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BRAZIL
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AND THE
MONROE DOCTRINE
l3Y
IH "\'Sll EE
nE
A BR1\ ]\CI rES
Member of lhe Brazilian National CongreS!,
former Chairman of the CommiUee on Diplomacy, and leader of the
Min;'try for Foreign Alfairs during the Baron do ~io Branco 's administration
of Brazil' s Foreign Relations.
IMPRENSA
NACIONAL
R 10 DE JANEIRO
1915
- BRAZIL
SECOND PAN-AMERICAN
SCIENTIFIC
CONGRESS
~
Brazil and the Monroe Doctrine
BY
DUNSHEE
DE ABRANCHES
Member of the Brazilian National Congress,
former Chairman of the Comminee
on Diplomacy, and leader of the
Ministry for Foreign Affairs during the Baron do Rio Branco' s administration
of Brazil's Foreign Relations.
DIPRENSA
NACIONAL
RIO DE JANEIRO 1915
5301
BRAZIL
DEDICATED
TO THE
IEŒUD PAn·AMERI[AnUIEnIlfl[ mnfiRUI
INTRODUCTION
A Illusão Americana, the famous book published in Brazil soon after the ()roclamation of the Republic, undoubtedly
created a deep impression throughout
the country. Its author, a young and ardent Monarchist, sought to combat to
the death, by any and al! means, the system of government
which we ·had adopted, and which was nothing more nor less
than an intelligent an well wrougth-out
adaptation of the
political formulae which had largely contributed to the rapid
growth and antonishing
prosperity
of the United States of
America. lIe had gone even further; he had proposed to demonstrate that, in the great fie-public of the North, the evils
and pedIs for other nations on the Continent reside<;l fully
as much in the institutions
themselves as in the men who
directed them; he had endeavored thus to incite the patriotic
sentiments of the Brazilians, by proclaiming that American
imperialism \Vas far more pernicious and voracious than European imperialism;
and thus, in the .somber colors which
factious pas5ions always lend to all men, even to those who
seem to be most ·clear-headed and wellbalanced, he concluded
by foreseeing days of calamity and despair for t.he lalin peoples,
6
who believed they had found in the Monroe Doctrine, and in
the glorious liberal traditions
of the most pow,erful of the
American peoples, victorious and indestructable
elements for
the security of their political autonomy and for the constantly
increasing consolidation of their public liberties.
Such a task was not difficult for the ardE'nt monarchist
who had not submitted, as had nearly all his correligionaries,
to the accomplished fact of the overlhrow of the Monarchy,
convinced as nearly all of them were that the Empire of Brazil
was synonymous with the Emperor, and that along with senile decline of the latter tbe former had disappeared in the
midst of a social phenomenon, so inevitable and spontaneous
that the revolution was acco:a:;plish~d without the shedding
of a drop of blood.
Vast indeed is the biblio.~raphy oí authors \Vh') in Europe
have busied themselves in combating the daily increasing and
preponderant
influence of the fatherland
of Washington
in
world affairs. SÍ:1oe the UniLed States had for0er1 themselves
upon the nations of the old world as a power of the firstclass, showing them at first that thl'! weaker n¡¡Jions of the
two Americas were not in the same category as the Africans
and Asiatics as regards their colonial policies, and later demonstrating
that these European nations would not be permitted to interfere in the destinies of this part of the civilized
world without the States being heard from, it was but natural
that, in order to weaken their constanl)) growing power, these
same European nations, on seeing the United States arise as
a dangerous rival, should strive to create for them a feeling
of antipathy and suspicion on the part of the other countries
of the same continent, in which they would ~lways
have
against themselves the feeling that they were the strongest
of all.
rIt is but just to declare that this propaganda of the politicians and public men of the Old World never succeeded
in making proselytes here. If the statesmen of the Empire,
7
because of questions !having to do with dynastic interests, always showed a thoughtless reserve in striving lO promote a
pl)licy of open alliarwe and frank fr:liternization with the administrations
of the \Vnite House, n3vertheless
the Brazilian
people as such were never backward in showing their sympathy towarrds the p(1('ple of North America.
In truth, as we said in our book «'l'ratado~ de Commercio
do Brazil» (Commercial Treaties of Brazil), the United States
was the first nation to recognize our independence in 1823,
while even before, increasingly since 1787, they had encouraged us by means of such words as those of Jefferson, to declare ourselves an autonomous and sovereign nation; they had
helped us in a decisive moment w;lh their moral backing,
prestiget and honored as they already were in the opinion of
the great powers. During, the long period in which the Empire dominated here, cnly once were the kindly and reciprocal
relations of friendship between the t~o nations altered in the
least, and when th~ Republic was proclaimed, it was the
'Vashington Government which preceded all others in the recognition of the new order of things; n()t less precious to us
was the spontaneous and unselfish h~lp which they gave us
when ·we sorely neerted it in a trying moment of civil discord,
which threatened to terminate our political de!ltinies on the
Continent.
The fact, however is that, notwithstanding
all these eloquent historical witnesses, the book A Illusão Americana produced a deep impression on public opinion in Brazil. Its autbor, in order to crrluUl unpopularity
for the first republican
administrations,
which had, against all dynastic prejudices,
endeavored to consolidate still more Our friendly relations
with the United States, astutely mnde capital out of the libels
published by Europeon politicians, accusing the North American people of misinterpreting
the Monroe Doctrine, and of
being interested only from a utilHarian stand-point, without
patriotic ideals, in and for the dollar, Tn his opinion, just
8
as happened yesterday In Mexico, so to morrow Brazil and the
other South AmeriC:m nations would become vICtims of the
imperialistic ambitions so well symbolized in the, eagle of the
yankee shield, which, though it had been a protector of lhe
weak when not very strong itself, had now, after having attained growth, closed up its olympic wings that it might have
a part in the despoiling of the weak.
The proclamation of the Republic found the writer in the
'Hry flower of his twenty years of age, and he here confesses
that he did not escape the malign influence
of this fascina~
ling reading. The author of the Wusão Americana had shown
himself in this work so deeply inspired in patriotism, had had
So many apprehensions
aroused as to the destinies of Brazil,
which he considered to be about to fall into dismemberment,
D.ndhe had so convinced himself as to the complete loss of that
national unity which had been the great foundation of all tha
¡rolitical greatness
of the Continent,
that not a few of hi~
readers forgot that he ,himself was a monarchist, while they
themselves were being led to believe that, fully as much ae
the German peril, in vie\\' of the [email protected] ;of colonists in
the south, a new American
peril now reared its Iwad over
the fertile regions of the Amazon.
It took but a short time, however', for radical t¡'ansformation lo come over lhe judgmenls of the writer, after he had
st.udied thoroughly
the h istory of the various international
Questions of Brazil and ,of the two Americas, and the intelJootual, relations
which bind us to the North American
writers,
who indeed are unfortunately
but little known
amongst us. When as a .journalist it became the writer's duty
to discuss the question of the Missões of Amapá and e.~pecially
of Lhe ACI'C,during a critical moment of the political lifc of the
Republic; amI when later, as a member of Congress and Chairman of t.he Committee on Diplomacy in the Honse of Representatives, charged with the analysis of diplomatic qnestionf;
of great import, the conviction became firmly rooted in his
9
mind that our Brazilian statesmen had acted with consummate
skill, great wisdom and nobility of views. and political tact,
in striving to strellgthBn day by day our longstanding friendship with the United States, thus making of that friendship
tne corner-stone of American liberties.
The theme which we endeavor to present in our book «O
Brazil perante a doutrina de Monr,oe» (Brazil and the Monroè
Doctrine) is a documentary expo~ition of the studies made in
our political history, and which forced up,on u-s the conclusion
tnat the friendship which binds together
the United States
and Brazil is precious indeed, and 80 far salutary, as the equilibrium of the Continent and the peace and progress of all the
American
repUblics depend uptJn it. And today we ,~an thu3
exp,ress ourselves wif.hout fear of suspicion or insinuation.
In view of our exceptional geographical situation, we now
constitute
a nation well prepared advantageously
to defend
our highest and best interests, economical and political, in
the family of nations Closed for ever as are all our frontier
questions
by the immortal work of Rio Branco; endowed
with a rich and fel'tile soil as is our rathel'land; enjoying to a
marked negree the advantages of modern westerns civilization,
as do our people; possessed of magnanimous civic sentiments,
and also counting upon the cooperation of the many foreigner/!
wh.o come to us, and who, by a sociological law applil;dble to
all recently formed nationalities, become as thoroughly attached to the soil as are the native-born
sons, we Bl'azilians
l'ced not fear that any foreign interventi,on will rnak'.J itself
felt in our internal
life, nor need we conside,r the material
assistance of any friendly nation at a time of possible external
c..omplications.
We can thus speak without its appearing to be flattery at
any nation which may deem itself stronger, nor a threat to any
nations which may really believe themselves weaker. \Ve represent a nation which has come into its own consciousness,
1;'. hich recognizes its own value and its own high social duties.
10
while at the same lime it realizes ils historical desliny on the
Continent.
In 1815, years before 0'\11' independence from the mother
country, Alphonse Beauchamp wrote regarding
our p.r.ogres~
as follows: «The Brazilian Empire appears to be marked out
some day to enjoy the highest destinies. Who can talculate
t,efore hand f.o what lengths will this newly risen nation be
hÚl'ne by its nascent
energies? Brazil, as powerful as it is
magnificent,
will follow and rapidly
alter the g,rowing
power of the United States.
How rich strong and invulnerable is this new country of the s.outhern
hemispheref
How noble and independent is its destiny!
Countless
fIeet~
could not prevail against it; formidable armies would liu'eaten
it in vain' All apparently indicates
a growing prosperity nf
long duration.:\'
However it may be, one thing i8 certain.
and that is: as
Brazil and the United States are the only nations of th'1 Continent, which have not the same ethnic origin and which do
Ilot speak a common language,
it behooves them to cherish
increasingly this natural and spontaneous alliance. which fo.r
nearly a century now has been morally binding them together
as sister-nations,
the two g.reatest powers of the New World,
and consequently the chief heralds.
which they mu~t never
Cl:asc to be. of peace, of order and of lhe political liberti.e3
of all America.
CHAPTER I
The Monroe Doctrine and the american peril
J. Ribct in his interesting book on the Transformations
of the Monroe Doctrine, exclaims: «AfLer the phrase «Ameri. ca for Americans», followed by the similar phrase «America
for the North Americans», it will not be paradûxical to form
a new phrase «The World for the United States».
In these successive formulae the French writer, doubtless
one of the most passionate adversaries of the great Republic
of our Continent, sought to demonstrate that the imperialistic
p.olicy of which the late administrations
of the White House
are accused is nothing more than a natural development of
the principles proclaimed by the immort<\l statesman Jarne"
Monroe, in his famous message of 1823.
«There are those who claim», adds he, «that imperialism
marks the final outcome and destruction of the Monroe Doctrine. M. Geouffre cie Lapradell~, amongst others, has main~aincd that the Americans declare themselves traitors t() Mon.
roe in their imperialism, but this opinion arises from the
confusion in which they persist, seeing only in the message
of 1823 one special theory - Americanism or ~Ionroeism
wh ich such jurists have taken for their meditation.:!>.
f2
¢ They
forget, however, that i\lonroe was not stl'iving
,o formulate an inflexible rule of law íor the nations. Hi&
joctrine. on lhe contrary, is lhe general expression of a philosophie idea, the ?'esurné of lhe aspirations of a race and
the guide of their destinies. By this doctrine one can as l'ca,
dily justif~' attack as defense in the name of the higher in.
ter'ests o.f the American people and for the sake of this fo1':nidable principle:
The United Stactes should become in-
~reasingty
a powerful
natiom.
«Imperialism
is not therefore
inimical to the l\Iolll~e
Doctrine, rather it is a natural consequence thereof. With the
message of 1823 as ils Gospel, and the doctrine of Emerson
as ils breviary, the United States embark upon the conquest
of the world.»
This is not an isolated opinion. What one European publicist says about the !lJonroe Doctrine and its influence in
the evolution of the American Uniou and the other Republics of the Kew World, is generally a l'csumé of what all the
ni hers say. Even more than by political rivalries these odious
prejudices are justified at the pres<mt moment by the economic struggle bel\\'een the markets of the two continents
separated by the Allar.tic.
It is indeed an ingenious pro_
cess which they use; that of maintaining
before the other
countries of the \Vestern Hemisphere, still very weak in industril's and born from a different racial origin', that
the
United Slales constitue a permanent peril to their territorial
integrity and pOlitical autonomy. If the nerve of commercial
transactions
is credit, [lnd this reposes Oil a reciprocal confidence between those who trade, then noth illg is more natural than that Lhe European markets should continue to direct the bulk of their exports to those countries in which
their great compctit();, in South America is shown always
under lhe alarming ar;pearancc of an in,:atiable conqueror.
Thc American petit is tlms denounced by all these wriLer"
t3
and thinkers of the Old World under two f:larful forms: pohtical and moral imperialism,
and ecoIJ0mic imperialisrr..
Both are considc-red as having lJeen rooteù in the principle of
1\1onroe. «The influence of this doctrine, says Ribet, soon
spread with all its innovating force even into the remotest
cOmers of the vital organism of the United States: but
nowhcre was ils action so manifestly acute and penetrating
from the very beginning as on its economic side.». Calling to
mind the words of' Sydney-Sherwood
he furthcr endeavol's to
show that «Modern protectionism,
that is, the restl'iction of
foreign competition and the encouragement
of internal trade
as free as possible, has always been thc policy of those who
in this century raised up empires», and furthermore
that
«this pl·{)tcclionism in lurge part is the work of americans,
its first expression being the pOlicy begun by Alexander Hamilton from the time of Washington.
Inaugurating
protectionism as the customs pOlicy of the United States, he had
comprehended
perfectly that a country, still unorganized if
it wished to grow, must defend itself with high tariffs against
the competition of nations already organized.».
Nor does this French writer stop here. Hel seeks to demonstrate that, if Hamillon had as his ideal the protection
of his country as a mother Pl'otects her child in its first
vacillating steps in life, ~[onroe, contemplating
his country
as already a vigorous adult; sought to strengthen it by causing it to adress Europe as a rival. inasmuch
as «it was
the region of the world richest in coal and in ores. most
fertile in all kinds of food-stuffs, and capable of making the
bold Yankee say to the old-fashioned European:
«I
go to
you,r house because you need me, but you need not come to
mine for I do not need you ».
