The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1896-02-13

firSt LoF0 OF ne ceoSuFy, III Lon.
don, January 18th, ISota-; external
Expressions of international Good
WlIl-There Should be No War Be-
! tween These Powers.
lLondon Times: Jan. 10TH.
| turn from the continent Of Africa
to the continent of America, and |
ask you to turn your attention for a
very few minutes to the embarrass-
ments and controversies which have
recently arisen in that continent in
connection with a boundary dispute,
which has now dragged its slow length
along, decade after decade, between
us and the Republic of Venezuela. In
itself, as you we'll know, this question
would not have engaged all your at
p, tention, and would not have seemed in
any way matter of frst-rate impor-
tance, had it not been for the views
expressed and for the action taken by
the Government of the United States
of America. You will ask, naturally
enough, wh,t,,interest, what direct in
terest, have the United States OF Amer
ica in the discussion upon this boun-
Diary question which concerns not
North America but South America,
and whe it is removed from the
United States of America by hundreds
Of miles Of land and water? The an
swer to that..question is that the Amer
ican people seem to entertain the sus-
picion that in the action we have taken
with regard to Venezuela we have run
counter to the doctrine long celebrated
in the New World as the Monroe doc
! trine.
| What is the Monroe doctrine? What
is the doctrine expressed by President
Monroe now some 10 years and more
ago? 1t was a doctrine with which
we at the time, the British Govern
ment of the day, heartily concurred,
and it was directed against the action
of certain European powers which de-
sired to intervene in the domestic af-
| fairs of the South American States, and
to impose upon them form of gov
eminent from the outside; and the
Monroe doctrine, as expressed by Pres
ident Monroe, really in substance
amounts to this-that America, North
and South, is no longer to be regarded
as a field for European colonization,
and that European nations are not to
be regarded as having title to inter
:erc in the domestic affairs of States
situated in the New World. The Brit
ish Government, as have told you,
of President Monroe's days not only
conCurred in that but gave 1t their
active support, and l have yet TO learn
that upon the subst ance of this doc
trlne the British Government have
ever altered their minds. | do not
believe that IT you were to ransack
England from end to end, that if you
were to look into the most private
memoranda of the Foreign Office
through the two generations which
have passed away since President Mon
roe's Message, If YOU were to look
among Ministers, among the ordinary
public, among even the CIotCheteers of
the lunatics G ,ush'er), you would find
one single n't dual who ever dc
sired to see " IA; IS called the "forward
policy" ado,', i by Great Brlllan
either in NORTH or in South America.
! (Hear, hear) We are content and
have always been content, both in
North America and in South America
to do our best by the colonies we pos
sess, To do our duty both to develop
them, and, if need be, TO protect them.
! (Hear, hear.) But we have never de-
sired, and we do not now desire, either
to interfere with the domestic con-
Germs of any South American State, or
to acquire for ourselves any territory
that belongs to them. Indeed, | be-
lieve that if one of those revolutions
Venezuela Oaughter) were to end in a
proposition from the Venezuela S
themselves that we should add Vene
zuela to the possessions of the British
Crown, that we should take it under
our protection and incorporate it with
our Empire, though the honor Of such
request would be highly appreciated,
l think the responsibility would be de-
clineh by every British statesman to
whom it could possibly be made.
We'll, then, if we are absolutely at
one both with President Monroe and
with the great body of opinion in the
e. United States of America upon this
subject. you will ask me what is the
quarrel about and | do not k ,ow
Naughter) that l should be able to
give you a very clear or ineligible
answer as to exactly what it was that
was objected to in our course by The
Government OF the United States.
Bat, then, l will say that our contro-
versy with Venezuela is, as | have told
you, a controversy of very old stand
ing. 1t has come before Government
after Government drawn from both
political parties, and extending over
generation after generation, and the
documents connected with it are,
therefore, necessarily voluminous. We
have presented to the country in a de-
spatch which is in the hands, or may
be in the hands o. all who desire i,
he general heads of our view of the
case, but we are now-I mean the
Foreign office-actively engaged in
the labor Of compiling and Of bring.
ing together every document of i'm
portance bearing upon the case, and
as soon as that can be done it shall be
laid before Parliament and before the
country. (Hear, hear.) l understand