the parting of the ways. She must now take the road which leads to Asia,
or the other, which outlets her in America, gives her an American
civilization, and binds her to the care of American destiny.


He also declares:

One of two courses seems to me absolutely necessary to be
followed--either bold and vigorous measures for annexation or a "customs
union," an ocean cable from the Californian coast to Honolulu, Pearl
Harbor perpetually ceded to the United States, with an implied but not
expressly stipulated American protectorate over the islands. I believe
the former to be the better, that which will prove much the more
advantageous to the islands and the cheapest and least embarrassing in
the end to the United States. If it was wise for the United States,
through Secretary Marcy, thirty-eight years ago, to offer to expend
$100,000 to secure a treaty of annexation, it certainly can not be
chimerical or unwise to expend $100,000 to secure annexation in the near
future. To-day the United States has five times the wealth she possessed
in 1854, and the reasons now existing for annexation are much stronger
than they were then. I can not refrain from expressing the opinion with
emphasis that the golden hour is near at hand.


These declarations certainly show a disposition and condition of mind
which may be usefully recalled when interpreting the significance of the
minister's conceded acts or when considering the probabilities of such
conduct on his part as may not be admitted.

In this view it seems proper to also quote from a letter written by the