The record-union., 1896-01-23

/ LlC SO-CdiIcQ A1OuTOG QOCIT1U0 mas DRe0
misapplied in the pending controversy;
/ that so much of President Monroe's
message as referred to the colonization
| of portions of America by European
powers could have no applicability TO
any boundary dispute now existing in
South America; that the hostility to the
extension by European powers of their
vast systems TO any part of this heni-
sphere, as expressed in that message,
| had especial reference to the systems
of Government which were based on the
divine rights of Kings, and which were
directed to the overthrow of all repub-
lies wherever existing; that the Monroe
doctrine was in no wise intended as i'm
sisting upon republican forms of gov
! ernment in this hemisphere, or as COM
/ mitting this Government to maintain
the doctrine outside its own borders, or
except as its own integrity might be
/ affected; that this country is embark
] ing upon a new and different policy
from the one laid down by our fathers,
and that from 1921 until now Congress
has uniformly declined to define the so
called Monroe doctrine or to adopt it
as rule of action.
He said existing conditions made it
difficult to dispassionately discuss the
Monroe doctrine at this time 1t was
not an easy or a gracious task to take
a position which apparently involved
in the slightest degree the abandon
ment of that patriotic fervor which
animated the breast of every citizen
where our national pride or our coun-
/ trys honor was in question. There had
been much tension for the past few
weeks. The letter of the Secretary of
State to Mr.. Bayard was, from dip
/ lomatic point of view, almost incendi-
ary. The Presidents glowed with the
possibilities of war. Members of both
/ houses of Congress, not to be outdone,
| followed the Presidents suggestion as
| to the appointment of a commission
with feverish haste. Just what the
commission was to do, Walcott added,
nobody knew, but it had been created,
and it now stood more menace than a
guaranty of peace.
The efforts of the Government to fire
| the national heart had not been una
vailing, nor was the work difficult. This
country, he said, had had but two wars
except our civil war and a war of con-
quest with the weak Government of
Mexico. Both of them were with Great
Britain, and while the past eighty years
had seen an entire readjuStment which
ought to make future war with her out
of the question, there was still lurking
some traces of the traditional resent
ment. There is discomfort, too, with
existing conditions in many sections Of
the country, and men felt that any
change, even war with a foreign coun-
try, could not make matters worse, and
might bring Improvement.
Wolcott then referred to the discon-
tent prevailing over the West and
South where the men who work on
farms find the grain they raise little
more valuable for food than as fuel;
who know that the railroads which
charge them for the transportation
OF their products are largely owned in
Great Britain, and are either prosper
Gus, or, if insolvent, are fOstered and
protected and managed by the Federal
Courts. They also view with distrust
the close financial relations existing
between the bankers of the East and
those of London, and they would well
come any event, even war, that would
result, as they believe a war would re-
sHlt, in destroying these relations, and
lead US to rely upon our own resources
and to embrace economic politics which
would not be dependent on those of
foreign countries. Thoughtless and
weak and ignorant though these views
might be, they existed.
It was easier, he said, to drift with
such a condition than to antagonize
it, but he proceeded to condemn the
whole controversy, so far as it was
based on the Monroe doctrine. He said
there never had been a doctrine more
misunderstood or misapplied than the
so-called Monroe doctrine. 1T is" he
said, ''and has ever been without recog-
milton by other countries, and has al
ways been refused the approval of
Congress-
Wolcott entered into an exhaustive
review of the origin and meaning of the
Monroe doctrine and of it's application
by the United States. He added: Not
only was the Monroe doctrine intended
simply as declaration of limited scoops
and purpose, as I think have shown,
but the circumstances under which it
was given to the world were far diff
ferent from those which now exist. and
under present conditions its assertion
and maintenance to the extent claimed
by the President have largely ceased
was essentially a doctrine of self-de-
fense, promulgated for our own preser-
walton and for no other purpose
"The concern of President Monroe -
said Wolcott, "was not lest monarch
les should be established in this hemi-
sphere. He expressly recognized existing
Governments and welcomed the en-
pire of Dom Pedro in Brazil and Itur-
bide in Mexico as freely as the Govern
raent of Bolivar; he protested not
against despotic Governments, but
against their forcible extension by the
dreaded Holy Alliance in this Western
world, of which he stood in we'll
grounded fear The fear was then
real, and the danger threatening. To-
day how different the picture. We
have helped ourselves to what land we
| needed. our own borders are defined,
our Government eternally planted on
the solid rock, our institutions free,
our people intelligent and lovers of
liberty and devoted to free institutions.
No danger threatens US from without.
We are menaced by no foreign foe.
"And vast as are our resources, in
telligent as are our people, we possess
an element of strength even greater
than those advantages afford us, and
that is that nobody wants us. We are
not desirable subjects for other coun-
, tries. There is not q nation in the whole
world that would take one of our sover-
eign States as a gift, with its people.
s'It is idle to talk seriously of our in
tegrfty or perpetuity being threatened
by an adjustment Of boundary between
Great Britain and Venezuela. That
which once seemed a danger and evoked
L. ,,ttcrarnca Of tha AInnrce Llnctrire