Hawaiian Islands valuable have been intensified and have rendered them more important than they were then. Both Great Britain and France have extended and strengthened their colonial possessions in this ocean, and the United States have added California and Alaska to its territory on the Pacific, and our Pacific commerce with China and Japan has grown up from California and Oregon, and since the reciprocity treaty went into effect imports from and exports to the Hawaiian Islands have been quadrupled.

Every political motive, as well as commercial, calls upon the United States to establish the advantage which the treaty has already given

-p1165-

them by making it perpetual, and to do it without delay, before any complications shall arise with any rival power and the control of the islands shall slip out of their hands. Wisdom calls for this without any loss of time.

The charge of fraud which has been brought by interested parties in regard to the importation of sugars and rice from other countries under its provisions is utterly baseless and has been so proved. Its originators are both base and criminal for taxing serious crimes without the shadow of a reason, and if the United States allows its present vantage to be lost by reason of these charges they will sustain a state loss which others will not be slow to improve for their own benefit.

S.N. CASTLE.

JUNE 13,1893.

DEAR Sir: In conformity with your request I herewith inclose to you "Memoranda and Reminiscences of Incidents in Hawaiian History" which bear chiefly upon the wisdom of the treaty as a state political measure, and remain,

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

SAMUEL N. CASTLE.

Hon. E. E. THORNE.

Senator GRAY. Mr. Chairman, I desire that these communications be made a part of this record.

The CHAIRMAN. There is no objection to that. The communications are as follows:

U.S.R.S. DALE, 3RD RATE,

Navy-Yard, Washington, D.C, January 25, 1894.

SIR: I respectfully request the necessary permission to forward the enclosed communication to the Hon. George Gray, M. C.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

E.S. HOUSTON,

Commander U.S. Navy, Commanding.

The SECRETARY OF THE NAVY,

Navy Department, Washington, D. C.

[First endorsement.]

NAVY DEPARTMENT,

Bureau of Navigation, January 27,1894.

Respectfully returned to Commander E.S. Houston, U. S. Navy, who is informed that he is authorized by the Department to forward the enclosed communication to the Hon. George Gray, M.C.

F. M. RAMSAY,

Chief of Bureau.

[Second endorsement.]

COMMANDANT'S OFFICE.

Navy-Yard, Washington, D.C, January 29, 1894.

Forwarded, returned to Commander E. S. Houston, with reference to the above.

J.A. HOWELL,

Captain, U.S. Navy, Commandant.