relations of the Pacific. The instances might be multiplied, and a detailed examination of these relations will disclose that up to the middle of the last century the Christian missionaries were an absolute necessity to diplomatic intercourse. Their influence upon the people and the governments of China and Japan will be discussed later. In Hawaii, after the conversion of the islands to Christianity, the missionaries were an ever-present factor in public affairs, and eventually their descendants became the leading advocates of annexation to the United States.
Before it had been determined by treaty what were the territorial rights of the United States in Oregon, and five years anterior to the acquisition of California, the President announced to the world by a message to Congress that the commercial and other interests of the United States in Hawaii were of such a predominating character that the government could not allow those islands to pass into the possession or come under the control of any other nation. Notwithstanding the trade relations of the United States were established almost immediately after the discovery of the islands, that fact did not deter other powers from repeated efforts to secure their possession. Their commanding situation in the Pacific was a constant temptation to the greed of colonizing nations.
The first attempt at securing possession was made by the British naval officer, Captain Vancouver, on his third visit in 1794, who proceeded, as he states, "under a conviction of the importance of those islands to Great Britain." Before taking his departure he caused a
