260 The Monroe Doctrine 



ings, by which they have been influenced to their 

 own moral hurt. There are yet other men in whom 

 the mainspring of the opposition to that branch of 

 American policy known as the Monroe Doctrine is 

 sheer timidity. This is sometimes the ordinary 

 timidity of wealth. Sometimes, however, it is pe- 

 culiarly developed among educated men whose edu- 

 cation has tended to make them over-cultivated and 

 over-sensitive to foreign opinion. They are gener- 

 ally men who undervalue the great fighting qualities, 

 without which no nation can ever rise to the first 

 rank. 



The timidity of wealth is proverbial, and it was 

 well illustrated by the attitude taken by too many 

 people of means at the time of the Venezuela trouble. 

 Many of them, including bankers, merchants, and 

 railway magnates, criticised the action of the Presi- 

 dent and the Senate, on the ground that it had caused 

 business disturbance. Such a position is essentially 

 ignoble. When a question of national honor or of 

 national right or wrong is at stake, no question of 

 financial interest should be considered for a mo- 

 ment. Those wealthy men who wish the abandon- 

 ment of the Monroe Doctrine because its assertion 

 may damage their business, bring discredit to them- 

 selves, and, so far as they are able, discredit to the 

 nation of which they are a part. 



It is an evil thing for any man of education to 

 forget that education should intensify patriotism, 

 and that patriotism must not only be shown by striv- 

 ing to do good to the country from within, but by 



