The Wanganui Herald. [PUBLISHED DAILY.] FRIDAY, MARCH 6, 1914. BRITAIN AND MEXICO.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14234, 6 March 1914, Page 4

The Wanganui Herald. [PUBLISHED DAILY.] FRIDAY, MARCH 6, 1914. BRITAIN AND MEXICO.

There are not many of the Great Powers that would adopt such a calm and dispassionate attitude over the murder of one of its citizens by a foreign Power as Britain has taken up over the Benton incident in Mexico. Sir Edward Grey has informed the House of Commons that all efforts have failed to secure an investigation of the facts of Benton’s death, and there is the strongest presumption that it was the desire of responsible persons to conceal the truth. One could hardly imagine Germany under similar circumstances resting content with the assurance that , tho United States (which has announced that it assumes sole responsibility in connection with Mexico and will not consent to intervention by any European nation there) had shown every desire to secure the protection of Britisher;l. Long .ere this-, German cruisers would have been seeking: reparation at one or other of Mexico’s ports. If investigation shows that tho unfortunate British g-ahch-owuec.. was shot by order of the leader' Villa, in the circumstances alleged by his relatives and friends, it ip quite possible that the United States Government may bo compelled to see that the reign of'-anarchy and homicide in Mexico* is,brought; to a close; The Monroe Doctrine, ■ under which tho United States Government warns off every European poser not already domiciled in North, Central, or South America from taking any military or naval action to defend the rights, of their nationals, has undergone some strange modifications since it.was. first promulgated by Preii-dent.-Monroe, in 1823. The present ownership of tho Philippines, Hawaii, and American Samoa, proves that the United States has departed from the original thesis of the Monroe Doctrine, which contemplated the self-containment of the Republic within its continental frontiers. But in spite of that elasticity on the side of the obligations laid upon the United States by the famous doctrine, there has been a rigorous adhesion to the strict letter of the obligations which the doctrine seeks to enforce upon the European nations. Both President Wilson and his Secretiry of State, Mr W. J. Bryan, are pledged paeificitts. Yet the-Washington Government flourishes the Monroe Doctrine in the fact of every country that hints that it is! about time the Mexicans were taught to behave themselves. And the Monroe Doctrine has no compelling power, except what it derives from the armed strength of tho United States — and the willingness of the Government to employ that armed strength. Recent debates in the Senate indicated that the foreign relations of the United States with many of the, leading Powers of the world have drifted into a very unsatisfactory position. President VV ilsan is doing his best to remove the British grievance in connection with the tolls on the Panama Canal, lint another substantial grievance is now looming' above the diplomatic horizon. As long as the Mexicans merely killed each other, the outside world could look on with sang-froid. But it is too much to expect that foreign Powers will acquiesce in the murder or the “judicial” murder of their objects in Mexico without insisting upon reparation, however inconvenient it may be for the United States—which claims tne exclusive right of intervening to exact it. ;