Hawaii Holomua, Volume I, Number 34, 26 October 1893 — THE VICTORY! The Final Address OF THE Leland Standford Unirersity Stndents Against Annexation of Hawaii. [ARTICLE]

THE VICTORY! The Final Address OF THE Leland Standford Unirersity Stndents Against Annexation of Hawaii.

I VARD BAXXIi>TER, the Last Speaker. Judges Knight, Morrow and Hatch, decide in tavor of the Opponents of Annexation. Mh. Chaihmax : Could the framers of the eonstitution revisit ihia wor!d tbe great wonder to tbem wonld be tbis Kepuhlie extendiug from oeean to oeean, from Canada to Mexico. They wonld think it the mimele of the »ges? “For are uot popn!ar govemments they woold ask unnecessarily to areas of small extent?” “Did not Hoiland, Venice and Switzerlaud owe their success to their “narrow limits?‘' “And were uot Rome’s greatest teritorries the cause of her change from a Kepuhlie to a despotism’’ Such would be the reasoniog of the fatbers. But the future is not alwavs to be read from the omens of the past. America with the aid of the railroad, tho telegraph and a eomparatively enlightened puhlie has been able to accomplish with measared suceess what io other repoblics under less favorable conditions has been denied. She h;is acquired and maintained under one government the greatest territoxy inhabited bv a self-goveruing people. The half-wistful, hard!y-tlaring hope of fifty years ago bas beeu fnlfilled. The oceans now lie at our doors. These natural bonndaries reached, the spirit of acquisition ever cantious and moderato bas seemed eontont, and the national energies bave been torned to tbe dev«-lop-ment of territories acqnired. True, we sometimes talk of Canada and Mexico conntries adjacent and it is possible tbat they may in time be annexed to the United Statee. I But the present agitators of a Union are noi the Americans. but tbe Canadians and a few o( the inhabitants of Northera Mexico. Whatever the poliiieai destiny of theee coantries may be, two things «re equally certain; w« are not now ready to meet the problems oI their acqaisition, neither will we erer annex tbem against lhelr will. Kepahlieaniam m not abeo)atism. Indeed oor coateiit wiUi tho preeent domain bas foand expression in a national policy. However moeh that poUcr may waver a« to Norih aad Sovth ia ’

of eo eoneem to oa in thvs debste. We sre not del>«tiiig North and South. but »nd West, and E*st and West tbe policy admits of close defiaitioD. It has been a pronooDced refo$al to extend our territories beyond the nataral boundariee of the ooeao shores. The affirmative may orge that tbe islands otf tbe coast of AIaska are a refatation of any fixed national policy. Bnt tbose islauds together with the adjacent mainlaml stand out as a lone exception to all policy. their very isolation sen ing to eoniina ratber than to alter polieios applying elsewhere. Eveu the purehase of tbat territory was as mysterious as exceptional. It was uoi until sometiuie aftor the purcbase had been made tbat its trne history heeame known. It was then learued that Alaska was not acquired for A1aska, but for the peq>etaity of the Union! As a reeompense for uava! aid from Russia during tiie Civil War to offset the threateued intervention of the United States agreed to a payment of $7,000,000. In order to make tbe transfer witbout exciting tbe suspicions of other powers, Alaska then a snpposedly worthIess country, was taken in retnrn. Such being tbe case, from the pnrchase of Alaska roy opponenia ean draw no inferences adver»e to what bas heeu stated as the territorial policy of this government, that policy being a refusal to extend our domain beyond the oeean shores. On the east, the Islands of St. John St. Thomas though negotiated for by Secretarv Seward, were rofusetl by the 8enate wheu the treaty eame up for ratification: bills for the purehaae of Cuba to us tlie most imporiuut of all Islauds, have in Cougress met defeat; San Domingo of whieh the present Hawaiian agitation i* but a repetitiou has also been rejecte«i. On the West, the policy of the United States in tbe words of the late Secretary BIaine, has heen tbe eompiemeni of that in Atlantic. Oa several occasions when the inhabitants themselves wero willing, and when there was more to be feared from foreign inilaenee than now, tbe United States bas declined to either assume a protectorate over or to annex the islands under discussion. Thus the governmeut has established its po!icy aud thus far maintained it, aod that witboot tolerating aggressions from other nations. opon the territories io qnestion. We have not fonnd it neceessary to annex every territory in whieh we are interested. Bot wiih a watchful eye on foreign movements we have favored independence and seif gorenunent where-ever tbese wem poasible. Bot tonight, we are asked tp break the esublished policy, to extend cmr domain to the islands of the sea. The change of a naūonal policy is a grare proceeding. lt iovolves the Cate of the naUon that changes it. The policy whieh my opponents | l attack i» one whieh has long |

