The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-07-17

'the opposite doctrine, has twice en-
bodied 1t In act. AT the very time, In
deed, when the leader Of the Democratic
minority in the House Of Representa-
tives is crossing the Atlantic to advocate
the Calvo doctrine, Secretary Root 10 or
bis way to Rio de Janeiro In order tc
convince the Pan-American Conference
that the opposite principle should b.
preferred, and that any miscellaneous
consequences a~pprehended from 1t may
be averted by assent to the expedlent
adopted by President ROOSEVELT in the
q 8 Of the Dominican Republic.
Tt ID well known that, although Lord
P~AIArEnsroN was for collecting Vi 81
armfs debts due from foreigners to Brit
fish subjects, even though these might
have arisen out Of contract and involved
no tort, the prevailing practice Of the
British Government up to the ninth
decade Of the nineteenth century Yves
to refrain from the employment Of force
in such cases and to relegate British
creditors to remedies obtainable from
the courts Of the debtor country or by
diplomatic negotiations. In the casS Of
Egypt, however, Great Britain made q
new departure. 30 huge was the amount
Of money borrowed on the London and
Paris stock exchanges by lsMAIL Pasha,
and so influential were the bondholdes,
including as they did the RoTHscHmDs,
that the British and French Governments
agreed to inteypose in the Nile Valley
for the purpose Of establishing a dual
control Of It's finances. Naturally the
exercise of such control caused o good
deal Of friction. It was the refusal
Of Premier DE FREYcINET to join
England in enforcing the ultimatum
presented to TEwrIK Khedive which
obliged Britain to undertake, single
handed, the bombardment Of Alexandria,
the overthrow at Tel-el-Kebir Of the
Young Egyptian party headed by ARABi
Pasha, and the gradual establishment Of
a pr%otectorate at Cairo. In the chain Of
this process every link seemed to be
forged by expediency, II not necessity,
the interests Of the bondhoIders being
supplemented by the fact that Lord
BBAcoNsFTELD had made Great Britain
q large investor In the Suez Canal and
that the Importance Of this waterway
for communication with India had be-
come fully recognized. However com
pick may have been the ca1ses, the
result has been that Great Britain Is in
Egypt to stay, and that she is therefore
estopped from disputing the proprtety
Of collecting by force o%ontractual obi
cations. 1t was the Egyptian precedent
which rendered it difficult, il not impos-
sible, for the British Government to re-
fuse some four years ago to cooperate
with Germany and Italy In bombarding
Venezuelan seaports, for the purpose
not only Of REFRESHING insults and inju-
ries, but also of compelling the payment
OF debts arising out Of contract.
Up to the time Of that incident the
position Of u W Government with
reference to the question had been sufi-
GENTLY clear and consistent. We never
objected to the employment Of force by
a European country to exact from an
American commonwealth compensation
for insults to the formers flag OF dipio-
matte representatives, or for crimes Of
violence committed against the persons
or property Of it's subjects. President
CLEVELAND, for example, did not protest
against the coercion Of Nicaragua under
such circumstances through Great Brit
aims temporary occupation Of Corinto.
On the other hand, n Of u objections
to the French invasion Of Mexico was
that it avowedly aimed at the collection
of certain claims alleged to have arisen
out of contract but VIGOROUSLY tainted
with fraud. Never, indeed, as we have
said, up to 19o1-02, did u State Depart
ment concede to European Powers the
right to enforce by arms the payment
Of c%ontractual obligations due from
American republics. The outcome Of
Mr.. HAYS concession was, it 10 well
known, not only the bombardInent Of
Venezuelan seaports, but the sequestra-
ton of a third Of the customs receipts Of
La Guayra and Puerto Cabello for an
indefinite period. President ROOSEVELT
and MIR. Roof, then Secretary Of War,
quickly recognized that a dangerous
p~T6CcucuI Aldu tluo bCSA CSCdDubucu,
and that the prolonged confscation of a
more or less considerable part of a re-
public's revenue 10 scarcely reconcilable
with the intent Of the Monroe Doctrine; |
for a Spanish American Government, |
dependent, as it mainly 10, on its customs
income for support, might justly say:
"You take my life when you do take
the means whereby I live Unwilling
repudiate the precedent established
by Mr.. HAY, but alive to it's possibly
harmful consequences, the President
propounded, and bis Secretary Of War
defended, what has come to be known az
the Roosevelt Corolary to the Monroe
Doctrine, the deduction, namely, that
while as a matter Of principle c%ontractual
obligations may be collectible by force,
the United States, In order to shield
American republics from the fate Of
Egypt, will interpose between European
creditors and an indebted American
State, and itself perform temporarily the
function Of revenue collector and dis
tributer.
Now, if there were any reasonable
prospect Of seeing the Calvo doctrine
embodied in the law Of nations, our