The Hawaiian gazette., 1902-12-05
yENrzUELAS TROUBLE.

Pho trouble that Venezuela has got
into with Great Britain and Germany
and which is bringing on joint naval
demonstration by the latter powers
nay lead, as We hope 1t will. to modi-
saation Of the Monroe doctrine. There
s~ems good reason to think that Nehe
amelia. after Clevelands war message
appeared, became Indifferent to her Cd
lieation. to Europe. She got loans
and forgot to pay the interest; she VS.
tied indignities upon the SUBJECTS oi
Great Britain and Germany and elther
refused or evaded the pledge OF IN
iemnity. all the time believing that
worst could not come to worst under
the protecting shield OF the Monroe
doctrine. Nor did Venezuela, mean
while. treat the United States with
much consideration. such strain COM
lne three or four years after the CieNe-
land incident that our envoy to Caracas
was nearly at the point OF asking TOT
his passports.
d soon became obvious to the Wash
ington government that protection CIV
en- any Spanish state against
her creditors would be an injustice TO
them and a peril to us, and that II
would simply make the beneficiary
more dishonest dealer than before
Along about 1894. the British seized
Corinto, in Nicaragua, and held the Gus
tom house until a long overdue debt
was paid This was technical intrac-
ton Of the old Monroe doctrine, but
the United States, seeing the essential
proprlety of the British recourse, did
not complain. Nor did 1t when the Ger
mans enforced collection from Hayui,
These Instances ought not to have been
lost on Venezuela, but they We're; and
now she finds herself face to face with
n artists, in which. but for her futile
reliance on the extreme Monroe doc
trine. she might never have involved
herself.
II would be a wholesome thing for
Ia. United states to cut South America
loose from the Monroe doctrine alto
gsther and take a protective stand at
a line drawn along the southern
border Of Central America, including
within the same sphere of influence the
West Indian islands. This would con-
Ane the Monroe idea to one continent,
where IL belongs, assuming it to nave
any excuse Tor existing at All sou'I
Of the line danger always lies. For in
stance, under present interpretations
Of the Monroe doctrine, If England and
Germany should seize Venezuelan ports
temporarily, this country would not in
tsrvene; but IL either power should
hang on, as the British do in Egypt,
and as Germany would be tempted to
Do to secure an American base, 1t would
bs incumbent on the United States
either to threaten war or back down In
frent Of foreign broadsides. The abb
surdity of going to war on behalf Of a
delinquent state like Venezuela Is in
creased by the fact that she has SO
much more liking for Europe than for
us that she shapes her commercial pol
icies, invariably, in a way to antago-
nise ours. So do all the other South
American countries. 1t may be added
that the net result of our quasi-prO-
lection OF South America has been to
keep nations out that would develop
its resources and make it a treasure
house for the world; and that abandon
nsnt would mean the energizing of the
whole continent at European hands and
eur own, in the results of a partition
like that of Africa.