Such was our position at the beginning of 1898. At the opening of 1899 we had entered into new relations with the world. The conclusion of the war with Spain had left in our hands the island of Porto Rico in the West Indies and the great group of the Philippines in the waters of Asia, while the Hawaiian Islands had became ours by peaceful annexation. What shall we do with them? is the question that follows. We have taken hold of them in a way in which it is impossible, without defeat and disgrace, to let go. Whatever the ethics of the question, the Philippine problem has assumed a shape which admits of but one solution. These islands will inevitably become ours, to hold, to develop, to control, and to give their people an opportunity to attain civilization, prosperity, and political manumission which they have never yet possessed. That they will be a material benefit to us is doubtful. That they will give us a new position among the nations of the earth is beyond doubt. We have entered formally into that Eastern question which in the years to come promises to be the leading question before the world, and which can no longer be settled by the nations of Europe as an affair of their own, with which the United States has no concern.
This new position taken by the United States promises to be succeeded by new alliances, a grand union of the Anglo-Saxon peoples, which will give them a dominant position among the powers of the world. In truth, it may not cease with the union of the Anglo-Saxons. The ambition and vast designs of Russia are forcing the other nations to combine for protection, and a close alliance of all the Teutonic peoples is possible, combined to resist the Slavic outgrowth, and eventually perhaps to place the destinies of the world in the hands of these two great races, the Teutonic and the Slavic.
All this may be looking overfar into the future. All that can be said now is that our new possessions have placed upon us new duties and new responsibilities, and may effectually break that policy of political isolation which we have so long maintained, and throw us into the caldron of world politics to take our part in shaping the future of the uncivilized races. For this we are surely strong enough, enterprising enough, and moral enough; and whatever our record, it is not likely to be one of defeat, of injustice and oppression, or of forgetfulness of the duty of nations and the rights of man.
CHARLES MORRIS.
July, 1899.
CHAPTER I.
DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION.
The Visits of the Northmen to the New World—The Indians and Mound Builders—Christopher Columbus—His Discovery of America—Amerigo Vespucci—John Cabot—Spanish Explorers—Balboa—His Discovery of the Pacific—Magellan—Ponce de Leon—De Narvaez—De Soto—Menendez—French Explorers—Verrazzani—Cartier—Ribault—Laudonnière—Champlain—La Salle—English Explorers—Sir Hugh Willoughby—Martin Frobisher—Sir Humphrey Gilbert—Sir Walter Raleigh—The Lost Colony—Dutch Explorer—Henry Hudson.
THE NORTHMEN.