C&arlea fraruis SUiama 
 
 THE MONROE DOCTRINE AND MOMMSEN'S LAW. 
 
 THREE PHI BETA KAPPA ADDRESSES. 
 
 LEE AT APPOMATTOX, AND OTHER PAPERS. 
 
 CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. 
 In American Statesmen Series. 
 
 RICHARD HENRY DANA. 
 A Biography. With Portraits. 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS: 
 Its Historians and its History. An Object Lesson. 
 
 THREE EPISODES OF MASSACHUSETTS HISTORY. 
 I. The Settlement of Boston Bay. II. The Antinomian 
 Controversy. III. A Study of Church and Town Gov- 
 ernment. With two Maps. 2 vols. 
 
 HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 
 
 BOSTON AND NEW YORK 
 
THE MONROE DOCTRINE 
 AND MOMMSEN'S LAW 
 
THE 
 
 MONROE DOCTRINE 
 
 AND MOMMSEN'S LAW 
 
 BY 
 
 CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS 
 
 BOSTON AND NEW YORK 
 HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 
 
 (t)E fttorrtiDc prcjtf Cambrtboe 
 
 1914 v 
 

 
 COPYRIGHT, 1914, BY CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS 
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 
 
 Published May JQIJ 
 
Read before the American Society 
 of International Law, Washington, 
 April 22, 1914. 
 
THE MONROE DOCTRINE 
 AND MOMMSEN'S LAW 
 
 SIXTY-EIGHT years ago the 6th of 
 December last, J. Q. Adams, at 
 the time serving in Congress, had oc- 
 casion to meet George Bancroft, the 
 historian, then Secretary of the Navy 
 in the Cabinet of James K. Polk. Of 
 what passed, Mr. Adams, after his 
 wont, next day made a detailed diary 
 record. In so doing he incidentally 
 observed that the manner of the Sec- 
 retary was conciliatory and apparently 
 cordial ; and then added, Mr. Ban- 
 croft "seemed anxious to know my 
 i 
 
THE MONROE DOCTRINE 
 
 opinion " on the parts of the annual 
 message of Mr. Polk, transmitted to 
 Congress a few days previous, relat- 
 ing to the controversy with Great 
 Britain over the Oregon boundary, 
 that known in history as the " Fifty- 
 four Forty or Fight " message. Mr. 
 Adams then went on as follows : 
 " I said that I approved entirely of 
 Mr. Folk's repeated assertion of the 
 
 | principle first announced by President 
 / James Monroe in a message to Con- 
 gress, that the continents of North 
 and South America were no longer 
 to be considered as scenes for their 
 
 I future European colonization. [Mr. 
 Bancroft] said he had heard that this 
 
AND MOMMSEN'S LAW 
 
 part of the message of Mr. Monroe 
 had been inserted by him at my sug- 
 gestion. I told [Mr. Bancroft] that 
 was true; that I had been authorized 
 by [Mr. Monroe] to assert the prin- 
 ciple in a letter of instruction to Mr. 
 Rush, then Minister in England, and 
 had written the paragraph in the very 
 words inserted by Mr. Monroe in his 
 message. It was Mr. Monroe's cus- 
 tom, and has been, I believe, that of 
 all the Presidents of the United States, 
 to prepare their annual messages, and 
 to receive from each of the heads of 
 Departments paragraphs ready written 
 relating to their respective Depart- 
 ments, and adopt them as written, or 
 3 
 
f 
 
 THE MONROE DOCTRINE 
 
 with such modifications as the writer 
 of the message deemed advisable. 
 That this principle thus inserted was 
 disagreeable to all the principle Euro- 
 pean sovereigns I well knew/' 
 
 The very memorable passage in 
 Monroe's message here referred to is 
 familiar. It reads as follows: 
 
 " The American continents, by the 
 free and independent condition which 
 they have assumed and maintain, are 
 henceforth not to be considered as sub- 
 jects for future colonization by Euro- 
 pean powers. . . . We should con- 
 sider any attempt on their part to 
 extend their system to any portion of 
 this hemisphere as dangerous to our 
 4 
 