He then describes the rapid and extraordinary
progress
of the United States under its re()ime of protectionism,
from
the time of ils baptism of blood in the war between
lhe
slates of the North and South until the famous Me Kinley
b II, which gave to it its final and official
affirmation
by
o )enly proclaiming the expansionist policy
of the Union,
a:ld by giving their death-blow,
by means of a monstrous
taiff, to a great number of important industries of Germa.ny,
England and Fraooe. He shows ho\y immigration
is underslood in that extraordinary
country, whose dominant institutions correspond so well to the genius and the aspirations
o' ils first colonizers. The human ocean which
has been
p lured out there for nearly a century,
including
Italians,
Germans, Scandinavians,
English, Bohemians.
French
and
o ,hers, has all been assimilated, to the point of their losing
tlteir fatherland, habits. traditions and even race I
The Chinese, most dangerous of all these elements, considered a parasite, was soon brutally
eliminated.
for the
Yan/we knows how to defend himself
admirably I Indigent
a ld infirm immigrants ax-e no longer allowed to land, as
"as the case with the Chinese, on its privileged soill
The
Monroe DO,ctrine, instead of being a d'efense for the weak,
Dlcame a shield for the strong I
After this tirade.
Ribet closes his book in an effort
U' refute the opinions of the German Professor, Hugo Munsl.erberg, who, in one of his books, had maintained that the
1\oJ onroe
Doctrine must perish for no nation can forever
live on a mere caprioc. «No, exclaims Ribet, the Monroe Doc ,rine is not literally a caprice, as it is not a mere potentiality; in it there exists the whole economic
direction
of
Ille country, affirmed by the incomparable
results which it
has already produced. And. as to its spirit, this doctrine is
tlte Gospel which upholds energetically all the corntemporary
a~ts of the United States. It is the weapon of the No-rlh
Americans against Europe. a weapon which Europe docs no!,
tlrn against them, So that they have thus been able with
slfety to extend their power over all America
and the
tS
Universe.
Without lhe Monroe Doctrine,
Pan-Americanism
and Yankee Imperialism
would not exist;
they
are
its
prog&J.y !~
While thus 'passionately exprossing himself', this ardoro.us French writer did not imagine probably that,
pages
further on in this same book, he himself would justify not
as an inevitable consequenoe of the evolution of the Monroe
Do'ctrine, but as a result of the ideas in vogue amongst the
great p.owers of the contemporary
world, this whole threatening :policy of prmectlio,nism and economic expansion, of
which he so cruelly accuses the great North American nation.
«Since 1870, says he in the chapter to which he gave the
curious tïu.e of Economic
Technique of ImperaZism,
th~
immig¡rant nations, which had been principally
England in
the beginning and later Germany, have been greatly mulUp.lied. Austria, Norway, SWlooen, Italy\ France, Ch,lna and
Japan began to send to Lhese new lands great cUl'rents of
men and of capital.
Centers of colonization were founded,
amúngst others, by Germany in South America. Conqu.est
supplied beforehand, or, as in some cases, ewn better. completed the work of emigration.~
«England prepared
a colonial empire of two or three
hundred millions scattered over all latitudes. Russia prolonged ils dominions to Siberia and the transcaucasian
regions.
Franoe went to Indo-China
andto
Madagascar.
Germany
spread out over the seas of Oceania and through
Sonth
America. Italy strew corpses over the plains of Abissynia.
Japan struggled with Russia because o.f Korea.» And then. he
adds: «lt was only n. 1898 that the UnHed States decided to
no longer resist the current of expansion. whch was drawing
all the civilized peoples in its wake.»
If such be the case it is only within the past ·few
years that the Government of Washington resolved tú imitate
the policy of expansion, already in practice on a large scale
and for many years by t.he great European powers, the most
fil
that they can be accused of is of having mistakenly abandoned l,he international
pOlicy which, for over a century,
had assured the greatness and the integrity of the Nürt h
Anerican Union, and of not reacting against the influence of
th,~ ideas of conquest and absorption alr'eady victorious in
the countries of the old world; but to attribute to a transformation of the Monl'Oe Doctrine an evil common to peoples
thr t had so strongly combated and repudiated
it, is worse
tha n to pE.rsi,st in ignoring the laws of sociology and his.ory.
it s as jf one strove to give the most absurd solutions to social J}l'oblems whicb, indeed, as soon as enunciated, present
the ir own solution.
CHAPTER II
The economic imperialism ofthe United States
With much propriely and wisdom did George Weulcrse
define imporialism
as one of Lhe great phenomena of our
times. «ln its continuous a.cUon at all points of the globp,
said ho, it is a pOlicy that day DY day, under our very ryes,
is modi fying lhe map of lho nations. British imf)elíi:~1ism
invades south Africa, pushes ils \Vay north and south, i'l'OSse~ Lhe t;onlinent from cast lo west, and dreams
stifl or
t;oll,;tilul.ing in the fOlll' COl'nel'S oj' lhe earlll [.lie mosl paradoxical of all cmrircs. Gcrman imperalism not only apen,; to
German t;ommcl'ce aml colonization vast domains, 01' most.
diverse characters and at greatest distanccs, buL even covet,s
a l'Íeh part o.! lhe Austrian succcssion. nussian imperitllii:lm
threatens all Asia; for a long time it wcighcd upon Turk('y
and Persia, and advanced upon India; and now it seeks t.o
disrupt China, as it would ha'"e spread over Korea, had it
Ilot been met firmly by the recently-born
Japanese
impcri<llism.
Il \Va; thlls natmal that, from the view-point of il>: political economy, the Uniteel States should seck to safeguud
its great interests in foreign markets and assure its OWjl conII
f8
tlnenlal stabilily, in as much as other powers were aS5uming
all aggTessiye aLliluúe, extending their o\\"n domains and
la~ iIlg hold oJ important territories
here and there in m¡d~
oeeail, either because of their strategical
p05Hion or for
the ir utility as commercial emporiums of the first
order.
This has been, indeed, the chief concern of its statesmen
in all the. intemational
events, in which they have beell involved. In the cases of the Islands of Samôa, Hawaii and the
.Ph ilippines, the Panamá Cunal, Europcan intervcntion
in the
Fa' East, th'c libcralian
of Cuba, and the much-discussed
Trust of the Seas, which was lo monopD!izc all lhe maritime
con-panics of the Universe, lhe american sta.tesmen were
accused of baving embarkf>d lIpon the porUous 9.dventurel! (Jt:
tha~ same imperialism which reigns without 'let or hindrance
in those very countries which dispute the title of the United
Stal.s to political supremacy ~n the new world.
'J'his is the question reduced to its proper terms. Ranam 3ricanisrn, as defined by ••••
riters inimical to the Un\t¿d
States, (that is, as the political, economic and moral prof(~eLOl'aLe of the yan/œes over all othel' American peoples), is
by no means a logical c01)sequence of the Monroe doctrine;
nOl indeed did there originaLe from this dOlcLrine, by deductiolt ill dedueLion, the imperialislie
formula whi~h may be
un(!ersLood by some to have been recently adopted by the
gre Ü Republic. and which cliHers in nothing from the potky.
laD!; ago proclaimed and followed by the gre.lL powers of the
Old World.
For proof of these assertions it is but nec.essary to appeal
to j he. facts themselves, \"hich have been u::ed as a base liofll
against
the fatherland of Washington, for the purpose
ú1'
creating antipathy in the ()I,h€!' nations of the continent. Let
us hegin with ihe case of lIawaii and Samôa; the aJQre-mentiorcd Ribet writes as follcws: «The annexation of the liawaian Islands has no hisfÁlry. From time immemorial
Honolt:lu had been for Lhe Amel'icans what Nice and St. Raphael
19
were for the spleen-afflicted
Pren<:h and English. From the
time when San Francisco ùt'came one of the great port:; of
Lhe United States, all Lhe traffic of Hawaii passed through
its gates. From that time on all its commerce, even with
Europe, was carrj.ed on via Yanlœe-wnd. Japan alone was able
w attempt competition, but rn a very small scale, for in 1886,
for example, out of a tot~l of transactions
to the value ur
816,131 ,~OO.OO, fully $14,!J7!J,400.00 were with the United
states. Thus Hawaii while having its most vital connections
with the American Republic, could only aspire to one thin~:
become as soon as possibl:! an integral part of the American
Union. There thus arose a courteous
struggle between tho
islands on the one hand, offering themselves, and the United
states on the other hand, r6fusing, but WIth constantly decreasing firmness in its rdusals.
The United states early
consented to the free entrance into its ports of sugar from the
is]ands. Soon after came the public declaration
that the
states would never consent to having the islands coloni'lcd
by any European power. A message of president Tyler, dated
december 30, 1812, confirming a note of Secretary of State
Webster, was very strong on this point; it declared that fivesixths of the ships that visited the islands sailed from American ports, and therefore it was but natural
that the
WashingtofJ Government should be on Lhe ]ookùut to ward off
any foreign intrusion in Hawaii. Another note, of junol:J,
1813, insist~d in the same language. affirming that the United
states would oppose even b~ force the conquzst of the ~r~
chipe]ago by any EUI'op_ean nation. Clayton in 1850, president
Fi]more in his message of 1851, and Marcy in 1855 made
similar declarations, but never gave any indication of a purpose to annex
Hawaii; on ju]y 5, 1868, Secretary of State
Seward made clear, on the contrary. that the spirit of the
American propIc, a,]W3yS inimical to colonial conquests, would
oppose l.aki!1g possession of these i~]and8. At that time, the
imperialistic formula had not been deduced from th~ Mo;nroe
20
doctrine, l'an-Amerj.('al\i~m as it appeared in the message of
president Poll" was still in Droces,; of elaboration.
It was
theJ'efore nc<.:cssaJ'Y to L1elay, cyen though it lJe but for a
short. lime.
«In 1881 Blaine took up the question. In his opinion Lho
United StaLcs ,,"el'e deeply interesled in any movement, di:;.
eus::iion or negotiation. wltieh might prov<lke to action any
foreign power III the island~;. They could not forget that \ ~9
Hawaian Islands \Yere destined to i!c(;Cme American in a not
dbtant futUl'c .. \ note of DecemlJer l, Hltll dedarcd llmt the
islands could by no naLural Jaws or political ne0essity become
poet of an Asiatic system but only of an AmeI'Ícan. On this
basis, in the presidency of Mac Kinlcy, hesitation was no longer
possible; in 1898 Lhe islands were annexed, and since 1900
have been considered as krritoI'Y of the American Union.».
Referring' to the incorporal ion of the Samoan Islands to
the American domain, the celebrat.ed writer quoled above is
even more 'precise; in short a.nd graceful sentences
he explains: «The Samoan Islands, pecciscly like the lIawaians.
ofJ:ered themselves to th~ United Slates many times. beginning in l8GO. OIL each olle of these occasions the American
Consul in Apia did not fail to proclaim the protectorate
of
his countl'y over the Archipelago, only to have his acts disavow(ld each lime by hi;; home government.
¡The 'United
Stales in this action did not show lack aI interest
in lh~jr
righls in Samôa, but \Ycre obliged ID remain faithful lo their
¡Jolie.y of nOll-l:olonization.
Sel:-l'clal'y of Slale Bayard wrote
to the Consul al Apia on FebI'llal'Y '27, l8SG: «lI' colonial eXpansion \\'ere lhe policy of the United Slates;
Our country
\vould have eí]ual rights with England and Geemany
ovcr
the Samoan Islands.» Furthermore,
when, in order lo terminate a WaI' or seue:isioll whkh was ruining the entire
archi¡)elago; and e~l1ecially was dcpopulating
Upolu;
fho
Governments of London and Berlin thought
to inle!'vene;
the United Stales could not avoid being involved in the com-
2f
bined mov(lmen/" They took pnrt in the conf,crence of 1889
in Berlin; at which the Islands were declared independent;
under the .ioint protectorate of [he three nations who signed
the convenl ion, England, Germany and the United
States,>.
«The Samôan Islands were living in pe.ace under
this
regime when, early in 1899, new troubles aroso, in a conflict
between lhe partisans of two rival chiefs, Tarm and Mataafa\
who were disputants
for the succession of King Malietav,
deceased in 1898. England and the Unidet States supported
Tarm, and Gèrma.n)· Mataafa. The laU.er resisted vigorously
and forced
his conqucred
opponents
to take
refuge
on the Bl'itish Cruiser Prrprix. Tile English and Americans
I.hl'n bomharded, f¡'om ~rU1'ch 15tll to April 1st, the positions
occupied by lhe victorious natives.
An Anglo-American
detadlment,
on disembarking,
treU
into an ambush anel was massacred.
This was too much,
the diploma[ic cahinets intervened, and plC'nipotentiaries departed fl'om London, Berlin and New York for the a¡'chipelago, where they met in the form of a .ioint commission
and decided upon a dissolution of the protectorate.
Three
treaties \\"-Cl'esigned by thpse delegates; the first, dated November 7, 189!), referred t.o the King of Greece the arbitration of \\hat indemni,tíe,. 5ho\110 be \1aid to the Ge'l'man suhjects who had slli'Ucred loss by hfimlJ,rlTdment; the other two,
dated l\oyember 8 and December 2 of the same year, gave
full possession of t.\YO of the islands fa Germany,
and the
others to the United States. Grrnt Britain renounced all of
ils rights over Sami'ln, hut as compensation Germany eeded
to her that part of thf1 Solomon Tslands which
were hers,
and all her l'igl1t.s ove!' the Tonga Tslands. The question of
Samõa was t.hus definitely settled hy the sent.ence of King
Oscar in Octoher 1!)02.1>.
