56 REFORM AND DEMOCRACY 



which must be guarded.&quot; And then he added, 

 with a prophetic vision that the future was re 

 markably to verify: &quot;We shall have a squabble 

 with the Yankees yet in and about these 

 regions.&quot; 



The most explicit revelation of Canning s 

 feelings and policy at this time is seen in a 

 secret despatch to Vaughan, the British minister 

 at Washington, recently brought to light by Pro 

 fessor E. D. Adams. It is dated February 8, 

 1826, and relates to certain discussions con 

 cerning Cuba. 



The general maxim that our interest and those of the 

 United States are essentially the same, etc., etc., is one 

 that cannot be too readily admitted, when put forward 

 by the United States. 



But we must not be the dupes of this conventional lan 

 guage of courtesy. 



The avowed pretension of the United States to put 

 themselves at the head of the confederacy of all the 

 Americas, and to sway that confederacy against Europe, 

 (Great Britain included), is not a pretension identified 

 with our interests, or one that we can countenance as 

 tolerable. 



It is however a pretension which there is no use in con 

 testing in the abstract; but we must not say anything 

 that seems to admit the principle. 1 



When this note was penned, the two gov 

 ernments were in the midst of a long and 



1 Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, November, 

 1912, p. 234. 



