The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-12-18

toned in any quarter, though he says
| 1T has been given wide scope and too
often made a cloak for schemes of
wanton application and eggrandize-
| elaborate review of the Monroe doc
trine. and Secretary O1ney, stating
tnat the proposition that America is
In no part open to colonization, has
! very long been conceded, says that
our present concern is with the other
pfaoUlcal application of the Monroe
oocu1ne, viz: That American nom in
usrven1on in Europe necessarily i'm
Pileo European non-intervention in
Amer1can affairs, the disregard of
which by any European power is to
De deemed an act of unfriendliness
toward the United States
Must BE Clear.
an, On this point the secretary saws;
this rule cannot be too clearly a,nnre-
nehoed. 1t does not establish any
general protectorate by the United
states over other American states. It
ooes not relieve any state from it's
oIpllsatlons, as fixed by International
i I:' nor prevent any European power
directly interested from enforcing such
!
punishment for the breach of them.
II does not contemplate any interfer-
ehce IN the internal affairs of any
american state, or in the relations be-
tween 1t and other American states.
II uoes not justify any attempt on our
part 10 change the established form of
government of any American state, or
" prevent the people Of such state
from altering that form according to
thelr own Will and pleasure
Inc rule in question has but a. sim
gle OBJECT 1t is that no European DOW
er or combination of European powers.
shall forcibly deprive an American
state OF the right and power of self
government, and of shaping for itself
nies.''
Sanction of Congress.
The secretary says that it is manifest
that rule which has been openly and
uniformly acted upon by the executive
Dranch OF the government for seventy
years must have had the sanction of
congress. Nor, he adds, if the practi-
cal results of the rule be sought for, is
the record either meager or obscure.
Its first effect was indeed momentous
and farreaching. It was the component
America, and to it the independent
states Of that region are largely indebt-
ed for their very existence
Since then the most striking single
achievement to be credited to the rule
is the evacuation Of Mexico by the
french. But we are also indebted to it
Tor the Clayton-BulWer treaty, neutral
zing any inter-oceanic canal across
Central America, and excluding Great
Britain from any dominion there. It
has been used in the case of Cuba, as
justifying the position, while the
sovereignty of Spain will be re-
! spected, the island will not be
permitted to become the posses
sion of any other European power. 1t
has been influential in bringing about
the definite REIMBURSEMENT Of any sup
posed protectorate by Great Britain
over the Mosquito coast.
Polk Called In.
President Polk relied upon it, though
perhaps enormously, to prevent the
| transfer of Yucatan. General Grant in
the same spirit declared that existing
dependencies we're no longer subject to
transfer from one European power to
another, and another development is
found in the objection to arbitration of
| South American controversies by a
European power, and Secretary Bay
ard resisted the enforcement of the
Pelliter claim against Hayti, declaring
that serious indeed will be the conse-
quenceS if a European hostile foot
should without just cause tread those
states in the new world which have
emancipated themselves from Europ-
can CONTROL
American questions, it is said, are
| for American decision, says Secretary
Olney, and then applying this doctrine
in the reverse he says: If all Europe
were suddenly to fly to arms over the
/ 60 a. of ,nf he
ferrous that any American state should
find itself inextricably involved in the
miseries and burdens Of the contest?
What have the states of America to
! do with the vast armies and fleets Of
Europe, and why should they be impov-
erished by wars in which they can
have no concern? The moral inter-
ests of Europe are peculiar to her and
entirely adverse from those which are
peculiar to America.
The Difference.
Europe is, without a single imports
ant exception, committed to the mon
archial principle. America is devoted
to the idea that every people has it's
inalienable right Of self-government.
Any European control OF our interests
is necessarily both incongruous and in
furious and, if the forcible intrusion
of European powers in American poll
tics is to be deprecated, the resistance
must come from the United States, the
only power with strength adequate to
the eXigency."
There can be but one answer to the
question whe.her the safety and well
fare of the United States are so con-
nected with the maintenance of the
independence of every American state
as against any European power as to
Justify and require our interpositlon
Whenever that independence is endan-
gered.
These states are our friends and al
lies commercially and politically, and
to allow the subjugation OF any one OF
them by any European power reverses
the situation and signifies loss OF all
the advantages incident to their natur-
al relation to us. But that is not all.
The people of the United States have
vital interest in the cause OF popular
self-government, which they nave Sc
cured at the cost of infinite blood and
treasure. The age of the crusades has
passed and they are content with sucn
assertion and defense of the rights or
self-government as their own security
and welfare demand. 1t IS IN that
view, more than any other, that tney
will not tolerate the political control
of the American states by the forclple
ASSUMPTION of European power.