The logiral dcdur,{.ion from all this, prejudiced as is t.ho
writ.er Ribet against tho United States, is clearly seen to
22
be that, if the United States finally intervened in the questio,TIof these archipelagos besieged as they were on ill sides
by the colonizing nppdite of certain European countries, they
did not do So impelled by the imperialistic
spirit
of the
American people, which indeed had always
been
adverse,
from the very foundation of their political institutions.
to
all adventur,es of conquest and absorption, but rather by the
very instinct of consorvation, and that only after prOlonged
resistance
to such extremes the Washington
Government,
con..~(JiJm of its grave responsahililies
for the maintainanee of its position
of prestig-e in the f1amily of nationR.
could not fold its arms and remain impassive before the
attitude assumed by the great powers who were
striving
to break
d'Own inter-contill'f>Jl>fal equilibrium.
by sci7.ing stl'!utrgk· pointr; of the first cla~", in the Pacific, s'Jch ::lS
they already had in the Atlantic, and thus to take up positions
in which they could tJr constantly fhcreaiening
the very political integrity of Lhe American trnion. Ya?;!cee Imperialism,
Lhus proclaimed from one day to another, must have profoundly irritated
Lho autocratic
goy,crnmrmts acroos the sea. It
was au arm of defens'~ against EUf,loean imperi1hsm, already
prepared for audaûiolls blows in the Far East, and doubtless
latcr on in the mari) or legs weak 3nd poorly or~;:lnized coun~
fries of South Amecië;a.
The acquisition of the Phil1ipiJles, decred in one of the
~Iauses of the Treaty of Patis, between thl Unitrd States and
Spf1lin, at the ,r]ose of the rapid ancl blOOdy war for the liberation cYrCuba. \Y3.S alS:<la logical consequence of the sit,uaUon
''vhich world affairs harl created for tl1e Nortl. AmFl:rican people
'n the Far East.
No nation of the world, not oven Russia nor England,
has larger or more valuable interest,s jn China thaD the United
mates. A dominatíll-s influence in Lbe Pucific be01use of th9ir
(alIosal commerce and industries, inasmuch as only very rc(enLly has Japan beg11ll to competo, and as Sau Francisco is
23
much nearer the great ~onsuming centers of China and other
Asiatic countries than the parLs of England, Germany, France
and Italy, it was but natural that the succeeding administrations of the White House should begin La taka part in the
struggles and ambitions of the European powers at the Court
of Pekin. The appt3arance of this new participant before the
partition of China and its domains, the prospect of which had
for so long stirred np the appetites of Europe ann had been
as often frustrated,
very properly irritated
the self-invited
felIowguests of the nntieipated banquet. at whieb Bueh appetizing game should he served-up, but which hod never yet
come to a realizatil}n because of the inevitable diflagreement
in the organization of Lhe menú. TlJis initation of the European governments inerea,sed in HlOO when armed :ntervention
took place on the :lart, of the g-reat ~t)wers because of the
massacre of Christians in Chinese territory and the assaults
upon the Legations in Pekin. Wll.'!1 the United ~tates sent
its troops and war-vessels Lo Chinese waters, li formal declaration was made beforehand
by its Government, to the
effect that under no circumstances
would they take part iri
any dismembernet of the great Asiatic empire, since become a
Republic. In. official notes of the 29th nnd 30U August of
that year the Washington administration
publicly and positively declared its intentions.
In the first one, these words
occur: «The Goverrunent of the United states received with
great pleasure the l'./feraLJd declantio"l of Russia that it had
no purpose whateve:' of territorial
a('.quhit:on iTl China, and
that, while acting in concert with the other powers, it sought
only to protect it~ Legation and to help the Chinese Government to putddwn
disorder. The Government of the United states has always been moved in the past and will eontinue to be moved in the future by these same principles; and
the loyal declaration cf Russia is i.l r.bsolute acc-Jrd with various deelal'ations mach to the Unit':!d states py \)ther nations.
Inasmuch as u.ll tile põwers twe ;¡ffirmed that they have no
,,'ish for fprritOl'ial aggrandizpmrnt
in China, anel haying
atlainl'd fhi' pnd thi'Y harl in Yie\Y, thr liberation of their
,ega!.ion;; in Pp¡;jn, it should not ¡li' diffieulL by mrans of
.oint nrgotiations
to arrin
at a f!'Ïrndly agreement with
,;hina, by which all tilO rights recognized by treaty to th\! ya'ious J1O\\t'¡'S shall he confirmed fot' fhe future, an opendoor
J¡i' ass\ll'rd, thi' inti'l'psts and prOf)!'rty of forc>Ïgll citizens be
¡:uaranteed, and fuli repartion be made for all loss and damage
which they may have suffered.».
In the second note, dated August 30th, North American
l'iplomacy even more clca!'!y outlinrd
its thought.
«'rhe
]lurPDses of the po"'ers in China should be: to protect Lhe
jives and property of all foreigners; to prevent the !)r~'Sent.
disorder
from
spreading
to the of.her proYinre;;,
and
ln .repress
thl' same entirely;
to serk a solution which
'viII assure the reign of permanent peace in China; to mainlain ifs territorial
integrity; to guarantee all the righls deI'reed in treaties or by international
law to the power,,; and
:o safeguard the principle of liberty of commerce
in all
point.s of the Chinese Empire.,>
China thus became debtor chiefly to this energe~ic atI it.llde of American
diplomacy for ils integrity, while !lt the
! amB time the United
States assured ils commercial ~l1pre.nacy in the Pacific, which had been greatly accentüalrd
during the Russo-J-panese war.
Howeve:', the victory of Japan, which had as in:i
s·n .•
¡de night appeared to claim its place of honor as one of tho
¡~real powers in the family of nations of the civilized world,
and the growing rivalries of the European countries in the
face of f.he astonishing
competiti<ln of American prorJuAs
in the centers of consumption of the world, could not fail to
fict as a salutary warning to the \Vashingt.on administration'!.
jealous as they had pr<lperly become of tl1e ground already
'\'on in the Asiatic markets for exportation of their indusIrial
and agricultural
products.
25
The purchase
of the Philippines
thus b;-ollght to the
United Stales extraordinary
advantages. Inhabited by four
divel'se races, which lived in constant and sanguine int estinal discord, ill-eared-for
during lhe domination of .:l[}ain.
whose cOlonizing processes were always belated and tyrannical, these islands, as soon as they fell into the hands of lho
Americains, were transform{)d within a few months i'.ltn an
ex<:ellent commercial emporium,
as well as a magnificent
strategic point, while their inhabitants
enÜ;:red at once upnn
a political and administrativo
regime capable of guaranteeing them lasLing and ferlíle LI'amTuility.
Finally, not to mention the great stir made about the
frustrated «trust of the seo. », another of the audacious plans
,proposed by Pierpo.nt Morgan, with the daring purpoge of
consolidating once for all t,he maritime
commerce of his
country, the case of the great canal, which connects the Atlantic and lhe Pacific betw~en lhe lwo Americas, has alw·ys
been one (jj' the night-mares
most persistently
exploited in
.connection with the economic imperialism
of the
Un'ted
States.
Indeed the magnificent· dream o,f Bolivar, to maIre tbe
Canal at Panama the exclusive property
and a perpetual
pledge of the brotherhood of the American peoples, had revealed as early as 1825 to the p.ractical genius of the Yankee,'
the great economic and political advantages whie'll would
accrue to the United States if some day the opening of the
~anal could be made a reality. This idea came to be the absorbing preoccupation
{)f the North American statesmen in
successive generations,
as soon as Holland, first, and England and even Franc.e began to make trial of every re!lource
to bring about lhis daring project, wçhich w{luld give l;uch
great vantage ground to their foreign policies.
'l'he diplomatic campaign \vhich was waged about this
important subject. one of most delicate and involved ever
l'Cigistered in the annals of the civilized world, made most
26
clear. from the Clayton-Bulwer treaty to the HaY-Pauncefort, and from this to the final settlement of the question in
lhe Roosevelt administr.a:tion, of p:Ull'posc. the cloarsighted vision and the unwearyng tact of the men who
hav~ had under their responsabílity and vigilance the great
destinies of the Republic. Once again the Monroe Docl.rino
trimphed. The key to inter-ooeanic navigaLion did not. CJme
into the possession, as seemed inevitable on more than one
occasion, of anyone of the European powers, which indeed
have not yet become reconciled to their railure lo find on
this side of the ocean, with the facility which they had
always imagined, fertile and precious lands for their e'!ploitation, such as they had found in the Dark Continent. And H
the Pacific shall not become, to use the phrase of the abovequoted writer, an American lake, because it wiU always have
Japan in its bosom to disturb its placid waters, America wlll
at least never have to pay tIibute to any european flag when
it wishes to cro¡;s its own l<1I.ldsto navigate the waters whicn
constitute. in deed and by ri!!M, its most preciOUSand glorioas
patrimony.
CHAPTER III
Political and moraI imperialism in the United
States
The marquis de Barral, no less bitter in his attitude toward
the Korth Americans than Ribet, in his recent book From
Monroe to Roosevelt, in treating of the development of polítical
imperialism in the United states, divides it into tbree sucoessive periods. which he terms: the phase 01 invasion, tbe
phaseo! a(J(J1'eSSi01i, and th •. world phase.
The author or tho TranYfo1'11Ultíon o{ the Monroe Doctrme
was not so daring in his analysis. He satisfi.ed himself with
denouncing the great Rep':)lic for thrusting itself forWard,
when scarcely out of its lon¡r-honored isolation, as participant
in world-affn.irs, beginning with the Hague Conferenoo ùf
1899.
«The UnHer! States, soys be, in following out its dest,iny
has certainly been fav()ro(; by lucky stars. In the history or
nations there is probably 0(1 other instance of a people who,
on suddenly appearing frorrl out the shadows Df its isolatlon,
has been able, In oonsequer.ce of a chain of fortuitous dr.
cumstances, to tako 8uch 11. large place on the world's stilge
:md see the eS5êlliial nnd fl1Jldamental elements of its dearest
aspirations so rapidly achieve an assured suooe8S,t>
28
This learned "Titrr then criticizes, as alarming s)'mploms
of lhe dangerous intrusion of lhe Whito House administrations in internaLional affairs, especially in relation to the Old
World, the attituùe assumBù by the North American delegates
in that famous council, convened by the Czar of Russia. 110
then strives to show how american politics, which might pO..isibly have an apparently ,j'l!:-tifiable interest in the questions
dealing with tha Far East, ~ought further by all the meJIlS
in ils power to find a pretext for intervening in Turkey and
ROllmania, and did so in a most urutal and noisome way,
taking
advantage
of reJ¡glous persecutions
in order to
arrogantly
give the impression to the europe-an pOWP.fd
t.hat, on the banh of t1lP Bosphorus, the American nation
was not embara;;sed by an~' ties wilh those who proclaimed
their exclusive right of ll.(':ion, but was re:!lIy above ta10ng
any intl'rest in the Eastern CJuestion, in as much as it consid~
el'pd itself superior to all Europe itself. And finally, while
severely attacking
the attitude
of [hp, Washington
Go\'vl'nment becansr. of its protest against t.he. massacres
of
Jews in Kichineff, and praising t,he noble energy of nussia in
repelling this attempt at intervention in its internal politics,
and while at tho same tim~ sharply condemning thp barbarity
of lynChings in North America" he affirms that the conduct
of Ex-President
noo~()velt in this affair
wíll always remain
a~ a J'emarkable symptolJ, of thl' political and moral imperialism of a n~Lion, whkh, while jeaJou.;'y reserving
for
itself an entirr coni;nent
still pretends to intervene in the
¡]oml'sfic affairs of olheI' nations wJ¡o~r (~iti7.('nq it aims to
orive away from it.s own shores.
The \fuI"quis rie Barral is mort~ profound and minutl'
in his observaf.i')TIs. He ana!yses the political imperialism of
the UnH,ed States as a kind of morbid predisposition
of it.s
national organi~m, growinr~ slowly but sur';~!y from the very
first )'¡>¡\rs of ils foudation as an independent nation. For
him the supreme ambitioIl of American statesmen is to mal:e
29
of al! America
whole world.
'fhe
'lile
llaWN"
and secure
its domination
allIJcxaLioll ur Texas by lhe Cniteo:l ~talC's was,
of the
in tile
opinion of this author, the first step in what he chooses Lo
call the lJ!w.se of inV(l8ion of their nasccüt imperialism.
But
he himself describes how, anel' much l'elutanco
and only
becausc of the imminent l)eril of this imp')rlant territory
of
the continent falling into lhe possession
of Englad, France
01' Holland.
the auUlOl'jties of the United statcs finally decided l-o yield to tho reiteratod solicitations of the
inhabi.
tanls, anxious as they themselves were to 'tt' saved from th,)
long and bloody poriod of wal'S and civi¡ discord in which
they had been stl'uggling for over thirty Y?hrs.
In tl'uth, Tcxas, after freeing itself from Lhe yl'ke of
Spnin in 1812, had neyer had an inslant of peace and tranquility, but had striven from that time on, eithor to live as
an independent slale, to unile with Mexico, or to join
in
with lhe United Slales. 'fhesc last. however, had always refused lo ¡¡ccept proposals nf this kind, and when in 1.81.6 the
Korth American General Mac Gregor, on his own iuit.iative,
invaded the Slate of Texas, at that time suffering under' the
most egregious t.yranny, and tried lo deliver il over :o lhe
American Governement,
lhe Washington
adminÜ,tration
severely censured his conduct and annulled all the precip 'tate
and lhoughtless
acts which he had practiced.
Laler
on,
though having alrcady purcased Luiziana from Fran('f) and
Florida ~rom Spain, lhe United Stales would not li~!,;n lo
till' p1'oposa]s of Texas, which had jUlSt emerged from a victOriOllS \Val' with Mexico.
In 1840, however, the situation of this unhappy slale
had reached lhe dark phase of political dissoluUon. Several
or the European powers, in view of the altitude laken b-y
fhe American Governemen:t, revealed It.heir intenlion~
of
eventually making of Texas, wit,h its admirable positio,1 on
the Gulf of Mexico, a colonial outpost, which revelalions
30
finally led President Tyler, o.n april 12, 1844, to sign the
treaLy which annexed Texas to tho domain of the únited
Slaies; ihis trealy, however, because of Lhe hosLile attitude
of Lhe Senate, was only definitely concluded between
the
two cou-utriea a year later.
YucaLan, a Mexican province, which had been a vJctim
of cI~uel anarchy fo.r many years, appeal~d several times, in
much the sarne ,yay as 'fexas, to tbe United States, and also
lo England and Spain, pleading for an cncrg~tic intervention tJhaL would sav,e her from tho critical
situatioll
jn
\"hiGh she found hel':;clf befo['e Lhe tiovel'nmeuL of ;\Iexico,
impotenL Lü guarantee
her civil liberties according to tho
consLiLution.
