acquisition, perhaps even any extension of territorial limits,
there are also those of influence and wise foresight who see a
future that must extend the jurisdiction and the limits of this
nation, and that will require a resting spot in the mid-ocean,
between the Pacific coast and the vast domains of Asia, which are
now opening to commerce, and Christian civilization."

All immediate action, however, was confined to a specially
intimate treaty of reciprocity which was signed in 1875, and
which secured a substantial American domination in commerce. When
Blaine became Secretary of State in 1881, he was, or at least he
affected to be, seriously alarmed at the possibility of foreign
influence in Hawaiian affairs, particularly on the part of Great
Britain. The native population was declining, and should it
continue to diminish, he believed that the United States must
annex the islands. "Throughout the continent, north and south,"
he wrote, "wherever a foothold is found for American enterprise,
it is quickly occupied, and the spirit of adventure, which seeks
its outlet, in the mines of South America and the railroads of
Mexico, would not be slow to avail itself of openings of assured
and profitable enterprise even in mid-ocean." As the feeling grew
in the United States that these islands really belonged to the
American continent, Blaine even invited Hawaii to send
representatives to the Pan-American Congress of 1889. When he
again became Secretary of State, he was prepared to give indirect
support at least to American interests, for the new queen,
Liliuokalani, was supposed to be under British influence. On the
arrival of a British gunboat in Honolulu, J. L. Stevens, the
American Minister, went so far as to write on February 8, 1892:
"At this time there seems to be no immediate prospect of its