Rensselaer Union, Volume 5, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 January 1873 — The Sandwich Islands. [ARTICLE]

The Sandwich Islands.

A gentleman who resided several years onJJie Sandwich Islands, and who held an official position which enabled him to become very thoroughly acquainted with their agrlcultu. al resources, commercial advantages, and form of government, furnishes some information on these subjects that is of special interest at this time. His views are in accord with those which have prevailed in the State Depart since the days of Seward; and it must he remembered, therefore, that the following facts and opinions are those of a warm advocate of annexation. He savs that the Constitution of Hawaii provides that the succession to the monarchy shall be in the female line in preference to the male, and that the person with the best title to the throne is now the late King’s half sister, Princess Ituth. The King is authorized to name as successor any member of the royal family, and if he fails to do this before his death, as was the case with the late King, the Parliament elects a new monarch, but cannot go outside the royal family in making a selection. The form of government is thoroughly republican in spirit, the monarch being little more than a figure-head to represent the executive power. Formerly the siguature of the King was not enough for the approval of laws passed by the Parliament, but there was an .official whose function wits to revise the action of both the King and Parliament, and who had to sign the laws after the King to give them validity. The last person who held this curious position was the King’s sister, Victoria. At her death the office was abolished. The system of government ; s very closely assimilated to that of tho United States, and the New York code is adopted for civil procedure in the courts. When General E. McCook went out as our Minister, during President Johnson’s Administration, most of the Government offices were filled by French and English residents, but during McCook’s stay the American influence became predominant, and has since remained so. About one-half the entire foreign population are Americans, and fill many important administrative and judicial positions. The native islanders, called Kanakas, are an intelligent, quick-witted people, aud it is said they can all read and write their own language. They are not industrious, however, and, although possessing tine they appear to be dofleient in vitality, so that the raco is steadily dying out. The population of the islands, which is supposed to have once exceeded 300,000, is now barely 00,000, of whom about 10,000 live in the town of Honolulu. The total surface of' the islands is 60,000 square miles, but mqch of it is bare, volcanic rock, and the area susceptible of cultivation does not exceed 80,000 square miles, and this would never support a dense agricultural population, because the chief staples, sugar and coffee, can be profitably cultivated only upon large plantations. As a strategic point for naval purposes, and as a commercial entrepot, the importance of the islands cannot be exaggerated. Any second or third-rhte naval power obtaining possession of them could dominate the commerce of the’ North Pacific. They lie directly in the path of nearly all the transpacific trade. As the .commerce of the North Pacific increases with the settlement of the western coast ot America and the more complete development of our relations with Japan, China, and the Indies, a great city must, it would appear, inevitably grow up in the Hawaiian group, to serve as a supply aud coaling station for the merchant marine of all nations navigating the Pacific Ocean, and as a naval station of the power which fortunately gets possession of the islands. Until within a few years England’uffd France have coveted the islands, and probably nothing but their surpassing importance to the United States has so long preserved their independence. During all the time that Mr. Seward controlled our foreign policy, the standing instructions to our Ministers at Honolulu were to watch the doings of the British and French Ministers, and to inform them that any attempt on the part of either of their Government to Interfere with the independence of the Hawaiian Kingdom would be regarded by the United States as a cause of war. Of late years. Great Britain has regarded it as definitely settled that we are to control the commerce of the Pacific in the future. Her citizens are largely interested in our Pacific railroads, and her statesmen aro believed to look with favor upon the growth of trade between Liverpool and Japan and China by way of San Francisco and New York. Ifis’ not thought that she could object to the islands being brought under an American protectorate,: or even to their immediate annexation. France is not in it condition to object, if she would. Germany, which is exhibiting remarkable vigor in the development of her foreign commerce and in increas,ing her naval armame|t, is said to fully understand the value. <sf the islands, and to desire to possess them! - but the rela ■ tiona of the United States with this power are at present Of such a friendly nature that she could scarcely he expected to -stand In the

way of their acquisition by us, although she would unquestionably object to any rival European nation gaining a foothold there. As to the views of the natives on the question of annexation to the United States, it is asserted that two thirds of them have favored for the past ten years any arrangement that would bring them in closer relations with ■ uS. In 1866 a treaty of commercial reciprocity was negotiated with the Hawaiian Government by Minister McCook, and was warmly supported by Senator Sumner, who made an able speech in its favor in an executive session of the Senate. The treaty failed by only two or three votes to get the two thirds of the Senate necessary for its ratification. If it had been ratified there is little doubt that the islands would before this have belonged to the United States.— Washington Cor. New York Tribune.