Mexican public opinion. ho\v~ver, was already highly,
excited over the incorporation
of Texas, :l.lld war sceml'd
inevitable between the two neighboring
repUblics.
If tho
United Stats in this emergency had acceded to the appeal
of the province of Yucainn, torn as it was by such grave intestinal discord, noL on[~' would Mexico have been fully justifieo in opening hostilitir.s, but such an acL would bave
alarmed all the other nations of Central and South America.
«The pro\'ince of Yucatan, says a well-informed
writer,
situated in Central America, did not constitute,
as in the
case of Texas, contiguous territory
10 the North American
domain, and furthermore,
in the case of Yucatan tbe American Govcl'llment would not have the same excuse as it had
in regaI'd to Texas, for the appeal of the latter came as from
an indel1endent state, and consequently mnster of its own
destinies, free La deliver 0\'<>1' its sovereignty to another stato,
if iL so wished. The former reg-ion had i:lCver made a declaration of its independence,
and it was, Officially at least, a
simple province of Mexico. To take possession of it would be
la practice an acL of direct conquesL.»
Even So however, it was not long before war bctwetln
the United States and Mexico, still unreconciled to th~ loss
3i
of Texas, was declared. Mexican armies invaded Lhe great
Republic, wJlich in turn blockaded and even Look possession
of several important
porls of the enemy's territory. 'fhe
strugglo became fierce and bloody. For Lhree years Mexico
endeavored to resist valiently Lhe constanLly increasing and
victorious forces of the North American Union, buL finally
she was forced to r,ccept peace, according to Lhe GuadalupeHidalgo treaty, which coded to the United States the provinces of Lower California and New Mexico.
Yucatan, in the mean Lime, continued under ils primitive
conquerors.
Historical
and geographical
reaS(}n8 had not
brought about, as was tho case in the above-mentioned
Mexican ex-provinces,
its natural incorporat.ion into the territory or Lhe North American Union. The recent treaty of
peace had doublless accentuated in a most decisive way the
American
frontier
on the continent,
but, even so, if the
l\Ionroe Doctrine on Lhe one hand would not permit so important a region to suddenly become a possession of any European power, no mare would iL justify its becoming part
and parcel of the territory of the United States, with which
indeed it had no ethical or political affinities, nor was it
even contiguous territory.
In their analysis of the Guadalupe-Hidalgo,
treaLy and
of the Mexican-American
war itself, European auth<H'S who
have written upon the subject have been too severe in their
strictures
upon the White House administration.
It should
be borne in mind that, from 1845 to 1848, when these oe'Vents
were transpiring,
the situation of tho United States, if not
as precarious and dark as that of its southern neighbor,
could not however be considered as flattering and tranquil.
The French expedition to Mexico coincided wiLh the American War of Seces<;ion. While the imperialism
of tbe Old
World thought to take advantage of the bloodthirsty
anarchy then reigning in Mexico to implant a new Empire and
32
by this means extend Hs conquests north and south, the
United ~;tates, wh ile Lhl'i'alened at the same timo by ils apparcnlIy irllminent pUl'LiLion, felt kcenly lllC blow aimed at
iL in tlw Oregon question with Engluuù, aud in this di1'e
conl ing'cney r~alizcd, through attempts made here and there
in both Amcricas to demoralize and weaken thc pl'llciples of
J\Ionro'c, (Jf how great value these same priuci¡Jlcs were for the
llJaintainance of lhe integrity and autonomy of the nations
of thc New World,
In deseribing
[hc tremendous
difficulties
before the
Whitc House Govemlnent ut this tirne, onc of tlIe Fi'cnch
writers frequently
quoted here tlms grievously betI'a~;" ltio;
o\nl position: «:\i·evcr did Europe,
says IIC, show greater
acrimony in Hg relations with the ~e\V World, and IW\l'r
did it give c\'idencc of morc subLlety in pI'ying into the internal affairs of the American Republics, than from the very,
momcnt wheu it lJecamc -evident that the principal champion of tho auto¡¡OIllY of the two Americas and of the princirlle of Europcan non-intervention
would find i~ impossible
lo reinforce its J1I'otests by the uso of armed force. All the
canllon of the United Stales were engagC'd in thc fratricidal
struggle which was drenching the soil \Vith blood; how thon
could somc of them he withdrawn
fùr the purpose of pI'Oventiu¡;, [oz' insluncl', Ull' cunJlJineú I'll'cts ur EIlt;land, Franc/) and Spain from taking possession of thc chief ports of
:'IIexico? Exactly this thing happenecl at thc lllomcllt \\ hen
hostilitics opened lJet\\"een sluve-holdors
ancl abolHiollisLs ill
tilO Div!lllitcd
States, of America.Y>
Then hc adds, in an effort to cmphatically
jusljj'y
tl18
join~ action of lhe European powers ill American affairs;
<<ThoincredilJle anarchy in which Mexico had been submerged eyor sincc its independence, the assassinations of foreigners and natiyc residents, the pillage and sacldng of property belonging to Europeans, the systematic rcfusals to grant
33
jndemniUes, or once gf'anLed, tile constant subterfuges resorted
to in order to avoid payment, the failure ,on the part of President J'ual'ez lo fulfill lhe financial oblig'ations assumed by,
his pr~decessor and rival, Miramon. in favor of Jecke, a Swis~
naturalized French citizen; in shor!., eveything that we have
recently seen in Venozuela, constituted lhe more than J usLified
complaints of val'ious European nations, especially England,
Spain and France.
cOf these lhree the last-named insisted upon exactions oj
lC8s importance as to their gravily. but at the same time less
QIJen to discussion, and yet had become most involved in the
struggle, unlil she finally \vas left isolated to maintain her
pretensions.
She had as sove¡'eign a dl'eameI', of 'conceptiong
mOre magnificent and chimerical
than
practical; :\Tapoleon
Ibought to set against the rising ~upremacy
of the Anglo·.
Saxon race, both in America and iD Europe, a formidable alliance of the Latin peoples. And besides this he began to fee)
the necessity of organizing an expedition to distract attention
from his plans in regal'd to internal politics, for France had
hocome habituated to the constant victories
of her arms on
t.he batue-fields of the Crimea and of Italy. and began to be·
lieve that nothing was impossible that she wished to accomplish.
The same writer continues his efforts to justify the ambitions of the val'ious Elll'opean governments, especially that
of his own counlI'y France: <dn the beginning the expedition to
l\1exico had no pmpose of intervening politically, nor of imposing by brute foree any constitutional modifications in that
country. Spain, France and Italy were simply creditors, who
hod lost their patience
anù demán<.Ied for their residl:'nt citizens financial indemnities to cover damages in the p:tilt and
effective guaranties for the future It was with this program
in view that the three powers united in the treaty of
October 31st, 18ûi, and invited the United States to formulate
similar exactions.
s
34
«.In the preamble to this convention the high contracting
1 al'tiell \,opk care Lo make exposition of their motives and 01
I.!le purpose of their intervention.
They affirmed their desint:~restedness, and solemnly agreed not to attempt
an)' acquis.tion whatever of territory, and not li<> exercise any influence
\"hatever t.hat would affect the independenco and llutonomy
of Mexico. What was not wr~tten in the treaty, but was cxI,ressoo confidentially
in the interchange!Jf
opilll\'ns anel
, iews upon the subject,
was that the parties were all con,inced that Mexico, so profoundly disturoed in its internal
I egime, could never be permanently
and effectually pacified
llxcept by an authority of greater firmness and more slable
power than that of the various Presidents \y!Jo were depo5cd
at such frequent intervals. And therefore, it would be with
lhe utmost pleasure that they, the high contracting
paTties,
"ould see Mexico adopt a monarchical
constitution.
and
;\ccept as sovereign a prince ,of one of the royal familiell of the
')ld World! The candidate had even been designated in advan;0, the Archduke Maximilian of Austria,
brother of the Em.leror Fl'ancis Joseph r Thus would France heal the wounds of
:leI' war with Italy, aild would be pardoned for her complaJency toward Victor Emmanuel, oy helping elevate to a Ilew
t1lrone a Habsburg prince.
«Though England looked with but scant favor unan thes~
pl&ns of Nappleon, yet she declar~ that. if the 1\1exicalUl
should applaud the choice of this J}rince, she would give her
approval to the realization of the pl'o,ieet.. l'bis conde'lCellSiofl
On the part of England was attributed to the fact that the wife
Qi the roya] candidate was first-c.<Jusin to the Prince Consort,
daughter of Leopold I, of Belgium, who was thought to exercille great influence ove.r the spirit of Queen Victoria.
«So far asSpain
was concerned, she had no prillce to
propose, inasmuch as the crown had passed from Ferdinand
VII tD Isabella, who had only one son. She would thus feel
95
.Qompcnsated by having caJ1ed to the new throne in America
one of the descendents of her illuslrious Carlos V.
«lt was not long, lherefore, before the fleet of' the TrIple Alliance, laden with nUll.èL'OUStroups, set out for Mexicu
and anchored oH Vera Cruz. This fleet was commanded by
the Spanish General Prim, and at sight 01' it President
Juarez immediately offered to pa~' all lhe indemnities which
Were exacted, and lo give surety that his promises would be
faithfully executed. Spain and England declared themselves
saHsfied at this sOlution, and signed the treaty of Soledade,
on February
19th, i862; but the French plenipotentiary
refused to sign the treaty, and demanded that, besides the
indemnities exacted, Jual'ez should further pay the debt ta
Jecker incurred hy the 'l'ebel chief Mi!aman, hig recently
defeated rival. Juarez refused, whereupon the l·'renrh Emperor, who only awaited some pretext for action, ordered hi9
forces to open hostilities against the Mexican President.
«A corps of the FI'ench army landed at Vera Cruz under
the command of General Farcy. The expedition began wilh
a repulse at Puebla, which served to stimulate the patriotism
of its citizens to a resistance which lasted more than a yoear,
but finally, on May 18th, 1863, Puebla capitulated, Juarez fled
to the north, where he tried to organize a new resistance, and
on June 3rd the French troops made their triumphant
entry
into Mexico.
¢General Forf'Y, having fallen ill, had delivered the command of his troops to Bazaine, who thereupon convoked a
Constituent Assembly which decreed that thel'eafter Mexico
should be a Constitutional Empire, the crOWIl being offered
to the candidate of Napoleon, the Archduke Maximilian. The
newly elecled Emperor hesitated to assume the post which
had been offered hill}, fOl'eseeing appal'cntly the b'agic destiny
which it reserved for him. And only after a plebiscite, madr.
though it was under pressure of the French army, gave valid-
3ô
iLy La his problematic elevation lo the throne, did he finally
decide to accept.
«The rest is familiar history. 1'\0 sooner had he landed
at Vera Cruz in May 18tH Lhan he saw his cl'ror; instead of a
sovereign, he found he was nothing more than the head of
a polItical faction, a simples Miramon. Juarez was masle! of
Lhe Illlel'ior country, and by means of consLant guerrilla
wal'l'are he seattl-red the adhel'ellts of Lhe new regime. Maximilian could not subsist without the unilltel'l'upLed support
of l\apolcon's for¡;es, and his common sl.'nSe showed him hi:!
constant pedI. Unfortunately,
impl'Udent coullsellol's exereiscd
Loo gl'eat all influence over his spÍl'it, and led him lo resolve
to go on wiLh his pel'Ílous mission to the end.l).
\Vell might the illustrious Frellch writer have wiShed tu
lCl'minate ti is exceedingly pal'tisan narrative at Lhis point, but
his seIlse of historical jusLice seems La have ouLwcighed in
h is CQnscience lhe paLriotie pleadings of his heart, and he
did Ilot resist maldng Lhis final confession: «lt is lrue that,
dl\l'ing this period, the Washington
Govcl'Oment
showed
clearly its keen regret at not being ab~e Lo offer resistance,
excepL by diplomatic
protest,
to the events which wel't.
transpiring
in Mexico, and which constituted so humiliating
a rl.'ply from Europe to the message of 182:l. But it is only
pl'oper to render ,justice to the United States by sLaling LhaL,
even in the midst of their Civil \Vnr, and notwithstanding
the
embarrasments
which the war caused, not for one instant
was their program renounced, nor their principles
abandoned ..
;': I
«To the invitation of the powers to join them and force
Mexico to pay, her debts, the United States replied by offer·jng pcr.uniary
assistance to the Government of Juarez. Tothe Frcnr.h invasion they opposed a formal and cnf'l'goUc
protest. To the eleclion of Maximil ian they replied refusing
to recognize its fl'agil royal ty. Meantime the stl'uggle con-
37
Unued between
the partizans
of Maximilian
and those
of Juarez.
Once the youngEmperor
had decided to
conquer by armed force the crown which he had 'o longingly
desired lo receive as the unanimous choice of the pearle, ho
throw h imseIf into the strife with l'cal fury. In an evil haUl'
he accepted the counsels of those who suggested that he put
an end to tile re~·ii'tance of his adversaries by spreading tlWror in their micL<:-t,and issued the famous decree which forbnde his troops to take prisoners, &.s a result of whieh fatal
:>rder two of tho republican chieftans, Arl,aga and Salpznr,
were ~()on afterward execu ted.
«The indignation proHJ]{ed by these exeCJutions was intense both in Europe and in America. The United SUdes,
\y¡¡jeh had just acquired anew the right to make its voice
heard, through the ce~'sation oIf its Civil War, took advantage
of Lhe opportunity to invite the French Government lo wif.hdraw its troops from Mexico. The Washington Gabinet pbced
hefore the Emperor' Napoleon lhe dilemma, which was deflcribcd by more than one speaker in Congress in the celebrated CI'Y: «Withdraw 0'1' Fight1) I The impression produred
was thnt :tny further prOlongation of French occupancy would
imply a deel:ll'ation of war from the United State~' Would
it be prudenl for thr. Emperor of France to Cmb31'k upon 11
new ventl1're ? Would it be an nct of wisdom to mobilize largo
navnl forces and send ar-ross the ocean new contingents from
lhe army?
