The Washington herald., 1915-07-18
| selves not to take possession of those


! Monroe's Challenge.
While Uncle Sam welcomed Johr
Bulls support. he declined to form q
partnership with him and concede him
an equal share in American affairs
/ AS John Quincy Adams. the Secretary
! of State. said in his diary. the United
States refused to go forth .'as a cock
: boat in the wake of the British man
! of-war." Instead an entirely indie
! pendent declaration was issued.
The counsels of the sage" of Month
cello were sought, and Jefferson ad-
/ vised Adams drafted and President
Monroe incorporated in his annual
message to Congress in December
q 1923. the following statement of the
American position:
The American continents are
henceforth not 10 be considered rs
, European power. With the exist
ing colonies or dependencies of any
1 European power we have not inter
fered and shall not interfere g"
3 Although three years afterward Can
ming made the modest boast that he
called the New World into existence to
redress the balance of the Old" at first
h" Indignantly resented the Monroe doc
, trine. because il was impartially aimed
at all European ambitions. those of Eng
land no less than those of the Holy AIli-
ance. He had only proposed that there
should he no interference with the re-
I'ubliCs already set up. But the Monroe
doctrine excluded Europe forever from
any enlargement of her American posses
sions
At that time there were vast unappro-
prXted and uneXplored regions now
living within the bounds of Argentina.
Paraguay Bolivia and Ecuador. and the
Old World powers were banned from all
, that no mans land as we'll from the
organized States. Canning retorted that
England would hold herself perfectly
free to take what she wanted of such
lands and he announced that Great
Britain would not accede to the notice
which the United States had served on
the world. Nor did the British govern
ment acquiesce in the Monroe doctrine
until after seventy-fve years had passed
and it had been reiterated by President
Cleveland in his Venezuelan message.
The two declarations by Monroe and
Canning served their immediate purpose,
however. and the Holy Alliance at once
ceased from troubling the republics OF
the New World. Lord Brougham was of
the opinion that the Monroe doctrine had
been decisive on the subject and he
hailed its PRONUNCIATION as an event than
which no event had ever dispersed
greater joy. eXultation and gratitude
over all the freemen OF Europe. And 1t
remains to this day. perhaps. the most
momentous. the most influential single
announcement by one nation in all the
domain of international relations.
An Tnwritten Law.
Senator I hear you have been speak
ing against the Monroe doctrine" a con-
stituent once said in panied accents to
A member of the upper chamber of Con-
Sress.
1T is not true the Senator indig-
nantly replied. Il have always believed
in it, / have always defended il. All
said was that l didn't know what 1t
meant"
There lies the weakness of the Monroe
doctrine Too many Americans seem not
to know what il means
1t is necessarily and wholesomely
vague. 1t never has been expressed in a
statute. but remains an unwritten law.
Congress has wisely refrained from de-
finins it, but left the United States.
which is its sole interpreter. free to ap-
ply ii according to occasion and circum-
stances:
Daniel Webster. within few years
Of its promulgation. spoke as If its
operation might be limited to the more
immediate neighborhood of the United
States. But Monroe, in expressing its
scope. employed the phrase, this hemi-
sphere" r.
Latterly some persons. notably Presi.
sion that the United States assumes