Foreign governments are beginning to be heard from on the subject of the annexation of Hawaii.
A member of the English House of Commons has asked the Government whether it intends to allow this very important coaling-station to pass out of its reach without protest.
The Secretary of the Foreign Office replied that no decision had as yet been reached by the United States, and therefore the Government did not see that any action was necessary at present.
The Secretary went on to state that the English ministers would be careful that none of the rights of British subjects were interfered with.
Russia, on her part, has stated that she thinks that the annexation of Hawaii may be followed by the seizure of Cuba, and considers it a step very dangerous to Europe. She will not, however, join with Japan in her protest.
A report was circulated that Spain and Japan were forming an alliance to resist the annexation of the Sandwich Islands, but this report has been denied.
The German Emperor is said to have declared that he fears the interference of the United States with European affairs if she is allowed to extend her territory in this way.
With all these more or less unfriendly comments there has been but the one serious objection to the project, and that has come from Japan.
The State Department has replied to the protest from the Japanese minister. The Department refuses to allow the claim that the treaty between Japan and Hawaii was a perpetual treaty. The refusal was based on the grounds that we gave you last week.
The Japanese protest also declares that there are twenty-five thousand of her people resident in the Sandwich Islands who have earned the right to become citizens, and our Government is asked what it proposes to do about these people in case the treaty is ratified.