ADDRESSES OP MAJOR LACEY 337 



unrebuked, but the American people are not ready to 

 abandon the policy of the last seventy-two years. 



The Nicaragua incident has closed, but closed without 

 any proper protest of our government. The wrongful 

 claims upon Venezuela are still asserted, and although 

 the United States has suggested arbitration, the British 

 government refuses such friendly suggestions. 



It has long been the British policy when possession of 

 any territory has once been obtained, to hold it at all 

 hazards. Temporary possession of Egypt was taken to 

 secure, for the time being, British creditors who held in- 

 vestments there. Not long ago an English statesman 

 was asked when the government would surrender Egypt. 

 He replied, "We will get out of Egypt when we get out 

 of Pimlico." And so it will be found in Venezuela, un- 

 less our government, true to its principles, asserts again 

 that the Monroe Doctrine is a living principle in the 

 western hemisphere. 



The Monroe Doctrine is not for ornament: it is for use. 

 Even the good, able, and kind Dom Pedro has surrender- 

 ed his crown in Brazil. Spain's hold upon Cuba is relax- 

 ing. When the War of the Rebellion broke out we had 

 an opportunity to see how ready the monarchies of the 

 Old World were to break down the free governments of 

 North and South America. The Monroe Doctrine slept 

 for a time for lack of power on the part of our govern- 

 ment, to enforce it. "Napoleon the Little" — Victor 

 Hugo calls him to distinguish him from his gigantic un- 

 cle. Says Hugo, "This man would tarnish the back- 

 ground of history but absolutely sullies its foreground." 

 Availing himself of our domestic war, this man set up 

 an Austrian archduke as Emperor in Mexico. Soon af- 

 ter he furnished the means with which to publish The 

 Imperialist, a newspaper in the city of New York, devoted 



