Again, in asserting the "Monroe doctrine," the United States virtually assumes a protectorate over Mexico. For, whatever else the Monroe doctrine may embody, it unmistakably says to Mexico: "You shall not change your form of government"; "You shall not enter into any European alliances"; "You shall not make cessions of territory, except as we (the United States) shall approve"; and in return "We will not allow any foreign power, ourselves excepted, to bully, invade, or subjugate you." It may be, and is, replied that the necessity of repelling from the outset any attempt at further aggrandizement of any European power on the North American Continent, with its contingent menace to the maintenance of democratic institutions, sufficiently justifies the assertion of the Monroe doctrine, and is for the good of Mexico as well as of the United States. But, at the same time, if there was any other power on the American Continent which should arrogate to itself the right to dictate to or control the United States, as the United States arrogates to itself the right to dictate to or control Mexico, and had sufficiency of power to make its assumptions respectable, could there be any doubt that the people of the Federal Union would regard such pretensions as a justifiable occasion for hostile protest and defiance?
Every right, however, carries with it and involves a duty; and the assertion of the Monroe doctrine by the United States carries with, it an obligation of duty in respect to Mexico. What is that duty? Manifestly the duty which the strong owes to the weak. Not an offensive protectorate or meddlesome interference, but a kindly feeling and policy; manifesting itself in acts that will tend to promote the prosperity of our neighbor, and bring her willingly in accord with our own interests and wishes. Has that kindly feeling ever been manifested? To answer this question intelligently, one needs but to get a position outside of ourselves—more especially anywhere among the other people and states of the American Continent, north or south of our boundaries—when a little inquiry will satisfy, that the United States is regarded very much in the light of a great, overgrown, immensely powerful "bully," from whom no favor and scant justice are to be expected under any circumstances; and who would never hesitate, if interest or selfish indifference prompted, to remorselessly trample down in the old Anglo-Saxon spirit (and as it always has)—any weaker or inferior race, Mexicans, Indians, or Chinese, the poor fishermen of Newfoundland, or again the negro, if political sentiment in respect to the latter was not running for the time being in another direction. And it is safe to say that to-day there is not a nation or people on the face of the globe, which is brought in intimate contact with us, but fears and hates us; and that, apart from a conservation of the principle of free government, which the United States is believed to typify, would not be glad if the power of the Federal Government were by some contingency to be impaired or destroyed. Is it not
