AN ECONOMIC STUDY OF MEXICO. 445 



Again, in asserting the " Monroe doctrine," the United States vir- 

 tually assumes a protectorate over Mexico. For, whatever else the 

 Monroe doctrine may embody, it unmistakably says to Mexico : " You 

 shall not change your form of government " ; " You shall not enter 

 into any European alliances " ; " You shall not make cessions of ter- 

 ritory, except as we (the United States) shall approve" ; and in return 

 " We will not allow any foreign power, ourselves excepted, to bully, 

 invade, or subjugate you." It may be, and is, replied that the neces- 

 sity of repelling from the outset any attempt at further aggrandize- 

 ment of any European power on the North American Continent, with 

 its contingent menace to the maintenance of democratic institutions, 

 sufficiently justifies the assertion of the Monroe doctrine, and is for the 

 good of Mexico as well as of the United States. But, at the same 

 time, if there was any other power on the American Continent which 

 should arrogate to itself the right to dictate to or control the United 

 States, as the United States arrogates to itself the right to dictate to 

 or control Mexico, and had sufficiency of power to make its assump- 

 tions respectable, could there be any doubt that the people of the 

 Federal Union would regard such pretensions as a justifiable occasion 

 for hostile protest and defiance ? 



Every right, however, carries with it and involves a duty ; and 

 the assertion of the Monroe doctrine by the United States carries with 

 ,it an obligation of duty in respect to Mexico. What is that duty ? 

 Manifestly the duty which the strong owes to the weak. Not an 

 offensive protectorate or meddlesome interference, but a kindly feel- 

 ing and policy ; manifesting itself in acts that will tend to promote the 

 prosperity of our neighbor, and bring her willingly in accord with our 

 own interests and wishes. Has that kindly feeling ever been mani- 

 fested ? To answer this question intelligently, one needs but to get a 

 position outside of ourselves more especially anywhere among the 

 other people and states of the American Continent, north or south of 

 our boundaries when a little inquiry will satisfy, that the United 

 States is regarded very much in the light of a great, overgrown, im- 

 mensely powerful " bully," from whom no favor and scant justice are 

 to be expected under any circumstances ; and who would never hesitate, 

 if interest or selfish indifference prompted, to remorselessly trample 

 down in the old Anglo-Saxon spirit (and as it always has) any 

 weaker or inferior race, Mexicans, Indians, or Chinese, the poor fisher- 

 men of Newfoundland, or again the negro, if political sentiment in 

 respect to the latter was not running for the time being in another 

 direction. And it is safe to say that to-day there is not a nation or 

 people on the face of the globe, which is brought in intimate contact 

 with us, but fears and hates us ; and that, apart from a conservation of 

 the principle of free government, which the United States is believed 

 to typify, would not be glad if the power of the Federal Government 

 were by some contingency to be impaired or destroyed. Is it not 



