er think of electing
a king or a queen, and the notorious corruption in blood and
character of the few remaining half-castes nominally belonging to
those ancient families, made it plain to all that the monarchical
government must soon die a natural death, or become so intolerably
corrupt as to make its overthrow inevitable. Americans by birth
or descent were then, and had been for a long time, the controlling
element in the government. While perfectly faithful to that
government, they had lost none of their love for their native
country, and looked forward with confidence to the time when the
islands, like ripe fruit, should fall into the lap of their beloved
mother. These American Hawaiians were men of very high character,
and much above the average of intelligence even in this country.
They had no desire to force the ripening of the fruit, but were
perfectly content to bide the course of nature, which must of
necessity produce the result in no long time.

It seems to me a very narrow view of the intelligence of the people
of this country which suggests any serious difficulty in the
government of outlying possessions which are essentially military
and naval outposts simply because their heterogeneous populations
are not yet capable of self-government, or fit for admission to
the Union as a State. If the Territorial system to which the
country is accustomed is not appropriate in any special case, and
the prejudice against a military government is regarded as
insurmountable, we have an example in the present government of
the District of Columbia,--one of the best and most economical in
the world,--which would require very slight modification to make
it perfectly applicable to any of the islands of the Atlantic, the
Pacific, or the gulf which may be acquired by this country. I do
not believe any man worthy of the title of statesman will admit
for a moment that the United States cannot govern, and govern well,
any national outposts or other possessions which the interests of
the country may require it to hold. In fact, it seems an almost
self-evident proposition that a government, under exclusive national
authority, exercised over comparatively small districts of country
and small population, under the constant observation of the people
and public press of the entire country, is more likely to be just
and pure than any other. Responsibility to a local constituency
undoubtedly has great advantages, but responsibil