«Following upon the futility of In understandmg
WIth
AlI$fl'ia there h<ld come both a new alliance wif h Italy and
dipldmaf.ic courlesic£. with Prussia.
Napoleon no longer hac!
the same interest of three years before in ma l{Îng s:wri fiees
fd consrrve the cr'own of M'8Xico upon fhe hend of an Arclld111œ of Austria.
Tn v:Jin, therûforc. the unhappy !\faximi!ian sent lhe Rmpre£'i' Charlotte to Enrope f.o plead for support
with the French Fovcreign and other monarchs. The Imperial
troops were withdrawn frdu Mexico, while at the same time
Napo),eon sought to win the good-will of the United States in
fé Val' of Maximilian, by pel'mUting Nicaragua to declare null
.uld VI)I(\ the conc.e~.€,iollgranted lo the Frenchman
Ball~; for
the constl'Uction of an inter-oceanic
canal, and also to 'l'en< un'~e lhe IreattY by whir.h HIC policing of the same can:J1
had been granted to France.
«All this proved to be in vain. The American Govel'nm,'nt continlloo firm in ils hostility to the new Mexican Empil'e. Its end was inevitable, and :\laximítiall, ab:wcloncd lo
h iJl1sclf. was laken prisoner in Queretand, and executed /)11
Juw 19th, 1807. The Monroe Doclrine twd tt'iumphed ! ~
In ·/.nlth the tragedy, in \vhich t,he ,umhappy Austrian Archdu;e had bern the chief ,actor, musl have l)J'(,'/ftoundly imp!'! sseù th,', olri dynasties of EUI'opc. The fall of the :\Icxican
throll(' dj,d nol l'aise lhe Uniled SI.alei' again to it~· feel, ill
order fa impose upon ail the l'l'ce rcpublics CffAmel'Îcu ils ':.\1'I'og.mt supcriority,
as the Fl'ench wl'ite¡' whom wc have so
laréely Quoted would havo his readers believe; all the COI11ral~" al! the nationõ of the continent could Ihereaftel' Lp.
beU et' assllrec1 of their autonomy, hecause of this graciou~
doe:.rinc, under whose pl'ot,ecting wings, f¡'om the vcry l'radIe
of their rolilical in£<titulions, they could nduri~h their nascPIlt
Iibe·'lies.
And as to Mexico, to-day as formcrly, the attitude of
¿\.Ill!I'ieun pOlitics can not faiJ Id be that of constant, ano
ranI ious vigilance ovel' heI' deôtinies. On.C1Qeach dist..ractect
by most cruel civil discord, exposed to all sods of public
c,nlalOity she constitutei' a m!Ï¡.rhbdr whose destiny mllst of
ncee.;sity closely affect t.he Fatherland
of Waf:·hington. Tlw
Arne.'ican Pm'il, which so keenly wOl'I'ies Europe, is no lest
tz'oul,lesome to lhe old world than The Yellow Peril of Japan
lo tl t~ Amcrieam·, and even Ihough Lhe politic,al integrity of
the :\lexiean nation must always he sacred to the United
39
State" .still the right can not be denied her of trying lo
alwa)'s have in 'i\lexico friendly adminislr,ations, the right to
be alway" on guat'd lest lhc hidden encmy which has already
endeavored lo slyly implant itself in her own midst, be not
allowcd to establish in neighboring territory a powerful base
of militUl'Y operations.
CHAPTER IV
The World
Phase
As has been seen in foemer chapters, the French \\'l'iter
llalTal pictures
the United States as stI'iving, dming the
inva.sion 1Jcriod of its imperialism, to extend its fronticI's and
aSsUI'e its continental stability in such a way as to rise to
the level Df tho great powers of Emope; in the ,Q.Y(fressive
phase he describes the States as striving
to lay hands by
beute fOl'ce upon Cuba, POI'tO Rico and the neighboring
islands, and thus become rulers one~ for all of the American Mediterranean,
and of the fulme road to the Pacific;
in order that finally, in the world phase, they might extend
theil' conquests to other parts of the globe and assume the
o~tensible tutelag€ of all the other peoples of the two
Amel'iens.
Jndeed, fl'om thi' time that the !';orth Anwricans. at the
beginuing of the last century, bought Luiziana fl'om Frnnce,
and latc!' all aCQuired Florida, thus exlRnding their territory
to the Antilles and the Caribbean Sea, the far-seeing eyes of
Jefferson
had
pOI'ceived the
future
po~ition
of his
counfry in relation to the nations of the Old \-VorId, and
42
in
.
letter written to Monroe in 1823 ho penned these words:
¢\V ~ have very few possibilities
of collision with Europe,
anu these call with pl'Udence be adjusted. As to the "ister
nations vf the continent, no one of them is ~'et at an age to
go to Wal' with us, and the European possessions in the two
Au eI'icas are gradually emancipating thcmse(v~,
so that we
shdl soon be f¡'eed from bad neighbors. Only Cuba will
remain, and she offers but little danger. If, hO'Never, England
tal.e possession of her, it would be a great ralamity, 80, if
it \Vere possible for us to guarantee her autonomy as regards
all othc¡' nations except Spain, she ",vould become as if she
WI re our own.)
To those words Adams added the following: «There are
la'vs (lf polit.ical gravit.ition,
simila¡' to those of physical
gravitation;
and, just as an apple, loosened from the tree by
a tempest, falls inevitably to the g¡'ound because of the law
01 gravitation,
so Cuba, once shaken loose from Spain, will
bl' incapable
of maintaining
itself, and will gravital'e
n'~ce,ssarily to the Xorth American Union, "hich
according
te. the same law of nature will not be able to repel ib
At thnt time the North American gover-nment tr¡l'd in
vain to buy from the Spaniards this «Pearl of the Antilles .•,
but aR the latter saw their vast possessions ill America daily
diminishing by th€ formation of the new Sp:mish American
republics, they refused the most tempting offers of this kind,
while indeed behind the scenes at the Court of Madrid other
;..nd varied ambitions were being voraciously set in motion for
IIidden purposes.
Convinced of the futility of thUR being able to satisfy
heit' desires, North Amcrican statesmen then began effort~
to pre-vent Cuba from passing into strongr,r hands than tho¡;e
Jf her primitive colonizel's, They formally l'l'fused the joint
proposal of Great Britain
and FI'ance, that t.hl'Y three
(lstablish a protectorate
over the much sought-for
prey. in
order naturally to later on divide it up amongst themselves
¡
in equal p.al'lA, They urged again upon lh~ Spanish Courl
Uwil' offel' of one hundred and lwenly million francs for lhe
island, and aftcr anolhp[' solemn l'l'fusaI, tht'n began to use
the lime honored p['ocess of Britnnnic imp(dalism,
that of
gellillg possession little by liUle of Cuban mar'keLs, with a
view lo em'.ourage the ['evolution!)['y instinct;- of tht' nativo
ncoplt, against the mother' country,
The resulls of this lenacious and syslematic propaganda
were mal:;nificenl. III 18·'15, lo make use of lhi) caustic phrase
(jf Benoit, «Cuba was· ah'oady dependent
I¡pon Amez'ican
cn}lital~, The fi['sl symptoms of a slruggle for' autonomy,
whit:ll had been easily sU!lprc~Eed in 1835, became more
strnll;!ly
:I':centualed
in 1860, when
the revolutionary
movemcnt was o~wnly alld dceisi\'flly unclertaken by Calixf,o
Garcia, Maximo Gomes and Antonio !\Iaceo. The sinews of
war, as represented
by the allmighty doll~.r, were never
lacking thereafter
to the insurrectionisls,
and th1'- cause of
Cuba L-i1Jre began to provoke from day lo day and even from
hour to hour the m()st vivid sympathy in Norlh American
public opinion, which doubtless had been at first against tho
campaign for separation from Spain, becawle at Lhat time
Bt'iLish influ.f)ncc still weighed heavily in tho destinies of
Cuba, and in view of the imminence (lf its p!lssing from the
possession of Spain to LhaL ()f Great Britain, Jt was fclt to bo
preferable
that it should remain .undel' the flominion of
Castillians
who, much the same as their brethrcn,
the
PoI'!uguc,ie, were always r,cc()gniz(l(! as a people of Conquerors
.easily conquered.
In 1868, however, when the Ten Yeur War broko out,
Xorth American preponderance
was already established OVO['
the Illost beautiful of all the Antilles. Neither France, which,
be it snid in passing, never had been a good col()nizer, nor
Englnnd, which hnd not as yet encountered in Germany its
dangerous rival of today, could longer mak,) a respectable
Showing
in competition,
n()twithstanding
the important
colonial establishements
maintained by each in neighboring
islands. And if some day the government of Madrid should
lose its outpost in Havana, and Cuba should not be able to
gov-crn itself, what could hinder the apple of Adams from
eventually falling into North American terrltory?
And, as
between the two dominatiomi, why shüuld not Cuba choose
tho ,self-government
offered by the \Vhite House 'lo the
alrophying centralization
of lhe Spanish monarchy?
Indeed, the brutal and cruel repression, é:xercised by the
Spaniards against the chimerical revolutiQnar~' movements of
the jslanà, had croafed a most profound halN'el between the
natives and their' oppressors.
The I'evolution of 1868 had
hrokl'n out \\ith unexpected violence; from many citi!3s Qf
the United Sta(es po\verful
aid began to come to the
insurrectionary
bands, and filibuster'ing
expeditions
were
openly organized on Amcrican süil. The federal and the state
govürnmf:nls
doscd
[hcir eyes lo this abnormal
state of
affairs, aud in Con¡;ress motions of sympathy with the Cubans
in ¿¡I'mS wero passed by both }lüuses, while in the very
Presidential
messages phl'ases appeared ",hieb did no!. even
reign to h ide the pr'onounccd sentiments of both people and
lUthol'iti,'s favorahle to Lhe stt'uggling insurrl'cf.íonists.
The !\fadrid Foreign Office simulated satisfaction
with
Ihp. formal refusal on the part of the White House (o recognize
lhe bp.lligorency of the Cubans, although
tacitly
their
brlligerancy had been more than recognized, J'or revolutionary
(xpeditions
never cr;ascd to be organized on Amorican soil
till OH) clay of fhc final def"a!. of the Cuban troops in 1878.
Spain should have well understood that this victory of
Ilrr :l1'ITlS was but ephemeral.
On() ~'ear before the final
sllppression
of
tIlP. inS\Jl'/'(~ction. PrcsirJent
Johnson,
I a¡'uphrusing the prophetic words of Adams, hacl said that
j 1St as !.he West Indies gravitat.ed naturally
towards the
Conf inental stntf's, \vhich \vould even!.ually nbsürb them, so
il would be an ad of prudence on the pari, of the North
American p~ople lo reJraim from allemplin¡; any solution of
the problem of Cuba, and rather leave it to fir:ally obey those
same laws of g!'avitation.
Fu!'lhcl'more,
the bloody vengeance wreaked unan the
illsur!'ectionists
by lhe Spanish governmenl, and ils natUl'al
11atred towards LIle Unitcd States, w!Jose designs it so well
recog'nizeà, only tended lo facilitate the incr~asing intimacy,
so fully Justified, belween Cubans and North Americans. The
summary
execution
(Jf the 'members
of a filibustering
expedition sailing under' the stars and sLr'ipes, and imprisoned
by li Spanish frigale, exci ted to an extraordinary
degree the
\vhol~ Am(wican people, and tho Washington
Government
demanded full sat.isfaction for theexecution
(Jf ten cubans
and twenty seven l';(J}'th Amel'icans, who had hcen lhe victims
of this atl'ociom affair.
Refcning
to lhc peace lhus re-establish·?d in Cuba, the
Marquez de Ban'al, all'eady quoted as favorable
to the
Spanis!J people in his judgments,
thus expresses himself:
«TIll' Trealy of Zangon placed affairs once !llore on the same
pla(~e as bef{)['e the suppressed insurrection. The concrssions
made by Spain WCl'e in fact nothing more no!' less than those
promised by Canovas del Castillo in 1865, and which Porto
Rico had obtained in 1869 without any revolt (JI' commotion
of any :i ind. They amounted, in a word, to self-government
nndel' the sovercignty of Spain, full amnesty and a forgrtting
1)1' all
lhut had recently (Jccurred. But alas, it was also, let us
fl'anJ¡ly conf.ess H. the same system of spmi-concessions
inaugurated
tcn ~'eat'S before, sclf-gDvernment
more in
nppcl\ranoc than in reaiity, a blind obstinacy on the pal't Df
Spain in refusing to abandon c(Jmpletely it5 old conception
of a cO)'Jllinl regime, which consisted in being unwilling to
see in the colonies anything except serfs, to be exploited in
sneh a way as to seCUl'e from them lhe largest }Xlssible
pecunial'y returlls.
Tt became thel'efore not a permanent
pacification, but rather an arl)1istice.»
When the CabineL aL Madrid finally resolved to follow a
marc libel'al policy towards
its priceless
pos8'ession, by
gl'anLing to il such genuine reforms as reprefentation
in the
royal Cortes, local governmcnt according' to more generous
plans, und the final abolition of slavery, it was too late. The
l'cvolutionalT fever had pcrmeated all social dasses upon the
islund, anù rcvolt against the ~'oke of the Spanish govel'flll1ent
bpgan to manifest itself in action. The l\orLh ,\mm'ieun policy
continued just the same as iL had been for forty years, with
no peecipitaLion, but also with no lcL -up and no hindrance.
IL is interesting
to note in this conn.>ction that the
French author quoted above, who so fiel'cely accuses the
governments
of Washington
in their treatment
of Spain,
eventually, though unconsciously, Justifies the:;!) same gOVCl'llments by slating that, identical facts had OCCUl'l'cd in the
acLions 01' neal'ly all the nations of the Old WOl'ld: «Certainly,
he exclaims, all th¡; countries of lhe world have at various
times used the eam{' disloyal and msincere methods in g~lling
li foot-hold
in the internal disputes of neighhol'S. ov~r whom
tlwy wi"hed lo extend their supre,macy, or fl'ùm whom they
wished to st¡,al a slice of territory;
but no nation, in my
opinion, evel' acled with such persistent
hypocrisy as lhe
North Amoricans in Cuba.:!>
«\Vh{'n, fOI' instance,
he continues.
