The Monroe Doctrine 247 



brushing away one or two false objections. Lord 

 Salisbury at first put in emphatic words his refusal 

 in any way to recognize the Monroe Doctrine as part 

 of the law of nations or as binding upon Great 

 Britain. Most British statesmen and publicists fol- 

 lowed his lead; but recently a goodly number have 

 shown an inclination to acquiesce in the views of 

 Lord Salisbury's colleague, Mr. Chamberlain, who 

 announces, with bland indifference to the expressed 

 opinion of his nominal chief, that England does rec- 

 ognize the existence of the Monroe Doctrine and 

 never thought of ignoring it. Lord Salisbury him- 

 self has recently shown symptoms of changing 

 ground and taking this position; while Mr. Balfour 

 has gone still further in the right direction, and the 

 Liberal leaders further yet. It is not very important 

 to us how far Lord Salisbury and Mr. Chamberlain 

 may diverge in their views, although of course, in 

 the interests of the English-speaking peoples and of 

 peace between England and the United States, we 

 trust that Mr. Chamberlain's position will be sus- 

 tained by Great Britain. But the attitude of our 

 own people is important, and it would be amusing, 

 were it not unpleasant, to see that many Americans, 

 whose Americanism is of the timid and flabby type, 

 have been inclined eagerly to agree with Lord Salis- 

 bury. A very able member of the New York bar 

 remarked the other day that he had not yet met the 

 lawyer who agreed with Secretary Olney as to the 

 legal interpretation of the Monroe Doctrine. This 

 remark was chiefly interesting as showing the law- 



