Shut out from the Sandwich Islands as a coal base. an enemy is thrown back for supplies of fuel to distances of 3.500 or 4.000 milesor between 7.000 and 8.000 going and camingan impediment to sustained maritime operations wellnigh prohibitive. * * * It is rarely that so Important a factor in the attack or defense of a coast lineof asea frontieris concentrated In a single position. and the circumstance renders doubly imperative upon us to secure it if we righteously can. Mr. Speaker. we must take Hawaii in or else we must absolutely keep hands off and allow her to drift helplessly into the arms of an Asiatic or European power. We can not fold our arms and sit idly down and say to her and to the nations of the world. we do not want you. we will not take you. nor will we permit you to seek or other nations to give you shelter. When we look back over the record of the last eighty years. and see that during that time these islands have been taken once by Russia. once by England. and twice by France. and quite recently an endeavor to capture them by colonization and absorption by Japan. and which was only prevented by negotiations for annexation. we can not close our eyes to the fact that other nations are quite willing. in factvery willing. and anxious to take in Hawaii. aind if now. when they are tendered to us by a unanimous vote of the Hawaiian Senate. we absolutely refuse to accept the proffered gift. we can not in right. in justice. in law interpose any obstacle. any objection. to them seeking an alliance elsewhere.