REFORM AND DEMOCRACY 51 



the existing colonies or dependencies of any European 

 power we have not interfered and shall not interfere. 

 But with the governments who have declared their inde 

 pendence and maintained it, and whose independence we 

 have, on great consideration and on just principles, ac 

 knowledged, we could not view any interposition for the 

 purpose of oppressing them, or controlling in any other 

 manner their destiny, by any European power, in any 

 other light than as the manifestation of an unfriendly 

 disposition toward the United States. . . . 



... It is impossible that the allied powers should ex 

 tend their political system to any portion of either con 

 tinent without endangering our peace and happiness; nor 

 can any one believe that our southern brethren, if left 

 to themselves, would adopt it of their own accord. It is 

 equally impossible, therefore, that we should behold such 

 interposition, in any form, with indifference. 



So far as concerned the particular subject 

 that evoked these paragraphs, they were en 

 tirely efficacious. No possibility was left of 

 intervention in America by the allied powers. 

 As a matter of fact the project was dead before 

 the President spoke; for Canning had secured 

 assurances from the French Government that 

 it would not take part in the proposed action, 

 and without French aid the powers would be 

 as helpless as the Spanish King himself. This 

 situation was not known outside of diplomatic 

 circles when Monroe s message appeared. In 

 consequence, the public announcement, in such 



