358 AMERICAN DIPLOMATIC QUESTIONS 



by us. The sentiments and the policy announced by the declara- 

 tion, thus understood, were, therefore, in strict conformity to our 

 duties and our interest. 



In this same debate, James K. Polk, member from Ten- 

 nessee, declared : 



When the message of the late President of the United States 

 was communicated to Congress in 1823, it was viewed, as it should 

 have been, as the mere expression of opinion of the Executive, 

 submitted to the consideration and deliberation of Congress, and 

 designed probably to produce an effect upon the councils of the 

 Holy Alliance, in relation to their supposed intention to interfere 

 in the war between Spain and her former colonies. That effect 

 it probably had an agency in producing ; and if so, it has performed 

 its office. The President had no power to bind the nation by such 

 a pledge. 



With the close of the year 1826, the Monroe Doctrine is 

 found to be limited by the following qualifications : 



1. No future colonization on the Western Hemisphere 

 by the European powers can be permitted to take place. 

 The United States will ask the new Spanish-American 

 republics to adopt this rule so far as their own territory is 

 concerned. 



2. The United States shall remain free to adopt any 

 course its honor and policy may dictate touching alliances 

 with foreign nations and touching the practical operation of 

 the Monroe Doctrine. 



3. The republics of the New World have a set of primary 

 interests of their own, but the United States will not join 

 with any of them in a declaration against interference from 

 abroad. 



In short, therefore, the statesmen of the day believed the 

 primary object of the Monroe Doctrine had been accomplished 

 the Holy Alliance was dead, and Russia had abandoned 

 her West coast colonization schemes. The measure being 

 protective only, its principles might revive as occasion called 

 them into life ; but it was distinctly to be understood that, 

 beyond a point of self-defence, the United States had no 



