The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1896-01-02

which. under the influence OF frencn
In yonets. was carried, and MaXlniilal
was placed on the throne.
We were in the midst of clvll war;
but Secretary Seward notlhed the frencil
government that such proceeding hAuse
lead to war between France ana te
United States. The French mlniste, ~ ;e
timated somewhat truculently that II
war must be the result his government
would naturally select their own til ii
to commence hostilities, which Woulu
be the present, while the United states
was burdened with difficulties. lnuer
the circumstances our government was
bound to temporize. but just as soon as
our war was over portion OF our an.
was moved to the Texas frontier, the
French army was withdrawn and MAXI
milan fell.
Such was a correct application OF the
Monroe doctrine as it has been under-
stood and received by all American states
men.
The mere announcement of this doctrine
by Monroe foiled the holy alliance ana
stopped all action looking toward EURO
pean interposition in South America.
and the result was the establishment Oh
Independence by the South American
states and their recognition by the whole
world
In the same message of December,
1893. was embodied the statement which
had been made by Secretary Adams TO
the Russian minister in respect TO the
territory on the northwest coast OF
America. 1t read as follows:
The occasion has been judged proper
for asserting as principle, in which the
rights and principles of the United States
are involved, that the American CONT
nents, by the free and independent con,
dition which they have assumed ana
maintained are henceforth not to be con
sidered as subjects for future colonization
by any European power
This declaration, as we have seen, was
first made by John Quincy Adams, to
Baron Tuyl The Emperor of Russia mad
made claim to all the territory on the
northwest coast of America as far south
us latitude 81. Great Britain claimed
norton of the same territory, and i'll an
indefinite way the United States had CON
sidered our northern boundary line to
extend to latitude "a degrees 40 minutes.
1t will be remembered how in 1919 we
receded from this eXtrayagant preteh-
sion and accepted the parallel of ~ de-
grCeS as our northern boundary, show
ing that we did recognize the right OF
other governments to acquire territory
on this continent, and even some that we
supposed ourselves entitled to.
How then did Adams and Monorc I'M
dcrstand this broad statement i'll the mes
sage and how has it been understood by
our leading American statesmen since
it's announcement!
THE PANAMA MISSION.
John Quincy Adams succeeded Monroe
in the presidency and Henry Clay be-
came his secretary of state. In special
message to congress on December 20,
1925, Mr. Adams announced that the
Spanish-American republics has resolved
upon a congress to meet on the lsthmus OF
Panama, in which they yhould all be rep
resented; that they had invited the United
States to send penipotentiaries, and that
the invitation had been accepted. In the
course Of his message President Adams
quoted from Monroe's message of 1873,
the policy that had been then declared,
and explained II. In speaking of the OBJ
jectS of the Panama conference, he said:
An agreement between the parties rep
resented at the meeting, that each will
guard. by its own means, against the eS-
Establishment of any future European col
Ony within its borders, may be found ad-
visable This was more than two years
since announced by my predecessor to the
world as Il principle resulting from the
emancipation of both American CONT
ncnts.
Such was the doctrine" as construed
hy the statesman that first declared it.
Each nation was to guard by its own
means against the establishment of any
future European colony within its
borders"
President Adams never dreamed that
the United States assumed a guardian
ship over the other American states. We
proposed to guard against any colonial
ton of our territory, and it was hoped
that the South American states would
do the same. President Adams advOca-
cy of the Panama congress rested on that
ground, and that it would result in the
adoption of such a policy by all the
American states.
In the debate that followed as to the
eXpediency of sending representatives to
Panama the whole subject of the rela-
ton of the United States to the South
American states was discussed, both i'll
the senate and the house. But not even
the strongest advocates of the mission
limited at the idea that the United States
would under any circumstances exercise
guardianship over the Central and South
American republics, or in any way pro-
tee, them.
Although in the outcome representa-
tives to Panama were appointed by our
government, the conference itself proved
to be a failure. But what the whole his
torical passage is noted for is the eXposi-
ton of the Monroe doctrine" by John
Quincy Adams, it's undoubted author, to
the effect that European exclusion from
the Western hemisphere was to be the
work, not of the United States solely, as
champion of the two Americas, but of
each a. rican republic primarily, as pol
icy mil dictate.
LATER VIEWS.
1t has already been intimated that
when the question arose between this
country and Great Britain as to the very
territory concerning which the original
utterance had been, that the United
States receded from its contention, and,
instead of insisting on "54 40 or fight"
which had been a campaign cry in the
presidential election of 1914, accepted
the parallel of 40 for the Oregon bOun-
dairy, thus giving up the whole of what
is now British Columbia.
In 1913 revolution occurred in Yucca
tan, and the white government of that
country offered to cede it's dominion to
Great Britain. Spain or the United
States. President Polk made this offer
the subject of Il message to congress. in
which he urged that such measures
should be passed as would prevent it
from becoming Il colony of any European
power, which he said would be in contra
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