LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
HAWAII, AS HALFWAY-HOUSE, FREE TO ALL, FOR EVER.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR:]
SIR,—Nearly half-way between Asia and America, on that great trade route of the Pacific, lies Honolulu, the capital of Hawaii, with its spacious harbour and well-protected port. It is the very place of all others for landing the Australian cable for which we have been trying to find a stage. At the same time, the world has here an admirable station for coaling and repairing its ships. How needful, then, that such a spot should for ever be free from all liability to internal or external war and disturbance. At last Hawaii seems to be at rest, and to have obtained a settled Government and independence ; but recent troubles may some day be renewed. There is still a party in the American Congress which desires to annex the islands ; while such an attempt would certainly be opposed by one or more of the other Powers. That means fresh dis- turbance, and injury to the prosperity of the native popula- tion, as well as to the legitimate trade of many nations.
Allow me, then, to make known, through your columns,. what appears to be an excellent suggestion which emanates from a distinguished citizen of Boston, U.S.A., Mr. Edward Atkinson. This is, that the Government of Hawaii should he- invited to declare the ports and harbours of these islands to be free for ever to the ships of all nations, and that the latter- should enter into a treaty with each other and with Hawaii to that effect, with a joint guarantee against invasion. "Why," says Mr. Atkinson, "should not these islands be- come a sanctuary of free commerce, without fear of 'com- merce-destroyers' ? Under the treaty it should be ordained that no great guns should ever be pointed seaward from forts upon the land, and that no hostile shot should ever be fired upon the waters assigned to the jurisdiction of the Sandwich Islands." Mr. Atkinson very appropriately cites, as a pre- cedent, the Anglo-American agreement of 1817, still in force,. under which both nations bound themselves never to place armed ships on the Great Lakes.
In their own interest the people of Hawaii may be trusted to maintain peace and order for the future in their territory, and such a treaty would give them every motive for so doing. hope that this proposal may, by publication in your columns, attract the attention of statesmen in this and other countriea which are deeply interested in the growth and maintenance of free and uninterrupted sea-going trade.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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