[Footnote: Reddaway, Monroe Doctrine, 98.] "The
great danger of the time," declared Canning in 1825, shortly after
the British recognition of Mexico, "--a danger which the policy of
the European system would have fostered--was a division of the world
into European and American, republican and monarchical; a league of
worn-out governments on the one hand and of youthful and stirring
nations, with the United States at their head, on the other. WE slip
in between, and plant ourselves in Mexico. The United States have
gotten the start of us in vain, and we link once more America to
Europe." On December 17, 1824, Canning wrote: "Spanish America is
free; and if we do not mismanage our matters sadly, she is English,
and novus saeclorum nascitur ordo." [Footnote: Festing, J.H. Frere
and His Friends, 267, quoted by E.M. Lloyd, in Royal Hist. Soc.
Transactions (new series), XVIII., 77, 93.]
Later events were to reveal how unsubstantial were the hopes of the
British minister. For the present, his hands were tied by the fact
that England and the United States had a common interest in
safeguarding Spanish America; and the form of Monroe's declaration
seemed less important than its effectiveness in promoting this
result.
Pages:
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324