THE MONROE DOCTRINE 325 



anxious to give it the most deliberate consideration, and to 

 take the sense of his whole cabinet upon it." 



News suddenly arrived announcing the success of the 

 French troops in Spain, of the fall of Cadiz, and the restora- 

 tion of Ferdinand to absolute power, which, according to 

 Adams' diary, thoroughly dejected the President, and caused 

 widespread alarm throughout the country. The press viewed 

 the situation somewhat hysterically, and popular feeling 

 turned decidedly in favor of an English alliance. Adams 

 held firmly to his original position that the United States 

 should stand alone. He seemed to doubt Canning's sincerity; 

 it perhaps appeared to him, who was more familiar than his 

 colleagues with the methods of foreign diplomacy, that pos- 

 sibly Canning had, after all, by his cries of wolf, only been 

 trying to frighten the United States into guaranteeing Cuba 

 to Spain. Somewhat caustically he wrote in his diary : " I 

 soon found the source of the President's despondency with 

 regard to South American affairs. Calhoun is perfectly 

 moon-struck by the surrender of Cadiz, and says 4 the Holy 

 allies, with ten thousand men, will restore all Mexico and 

 all South America to the Spanish dominion." 



Calhoun's proposition to instruct Mr. Rush to act in 

 conjunction with Mr. Canning " in case of any sudden 

 emergency of danger," was accepted by the President, 

 though in opposition to the views of the Secretary of State. 

 A draft of instructions was actually drawn up by the unwill- 

 ing Adams, and was brought before the cabinet, much amended 

 and interlined, for examination. Mr. Adams then insisted 

 that if the United States must join Great Britain in such a 

 movement, or in such a declaration of principles, the English 

 Government should first acknowledge the independence of 

 the South American states. The United States, he insisted, 

 having acknowledged the independence of the Spanish- 

 American states, " had a right to object to the interference 

 of foreign powers in the affairs of those territories. To 

 Great Britain, it might be objected that although possessing 

 the option, she had no distinct right so to do. She regarded 

 those territories as still dependencies of Spain, and in that 



