The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1933-10-05
JAMES MONROE WAS
"CAREER STATESMAN

oCSSIllOCl GAuJ lIAIo yCdIS LllS
10th anniversary of the Monroe Doc
trine and recalls the fact that COM
paratively few people know of the
great versatility of this distinguished
American who was diplomat as we'll
as statesman and politician. In an
interesting article on Monroe as
Career Statesman" Mr.. Monroe
johnson says, in part, in the current
issue of the National Republic:
Gin 1890, Monroe was chosen one of
the earliest senators from Virginia,
position newly created by the Con-
stitution which he had so vigorously
assailed. In the Senate, he became a
decided critic of the administration.
Nevertheless, despite his opposition,
or perhaps because of it, President
Washington appointed him minister
to France.
Minister Monroe was strongly pro-
French and, in accordance with Wash
ington's policy of neutrality, was sent
to France to counterbalance the
appointment of the pro-English
John Jay as minister to England. The
new minister was enthusiastically re-
ceived by the French, who were then
in the throes of revolution, the dem
onstrative members of the National
Convention even going so far as to
bestow upon him 'fraternal embraces
But Washington's well-meant attempt
to have nonpartisan administration
failed in this instance, just as it did
when Jefferson and Hamilton, expon-
ents of conflicting theories of govern
ment, were both taken into the cabi-
net. Monroe's undisguised sympathy
for the French view regarding jays
treaty with England was displeasing
to the President, and he was recalled.
Before returning, however, he was
able to secure the releas from prison
of Madame de Lafayette, whose sister,
mother, and aged grandmother had
persisted on the guillotine amid the
jeers of the frenzied populace. Years
before, Monroe, as young captain in
the Continental Army, had given aid
to Lafayette, when the latter had fall
len, wounded, on the battlefield at
Brandywine. The American diplomat
was also instrumental in freeing
Thomas Paine, the pamphleteer of the
American Revolution, who had run
afoul of the fanatical Robespierre
and been marked for execution.
"The rebuked diplomat had, appar-
emily, lost none of his popularity in
Virginia, for on his return from
abroad, he was elected governor and
twice reelected.
president jefferson, in 1903, ap-
pointed Monroe a special envoy to
assist Robert Livingston, the Ameri-
can minister at Paris, in negotiations
for the purchase of New Orleans from
France. Livingston and Monroe, how
ever, exceeded their instructions and
bought the vast area, known as the
Louisiana Purchase, which Napoleon
offered them. The President promptly
approved their action. Jefferson's
implicit confidence in Monroe is strik-
ingly illustrated in letter that he
once wrote to Madison, relative to an
other, in which he said, For honesty
he is like our friend Monroe: turn his
whole soul wrong side outwards and
there is not a speck on it.
"Monroe's successful mission to
France, so different from his first
visit, caused Jefferson to send him to
Madrid to bargain for the purchase
of Florida. But Spain was not yet
ready to sell, and the negotiations
failed.