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The Monroe Doctrine Abroad in 1823–241

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

William Spence Robertson
William Spence Robertson
Affiliation:
University of Illinois
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Extract

The chief purpose of this paper is to consider briefly the reception accorded President Monroe's message to congress of December 2, 1823, in England, France, Spain, and Austria.

This state paper was given a hearty welcome by many English journalists. Reports of the president's message first appeared in the newspapers of London on December 26 and 27, 1823. The Times happily contrasted it with “King's Speeches, addressed in like manner, but in substance far unlike, to Lords and Commons, to Peers and Deputies, in kingdoms nearer home. … As sources of intelligence—as indications of policy—as keys to national history, they have of late years dwindled to nothing, realizing with curious accuracy Talleyrand's definition of the use of language—‘an instrument for concealing men's thoughts.’ The genius of a popular Government rejects these mysterious devices. … The President's message of the United States is a paper breathing business in every line. It is at once a picture of the period elapsed since the labours of Congress were last interrupted, a prospectus for the forthcoming year, the detailed report of a commissioner, and the formal account of a trustee … we have read this State Paper with an interest more profound than any of its precursors had excited.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 6 , Issue 4 , November 1912 , pp. 546 - 563
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1912

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References

2 Rush heard that the British packet from New York had been instructed to wait for the messsage “and bring it over with all speed,” Ford, W. C., John Quincy Adams, his Connection with the Monroe Doctrine, 68. No reports of the message were found in the London newspapers before December 26 27, and 1823. The quotation is from the Times of December 27.

3 A longer quotation is found in McMaster, J. B., A History of the People of the United States, V, 48, note, where the date is erroneously given as December 24. Other interesting quotations from English newspapers are found, ibid., 48–50, note. A most favorable estimate of the influence of the message was given in a dispatch written by Rush to Adams, December 27, 1823, in which it was described as “the most decisive blow to all despotick interference with the new States. … On its publicity in London … the credit of all the Spanish American securities immediately rose, and the question of the final and complete safety of the new States from all European coercion, is now considered at rest.” Ford, W. C., John Quincy Adams, his Connection with the Monroe Doctrine, 68.

4 In an address on the king's speech, February 3, 1824, Hansard, T. C., Parliamentary Debates, new series, X, 68Google Scholar.

5 Hansard, T. C., Parliamentary Debates, X, 74Google Scholar. See also, ibid., 90, 91, 92; Bagot, J., George Canning and his Friends, II, 208. The views of Sir James Mackintosh are also quoted in Moore, J. B., A Digest of International Law, VI, 411Google Scholar.

6 Bagot, J., George Canning and his Friends, II, 209; Rush, R., Memoranda of a Residence at the Court of London (Philadelphia, 1845), 471, 472Google Scholar.

7 Bagot, J., George Canning and his Friends, II, 217.

8 Reddaway, W. F., The Monroe Doctrine (New York, 1905), 92, 93Google Scholar.

9 Rush, R., Memoranda of a Residence, 597, 598Google Scholar. On February 25, 1824 (O. S.), Henry Middleton, minister of the United States at St. Petersburg, wrote to Adams: “I have reason to believe, too, that insinuations were not wanting to put the most unfavorable construction upon the doctrine we had advanced, and to make it appear as peculiarly directed against Russia. I have been at considerable pains in endeavoring to efface all impressions of that kind, and I let it be distinctly understood, that I should protest in the strongest terms against any delimitation of territory without the participation of the United States. … It may be very well understood that a course different from that we are pursuing with regard to Spanish affairs would have pleased better …” State Dept. MSS., Bureau of Indexes and Archives, Despatches from Russia, 10. On February 5/17, 1824, Middleton wrote to Adams in regard to intervention in Spanish America: “The decided tone of the President's Message at the meeting of Congress (which was received here with unprecedented rapidity, having reached St. Petersburg (in the English Gazettes of the 26th December) on the first of January O. S.) is considered generally as having gone far towards deciding the question against interference.” Ibid.

10 American State Papers, Foreign Relations, V, 460, 461, 463; Bagot, J., George Canning and his Friends, II, 218, 219.

11 Ibid., 266.

12 Ibid., 237; Paxson, F. L., The Independence of the South-American Republics, 213Google Scholar.

13 Stapleton, A. G., George Canning and his Times, 394, 395Google Scholar.

14 Stuart to Canning, January 1, 1824, Public Record Office, Foreign Office Correspondence, France, 305.

15 Stuart to Canning, January 13, 1824, ibid. See also Rush, R., Memoranda of a Residence, 486, 487Google Scholar.

16 Stuart to Canning, January 2, 1824, Public Record Office, Foreign Office Correspondence, France, 305, see also Reddaway, W. F., The Monroe Doctrine, 94Google Scholar.

