MEXICO. 



643 



cases of foreign intervention, and what action 

 was required of it under existing circum- 

 stances. 



In hft message to Congress in December, 

 1821, Mr. Monroe, speaking of the Spanish 

 American States, whose independence was not 

 yet acknowledged by Europe, says : 



The deep interest which we take in their independ- 

 ence, which we have acknowledged, and in their 

 enjoyment of all the rights incidental thereto, especially 



in the very important one of instituting their own fulmen, to protest against the acts and designs 

 governments, has been declared, and is known to the _j? A v- r* ti. ;_ -\r.- 



for our commerce, will procure the raw material which 

 is indispensable to our industry. 



Mexico thus regenerated will always be favorable 

 to us, not only from gratitude, but also because her 

 interests will be identical with our own, and because 

 she will find support in the good will of European 

 Powers. 



Hence it was concluded that the Government 

 was bound, if it wished to maintain its stand- 

 ing among the nations, and if the Monroe doc- 

 trine was something more than a mere brutum 



world. Separated as we are from Europe by the great 

 Atlantic Ocean, we can have no concern in the wars of 

 the European Governments, nor in the causes which 

 produce them. The balance of power between them, 

 into whichever scale it may turn in its various vibra- 

 tions, cannot affect us. It is the interest of the United 

 States to preserve the most friendly relations with 

 every power, and on conditions fair, equal, and appli- 

 cable to all. But in regard to our neighbors our situa- 

 tion is different. It is impossible for the European 

 Governments to interfere in their concerns, especially 

 in those alluded to of instituting their own Govern- 

 ments which are vital, without affecting us ; indeed, 

 the motive which might induce such interference in 

 the present state of the war between the parties, if war 

 it may be called, would appear to be equally applicable 

 to us. It is gi-atifying to know that some of the Pow- 

 ers with whom we enjoy a very friendly intercourse, 

 and to whom those views have been communicated, 

 have appeared to acquiesce in them. 



This passage was considered by some writers 

 to demonstrate that the Monroe doctrine was 

 aimed against the balance of power constitut- 

 ing the political system of Europe, and was in- 

 tended to guard the United States from being 

 mixed up in that system, and also to notify the 

 European Powers that they should not be al- 

 lowed even to attempt to bring the country 

 into their complications. The dangers appre- 

 hended by the statesmen who supported these 

 views were averted by the promulgation of the 

 doctrine. But now, it is claimed, the Emperor 

 of France, taking advantage of the crippled 

 condition of the American Government, is pre- 

 paring to involve the country in just such com- 

 plications as Mr. Monroe apprehended, as ap- 

 pears by the following extract from his letter 

 of instructions to Gen. Forey, dated July 3d, 

 1862: 



In the present state of the world's civilization Eu- 

 >pe is not indifferent to the prosperity of America; 

 for it is she which nourishes our industry, and gives 

 life to our commerce. It is our interest that the re- 

 public of the United States shall be powerful and 

 prosperous, but it is not at all to our interest that she 

 should grasp the whole Gulf of Mexico, rule thence the 

 Antilles as well as South America, and be the sole dis- 

 penser of the products of the New World. We see to- 

 day, by sad experience, bow precarious is the fate of 

 an industry which is forced to seek its raw material in 

 a single market, under all the vicissitudes to which 

 that market is subject. 



If, on the contrary, Mexico preserves its independ- 

 ence, and maintain the integrity of its territory, if a 

 stable Government be there established with the aid 

 of France, we shall have restored to the Latin race on 

 the other side of the ocean its force and its prestige ; 

 we shall have guaranteed the safety of our own and 

 the Spanish colonies in the Antilles. We shall have 



I stabhshed our benign influence in the centre of Amer- 

 :a, and this influence, while creating immense outlets 



of the French in Mexico. 



On the other hand, the Monroe doctrine was 

 asserted to be contained in the following pas- 

 sage from Monroe's message of December, 

 1823, which is nearly a repetition of the lan- 

 guage employed by John Quincy Adams, then 

 Secretary of State, in a despatch to the Amer- 

 ican minister in Paris, dated in July of the same 

 year : 



The occasion has been judged proper for asserting 

 as a principle on which the rights and interests of the 

 United States are involved, that the American con- 

 tinents, by the free and independent condition which 

 they have assumed and maintain, are henceforth not 

 to be considered as subjects of future colonization by 

 any European Power. 



In a despatch to the American minister in 

 Mexico, dated March 25th, 1825, Mr. Clay, re- 

 cently appointed Secretary of State in the 

 Adams administration, explained that the doc- 

 trine enunciated by Monroe in his message of 

 1823, embodied two principles : First, that the 

 American continents are not henceforth to be 

 considered as subjects for future colonization 

 (i. ., a colonization founded on priority of dis- 

 covery and occupation) by any European 

 Power; and second, that the United States, 

 while not desiring to interfere in Europe with 

 the political system of the Allied Powers, 

 would regard as dangerous to its peace and 

 safety any attempt on their part to extend their 

 system to any part of America, neither con- 

 tinent having the right to enforce upon the 

 other the establishment of its peculiar system. 



During the session of Congress of 1825- 1 26, 

 Mr. Adams suggested in a message, dated De- 

 cember 26th, 1825, the propriety of having 

 the United States represented in the Congress 

 of Spanish-American States, to be held in 

 Panama, using the following language in ex- 

 planation of the policy alread^ adopted by Gov- 

 ernment : 



An agreement between all the parties represented at 

 the meeting, that each will guard, by its own means, 

 against the establishment of any future European 

 colony within its borders, may be found advisable. 

 This was, more than two years since, announced by 

 my predecessor to the world, as a principle resulting 

 from the emancipation of both the American Conti- 

 nents. It may be so developed to the new Southern 

 nations that they will all feel it as an essential append- 

 age to their independence. 



And in the protracted debates which fol- 

 lowed, Mr. Van Buren declared that Mr. 

 Monroe had not pledged the United States to 

 any course whatever, and never intended to do 

 so. Other statesmen expressed similar views. 



