344 AMERICAN DIPLOMATIC QUESTIONS 



to this plan of a general Congress. Knowing now that 

 Adams, to a very large extent, was the real author of the 

 Monroe Doctrine, one looks with considerable interest to 

 the reply of the President to Messrs. Salazar and Obregon, 

 because it is, from the highest source, an official and authori- 

 tative interpretation of the Monroe Doctrine. During the 

 cabinet discussions of 1823, when the phrasing of that por- 

 tion of the President's message relating to foreign affairs 

 was under discussion, and Mr. Adams was urging the ac- 

 ceptance of his own copy, Mr. Wirt, the Attorney General, 

 had asked him if he intended that the country should sus- 

 tain, by force of arms, the somewhat aggressive policy he 

 advocated. Mr. Adams could only then reply that that 

 very question had given him no little concern, and he could 

 not fully answer it. Now the same question was subtly 

 asked by Soutli America, Would the United States confer 

 with those who had joined in arms against European aggres- 

 sion, or perhaps, would she go a step further, and ally her- 

 self with them ? 



The President replied to the invitation of the two minis- 

 ters through Mr. Clay, saying : 



That of course the United States could not make themselves 

 a party to the existing war with Spain. The President believed 

 such a Congress as was proposed might be highly useful in set- 

 tling several important disputed questions of public law, and in 

 arranging other matters of deep interest to the American conti- 

 nent, and strengthening the friendship and amicable intercourse 

 between the American powers ; but, before such a Congress assem- 

 bled, certain conditions should be complied with, namely, the 

 fixing of the subjects to be discussed at the Congress, the powers 

 to be given to the commissioners, and the mode of organizing the 

 Congress. . . . 



A cautious reply. In the following November (1825), 

 these same diplomatic agents of Colombia and Mexico re- 

 ported to Mr. Clay, renewing their invitation upon this 

 occasion, by formal notes from their home governments. 

 They stated that while it was impossible to enumerate, 