serred this country well sn*i «bich 1 believe mar be of cso to os yet. Tfaere is opon the «cqaisitiona of any people a limil «hieh the internal secaritv (iemami» shoaI«i not be croseed. lt ia giren to no nation to inherit the earth. 1 «orernment is a meann not an eud. It« only raIneconsit8 in the benefita it irt able to otferthe governo*I. It is not internationaI greatneaa to own an empire, bat it is naiional greataess to gorern woll; to adrainister jastice to alt elaaaea and all eommumiiea. No *iugle governraent ean do tbe vork of two. Whon national d<>mains become so vast that justice ean no longer be meeted oot to the component parts. thos*> part-H most sepantte. even as they aro now doiug in tho Britisb Empire. Are tbo gentlemoa ovorlooking the warniugs of our own nalional history .' Are thoy anmindfnl i f the sectional jealooaies that have existed ami still exist in this l’nion? Are they iguorant of the secession tendencies «f New England and of what was onee the West? Have they forgotton tho great strnggle still so vivid in the national miml? We are a Repnblic. The people of tbe town uniting the Scbool district, ihelownnhip. the country ami the state. I’roud of our Nationai nchieveraents, bot wby? ltecanse they have prcsenetl our loeal rigbts and increased oor loeal opportunities. Appomatox haa not settlotl all. The fature ean never l>e settled by the past. Eaeh generation most figbt anew the battles of its pecuiiar conditioos. The great aoeial qucstions of a momentous era are now presaing npon us They will try the paiienee of onr people and it may be tho s**curity of onr institutions. If the l'uion iasts, it will be ltecan.se it is tho interest of the peoplo to muke it last. Only sl*ves are driven. The b'»ml that nnites st«to with st»te, class wilh elass iuust b« a real, a living bond. Yes, thesa aro Iimits boyond whieh we dare noi g». Those limiisonr government has hither* to thongbt best to establisb at the shore liooa of the continent. Aml against their «ulargement by tbe annex&tion of tbe Hawaiian Is lands or aoy other i»lands unlesa by tbe neoessity of self preservation whieh cann‘t now be nrged. the varoings of oor hi»tory, the mormurings of aoeial discontent, tha watchfnl and jealoua spirit of oor people vonld seem to protest. Bnt tbe islamis roost be ann«xed; the land of the Hawaiīan. the American. the Pclynesian, ihe Freocbman. the (iennan. the Portagnese. the Cbinaman snd the Japanese. While I bave admiration for the astonisbing progress that kingdom haa mad« from barbarism to a plaee io the family of naiiona, my admiration doe» not go «o far aa to give ber motley and largely ignor«nt foreign elemenU a plaee wilhin the Ameiiean Kepohlie And it ia naeleaa for the gentlemen to argne that imraigration uiay be restxicted by ihe treaty of annex-

