New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-12-01
INTERNATIONAL POLITICS.

Our friends of certain portion OF the Euro
pean press seem much concerned at what they
are pleased 70 call the entry of the United
States into the arena Of international polI''cS
Whether their interest therein is subjective or
objective does not conyncingly appear. fer
laps II partakc> Of both natures. mus the
.Petit Bleu' thinks this country has broken
down the principles that have made II great ana
prosperous: the corollary being that il is III
danger Of being 10 longer great or prosperous
On the other hand the journal des lepa'S
thinks there may be some lively surprises III
STORE even for The nations thar have offered Us
their friendship as though the United States
were likely 10 asSail their interests. These
views are probably sincere and not unfrlendly.
But they are certainly mistaken and they az
ford q striking example of the errors that arse
from an inadequate point of view. We have al"
ready referred To the msjudgment OF SPAN
which has been made here and there in TINS
country simply through failure TO take into ac-
count the difference between the spanish way
of looking at things and our own. Into precise
" such an error do the European. and espe-
cially the Continental. critics OF this couhtr!
often fall
Their first mistake is made in supposing that
this Nation has entered upon new policy or
developed a new spirit. For that error we can
not greatly blame them. seeing that it has been
suggested and Sedulously inculcated by some
noisy exponents Of egotism in this country.
Nevertheless il is an error. as every intelligent
American knows Our policy of Expansion or
imperialism is as old as the Republic itself
The sprit that moves us TO take Porto Rico and
the PHILIPPINES is the same spirit that moved
our predecessors 10 take Louisiana and Florida
and Alaska Equally erroneous is the notion that
the United States has not hitherto participated
In international politics" We have fought
two wars with Great Britain. two with the Bar
harry States and practically one with France,
though without formal declaration: we have
maintained the Monroe Doctrine for three-quar-
tiers Of a century: we have warned the French
10 quit Mexico and Great Britain 10 quit Ha-
wall. and both Trance and Great Britain TO
keep hands OF Cuba: we have arbitrated with
Great Britain, before international tribunals,
the Alabama claims and the San Juan boundary
and the Behrlng Sea dispute; We have entered
into the Clayton-Bulwer treaty with Great Brit
ain and into the Samoa treaty with Great
Britain and Germany; we participated IN the
creation Of the Congo Free State. and have been
represented In the International Tribunals OF
Egypt Without citing further instances, II VIII
occur 10 the judicous student or AFFAIRS tha'
these things most of them dating back from
TWENTY-FIVE to fifty or more years. constitute a
pretty good title to entry into "the arena of IN
< ternatiOnal politics
81 Nor is third error to pass unchailenged,
namely that we now for the first time ex-
i tending our operations beyond the Western
Z Hemisphere. and are therefore abandoning the
Monroe Doctrine Poor old Doctrine OF Mon
roe, What anomalies have been labelled with
thy name. It surely ought not TO be necessary
4 again, for the thousand and first time, &c
! roint out that that Doctrine, by turns the idol