THE MONROE DOCTRINE.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXII, Issue 3, 17 May 1895, Page 15

THE MONROE DOCTRINE.

(New York Freeman's Journal.')

England's aggressive activity in South America may lead to serious complications, if not to war, with the United States. Some time ago Congress was assured by Minister B&yard and Secretary Gresham that the Bluefielde difficulty was amicably and happily settled. Better judges of British methods doubted it, and their doubts are known to have been well founded. About a year ago a man by tho name of Hatch, an English Consular Agent, was expelled from Nicaragua for intermeddling in the domestic affairs of that republic and for conspiring with the Mopquito Indiana against its authority. At that time England claimed a protectorate over the MoFquito Indians, end denied that Bluefields was Nicaraguan territory. She has since made it appear, ot left the impression on the mind of our Secretary of State, that she yielded both those claime. It was this that caused Minister Bayard and Secretary Gresham to announce that the mater was amicably settled. But they were misled. English statesmen are fruitful in expedients. When they fail of their purpose by one method they quickly find another. Their purpose in the present case is to gain control of the eastern outlst of the Nioaragaan Canal, the great future waterway between the Atlantic and Pacific ocean?, just as they control the Suez Canal. ABide from this purpose the Bluefields territory is of little or no consequence. Having failed to gain this control by her sham claim of a protectorate over the Mosquito Indians and her pretence that the territory in question did not belong to Nicaragua, England uses the expulsion of Consul Hatch as a pretext to keep her land-grabbing hand on Nicaraguan territory, and makes a demand of 75,000 dols on the Republic as 41 smart money," or a fine, for having expelled the busybody Bnd conspiring Hatch. This demand is peremptory, and requires payment to be made within six weeks. She makea other claims for damages to other English subjects, who were expelled for their mischief breeding, but these claims she considerately leaves to arbitration, with the distinct understanding, however, that one of tha arbitrators will be selected by herself, tho other by Nicaragua, and that the third arbitrator must not be a citizen of any American republic.

This is a direct challenge to the well-kDown Monroe doctrine 1 It forces an issue which the United Sates cannot avoid. There is no alternative but to reaffirm and enforce, if necessary, the Monroe doctrine that has been held inviolable by the American people of all parties for twenty years, or to abandon it at the inßolent challenge of Great Britain, Is it is of mnch interest just now, in view of the overbearing attitude of England, we give here the text of the doctrine, as formulated by President Monroe in his annual meseage to the Eighteenth Congresf, December 2, 1823 :—

" We owe it to candour and to the amicuble relations existing between the United States and the allied powers, to declare that we should consider any attempt on their part to exteud their system to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety, with the existing colonies or dependencies of any European power we have not interfered, and shall not interfere, but with tho governments which have declared their independence and maintained it, and whose independence we have, on great consideration and jußt principles, acknowledged, we could not view an interposition for oppressing them, or controlling in any other manner their destiny by any European power, in any other light than as a manifestation of an mnfriendly disposition towards the United States."

If this doctrine be once abandoned, if England be permitted to oppress the weak republic of Nicaragua, or in any manner control its destiny, it will be but a comparatively short time when European color ising nations, auch aa England, France, Germany and Italy, will be dividing up and parceling out South America, as they have parceled out Africa among them. Tho thin edgo of the wedge once successfully introduced the rest will follow. It is this consideration that Rives importance to tha actiou which the Administration may take in reference to Nicaragua and Venezuela questionp, which England is now forcing.

The outrage on Venezuela is still raore glaring, Stripped of diplomatic phraseology, it is simply a C3se of land robbery. The Btory may be told io. a few words. The territory on the northern coast of SoDth America formerly belonged to Spain and Holland. The dividing line between their possessions waß the Essequibo River. All east of that river belonged to Holland* and all west to Spain. In 1810 a large territory west of the river freed itself from Spain and formed the Republic of Venezuela, and inherited all the rights that belonged to Spain ; that is, all the land from the Eseeqnibo, southward to the frontier of Brazil. In 1814 Holland ceded to Great Britain that portion of her territory extending from the east bank of the Esscquibo to the Coventin River, Bince known as British Guiana, Since this cession from Holland in 1814 England has, under one pretext or another, been advancing her line* weßt of the Essequibo River and seizing Venezuelan territory. In 1840 she claimed all the territory up to the Oronoco River. The republic at Venezuela always protested against these advances, and now protests. This is the situation as it stands now. Thia English colonisation on the territory of Venezuela ib directly in opposition to the principle laid down by President Monroe in his historic message, " The American continents ... are henceforth not to be considered as subjects of future colonisation by any European power.