The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1896-01-08
Senator Lodge on the Venezuelan
Question.

In recent speech in the United
States Senate, Senator Lodge clearly
presented the American side of the
Venezuelan question. England's claims
and our rights were dispassionatel dis
cussed. He showed that the Monroe doc
trine applies, and declared that the Mon
roe doctrine must and shall be enforced.
Having presented and discussed the
facts in the case, Senator Lodge came
to this patriotic conclusion:
Mr.. President, we have neglected
too long our foreign policy and the
great interests of the United States
which lie beyond her borders. We
have permitted this English advance
upon Venezuelan territory to go ua-
che cked for years. The time has come
to end this state of things. We want
this matter settled, aud settled by arbi-
tration, because if it is settled other
wise it is a blow to principle that is
vita to the welfare and the diguity of
the United States. But there is more
in it than this. If we neglect our for.
eign affairs England does not neglect
hers.
AT the last session OF congress |
called the attention of the senate and of
the country to the manner in which
ENGLAND had absorbed the islands of
the Pacific and 10 The NJ cessity of our
controlling the Hawaiian Islsnds-a
necessity which becomes more pressing
with each succeeding ~. ask you now
to look at the Caribbean Sea. ask you
to note the strong naval station which
England has establ shed at ST. Lucia.
Follow line theme, 10 the westward
and you find Trinidad, the development
of which has been strongly pushed of
late years, then Jamaica, ard finally
British Honduras. That line faces the
South American coast. This territory
claimed from Venezuela is being pushed
steadily to the westward along that
coast, and the point at which it aims is
the control Of the mouths Of the ORR
nOcO, one of the great river systems of
South America. The purpose of all
these movements is written plainly on
the map. If successful they will give
Great Britain control of the Spanish
Main, and make the Caribbean Sea
little better than British lake.
We are great nation, Mr.. Pre9i-
dent, and we have great nations du-
ties and responsibilities. The path
which we should follow lies clear be-
fore us. We must be the leaders in the
Western Hemisphere. We must pro-
tect our coasts and hold the commerce
of that hemisphere. We do not med
die with the affairs of Europe. Neither
Great Britain nor Europe must be per
| t,,iitad IN int of iva
gain new territory here. We seek no
quarrels with any nation. We have
not been the aggressors in any of the
difficulties which are now lowering
upon the horizon.
But, Mr.. President, think there is
no mistaking the temper of the Ameri-
can people. For thirty years they have
been absorbed in healing the ravages
of civil war and in completing the con-
quest of the great continent which was
our inheritance. That work is done.
The American people have begun to
turn their eyes toward those interests
of the United States which lie beyond
our borders and yet so near our door.
They see those interests have been neg
lected. They see another nation hem
ming them in with Notifications and
encroacbing upon regions which must
remain what they have always been
American. They are resolved that
there shall be an end of these things.
They are resolved that the United
States shall not sink in the scale of ma
tions, but that it shall fulfill abroad as
at home the great destiny to which it
has been called. The American peo-
pie, in my judgment, believe in and
cherish the Monroe doctrine and will
not suffer it to be infringed.
do not believe, Mr.. President, that
the people of England have the least
desire to engage in hostilities with the
United States any more than we seek or
desire hostilities with them. Nor do
think that they take any serious inter
est in this disputed Venezuelan terri
tory or realize even now that the Ques-
ton involves for us a principle which
we consider vital to our safety and our
welfare. We have no desire to inter.
fere with any rightful possession OF
Great Britain in South America, but
we cannot allow her to set up claims to
American territory and then seize AND
hold that territory by force. If she
can do 1t successfully in Venezuela
she can do it in Mexico or Cuba; if she
can do it, other nations can also. W.
do not ask her to give up her rghtfu
territory or retreat an inch. All VIZ
ask is that she shall submit this dis
puted boundary to the arbitration of al
impartial tribunal. We have nothing
TO gain ourselves by the decision o
that tribunal, but in the reference t.
arbitration there is involved principle
which we rennrd 30 uiial Wa cannn