France lent its
supports
in the Netherlands
to the Patriot Party, whilst
England helped the Stadtholde1's, these respective
governments g¡'anted subsidies to lhe combating parties, and openly
boasled that it was their own offkers who, as agents. had
organized the- struggling groups. When our f(l!'mer monarchy
(France \ end€avo¡'ed lo destroy in Germany the authority
and pre_:.lminence of the h()Use of Austria, and for this purpose
gathored the secondary principalities
in lo the famous leagues,
our authorities
openly avowed advocacy of tho cause, and
entered into the struggle as a political entity. When Spain
came Lo the assistance of France, the Leagué. or rather the
·Fronde, was no less than the government itself, which took the
initiativ:J and treated with the malcontents.
«When Russia withdrew its forces ft'om Poland in. order to
bring to ruin its royal authority
by means of inces~ant
anarchy, it was the gov€rnment of S1. Petersburg
which
organized
the various
eonfeden.tions
which
were thus
established, subsidized them and exercised protectorat€
over
them. All this was as disloyal as the conduct of the Americans
towards Spain, but at least it was frank and open t:.
And the leamed wl'iler then adds: «I weI! know that,
alongside of these exemplrs, there are others of governments
which
permit
thoir
subjects
to act, without
however
acknowl~dging solidarity with them. I know that it was on
his own pl'ivate initiative that Schomberg went to Portugal,
Beaufort went to Chypre, and the flower of .Frf~Mh nobility
flew to the succour of WaShington and the rebels who fought
to liberate New England lhe Bl'itish yoke. Bot these individual
initiatives wore not long in being followed b~' open action
on the {Jart of their respective states. I know that Cecil
Rhodes and Jameson were not always sUPPot'ted by the Cabinet
of 8t. J::lmcs; but milita¡'y expeditions again<.t the Transvaal
and Orange followed closely upon lhe attempts made by these
brave pioneers of British conquest. I know ihat Bulgaria is
spending ils time at this moment in encouraging one day,
only to abandon on the next day, the strugglIng insurrectionists of M¡¡cedonia; but she has for excuse her inhability to do
it any 0ther way, because of the veto powe:- of Russia and
Austria, even though she may be burning with impatience to
net open and above-board.
q: If, nevertheless,
examples of dissimulation and dupliCity
nnalogous to those of the United States towards Spain are
numerons in history, it is my belief that nt least in its
duration
the hypocrisy
of the American action in Cuba
undoubtadly holds the record.~
48
Â
new insurredion
broke
ouL in 1896, \vhich was des-
t ned to crush once and forever Spanish dominion in lhe is\¡ nd.
Estrada Palma, who had been ¡'esiding for some y~ars
ill :\'ew YOI'k, had been patiently preparing
the reaction.
1\ so-called Cuban Delegation, ge!ll~rously favored by North
"mer'iran capitalists and also in secret by t.he Feçler'al Govlr'nment, as was belie\'ed, had succeeded in ar,mâng a fleet 01
filibustering
ve;;sels which had, as a result of sever'al trips,
U,ken a gre'at quant.ity of arms and ammunit.ion
to the
Cubancoasl.
"fareo in turn, at the head of his valiant ea\' lll'~', surprised the Spanish l¡'oops and completely routed
t lem, while l\laximo !Gomes, rccenlIyr'eturned
f['fom ~an
I:omingo, or'ganized his legions in lhe eastem part of the
j; land.
In t.he face of such grave events the govel'nment of :\Iad'id sough;[ ill vain, by the presence in Havana of :\l'arLinez
ClmpM,
to assua,ge the excitement of the insurrectionists.
"ho continued to grow in boldness, until
finally
general
Weyler \\as aPl10inled commander-in-chief
of the
legal
li oops.
A cry of desperation rose at once in all part s of the
island against tlie atrocities
altributed
to this celebrated
g lCrl'illa chieftan. The agitation against Spain became, widespread throughout lhe Unit.ed States; in the SenaLp. recogni1i:)Il of the helligcl'ents was at, once proposed, and in juslifiration of &u~h an extreme meaSUl'e the atrocities commitlt d by Weyler wt'r'c narrated in lhe most vivid colors. The
Ir 01 ion was carried by 64 votes again,.t Ii. while at the same
lime th,' LO\\'er I10use passed a ~imilar bill by ;?133votes
a¡;ainsf, only sixteen!
Meantime ,\Veyler dêfeat.ed Lhe t,roops of Maceo, who
h"l'oically perishrd in baltic. But, unfortunately
fol' Spain,
tbis. victory excrci7.ed but little influence on her behalf.
Jl1ximo Gomes was daily drilling his troops and better preparing lhem for acl ion. while at the same lime the American
49
Foreign Office offered its mediation between the rebels and
the home countI'Y~ which act, however, was taken as an affront by the- Madrid Cabinei.
¡Canovas del Castillo, n'Cil' of the t¡raditional Illig-born
Spil'it of lhe Castillian,s, energelically
repel,led the proposal,
and all over Spain an intense excW~ment preYa¡Ied against
the United States. President Cleveland, elected by the de':
moc.ralic party, which still preserved its traditional
ideals
from the time of Independence, hastened to assure his fellow-countrymen
that, though he could not prevent their expressions of sympathy wilh the revolutionists,
nor entirely
avoid the preparation
and departure
from the Ameri~an
coast cities of expeditions of soccour to the insurrectionists,
nevertheless
he considered that he ought n()t lo reco.gnize
their beIligerancy, which would not only be inopportune bui
might bring on an ungracious
war between the Unitel
States and Spain.
Months later Cleveland was succeeded in the Presidency
by McKinley, lhe triumpbalcandidate
of the
Republican
party, amongst whose lcadcs were lo be found the most
arílorous 'partizans of the l'evolu tion in Cuba. Canovas was
sOo.n after assassinated, and Marshal Blanco substituted WeyIcI' as Commander-in-chief
aL Havana. The ·Cabinet of Madl'id, presided o.ver now by the chief of the Liberal Party,
organized an autonomous government for the island, at the
reiterated request of the Federal Governement at Washington.
'J'hese eyents, however did not suc<:.eed in changing the aspeeL of the situation', for while McKinley, in his presidential
message of december 7, 1897, maintained
that it was inopp'ortune lo. reco.gni7.'e the beIligerancy of the Cubans, and declared that in view of the reforms decreed by Spain in benefit of the island, it was not the proper occasion as yet for
an intervrntion
between the ;colony ·and the mother country,
the motio.ns in Co.ngress in favor of CUban Independence
were dailly multiplying.
About this time a letter of the4
50
Spanish Minisler al Washington fel! into the hands of tJh.e
insurrectionists
and was by them widely divulged; in this
leller the Minister attacked in a gross and violent manner
lhe Amerj,can Government, which at once demanded that,
besides dismissal from his post, which ~v.as immediately decreed by Madrid, the Minister should also 'be officially reproved for his conduct, which demand was in lurn peremptorily refused by the Cabinet.
AI the same time the United States refused to recall
from Havana their Consul, general Lee, who was declared by
Spain to be an open advocate of the cause of the revolutionists. Suddenly there came the catastrophe
of the IMaine!,
and in consequence the passions of allparties
in bolh coun¡tries flamed imLo un.con~'rollable :fury, and
neit..iJ:1er 'Lhe
Washington nor the Madrid governmúllLs could longer slay
the awful torrent towards war.
«Public opinion, writes Ribot, trium;ph'€d in fact, and
before the technical inquiry regarding the cause of the explosion of the Maine, inslituted by Madrid, :could be closed,
suddenly without any new cause whateveI1 the United States sent to Spain an ultimatum, which was ill effecl a declaration of war, for it demanded that Spain should aid (n succouring the l'cc~ncentl'ados in accord with the efforts ofthe
United States, and should meantime proclaim an armis'tice,
during which the Wahington Governement, by interyenLion,
should regulate, on a basis of independence, the permanent
situation between 'Cuba and the metropolis. Such conditions
\Vere impossible. Europe looked on amazed; it realized that
the United States by such acion would, morally speaking,
assume a protectorate
over the whole of America; it felt
that the spectre of Monroe was hanging over its future, and
it tried, at least. to avoid a war that would become higlùy
significant'. The ,powers, therefore, putting the Pope at their
hiead, united in requesting arbitration;
the United States feign~d with courtesy 'acceptance of the good offices prOffered.
5l
and tb~ whole world began to breathe anew with oase when,
suddenly, without any further formality, McKinley delivered
his terrilJ,le message of april 12, 1898, declaring war with
Spain I
dlostiliLies were of short duration. Tile Spanish squadro,n, after having remain{ld in the vast expanses of the ocean
with snc,h great care as t,o be called the Phantom Fleet, permitted itself to be stupidly blockaded in Santiago de Cuba.
A few regiments of American infan[¡'y and cavalry sufficed
to defeat Lhe Spanish troops on the island, and Santiago capitulated on July 17, 1898. Spain could no longer think of
continuing in a struggle ridiculously
unequal. the p,reliminaries ofpeace
were signed in Paris on august 11, and on
december 20til the Treaty of Paris put a final sto{} to the
war. The Epaniards ceded the Philippines Islands to the United
States for twenty millions of dollars, and abandoned Porto
Rico and Cuba. with no promise on lhe part of the United
States to assume the debt of he latter.
«Th·] truth is that. by the annexation of the Asiatic archipelago, as affirmed in the message of december 7th, a
new current of imperialism became manifest in the United
StaLes,and by the possession of Cuba, North America adopted,
the idea of Pan Americanism as its pOlicy regarding the two
Americas.)
CHAPTER V
South American Monroeism
The ultimate result of the $panish-American
war, together wif,h th2 ,enormous awanta.ges obtained by the Un,itE'.{\
States through the treaty concluded with the government of
Mad'rid, naturally
prodU¡ted ao vividi impression throughout
the American continent, and: especially among the rf;publics
of Spanish origin.
The public pr;ess of England" and of France, also did
much towal'd the excitement of passions and ill will which
became evident in Latin-America
on all sides. Economists,
statesmen, and writers, of ,eIVery sort, systematically empha.siz.rJd this giant step 'Laken by the yankee mammot.h in it,~
policy of absorption
and enslavement of all of t.he other
weak~r p(loples of America. Among the many publications
which wel'e circulMed broadcast
during that epoch, none
caused more sensation than a pamphlet, .edited in London,
which enjoyed an extensive circulation among all of the nations of the New-World.
This pamphlet was entitled South American Monroeism,
and, notwithstanding
the fact that it did not bear its author's
nam<t>, its origin was not infrequen'LIy attributed'
to a nota-
ble South American diplomat who served many years at the
various capitals of Europe. However, what made this pamphlet really interesting and worthy of meditation, was th~
fact that, unlike similar documents distributed', it wa.s not
limited lo the formulation of the simple accusation that the
United States was betraying the l\Ionroe Doctrine by the application of its imperialistic
policy, but, in addition thereto,
while expanding tho ancient and utopian dreams of Bolivar,
it suggested a plan for the salvation of the independence
and autonomy of the Latin peopl¿s of the continent, which
independence it consid'ertcd to be in imminent d'anger.
Citing the prophetical
words of Cecil Rhodes who said
that the Anglo-Saxons are und€r a sacred obligation to civilize that part of the world which is not yet in a state of
civilization,
in which connection
he specifically mentioned
South America, the author of this curious pamphlet, dated
London 1903, €xpT('ssed himself as follows:
«Eighty years ago, Monroe proclaimed America for the
Americans.
Recently, the presidents of the United States have
ampliJi.ed this principle, considering the two Americas fOI~
thG North
AmeI'Ù:ans.»
For this very reason, Cleveland by the application of
this doctrine greatly incommoded the British Government in
connection with the boundari€s of the Guianas; Me. Kinley,
using the same formula, forced the Spanish 'flag to abandon
the last stronghold of its vast Empire in the New-World.
All of t.he republics south of Pa.I1ama arc enslaved with debts
due to foreign creditors. The Americans installed themselves
in the Philippines.
With the consent of the United States,
European war vessels blockaded the ports and waters of
Velnczu.cla; they sauntred forth forcibly to collect private
. debts and when nof. immediawly satisfied in their demands,
they' bombarded poris which were little more than unfortified. While the whole world bore witness to such a situa_
55
Hon, ten South American
lion
sing
pe'ople accustomed
the richest
mere svectators,
repttblics,
terl'itorlJ
simply
composed of forty
to the handling
on the face
observing
mil_
01 arms and, possesof
the
globe,
the agony of their
were
sister
and
a lover of justice (the author), who labored d'uring thirt.y
years in those admirable regions and who perceives Sout.h
America as being geographically
in position oo. eonstitute an
Inexpugnable
stronghold for Latin humanity,
must say Lo
you: «That is Veli! rnttch your affair».
And for your enlightenment,
Brazilians,
Argentines,
Chileans,
Uruguayans,
Paraguayans,
Bolivians, Per'uvians, Colombians, Ecuadorians,
and Venezuelans, r offer you the following chapters, wrUten
and published nOw nearly two years, before the Anglo-Teuto-Saxo.n Empil'c began to civilize Latin-American
with its
Monroe Doct.ri'nes and formulae of Cecil Rhodes and the Draconian laws; and r speak t.o you from the bottom of my heart. »
The authDr of SOuth Amel"ican Monroeism then proceeds
to unfold his vast policy and plans for the defence of this
southern portion of t.he continent. He shows that, in order to
embarrass
the Anglo-Saxon
imperialism,
the tB-n Soutb
American countries
should unitCi in one Southern Empire
which
would fOrm a r(',al confederalíon
as strong
(1S
inexpugnable.
He lament.s the absence of a leader with
sutfficient prestige lo accomplish such a union, but, he says,
while in South America we cannot find a Monroe, wc find ten
fl'acti,)ns where unity is most surely needed.
In reality, therû pxist nearly forty million individuals Argentines,
Bolivians,
Brazilians,
Chile:ans,
CDlombians,
Ecuadorians,
Paraguayans,
Peruvians,
Uruguayans,
amI
Venezuelans - with kindred institutions, customs, races, and
languages, all entirely different from thOse O:f .t.he AngloSaxons or North-Americans,
forming peoples who, to.-day,
arc conspkuously reprE"Scnted in the family of world-powers.
republic
whilst
they said:
«That
is no affail'
of ours»;
56
When these ten nations should gladly unite hands agaiM;t tho
common enemy, they are in reality quito separated, in deM to
a point of almost insolvency, and weakened by the heavy
burden of armamen.t; some of them with corrupt internal
admini!:-tratíons, while others rure full of arrogance or imbued
with
several
sorts
of vanity without
foundation.
