Part 73 (1/2)

On March 3, 1899, President McKinley nominated Rear-Admiral George Dewey to the rank of full admiral, his commission to date from March 2d, and the Senate immediately and unanimously confirmed the nomination, which had been so richly earned. This hero, as modest as he is great, remained in the Philippines to complete his herculean task, instead of seizing the first opportunity to return home and receive the overwhelming honors which his countrymen were eagerly waiting to show him. Finally, when his vast work was virtually completed and his health showed evidence of the terrific and long-continued strain to which it had been subjected, he turned over his command, by direction of the government, to Rear-Admiral Watson, and, proceeding by a leisurely course, reached home in the autumn of 1899. The honors showered upon him by his grateful and admiring countrymen proved not only his clear t.i.tle to the foremost rank among the greatest naval heroes of ancient and modern times, but attested the truth that the United States is not ungrateful, and that there is no reward too exalted for her to bestow upon those who have worthily won it.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ADMIRAL DEWEY'S FLAGs.h.i.+P THE ”OLYMPIA.”]

[Ill.u.s.tration: GEN. ARTHUR MacARTHUR.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: GEN. CHARLES KING.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: GEN HENRY W. LAWTON.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: GEN. FRED. FUNSTON.]

POPULAR COMMANDERS IN THE FILIPINO WAR.

CHAPTER XXVI.

ADMINISTRATION OF McKINLEY (CONTINUED) 1897-1901.

OUR NEW POSSESSIONS.

The Islands of Hawaii--Their Inhabitants and Products--City of Honolulu--History of Cuba--The Ten Years' War--The Insurrection of 1895-98--Geography and Productions of Cuba--Its Climate--History of Porto Rico--Its People and Productions--San Juan and Ponce--Location, Discovery, and History of the Philippines--Insurrections of the Filipinos--City of Manila--Commerce--Philippine Productions--Climate and Volcanoes--Dewey at Manila--The Ladrone Islands--Conclusion.

THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS ”THE PARADISE OF THE PACIFIC.”

The annexation of the Hawaiian Islands to the United States, by a joint vote of Congress, July 7, 1898, marks a new era in the history of our country. It practically sounded the death-knell of the conservative doctrine of non-expansion beyond our own natural physical boundaries.

The only precedent approaching this act, in our history, is the annexation of Texas. The Louisiana Territory, Florida, and Alaska were acquired by purchase; California, New Mexico, and a part of Colorado were obtained by cession from Mexico; Oregon, Was.h.i.+ngton, Montana, and Idaho by treaty with Great Britain. Texas alone was annexed. The fact, however, that it was a republic is the only circ.u.mstance which makes its case a.n.a.logous to that of Hawaii. Texas lay between two large nations, and was obliged to seek union with one of them. It was within our own continent and inhabited largely by our own people. Hawaii marks our first advance into foreign lands, and ranges America for the first time among the nations whose policy is that of expansion, by territorial extensions, over the globe.

[Ill.u.s.tration: NATIVE GRa.s.s HOUSE, HAWAII.]

Hawaii is called the ”Paradise of the Pacific,” and there is little doubt that its climate, fertility and healthfulness justify the name.

It is one of the few spots upon earth where one can almost, to use a slang phrase, ”touch the b.u.t.ton” and obtain any kind of weather he desires. Mark Twain's suggestion to those who go to these islands to find a congenial clime is about as practical as it is humorous--”Select your climate, mark your thermometer at the temperature desired, and climb until the mercury stops there.” Everyone who visits Hawaii is charmed with the country, and never forgets its novelty, stupendous and delightful scenery, clear atmosphere, gorgeous sunlight, and profusion of fruits and flowers.

”No alien land in all the world,” writes Mr. Clemens, ”could so longingly and beseechingly haunt me, sleeping and waking, through half a life-time, as that has done. Other things leave me, but that abides.

Other things change, but that remains the same. For me its balmy airs are always blowing; its summer seas flash in the sun; the pulsing of its surf beats in my ear; I can see its garlanded crags, its leaping cascades, its plumy palms drowsing by the sh.o.r.e, its remote summits floating like islands above the cloud rack; I can feel the spirit of its woodland solitudes; I can hear the splash of its brooks; in my nostrils still lives the breath of flowers that perished twenty years ago.”

DISCOVERY AND LOCATION.

Captain Cook discovered the islands in January, 1778, and named them the Sandwich Islands, after Lord Sandwich; but the native name, Hawaii, is more generally used. There is good evidence that Juan Gaetano, in the year 1555--223 years before Cook's visit--landed upon their sh.o.r.es. Old Spanish charts and the traditions of the natives bear out this theory, but they were not made known to the world until Cook visited them. It is popularly believed that the original inhabitants of Hawaii came from New Zealand, though that island is some 4,000 miles southwest of them. The physical appearance of the people is very similar, and their languages are so much alike that a native Hawaiian and a native New Zealander, meeting for the first time, can carry on a conversation. Their ideas of the Deity and some of their religious customs are nearly the same. That the islands have been peopled for a long time is proven by the fact that human bones are found under lava beds and coral reefs where geologists declare they have lain for at least thirteen hundred years.

There are eight inhabited islands in the archipelago, Hawaii, Maui, Kahoolawi, Lanai, Molokai, Oahu, Kauai, and Niihau, comprising an area of 6,700 square miles, a little less than that of the State of New Jersey, and about five hundred miles greater than the combined areas of Rhode Island and Connecticut. They extend from northwest to southeast, over a distance of about 380 miles, the several islands being separated by channels varying in width from six to sixty miles. They lie entirely within the tropics, not far from a direct line between San Francisco and j.a.pan, 2,080 miles from San Francisco, which is nearer to them than any other point of land, except one of the Carolines. The largest and most southern island is Hawaii, which has given its name to the group.

[Ill.u.s.tration: RAISING THE AMERICAN FLAG IN HONOLULU, AUGUST 12, 1898.

The cut in the corner shows the Royal Palace formerly occupied by the Hawaiian Kings.]

THE HIGHEST AND LARGEST VOLCANOES.