THE MONROE DOCTRINE 417 



administration had seen fit to take. Then, for the first time, 

 the whole tangled question came before the American people 

 as a matter of vital importance. For several months it was 

 the absorbing topic of the press. The journals bristled with 

 inflammatory editorials. England was roundly denounced 

 as a nation of robbers and the natural enemy of the United 

 States. The usually quiet antipathy to Great Britain, 

 which would seem to be an inherited American instinct, 

 suddenly came to the surface, and the people of the country 

 called for a prompt vindication of the Monroe Doctrine. 

 An intensity of bitter feeling against England was excited, 

 pointing ominously to armed conflict ; while the more con- 

 servative elements of the country stood amazed and alarmed 

 at the seriousness of the situation. 



The position taken by Mr. Olney was substantially as 

 follows: If Great Britain were encroaching upon Venezuela, 

 as Venezuela alleged, by an unwarranted extension of her 

 Guiana boundary, such British aggression constituted an . 

 attempt to extend the sovereignty of a European power, \r 

 along with its system of government, to a portion of the 

 American continent ; an act which clearly fell within the 

 interdiction of the Monroe Doctrine. The only way to 

 determine whether Great Britain was merely occupying 

 territory that rightfully belonged to her, or whether she 

 was seeking to extend her sovereignty, was by means of 

 a careful examination and comparison of the historical evi- 

 dences that supported the conflicting claims ; therefore the 

 United States must insist that the matter be submitted to a 

 tribunal of arbitration. Should such a tribunal find that the 

 British claims to the disputed territory were just, the whole \r 

 matter would fall outside the operation of the Monroe Doc- 

 trine, and the United States would hold her peace ; but, on 

 the contrary, should such a tribunal find that Great Britain 

 was seeking to appropriate territory belonging of right to 

 Venezuela, then it would become the duty of the United 

 States, in the interest of her own safety, and in conformity I/ 

 with a great principle, to oppose such an advance by every 

 means in her power. 



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