The sea coast echo. [volume] (Bay Saint Louis, Miss.) 1892-current, 1900-08-11
THE MONROE DOCTRINE.
nY MAp1soN M. lAYAE.


not within the scope of the Mon
roe Doctrine"
If not, why notp This leads ia
! the further questions, What is the
Monroe DoctrineY aud what is tn
underlying principle? The Mon
roe Doctrine is, in short, the as
sertion of the principle that the
American continents are not to be
considered as subjects for coloni-
zatlon by any European power.
President Monroe limited the
application of his protest, not
from principle, but from expe-
diency. We were then too weak
to shield tho oppressed of tho
whole world,
But what right have we to M
terfere in quarrels not our own:
either in America or elsewhese +.
The first law Of nature, .,Ie i Int
of self-preseryation. We nist
either foster liberty, else, sur
rounded by tyranny, our own free
dom will perish.
The underlying principle of the
Monroe Doctrine is a protest
against the forcible acquisition of
territory--a principle as broad
as humanity, and should have no
territorial limitation; instead of
disavowing or restricting that hu.
name principle, we should cherish
and extend it; since the Union
has grown great and strong, we
should make this beneficent prin-
ciple apply to all the world.
This is our plain duty, but how
have we executed it? BY estab-
fishing A tyranical colonial COY
ernment in Porto Rico, with
alien rulers and taxation without
Representations In Luzon we have
disestablished a republic andhave
attempted to establish a military
satrapy, making a canseless and
incdnceiably barbarous war on the
Filipinos.
Now. it is automatic that we
must either maintain or .renoupcc
the Monroe Doctrine. We can-
not upholdgt and Mt the same time
trample it under foot.
Let us not renouncc, but defend
and broaden, strengthen and cher
lsh this harbinger of liberty.
THE BoER REPUBLICS.
Lying supine, we have seen
Great Britain annihilatoF two rd-
publics, And why do we make
no protest2 Because of a decay
of the spirit of liberty. Under
existing circumstances, our pro-
test would render us Ridiculous;
England would answer in the
words Of Portia, "You do pray
for mercy, and that same prayer
doth teach you that. mercy .yaa
should give"
Let us cleanse our own hands
by restoring freedom to the Fill
pinos, then advise the British
that they may have redress for
every grievance in South Africa,
but demand in no ambiguous
terms that the Boer republics shall
not be destroyed, enunciating the
broad principle that
Once republic, always a republic.
GERMANY's THREAT.
Now comes the rumor that Ger
many IS about to dismember Bra
zil, and establish South Ameri-
can dependency. An Anglophile
says:
"Iti is well for the American peo-
pie to bear in mind that the one
great restraining influence on Ger
many is the fear of Anglo-Amerl-
can alliance. That fear is the hope
of the United States, and it may
eyentuate in the preservation Of
the Monroe Doctrine"
In England we trustl Nav the
Lord deliver us. England the sal
vation of the Monroe Doctrinei
God help it. England! the Pariah
among nations.
"England's fpg is her best as
set, 7" says Cecil Rhodes. Such a
nation may be felied upon to get
well paid for hbr good will.
just what part England played
in the Spanish-American war is
unknown to the rank and file; a
secret alliance is perslstcntly ru-
mored, and insistently denied; if
there is no such convention there
must be tacit understanding
which seals our lips when we
should speak against her cruel
blow to liberty.
A better explanation of the
non-lnterference of the continent
tal powers is that they viewed
with unalloyed satisfaction the
Great Republic disavowIng the
Constitution, the Magma Charta
OF our liberties, and Gas Mr.. De
pew would say) "attaching" colo
nial possessions.
OUR WEAKNESS.
30 long as we were compact
nation we were invulnerable, but
our dependency of Porto Rico,
our satrapy of Luzon, our sultan
ate of Sulu, with its harems and
slaves-all of these are points of
attack, Our sin is our weakness.
AMERICAN ExPEDTENcY IN CHINA.
In the present Chinese crisis,
the equitable course best con-
serves our pecuniary interests;
and this, too, is within the spirit
OF the Monroe Doctrine We
ought not to take any part of Chi
ma, nor permit it to be done by
others. Indemnity we should de-
mand, but we should defeat any