Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1922-06-21

all the rest, and from the issuance
trality proclamation. on April %,
1893. to the end Of the War OF 1912,
by blood and toll America forced her
Interpretation upon unwilling nations
and established for them all the in
ternational principle OF neutrality.
THE same statesman, who first
expressed the American belief in
the principle Of neutrality. under the
stress of the same times and circum-
stances. forged out on the same an
vii, in the white heat of America S
nascent period, another principle
which, so far as the states of Europe,
from whose loins our cosmopolitan
people have sprung. are concerned, is
too wel established to be questioned.
When the lust for foreign trade was
at its height and exploitation of the
virgin countriC Of the western hemi-
sphere was likely to sub-vert cstab-
lished governments, at a suggestion
from Canning, our Minister to Eng
land wrote his government letters ad-
.S-US SiIl dQN dllGtu bOSIlIOl OI kl46
part Of the United States.
"These letters were forwarded to
Jefferson, and his reply to Monroe,
enc OF the most far-reaching Of the
famous dicta of this most sagacious
statesman, is in part as follows:
The question presented by the let
terS you have sent is the most mo-
mcntous which has been offered TO
my contemplation since that of In
dependence. That made us nation;
this sets our compass and points the
'cOurse which we are to steer througl
the ocean of time opening upon us.
Our first and fundamental maxim
should be never to entangle our
selves in the broils of Europe, our
second, never to suffer Europe to in
ter NEEDLE with cis-Atlantic affa rs
America, North and South, has q set
of interests distinct from those of
Europe and peculiarly her own. She
should, therefore, have system of
her own, separate and apart from
that of Europe"
"Following this suggestion from
the doughty old sage Of Monticello,
our Department Of State promulgat-
Cd the Monroe Doctrine as an inv;ol-
able principle of the American peo-
pie, as an ideal for which they were
ready to fight and die, the ultimatum
Of the United States, that she will,
upon occasion, exercise a Hegemony
or Overlordship in the western hemi-
sphere.
Inconsistent at this position may
appear, when taken by men who as
sert that all men are created equal,
| Yet when analyzed, it can be seen to
! be but an extension of the idea OF
neutrality, the United States assert
ing that the rights of governments
lawfully existing shall not he infring-
cd by other nations because they arc
strong.
"A full century has passed since
the Monroe Doctrine was conceived.
"Re-aftirmed in its virility by Gro
Yer Cleveland a~d Roosevelt, it is
now a principle OF International Law.
Like the churchman. who was so
insistcnt upon his right to we in
though he fight for it, your Uncle
sam is SO convinced of the sanctity
OF the theory of neutrality, that. al
though he has no interest in the
strife Of q South American Republic
whether present Or future. he will
rush in. sword in hand. to ward off
2ny European country which may
threaten to gain foothold in that
1t is probably true that no nation
o. the eastern hemisphere Will ever
challenge either of the principles
above set forth.
''Within year we have enlisted to
/ habilitate another new doctrine. 1t
existed in the days of Homer. In