17 Stuart to Canning, January 13, 1824, Public Record Office, Foreign Office Correspondence, France, 305.

18 Archivo Histórico Nacional, Estado, 6852. In October, 1823, Canning had boldly announced to the French ambassador in London, Prince Polignac, his unflinching opposition to intervention by force in Spanish America, British Foreign and State Papers, 1, 49–53; San Carlos to Saez, November 8, 1823, reported a conference with Châteaubriand in which the latter had told him that the news of Canning's attitude had been sent to the ambassadors of France in Austria, Prussia, Russia, and Spain, Archivo General de Indias, Estado, América en General, 5; see also Bagot, J., George Canning and his Friends, II, 208, 209.

19 Oeuvres Complètes de Châteaubriand, XII, 419. See further, Bagot, J., George Canning and his Friends, II, 207. An American's view of the influence of Monroe's message in France is found in Hamilton, S. M., Writings of James Monroe, VI, 432–434.

20 Oeuvres Complètes de Châteaubriand, XII, 419, 426.

21 Ibid., 419, 426, 427.

22 Ibid., 379, 408, 411, 414, 426; San Carlos wrote to Ofalia, March 25,1824, that Châteaubriand advised Spain not to exasperate England and thus accelerate the recognition of Spanish America, Archivo General de Indias, Estado, América en General, 5. On the influence of the sea powers see Chadwick, F. E., The Relations of the United States and Spain, Diplomacy, 204Google Scholar.

23 Martens, F. de, Traités conclus par la Russie, XV, 30Google Scholar.

24 J. G. de Rivas to the Marquis of Casa Yrujo, January 5, 1S24, Archivo Histórico Naeional, Estado, 5025.

25 Stoughton wrote letters in regard to Monroe's message to the Marquis of Casa Yrujo on December 4 and December 6, 1823, and January 2, 1824; the quotation is from the letter of January 2, Archivo General de Indias, Estado, América en General, 5.

26 Ibid.

27 Nelson to Adams, January 16,1824, State Department MSS., Bureau of Indexes and Archives, Despatches from Ministers, Spain, 23. Mr. Appleton had been acting as Chargé d'Affaires ad interim for the United States before the arrival of Nelson at Madrid.

28 Archivo Histórico Nacional, Estado, 6852.

29 Ofalia to the Duke of San Carlos, February 23,1824, ibid. England's reply is in the British and Foreign State Papers, XI, 58–63. In December, 1823, Ferdinand VII had issued an invitation to the Allies and to England to attend this congress, ibid., 49–53.

30 British and Foreign State Papers, XI, 865. The treaty with Buenos Aires is found in Registro Oficial de la República Argentina, II, 41, 42.

31 Denkschriften, Ungedruckte, Tagebücher und Briefe von Friedrich von Gentz, 102–105Google Scholar.

32 Sir Henry Wellesley to Canning, January 21, 1824, Public Record Office, Foreign Office Correspondence, Austria, 182. Metternich's views on Monroe's message are merely suggested in Aus Metternich's Nachgelassenen Papieren, II, part 2, 90.

33 Denkschriften, Ungedruckte, Tagebücher und Briefe von Friedrich von Gentz, 105–112Google Scholar.

34 British and Foreign State Papers, XII, 958–962. On June 14, 1824, Sir William A' Court sent to Ofalia a copy of Canning's note of May 17, 1824, in which England again declined to attend a congress on Spanish-American affairs, Archivo General de Indias, Estado, América en General, 5.

35 Bagot, J., George Canning and his Friends, II, 240. Russia had sent her ambassador Pozzo di Borgo from Paris to Madrid on an extraordinary mission.

36 San Carlos to Ofalia, April 20, 1824, reported conferences with the ministers of the Allies in Paris in regard to Spanish America. San Carlos stated that Russia wished to know Spain's plans, Archivo Histórico Nacional, Estado, 6852. On the relations of France and Russia at this time see Martens, F. de, Traités conclus par la Russie, XV, 30–33Google Scholar.

37 Stapleton, E. J., Some Official Correspondence of George Canning, 1, 247, 248Google Scholar. Châteaubriand's plea to Canning in January, 1824, is found ibid., 139–144.

38 Stapleton, A. G., George Canning and his Times, 411Google Scholar.

39 Canning to Frere, January 8, 1825, in Festing, G., John Hookham Frere and his Friends, 267, 268. On “The Later American Policy of George Canning,” see Temperley, H. W. V., in the American Historical Review, XI, 779–797Google Scholar.

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