Page 53 - The Interest of America in Sea Power Present and Future

34 Hawaii and our Future Sea Power.

action as a question of principle, pregnant of
great consequences in one direction or in the
other.
Occasion of serious difficulty, indeed, should
not arise here. Unlike the historical instance
just cited, the two nations whose interests
have come now into contact — Great Britain
and the United States — are so alike in in-
herited traditions, habits of thought, and views
of right, that injury to the one need not be
anticipated from the predominance of the
other in a quarter where its interests also
predominate. Despite the heterogeneous char-
acter of the immigration which the past few
years have been pouring into our country, our
political traditions and racial characteristics
still continue English — Mr. Douglas Campbell
would say Dutch, but even so the stock is the
same. Though thus somewhat gorged with
food not wholly to its taste, our political diges-
tion has contrived so far to master the incon-
gruous mass of materials it has been unable to
reject; and if assimilation has been at times
imperfect, our political constitution and spirit
remain English in essential features. Imbued
with like ideals of liberty, of law, of right, cer-

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