Page 58 - The Interest of America in Sea Power Present and Future

Hawaii and our Future Sea Power.
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and perilous voyage around Cape Horn, or by
a more toilsome and dangerous passage across
the continent, remained among the last of the
temperate productive seaboards of the earth to
be possessed by white men. The United
States were already a nation, in fact as well as
in form, when Vancouver was exploring Puget
Sound and passed first through the channel
separating the mainland of British America
from the island which now bears his name.
Thus it has happened that, from the late devel-
opment of British Columbia in the northeastern
Pacific, and of Australia and New Zealand
in the southwestern, Great Britain is found
again holding the two extremities of a line,
between which she must inevitably desire the
intermediate links ; nor is there any good
reason why she should not have them, except
the superior, more urgent, more vital necessi-
ties of another people — our own. Of these
links the Hawaiian group possesses unique
importance — not from its intrinsic commer-
cial value, but from its favorable position for
maritime and military control.
The military or strategic value of a naval
position depends upon its situation, upon its