208 AMERICAN DIPLOMATIC QUESTIONS 



of the century, for the purpose of suppressing the buccaneer- 

 ing propensities of the Barbary pirates who flaunted the black 

 flag from various strongholds on the North African coast. 

 A letter from the Dey of Algiers, in 1815, to the " happy, 

 the great, the amiable James Madison, Emperor of America, 

 may His reign be happy and glorious," was answered b}^ a 

 broadside from Admiral Decatur's fleet, for the Dey had been 

 tolerating acts of piracy upon American commerce. But 

 none of these examples of interference could be quoted as 

 exceptions to the rule of non-intervention. On several 

 occasions the operations of the Monroe Doctrine have seem- 

 ingly led the United States to swerve from this same policy ; 

 but in those instances there was the reason of jeopardy to 

 American interests reasons sufficient to exclude those acts 

 of threatened belligerency from the category of wilful and 

 useless meddling. 



The Samoan affair, indeed, marks the beginning of a new 

 epoch in the history of American foreign relations. Com- 

 menting thereon, Mr. Gresham, the Secretary of State, in a 

 report to the President, May 9, 1894, said: 



This duty is especially important [of reviewing the facts of the 

 case], since it is in our relations to Samoa that we have made the 

 first departure from our traditional and well-established policy of 

 avoiding entangling alliances with foreign powers in relation to 

 objects remote from this hemisphere. Like all other human 

 transactions, the wisdom of that departure must be tested by its 

 fruits. If the departure was justified, there must be some evidence 

 of detriment suffered before its adoption, or of advantage since 

 gained, to demonstrate the fact. If no such evidence can be 

 found, we are confronted with the serious responsibility of hav- 

 ing, without sufficient grounds, imperiled a policy which is not 

 only coeval with our Government, but to which may, in great 

 measure, be ascribed the peace, the prosperity, and the moral 

 influence of the United States. ' Every nation, and especially 

 every strong nation, must sometimes be conscious of an impulse 

 to rush into difficulties that do not concern it, except in a highly 

 imaginary way. To restrain the indulgence of such a propen- 

 sity is not only the part of wisdom, but a duty we owe to the 

 world as an example of the strength, the moderation, and the 

 beneficence of popular government. 



