132 THE ROARING FORTIES 



prevail in relation to America: first, that there 

 must be no interference by European powers 

 with the independent action of the nations on 

 this continent; second, that no new colony shall 

 be established by any European power in North 

 America. These principles he considered to be 

 implicit in the celebrated dicta of President 

 Monroe twenty-two years earlier, which he 

 cited and reaffirmed. Folk s immediate appli 

 cation of his principles was, of course, to Texas 

 and Oregon. If any portion of the people of 

 this continent should wish to join with the 

 United States, no European power shall inter 

 fere to prevent the union; further, &quot;no future 

 European colony or dominion shall, with our 

 consent, be planted or established on any part 

 of the North American continent.&quot; As the first 

 of these expressions referred unmistakably to 

 Aberdeen s diplomatic activities in Texas, so 

 the second, through the indefinite extension of 

 Monroe s doctrine implied in the words I have 

 italicized, referred no less clearly to Oregon. 



This belligerent pronouncement of Polk was 

 naturally the prelude to a long season of war 

 like feeling and hostile recrimination on both 

 sides of the Atlantic. As the treaty of 1827 

 provided for the termination of the joint occu- 