The
di!ltinguished writer then adds:
«We find ten secondary naLions whero only ano solid and
powerful Government should exist. History is again repeating
itself:
South America
is playing
the part
of ancient
Greece,
the United States that of Macedonia. A lack of unity weakened
Greece; subdivision is the weak point of South America which
has been disabled
These
ten
nations
by its foreign
are
staggering
creditors
who enslave
under
the
burden
it.
of
excruciating
taxes which, for more than a century, have
prevented them frQm accumulating c¡¡¡pital with which to jnsur~
their indepenctence; hence their weakness.
and do no.t appear to realize the faet.:!)
'l'hey are in danger
A distinguished
politician, one of Colombia's brightest
men, analysing the so-called A. B. C. Treaty
(concluded
between Brazil, the Argentine Republic and Chile), in his
attempt to point out a lack of shrewdness on the part of the
Brazilian Minister fOol'Foreign Affairs, aCCuses the latter of
having done nothing more than meet the qesires of tbe United
Stat€s,
Great
Britain
and Franco
by incl'€asing
the
misunderstanding
between the South AmerIcan nations and
.by reviving animosities, once extinct, between the weaker
peoples of South America and the.ir powerful neighbors (the
-oppressors of the continent) when, the distinguished COlombian
-contend!:-, tho Brazilian Foreign Minister was laboring under
lhe mistaken impression .that he was celebrating a def-ensive
alliance with those countries against the United S'tates. This.
distinguishfd
citizen of COlombia cited, in support of his
57
s tat,ell}{'nt, the following words written by the author of tho
pamphlet South American lIIonrOcism:
«For more than forty years, I have daily road the public
press whieh rcfl'ects the high policies of the Great WorldPowers, and therefrom I collect, by eareful and constant study,
accurate knowledge of the plans and pretensions of their-governments.
Thus, I havo comB to the conclusion that - the
Great Powers being five or six in number as compared wilh
forty or fifty of the smaller
nations
the weaker
lleoples should Dc ever alert to the combined actions and
projects of the stronger. \VhŒ:never tho Great Powers app-roach
each othúI' for the purpose of a mutual understanding,
the
weaker nations are always the .subject of such conferences.»
«To keep the- weaker peoples antagonistic to each other,
support one to-day, promise to help another to-morrow, keep
them all, and always, in a dependent situation, and to foment
rivalry among them; is unfailingly
a capital point of the
program ancl policy of the Great Powers; to keep them indebted
to Lh.e very verge of bankruptcy,
to enslave them with
foreign debt, is the greatest aim of the powerful Governments
of the present day. The great nations induce the weaker ones
by indirect
means
to exhaust
themselves
by excessive
8!rmament, and lead them to enter info t.rcaties of reciprocity
wherein al'C deceitfully
h.idden the shackles which bind them
to submissionh
The dif,tinguished writer then enters upon the decisive
portion of his argument with a view to demonstrating the necessity
and the urgency
of a great South
Americall
()Onfcde1'ation.
«When Monroe, procJaming his ,famous doctrine lost thO
time in acquiring for his country tho Spanish colonies of
Florida and in sllflporting the independ:ence of all of the
Spanish ViceKingdom in South America., it certainly, was not
his purpose that the Vice-Kingdom
should be transform-
58
cd into a great Republic of the United States of South
America founded on the lines of the North American Republif" Undoubtedly, his hope was for the formation of seven
or more republics of litUc importance, badily constituted, and
destin~d to be split up from time to time as, in fact, has
been the case, struggling wirth internal strife and waI'».
«lt was also during the time of Monroe that Brazil wa6
emancipated;
it was he who rœognized the independence of
our Empire. The existence of a gr€ut Monarchy among the
seven repul;>lics es'tablished', would probably coincide with
the plans of the yankee president for the formation of sever.al separate republics instead of one great nation and thus
prepare and excellent field for misunderstandings
and separations, as has been verified, 'for no oth€r part of the glObe
has witnessed so many wars as have occurred in South America.»
«ln. reality, were it not for so many und fierce struggles
resulting from ¡Lhe separatioh of one from tt"t() other, the
great South American Republic might rea.djl~ have been COnstituted and, at the present moment, would probably
have
been more important than the United Stat€s. One hundred
and twenty yooTS ago, the United States was merely a small
colony with less than two million inhabitants,
and to-day,
they possess more than seventy million souls of strong ra~es
which place that country on a parity with the Great WorldPDwers.»
«ln 1830, Colombia, which was then the great-cst Souf.h
American cOlmfry, except Brazil, and occupied the richest
portion of tile Andles, including the Isthmus of Panama, was
split up into Um'e smaller
republiCS forming
Venezuela,
Ecuador, and the United States of Colombia; and this division Wl1S immediately accapted with pleasure by the Yankee
Government which, once more, gained another victory in its
policy of sltbdil\id¡r¡g in order to dominate.»
59
<Thescf~ts
taken into consideration in c.onn€ction with
the pres,~nt Cuban situation and the acquisition of the PhL
lippines, clearly demonst.rates th-() interpretation
Me. Kinley.
gave the Monroe Doctrine; and nobody in South Amelric.a
should believe that president Iloosevelt interprets
it. in a1ny
other manner. The Doctrine will continue io be as follows:
The two Arnel'icas
for
the North_Amel'icans,
«Therefore,
as becomes quite evident, the Imperial No1'th
Am,è1'ican Republi'c pretends to extend its dominion from pole
to pole and from oeem to ocean on the continent, the ten
other republics
and the three Guianas will forcibly be
absorbed or Ithey will be oblig'ed to rectify the Monro() DDc_
kine, proclaming:
North America
for the North-America¡18
and South
America
for
us.
«The present r~litical situation an{Î the imperialistic po_
licy of the Unitc'il States are thus indicating the urgent n~cessity of a Southern Empire joining the ten eXisting repubHcs in one Confederation
in whioc.h each should amintain its
1ndependen(~e in so far as c.oncerns its laws and insti1utions,
but in which all should constitute a single bOdy to promote
their common inter'dts.
The ten reptÜ;lics· united would' in
no manner of,fend the ideals of Washington and- his glorious
compallions, if they would only substitute the Monroe Docteine for the following: South America fOr the South Americans, ami Olll' frontier
shall
be Panama,
'l'h-cse ideas did not fail to prOduce a certain number of
proselytes in many of the countries on our c:Ontinent, even in
Brazil, where, fortunately, c.ampaigns of hostility toward' the
United States have not always met with favor in the public
opinion. An attempt was made to convert th~se idleas into
facts by the propaganda in favor of a South American COngress on t.he lines ideal ized by Bolivar, but restricted to the
rcpublirs of Latin origin, up'on the occasion when it appeare<l
to many that a North-American,
~r. Archibald C. Coolidge of
60
Harvard
University,
at Cambridge,
Massachusetts,
was the
and' proclaim in his book The United States
A Wvrld-Powc¡',
the danger the weaker republics of Souih
Ameriea \Vcre subject t,a in vicw of .tho oxpMlsionÜt policy
(jf late adopted by thc (}overnment
df his country. In speaking
of the Ielation~, between (he United States and Latin-America,
the distinguished Yankee writOl' expI'es~ed' himself .as follows:
«The greatest obstacle to apPI'oxima,Uon i~:otho lack Of
political
confidc'TIce on the parL of the Latin-Americans
w\w1rd
Llleir neighbors
of the !lm'th, a lack of confidence
which Europe is ever ready to promote to the best of its
ability. This l:wk of confidence is not entirely w¡.fhout foundation: not to mention the many irre£,ponsibJ.e. people who
write to the effect that the destiny of the United Stales is
t.o dominate the Western World. and not. for 'Ui ~ingle moment.
doubting the Sincerity of the American people and the Governement at Washington when they seek the friendship of
the Latin-American
republicõ,. there
still remains some
ground for di~tr,:UlsL.History proves td us that when powerful
and \veak St.at.es become intimately associated, the independence of the weaker always run£:, some risk. During our timie,
the United Stutes is in a po~ition analdgous .(0 that of Prussia.
in relation
to the other ZolIvorein nations;
possesses a
greater population, ,a more considerable natural richnes". ,and
- better developed resources.
In fact, it is not only stronger
than
the Ameri0an
republics. one for the other. but even
stronger than all of ,theses republics t.og-ethlcr».
«\Ye must confess, on the othu hand, that the hislory
of the prog-resõ, made by the United States i, not entirely
tranquilIizing.
For
this reason. the Latin-Ameri0a[J£. ar(\
always willing to couri suspicion ai the ~Iightesi aciion on
the part of the United States and to frownat anything which,
dirootl}' or .indirectly. mighi appear t'Û be ·an a.f1front. Incidents which in the United States have not ,at.lr3lCted attention but. for a single moment, imprudent words to which not
first
La rocognize
61
C'ven the slighte~L importance has beenattached.
lJjl together.
re[l<eated and magified.
may readily
create in the Lavin
republics a resentment
f,atal to all good relatíolli:1>.
«The American statesmen who have endoavored tD promote better
rela~ions between ,the countries of the NewWorld,
fully realize
these diffic'lltie~ and. know that the
Government
at Washington
E,hould, above ,all, exert 'every
effort to convince ~hc ,.ister republics that ttl1ey have nothing
to fe:lI' fl'om their powerful neighbor. This wu.s' one of the
motive,;; of SecreLary (jfl State Root'.€, visit in 1906. In his
addrcssat
Rid de Janeiro, he declaT'€d with as much tact as
energy:
«We consid:el' the independence and the rights of
the weaker memberE' of the family of nations quite a"
worthy of respect as t,hose of the grea~est Empire, and
we see ,in ~his resrect .Lhe 'Principal guarantee of the
weak against the oppression of the strong. We do not
pretend to aspire to any right. to .any privilege, to
any pO"\\"lor,to which we do not eq,Uially recognize the
right of any cine of the South Amerioan republics».
«On the oLheI' hand. Latin-Americans
of considerable
cultu<l'e find much to ;admire and emulate in the history, Lhe
institutions.
and in the char'actor of North-Americam,;
they
~dmit u debt of gratitude toward the United StUitef which.
in time,. gone. by, protected
their
countries. and \"hose
Government. does not ma.intain for them Dther thoan t.he most
excellent intentions.
They begin to feel theIlli'eIves capable
df defending themselves against Europe and they do not fear
European
attacks
as much ,as lhe supremacy of Nort.h
America.
In connection with their dignity, they arc very
sU£10ept,ible. and, as nations, they -desire to be treated on a
fOOting of equality wi~h the other,. The most not!uble result
of the re~ent Ha¡;ue Conference iío probably the new situation
occupied by the South American Republics. They were no~
Lhe obedient followers of the United Staoos: they ru;:-sumed
an indepenŒilllt ,attilJuide which, upon certain occaÚons. pl<:.ced
them in complete opposition t() the Anglo-Saxon republic and
probably in detriment
of the Pan-American
cause».
Mr. Coolidge then goes on Lo demonstrate ho\\' the m~,t
e.xalted of the polit.ician.s of t.he Latin republics beg;adl Lo set
the Pan-Ibel'ianism
,against the Pan-Americani.sm di' the
United States. going so far. in 1904. a:s lo promote a congress
in Madrid to deal with this grave 'Problem. He cons-iden as
entirely just the enthu\SLasm which such an idea, .created in
ûer~ain countJrieõ' suchas
]\lcxico and Chile. He recall~. lhe
good impression
caused by the attitude
assumed by the
Government of lhe White House in Gonnection with the
conflict between Guatemala and Venezuela which was rapidly
liquidal!).j by the annexation of Porto Rico, the successive
interventions
in Cuba to guarantee public liberly, and the
treaty concluded in San Domingos which assumed manifestly
the commencement of a protectora.te.
The distinguished
and illustrious
writer confesses that
later, as an epilogue, there appeared the question of the Panamá Canal \"hich increased the distrust rampant on the rest
of the continent against the United states. And this dietrust
increased evon more when the United states refused to accept
the Drago Doctrin~ recently adopted by the other republics
of the New-World, a doctrine according to which tbo international code should prohibit all States from the collection of
debts by force.
The eminent professor and writer th€n passes on to
consider the relations between tho Anglo-Saxon republic and
those
of Latin-America,
taking
into consideration
the
perspective of a future more or less remote. In his opinion,
Brazil, Argentina,
Uruguay,
and Chile, in view of their
distance
from American
ports,
and their
geographical
situation, have nothing to fear from the United States, and
63
especially if they know how to conduct their administrations
with prudence, honesty, and wisdom. Paraguay and Bolivia,
without sea-coasts, will, in all probability, never have intimate
relations with the United States and its policy, The sarno
will not be the case, exclaims
Coolidge, with
the more
northerly republics of South Ambrica, Central America and
the islands of Haiti and Sun Domingos. All of these countries,
more oQr less extensive in area and sparsely
populated,
constantly threaten to creato the most grave difficulties for
North American
interests.
North-American~
-entered into
much more intimate contact with these countries after they
established themselves in the waters of the Caribbean Sea,
and this proQximity will become more disagreeable once the
Panamá Canal is in definite operation,.
In none of these
countl'Ïes is the Government sufficienily stable to guarantee
order and legality. With respect to some of them, it might
well be said, at tho present moment, that they will live in
continual
financial conflicts with the Eurnpean
countries
whose dtizen.s have extensive
capital employed in their
territories.
Because of this fact, the United States may be
called at every moment to exercise over them a policy which,
without doubt, will not be agreeable to their poople.
From this point of view, Mr. Coolidge frankly analyses
tho spe~ial situation of his country wward Mexico. It is a
region in which white men are in the minority and which
has attracted but few foreigners.
The Yankee colony there
numbers less than fifteen thousand persons; a.lmost equal to
the
Spanish
colony.
