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INTRODUCTION.

The Pacific-the sea of Eastern legends-upon whose warm currents unwilling emigrants were carried to primeval America, and a place of interest and excitement which Europe long hoped to reach by some passage across the American continent,' for over a century has mirrored upon its waves the silent and persevering efforts of American

'The Pacific was unknown to Europeans when Columbus sailed in search of the Indies in 1492, and when England sought a northwest passage in 1497. It was first seen by Balboa from an eminence on the Isthmus of Darien; and after the remarkable voyage of Magellan, in 1520, the "South Sea" became a place of interest and excitement. England, through the influence of her daring buccaneers who appeared on the scene, friends to the sea, but foes to all on its waves, soon rose like a sleeping leviathan to rule the deep. The Cape of Good Hope route to the Indies was found to be better than that by Cape Horn, but the idea of cutting a canal through the Isthmus was early suggested, and the hope of a western passage to the Indies did not finally die out for many years. The English, in the days of Gilbert, had visions of reaching the Pacific by the St. Lawrence, and the early settlers of Jamestown sailed up the Chickahominy with the same thought. Fictitious ideas of wealth to be obtained in the South Pacific resulted in the South Sea Bubble" and were soon afterwards dispelled by voyages of Wallis, Carteret and later explorers. While the conflict with her American colonies was in progress, England was putting forth efforts to control the commerce of the Northwest coast. In 1776, Captain James Cook was sent to explore the coast and, after discovering the Sandwich Islands, landed at Nootka sound in 1778. He then sailed through Behring Straits, and returned to the Sandwich Islands. All previous voyagers had sailed along the coast of South America to Panama or California, and then across the Pacific to the south of the Sandwich Islands. Cook did not confine himself to former tracks, but made accurate surveys of his own route for the use of subsequent voyagers. Besides the Sandwich Islands he visited the Friendly and Society islands, and New Zealand. He wrote of his discoveries along luxuriant isles and picturesque shores where perfumes were borne on every breeze, and Vancouver and many other explorers followed.

citizens who, trained in the school of hardships, seeking new fields of daring adventure, romance or maritime enterprise, were the pioneers in discovering safe paths and harbors, and in obtaining commercial knowledge of the Pacific, which led the way for American influence in the Far East. Its waters were navigated by American trading vessels soon after the Revolution. In 1784, the Empress of China, fitted out at New York, reached Canton laden with ginseng. Other vessels were soon fitted out in Boston, to engage in trade between China and the Northwest coast-in which Jefferson showed a lively interest. The number of vessels engaged in trade, or in pursuing the sperm whale, soon increased rapidly. Though the danger from French privateers in 1778, the seizures by Spanish authorities at Valparaiso in 1800, the embargo of 1807, the acts of Peruvian corsairs before 1813, and the effects of the War of 1812,* were depressing in their effects on enterprise, after 1815 American commerce and fisheries in the Pacific were renewed with vigor and continued to increase.

During the Spanish-American revolution, the influence of American sailors played no unimportant part along the coasts west of the Andes. Even at that early date, a United States consul at Manila, under instructions from Monroe, was studying the conditions in the Philippines, and reporting on the prospects for American trade there. In midocean, the natives were gradually introduced to the virtues of a higher civilization, whose vices, also, they often saw. As commerce with the islands and the Far East in

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* In April, 1813, J. R. Poinsett, sent to remonstrate against the acts of the Peruvian corsairs, directed the Chilean army in a successful attack upon the Limian forces.

'During the War of 1812 many American whalers in the Pacific were captured and burned or turned into British transports. The island of Nantucket alone lost twenty-seven ships. Captain David Porter, entering the Pacific to protect American interests, destroyed a number of British whalers, and occupied Madison Island as a United States naval and supply station, but was finally defeated by the British near the harbor of Valparaiso.

creased, the necessity of some national protection and supervision induced the American government, after 1825, to keep a naval squadron in the Pacific." It was the interest of the entire nation to preserve friendly relations with the islands, prevent the evils growing out of desertions and mutinies, investigate the irregular conduct of libertines who were so far removed from the arms of the civil law, and make surveys and charts that would lessen the dangers of shipwreck. In 1831 the Potomac was sent to the coast of distant Sumatra to retaliate upon the natives of Quallah Battoo for their outrageous seizure of an American trading vessel. For the purpose of protecting and extending commerce with the East, Edmund Roberts, a sea-captain, was sent in 1832 to negotiate treaties and obtain safe ports. After much discussion and delay the United States Exploring Expedition, projected by J. N. Reynolds and others, was organized under Captain Wilkes, and from 1839 to 1841 examined many parts of the Pacific, sailing far toward the south polar regions and northward to the Sandwich Islands and Oregon.

By the settlement of Oregon and the acquisition of California, the United States became almost a neighbor to Russia, Japan and China, and an arbiter in the affairs of the Pacific, the sea of great and increasing activity. With her keels plowing the waves of the Polynesian world, and the western waters of the Pacific, she soon renewed her efforts to open the gates of the stubbornly exclusive Orient to the commerce of the West, increased her interest in the Sand

* By 1829 there were about 100 United States vessels calling at the Hawaiian Islands in a period of 12 months, with a tonnage of 3500 and valued at $5,000,000.

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Benjamin Rodman, of New Bedford, writing J. N. Reynolds, June 11, 1836, suggested that a superintending influence over our marine colonies " was just as important as the establishment of governments and law in our territories.

"During the South American revolt the United States had kept a small squadron on the west coast of Chile and Peru.

'The log-books of American whalers were a valuable source of information.

wich Islands where conditions after 1850 were preparing the way for a voluntary offer of annexation, took steps to protect American rights to the Guano Islands, contemplated the establishment of distant naval and coaling stations, conducted explorations along the eastern coasts of Asia and in the Northern Pacific, and threatened to bombard the delinquent Fijis.

The Pacific felt the thrill of awakening life, and gradually our back gardens beyond the Cordilleras became front terraces. In 1867 a regular line of steamer service was established between San Francisco and the Asia coast. Soon afterward, Seward, who had watched the growing importance of "the historic sea of the future," purchased Alaska and the Aleutian Islands and brought us within 45 miles of Russia and 700 miles of Japan.

The policy of acquiring distant islands naturally evolved with the course of events. The determination to allow no territorial control which would cut Hawaii adrift from the American system developed into the policy of annexation. The desire to hold a naval station at Pango Pango, led to participation, first, in a tripartite international convention for the neutrality and government of the Samoan Islands, and finally, in an agreement for partition. The logic of history and the exigencies and incidents of the humanitarian war of intervention to end Spanish misrule in Cuba, increasing American opportunity, duty and responsibility, resulted in the acquisition of the Philippines and other islands.

The United States has now become a leading power in international politics, with increased means for the accomplishment of her beneficent mission in the Pacific and the Far East.

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