434 AMERICAN DIPLOMATIC QUESTIONS 



Lord Salisbury to Sir Julian Pauncefote. 



No. 189.] FOREIGN OFFICE, 



November 26, 1895. 



SIR, On the 7th August I transmitted to Lord Gough. a copy 

 of the despatch from Mr. Olney which Mr. Bayard had left with 

 me that day, and of which he had read portions to me. I in- 

 formed him at the time that it could not be answered until it had 

 been carefully considered by the Law Officers of the Crown. I 

 have therefore deferred replying to it till after the recess. 



I will not now deal with those portions of it which are con- 

 cerned exclusively with the controversy that has for some time 

 past existed between the Republic of Venezuela and Her Majesty's 

 Government in regard to the boundary which separates their do- 

 minions. I take a very different view from Mr. Olney of various 

 matters upon which he touches in that part of the despatch ; but 

 I will defer for the present all observation upon it, as it concerns 

 matters which are not in themselves of first-rate importance, and 

 do not directly concern the relations between Great Britain and 

 the United States. 



The latter part however of the despatch, turning from the 

 question of the frontiers of Venezuela, proceeds to deal with prin- 

 ciples of a far wider character, and to advance doctrines of inter- 

 national law which are of considerable interest to all the nations 

 whose dominions include any portion of the western hemisphere. 



The contentions set forth by Mr. Olney in this part of his 

 despatch are represented by him as being an application of the 

 political maxims which are well known in American discussion 

 under the name of the Monroe doctrine. As far as I am aware, 

 this doctrine has never been before advanced on behalf of the 

 United States in any written communication addressed to the 

 Government of another nation ; but it has been generally adopted 

 and assumed as true by many eminent writers and politicians in 

 the United States. It is said to have largely influenced the Gov- 

 ernment of that country in the conduct of its foreign affairs : 

 though Mr. Clayton, who was Secretary of State under President 

 Taylor, expressly stated that that Administration had in no way 

 adopted it. But during the period that has elapsed since the 

 Message of President Monroe was delivered in 1823, the doctrine 

 has undergone a very notable development, and the aspect which 

 it now presents in the hands of Mr. Olney differs widely from its- 

 character when it first issued from the pen of its author. The 

 two propositions which in effect President Monroe laid down 



