CHAPTER VII. THE MONROE DOCTRINE. THAT popular feature of the foreign policy of the United States known as the "Monroe doctrine," is based upon certain declarations made against European interference in American affairs or occupation of American territory by President Monroe, in a message to Congress on the 2nd of December, 1823. In 1815, after the downfall of Napoleon, the great powers of Europe organized what was known as the Holy Alliance, the object of which was to maintain the "divine right of kings" and preserve the territorial integrity of the continent. At a congress of delegates representing this alliance, sitting at Verona, Italy, in October, 1822, it was proposed that the other European nations should assist Spain in recovering her lost provinces in America. Great Britain had already secured commercial supremacy in the new American republics, and fearing that the re-establishment of the Spanish power would close their markets to her merchants, entered a vigorous protest through her delegate, the famous Duke of Wellington. Shortly after, Mr. Canning, then premier of England, proposed to Mr. Richard Rush, the United States minister, that the governments of Great Britain and the United States should unite in a declaration against the designs of the Alliance in regard to this continent. Mr. Rush consented, provided England would formally recognize the independence of the Spanish American republics, as the United States had done some months before. This, however, Mr. Canning declined to do, and the declaration was never made. The proposition and the correspondence relating to it, together with a detailed account of the supposed designs of the Holy Alliance, were promptly forwarded to Washington by Mr. Rush, and Mr. Monroe considered the matter of such gravity that he solicited the advice of ex-Presidents Jefferson and Madison, and made it the subject of a message to Congress in which he said: "The occasion has been judged proper for asserting, as a principle in which the rights and interests of the United States are involved, that the American continents, by the free and independent condition which they have assumed and maintained, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers. We owe it therefore to candor and to the amicable relations existing between the United States and those powers to declare that we should consider any attempt on their part to extend 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 the governments that have declared their independence and maintained it, and whose independence we have on great consideration and on just ⚫ principles acknowledged, we could not view any interposition for the purpose of oppressing them or controlling in any other manner their destiny, by any European power, in any other light than as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the United States." A few days afterwards Henry Clay, then speaker of the House of Representatives, took the floor to offer the following resolution: "Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, that the people of these states would not see, without serious inquietude, any forcible intervention by the allied powers of Europe in behalf of Spain, to reduce to their former subjection those parts of the continent of America which have proclaimed and established for themselves independent governments, which have been solemnly recognized by the United States." No action was ever taken by Congress upon the resolution of Mr. Clay. None was necessary. The positive and patriotic utterances of President Monroe, when published in Europe, terminated the discussion of the proposition to aid Spain in the recovery of her American provinces, and the independence of Mexico and the Central and South American republics was shortly after recognized by Great Britain and other European powers. It should be said, however, that the message of Mr. Monroe on this subject is believed to have been prepared by John Quincy Adams, then secretary of state. The Clayton-Bulwer Treaty. Although the announcement of the Monroe doctrine was nowhere more cordially received and approved than in Great Britain, it is an interesting coincidence that the first direct application of the policy it involves was to prevent the establishment by that nation of a protectorate over the Mosquito nation of Indians that occupy a tract of land along the north coast of Nicaragua between Costa Rica and Honduras. This tribe of Indians was one of the few native races that were not subjugated during the occupation of Central and South America by the Spaniards, and, although frequent and determined attempts were made to subdue and civilize them, they managed to maintain their independence. During the constant struggle between the English and the Spaniards for supremacy in the western seas, the Mosquito Indians, recognizing the latter as their natural enemies, gave aid and comfort to the British seamen, and their ports were always open as an asylum for British ships. There the British buccaneer found supplies of food and water, and in the dense forests along the Mosquito Coast they concealed the treasure captured from the Spanish galleons. As a natural consequence many English adventurers took up their residence among the Mosquito villages and intermarried with the natives. In 1848 serious differences arose between the Indians and the government of Nicaragua, when Great Britain espoused the cause of the Mosquitos, established a protectorate over them, and forced the Nicaraguans to recognize their independence. The British men-of-war took forcible possession of the port of San Juan del Norte (Greytown) and fortified the place (see map page 111). As this port was regarded as the necessary terminus of any railway or canal that might be constructed across the Isthmus, and as the action of England was regarded as an unjustifiable interference with the affairs of Nicaragua, the United States entered an earnest protest, and a special commissioner was sent to Central America to make an investigation and report. The relations of the United States with Great Britain began to assume a threatening aspect and the correspondence between the two nations was very active and earnest. But the difficulty was adjusted by diplomatic negotiations conducted by John M. Clayton, then secretary of state, and Sir Henry Bulwer, the British minister at Washington, who signed at Washington, the 19th of April, 1850, what is known as the Clayton-Bulwer treaty, "for the purpose of setting forth and fixing the views and intentions of the two governments with reference to any means of communication by ship canal which may be constructed between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans by way of the River San Juan de Nicaragua or both of the lakes of Nicaragua or Managua to any port or place on the Pacific Ocean." As this treaty has been the subject of protracted controversy in the past and is likely to be the subject of serious discussion in the future it is important that the entire text should be given, as follows: "ARTICLE I. Neither government will ever obtain or maintain for itself any exclusive control over the said ship canal; nor erect nor maintain any fortifications 'or occupy or fortify or colonize or assume or exercise any dominion over Nicaragua, Costa Rica, the Mosquito Coast, or any part of Central America; nor make use of any protection which either affords or may afford, or any alliance which either has or may have to or with any state or people,' for any of the above purposes, nor use any alliance or influence that either may possess with any state or government through whose territory the canal may pass for the purpose of acquiring for the citizens or subjects of the one any rights of commerce or navigation, 'which shall not be offered on the same terms to the citizens or subjects of the other.' "ARTICLE II. Vessels of both countries, in case of war between them, shall, while traversing the canal, or at such a distance from the two ends thereof as may hereafter be established, be exempted from blockade, detention, or capture. "ARTICLE III. Those constructing the canal under the authority of the local governments are to be protected in person and property. "ARTICLE IV. The contracting parties will use their influence with local governments to facilitate the construction of the canal; and also their good offices to procure the establishment of two free ports. "ARTICLE V. When completed, the contracting parties |