Page 65 - The interest of America in sea power, present and future

46 Hawaii and our Future Sea Power.

The United States is by far the greatest, in num-
bers, interests, and power, of the communities
bordering upon the eastern shores of the North
Pacific; and the relations of the Hawaiian
Islands to her naturally would be, and actually
are, more numerous and more important than
they can be to any other state. This is true,
although, unfortunately for the equally natural
wishes of Great Britain and her colonies, the
direct routes from British Columbia to Eastern
Australia and New Zealand, which depend
upon no building of a future canal, pass as
near the islands as those already mentioned.
Such a fact, that this additional great highway
runs close to the group, both augments and
emphasizes their strategic importance; but it
does not affect the statement just made, that
the interest of the United States in them sur-
passes that of Great Britain, and depend-
ent upon a natural cause, nearness, which
has been admitted always as a reasonable
ground for national self-assertion. It is unfor-
tunate, doubtless, for the wishes of British
Columbia, and for the communications, com-
mercial and military, depending upon the Ca-
nadian Pacific Railway, that the United States