Portland, and Puget Sound, and with Alaska stretching its finger
tips almost to Asia, even Blaine could not resist the lure of the
East, though he endeavored to reconcile American traditions of
isolation with oceanic expansion. Of all the Pacific
archipelagoes, the Hawaiian Islands lie nearest to the shores of
the United States. Although they had been discovered to the
European world by the great English explorer, Captain Cook, their
intercourse had, for geographic reasons, always been chiefly with
the United States. Whalers continually resorted to them for
supplies. Their natives shipped on American vessels and came in
numbers to California in early gold-mining days. American
missionaries attained their most striking success in the Hawaiian
Islands and not only converted the majority of the natives but
assisted the successive kings in their government. The
descendants of these missionaries continued to live on the
islands and became the nucleus of a white population which waxed
rich and powerful by the abundant production of sugar cane on
that volcanic soil.

In view of this tangible evidence of intimacy on the part of the
United States with the Hawaiian Islands, Webster in 1842 brought
them within the scope of the Monroe Doctrine by declaring that
European powers must not interfere with their government. Marcy,
Secretary of State, framed a treaty of annexation in 1853, but
the Hawaiian Government withdrew its assent. Twenty years later
Secretary Fish wrote: "There seems to be a strong desire on the
part of many persons in the islands, representing large interests
and great wealth, to become annexed to the United States and
while there are, as I have already said, many and influential
persons in the country who question the policy of any insular