Nevertheless,
more
than
one
half of the importation comes from the Unit¡>d States whicb
receives almost three-quarters
of Mexico's exportation, while
the amount of American capital invested is very great and
increases from day to day. Mr. Coolidge ~ays, textually:
«This pacific penetration constitutes a possible danger to the
very independence of the M,exican Republic.)
He concludes:
«A well consolidated government becomes, for Mexico,
as weI! as for every Latin-American republic, absolutely
indispen,.mble unless they wish to find them~()lves in grave
difficulties. The more they become cons~iou~ of their
l'esponsi~i1ities, the greater the respect tl.ey will receive. from
the world, and they will thus guard against intrusion fl'om
abroad. Aside from this, they have at their disposal a means
of defonce which nobody can deny them: t1u~y can associa.te
themselv(:s in more considerable gl'OUpS. Consolidated in this
manner, they could deal with the United States as equal to
equal wÜh much better success than they can to-day, and,
far from condemning such a form of association, public
opinion in the United States would consider it perfectly
reasonable because we do not propose to set one American
country against another nor to intimidate any of them by a
show of our accumulated force. We are too c.onscious of the
superiority of the United Slates to stoop to such ideas, If, for
example, Bolivia, Uruguay, and Paraguay were to unite with
Argentino Republic; if the former United States of Colombia
were to be reestablished including, -as formerly, Venezuela and
Ecuador, and probably even Peru; if the Repllblics of Central
America could succeed in forming a lasting federation, and
if Mexico might, perhaps, be added, Latin-America would-\Jo
composed of únly a few great States, each one of which
would be sufficie.ntly important to claim lhe right to a
splendid place in the modern world and would not fear
aggression from any foreign nation. The poor that LatinAmericans are backward in a political sense - and this is
but an unfortunate hereditary trait of Spanish temperament
-- lies in the fact that with so many common points. the
same language, the same colonization, the same essential
lit
interests, they persist in maintaining
political subdivisions
which al'e due to mere accid;:nts in their history.»
It would be impossible
to produce a more sincere
panegyric of the ideas set forth, years ago, by the illustrious
champion
uf
SOl:'J'Il
'\:\IEf\ICAN
:\IO"'f\GEISM.
CHAPTER VI
Brazil and the United states
If, in 'reality. the. political situation of the United Sta1es,
in view of lhe oonoert of the Gr'eat World'-powers. is such as
we have emphatically demonstrated it to be; if. on a par with
its pressing Il~essities
of an international
nature. it is its
very instinct of conseJrvation which has frequently impelled
its GÓ'vernment.s to maintain toward Mexico a conduct which
mOI',e t.han onre has prOVOked serious il'l'itations and pr'o'lests
on our continent and abroad. this does not signify
that we
should invariably form alongside the United Statesas a decided
and dedicated body-guar'd as a consequence of the constant
1'l'ienclship and moral alliance which. during nearly a eentUl'Y.
has Iinl,ed us throughout
the evolution of the New-World.
when \',:e. dircctly or indirectly. do not considcr our destiny
01' thc dcarest and real American
intcrcsts to be at slake.
\Vhat we cannot and should not do. however. is to plac?
tJuI'selves in a hostile position tOwa'rd that fl'Íend1y Republic.
without due and reflect.ed examinatiün of the circumstances,
(lr' enlist ourselves in the ranks ùf those who systematically
oppOse the United States with every sort óf weapon and by all
available means.
ô8
r.l'heùnly dt'monstl'ation which would be patriotically
admissible on our part, would be to give expression to our deep
regret, or surprise, upon evcry o~asion in which it appeal's
to us that its statesmen folLôw an elTone,õus path. formulaling-.
upon such oecasions . .0.ur votes fOr a change ùf policy and direcLi6n, as, al the present moment. \Ve regret tü say. is happening in the case of President Wilson, who, in the presence
or the Emopean conflict, unfortuna!'e·iY dOes nol appear Í/ù compI'ehend the historical moment which the universe is witnessing and who is playing a part which. without doubt. will not
place him on a parity with the great statesmen
who. Il'om
Washlllgton to Cleveland, with few exceptions. so compe¡[ently
di¡;.tinguished and stI'engthenod their Nation. which may be
likely tã suffer to-mõrrow such bittt)r privations as never once
il has experienced, fol' a single moment, in connection with
itf; gloriOUS existence as a free, ind~pendent
and powerful
people.
As a matter of recipt'ocal secUl'ity and comm.On political
necessities, Brazil and the United Stat.es cannot fail ever tu proceed united (ln the cant inent. as, likewise, the true COUl'se we
should follow in view of European policy is ever inc['casillgIy tri fùsterapproximatiùn
towa':·d Germany. which. asidc
from being our hest friend and most cultured of the Eurôpean countries, is the one which best sel'ves our economic and
social interests.
With ['espeet to the United' St.ate~. when, in 1913, I had
the honot' to greet Mr. 1'heodor,e noosevelt. d'Ul'ing his srijoul'll
in thi¡¡ city. r said:
«HoWe\'f,r it may be. on,~ Ihjng is certain, and thaI.
is: As Brazil and ~he United ~!ales are I.he only nati6ns
of the continent whit:h have ¡¡'It lhe same ethnic origin
and whose people do not SPP,¡Ù a common language. it
behooves them increasingly
lo cherish
this
natural
and i';pont~n('ous alliance whieil for nearly a century has
becn morally biding them together as sister-nations, the
BO
two gl'caLesL Powers of the New-W6rld, and consequoolly the ehief hemlds. Which they must nevC'l' cease to
be, (if peace, ord.er. and political liberties of America,,>
J>l'e~··id'!nl Hodl'igucs ,\lvc.". in one of his fil'st mc:;sage~
lJ,pon t.he occu,·ions of the opening of the NaHonal Congl'css,
\Hote as follows:
d oh~i8rve with great sil.isfuction that the relations
of cordial friendship
between Bl'a:dl and the United
Stutes
temJl to become s:tronger. In promoling this
rcsult. I have done nothing more tJ13n to follow the
policy laid down since 1822 hy the fo\.mdcrs of our
inder:.'ndencc, invariably Observed by fJvery one of the
BI'u7.ilian 'Governments,>.
Rio Branco. in a memol'able monograph, published by the
«H~'\'ista Americana» immedíal~ly after his dcath, set fodh
a hist,jl'ieal I'csumé of ali lhe acts an{\' documents which gra-'
dually
solidified
:l]¡i~ policy of approxima,tion to Hlch an
extent as to tmnsform il, wit.hout the necessit.y of a treaty,
into a pl'rfect alliance for the defence of lhe highest and most
sacrcd dediny of the two Americas.
Our immortal pat,riot demonstrated
lhat, even prior ID
the IndependenC12 ,and thc establishment of the Emrire, acting
undf)t' ,lhe counsel of Jo!'.(;' Bonifaci6, \\'ho preparcd the proclamal.ion of August G. 1822, in whieh he alluded to the
ncee.~.:iL;v which bclH)overI RI'azi.1 and thc other nation~· 1.0
maintain
diplomatic
repl'csoentaÚves who should muluall)
rerrei:cnt t.hem. Dam Pcd'/'o I accredited a plenipotentiary
ne-31'
the Governmenl
a.(. \Vashinglon.
Hia Branco thus callrd
alll'rlL¡"lr~ to the faet, that the United Slalcs was thr~ fil'SI.
counlry
to recogniw
the 'Empire, in contradict:ion o'f Lhe
rrronC:;UR slatement made hy Eduardo Prado in his «Uniio
.'\ mf\T'j('nnn1> ~
Rir) nl'aneo likewise referred lo t.hc fact that, two month:::·
afl.ll!' t.h<> publication oU thc «yankee» PI'esidenl.'s message df
70
Decembel' 3. f 8:.?3, fOl'lIlulaling l.hle so-called MOnI'oe Doctrinc.
Ht'azil
announced
its app¡'()\'al thereof. prcceding the oLheI'
coumtrici' of the continent in this ccmnection.
Instructions
given by Carvalho de MelIa, then Minister'
for l~orei£1l Affair£, la Lhe Brazilian Chargé d'Al1faires at
Washington, provid~
that he should sound the di£·posiLio'n
of the Department of State in connection with the possibility
of an «offensivo and defensive alliance with the Empire af a
part or lhie American continent». Three yearS' IUtt:cr,the Ma·rquis de Aracaty. (,hen in charge of Brazil'~: foreign relations.
continued to rllcommend that the Brazilian p!c.nipdtentiary to
the great nepublic .should «endeavor to prO\''C td lha~ Nation
that His Majesty the Emperm" in his high and wise policy.
well knew the value of that Nation and rralizM that it wou,ld
be of common interest to both countries if their Governments
wouJd make a specialfeaturr
of imrroving
their politi\'al
relaf,ioll~' by earh Irnding a helping hand lo tlw othen.
A'r. that time. nia Rranco was quo't.ing lhe words of Pereira Pinto. when. in i Rim. he affirmed' thal: «Lhe r:rJ.a.tion~
of firm allianer thus consolidated with the United States have
eont.inncd in a s~ate of perfect cordiality. unaH'eI1l'id hy Slight
incidents or ronflid,-: .. at :dilffcrent times». He enumel'aied all
o'f the int.rrnat.ional inciùrnts whirh havr occurren andl whir.h
were nlwa~ f:oU:led brilliantly for 0111' country: the Arneril'all
Gove!'nment ahvay~· severely p\lni.£·hing its agents who. among
m::,.'failed to conduct themsel\'0S wit.h proper esteem, d'ignity
and COLlJrtNy.
extending
to us. always. the most complete
explanations.
He dragged forth fromobIivion
excerrts from
a wOI'k in which that eminent intel·nationalist.. commending
the d~si¡,e o'fthe United St.ates to accompliE·h a mOI'e intimate
allianc.~ with Brazil, stated t.hat: <<if s'Ueh had been ,a0Complished; the unqualifiable
interference
of Spain .and Francl)
in t.he aff·airf: of Mexico and Pcru. as well as the' insulte. which
the '[lowcrfu.1 nations of Emopc thrust upon thc weak peaT'le3
of the New-World, would, perhaps, have be'en avoided».
7i
lie cited, as a. cromplement, the memorable words of Ta~
VUI'e.~,Basto'5 when he affirmed: «i,f W~ aim to equ,al Europe,
wc shuuld
begin by fostering approximation
toward thl::
United Status», be'l:·ause he waE convinced ,that, ,e·ven from a
political vie\"I'oinL relations with t!le grcat Hepublic wcre
those mo,s>Lbeneficial to Brazil, Finally, anel' having dlemO'n~lt'ated that Pedro Il alld the g1'(~ate.£t statesmen of the
£econd reign wcre always ardcnt adepts 01' these samc ideail,
he conclu<led enumerating
the solid proofs of friend.£·hip and
esteem alwa)'s givcn Brazilians:
causing thlc .French to evacuaLe Amapá in 1836 a.nù a'v'aiding itE' conques~ quite recently, in 1895, by an expeùition organized by l\l~srs. Haunoteaux and Lebon as i\linister f{)I'Foreign Aflfairs .and Colonial
Minister; a1'l'unging tilat our cduntry furnish an arbiter in
18ï:¿ for the Tl'ibunal of Gcncva which resolved the serious
quesUon of the Alabama; confcning
upon
the Brazilian
plcnipotentiary
t.he Chairma)nship ()f the E'ranco-American
Ar~it.I·al l'ribunal
in 1880; by not permitting,
during
the
War of t.hc Secession, thc suggestion of any mediator who be
IlOt one 01' OUI' represcntatives;
in c.onclusion, by Ilot pcrmitting that Brazilian sovrcignty bc in the slightcst manner
o1'f.cndcd during the crisis of the Acre question, and by nOL
paying the Slightest attention to intrigue which, around the
White House, more than .once, has endeavored to chill the
secl1'lar friendship
which, without interruption,
has joined
lhe two greate~t republics of the continent ever since 182~
up to the present day.
Hia Branco, himselt', above all others comprehended the
development of this friendship {)n the most solid :foundations, thr.ough the incomparable
spiI'it of J{)aquim Nabuco,
who, incontest.ably, consolidated it by a series {)f diplomatic
achievements whiclh to a greater measure than our national
gratitude, commend him to the eternal recognition ,of all of
the South American :geoples who always f{)und in him an
apostle, an invincible defensol', of their liberties during
the
rnost grave and brilliant international
eontroversies
During the Empire
and the Republie, Brazil's noble,
lofty, and sound p.olicy toward
the United States has been
iucessant, whill,) we never eeased most highly esteem l.he
good friendship of and lo IlI'omole amieable relations
with
all of the other countries of the c.ontinent. This policy has
never once been devlat.ed from during all of the phases of
our national evolution. On t.he \'CI'ge of the lomb, OUI' grea-·
tei:t diplumat found himself immortalized
in History as il
consequence
of having assured
the confraternity
of th:~
American peoples DY lhe exel'cise of enel'gy, fOI'esight, and
courage.
TherMore, to derogate
this traditional
policy. at thlJ
pl'C'senl moment, when
it is the o'nly stronghold wh ieh
rc:mains intact in the midst of the anarch)' which ehastize~
the country, or lo plan a new p.oliey. bast-d U'Pon mere vanity
01' doctl'inal'y
únthusiasm, renouncing
a past full of glory,
would mean mortally to' wound
our
Brazilian nationality
because this great
w.ork. triumphally
terminated by the:
sl'cond Rio Brr.neo who had lhe good fortune lhus to conso-·
lidate it, docs nUL repI'esent merely
the action of a genius
but the result of t.he effol't.S of' two generations
of illustrious statesmen, who, during long pcriods of the Empil'e
wisely, fostel'Íng conlinental peaee and lhe cohesion
of the
J\'alion, llreparúd a IJrilliant future of ever-increasing
pl'oSperity fOl' the Republic.
CONTENTS
Pages.
Introduction
Chapter
Chapter
...........•..........•...
I - The .\1onroe Doctrine and the American
II ..· The economic imperialism
Chapter
III - Polltical
Chapter
IV - The \Vorld Phase .....•.
Chapter
Chapter
and moral imperialism
V - South American
VI -
Peril .•
of the United States.
in the United States.
37
41
Monroeism ..
53
Brazil and the United States.
5301 - Rio de Janeiro - Imprensa
Il
17
76
Nacional - 1915