ation. Tbere ia a higher aatbor itv than any treaty—tbe Coo»titotion of the l'nitetl Stetes. And i tbat Constitation according to ; onr i>est juriKt«t. gives to all in- i habitanta of this conntrv. cit<xens j or aliens. tbe rigbt to pass nn- | molested from one en«l of onr | •lomain to tbe otber. Bv annex- | atioo Hawaii becornes a part of ! tbe l nitcd States. an»l her inhabitants entitled to at Ieast | the rights of aliena. an»l tberefore tbe rigbt of residence | in our midst Hawaii onee annexetl will be eome, when delivered fruiu the j ills of Territorial Government, one of the State> in this Lnion. Bnt a State separated frora the l nion to whieh it belongs bv 2000 miles of oeean tn»vel, so far distant that it ever raust remaiu as foreign as if it were wbat it is to-day a separate and in*lependent nation. Thus the verv eonditions peculiar to Hawaii eonspire againgst her. They only seem to >trengthen tbe uational policv already declared. The reasons from within are ! not tbe only one« tbat coraraend j to us onr prest;nt territorial policy. i'here are reasons of et]oai importauee froiu without There are in the worid iuOre nations thau one. And tbe eoexistence of the many nutions ituposes upn all, cerbiin inter- j nationaI relatio Ltei. Tbe comp!ex territorial interests both at home and abroad «f tbe Kuropeau jx»wers haa forced uj*ou tbose powers relations of a most intricate cbaracter. Temtoiy is tbe bone of tbeir contention. No Kuropeau nation eau view with uneoneem tbe movemeuts of its neighbors. The snpreinaey of ono ineaua tbe aunihilalion of tbe otbers. In tbe international disturbances that arise, self preservation eompels a policy of intarvention—iutervention to prcseve the Balances of Po»er, tbat peculiar iustitution whioh maintaius political e*]ulibrium of Europe; whieh protects all nations by rej>elling tbe agressions of anv particular one. It was to preaerre tbe Halanoe of Powor tbat E:igland, Holland and Austria eomhineU agaiust tbe continental Bjhemes of Louis XIV.; tbat all Earope unite«l agaiust Napoleon; tbat in the crimean war, £ng)and France and Turkey allieei against Russia. Because of the complexity and proxiuiitv of territorial interests there are in the calemlar of Eur\>j»e many days of biood and the brightest days are without the clouds of I war. Intervention is the policy of Euroj>ean uations. but it is not tho po!icv of the Fnite«.l Sutes. lnstead of l>eiug surronuded bv rivals we livea in sphere essentially °ur own. No armies or navies are needed to preserve a Baiance of Power. for there is none to preserre. We are so far distant fn.»m the complieations of the other gre«t nations, tbat to ns it matters not whether the star asceniiant of £nrope l*e ifaat of £nglaud, France, t«erman, Russia or Austria. Oar terntor ial ksolatiou has enuabied us to porsne an isolated ]>olicy, a polīcy of non-intervention of neotrniity. "Friendship wiih all nations aod entang)iog alIUnoea vitb none’ bas been the motto of nll admintstrations from that of

\Nasbington to tbat of Grorer Clevelaa«lAnd onr jxeople delivered from the des re and fear of war sentiments. from standing armies. aod great navies bave beeu free to take tbe Ieading plaee in tbe , world’s industnal deve!opment. • But a ch«nge af conditions must j bring a change of j>olicy. The oeean terntories are largely in tbe jKn»ses.sion of otber powers. An extension of our domain into the same regions. means an identification of our iuterests with tbeirs. and tbe consequent entangiement and complication whieh we bave always songht to avoid. Cannot the gentlemen see tbat | our iuterests in the Hawaiiau ls!ai)»ls are better otf as they are' That by anuexation we lose in our interuatioiial re!atious the advaut.ges of Hawaiian indej>endencet In war between us and a foreign j>ower, the distinct iiatiunalitv of Hawaii would constitute now her protectiou. And since it is not our desire to. ac«juire that couutiy, but merely to witbstaud the eucroachments of otber imtions i tbere. as in Sau Domii;go, Cuba and Mexico. is it not uatiunai wisdom to leave to her as we leave to them, the adjnstnient of ber mteruat oual relations? And tbns maintain as far as possible our old aud advanI tageons position of Neutrality? lf intervention sbould beeome necessary. tbe Uuited States will interveue in Hawaii as sbe did in Mexico. . Ladies «nd gentleraen, in this debate we bave tried to rise abovo tbe discussion o£ loeal iaanea, if there are any, to tbose purely national. Ratber thau plead for the iuterests of tbe 1000 Americaus who bave cast their lot iu a foreign laud, we have plead for wbat we believe tbe interests of tbe 60,000,000 Americans who b«ve stayed at home. Wby tbi> gree«l for tbe Hawaiian Islands? Is it a navai station tbat is wanted? For that we have no use. Is it a eoalinp station? That we roay have if we wisb by treaty. ls it tbe island weakh whieh so cbarms onr senses? Tbat would iead to tbe aunexatiou of tbe eartb. Tbe sbore lines onee crossed, we cross forever. One acquisition leads but to auotber. No, the barterers of Hawaiian Iiberty iuost returu. As we value our national bouor tbeir hloenl money we dare not tonch. Even tbougb tbe otfering were the gift of its owners still most we refuse. For every consideratiou of our iuterual peaee and external s«fetv advise us against the change of oar preseot territorial jxdicy.