AND MOMMSEN'S LAW 
 
 peace and safety. With the existing 
 colonies or dependencies of any Euro- 
 pean power, we have not interfered 
 and shall not interfere. But with the 
 governments who have declared their 
 independence, and maintained it, and 
 whose independence we have, on great 
 consideration, and on just principles, 
 acknowledged, we could not view any 
 interposition for the purpose of op- 
 pressing them, or controlling, in any 
 other manner, their destiny, by any 
 European power, in any other light 
 than as the manifestation of an un- 
 friendly disposition towards the United 
 States." 
 
 I am here this evening scheduled 
 5 
 
THE MONROE DOCTRINE 
 
 to speak on the " Origin of the Mon- 
 roe Doctrine/' so called, and it is in 
 that connection I quote the above pas- 
 sages from the "Memoirs" of J. Q. 
 Adams, and from the 1823 message of 
 President Monroe. Historically speak- 
 ing, my understanding is that in his 
 remarks to Secretary Bancroft, Mr. 
 Adams only referred to the first of 
 two distinct and widely separated pas- 
 sages in the message that relating 
 to colonization' as originating with 
 him. The second passage bore on the 
 aims at that time of those party to the 
 Holy Alliance ; and for this the pa- 
 ternity of George Canning is asserted ; 
 though, as it stands in the message, it 
 6 
 
AND MOMMSEN'S LAW 
 
 was presumably submitted, "ready 
 written/' to the President by the Sec- 
 retary of State. A distinction between 
 the two passages must, under existing 
 conditions, be observed. As I shall^ 
 presently have occasion to point out, 
 the portion of the message of 1823 
 which related to colonization is now, 
 under existing conditions, practically 
 obsolete. It is, however, to a degree 
 different as respects the portion relat- 
 ing to the independence of American 
 nations in the sense of the popular 
 phrase "America for the Americans." 
 In this respect it may with a certain 
 plausibility be claimed that the Mon- 
 roe Doctrine is still alive, a sentiment 
 7 
 
THE MONROE DOCTRINE 
 
 the strength and vitality of which the 
 lapse of years has not impaired. 
 
 Disposing thus of the Monroe Doc- 
 trine in both its parts, I will proceed 
 further to premise that, as we all real- 
 ize, nothing, whether in philosophy, 
 history or law, is ever definitely 
 settled, and every conclusion supposed 
 to be finally arrived at is sure soon or 
 late to be challenged. Accordingly, I 
 want it at the outset distinctly under- 
 stood that I am not now claiming for 
 an ancestor of mine the origin of the 
 "Doctrine" referred to. It may, I 
 admit, as has been contended, have 
 been developed twenty years before ; 
 nor am I prepared either to advocate 
 8 
 
AND MOMMSEN'S LAW 
 
 or dispute either of two later conten- 
 tions, one that his Secretary of 
 State imposed it on a timid President, 
 the other that a Bismarckian chief 
 dictated it to an amazed and pallid 
 scribe. My sole present purpose is to 
 call attention to the fact that, as it ap- 
 pears in the Message of 1823, the 
 " Doctrine " assumed shape from the* 
 pen of Mr. J. Q. Adams, then Secre-^ 
 tary of State. Such being the case, we 
 have a basis on which to discuss not 
 only its origin but also its significance 
 and intent. Knowing when it was for- 
 mulated and by whom, we have to 
 consider the environment and experi- 
 ences of him who held the pen, and 
 9 
 
THE MONROE DOCTRINE 
 
 the objects he had in view under in- 
 ternational conditions then prevail- 
 ing. 
 
 The " Doctrine" was enunciated in 
 the closing months of 1 823. The Sec- 
 retary of State, who put it in form, 
 was then in his fifty-seventh year. 
 Born in 1767, his earliest and strong- 
 est impressions related to personal 
 experiences in the eventful period 
 between 1774, when his memories 
 began, and 1782, when, a youth, the 
 companion of his father and the other 
 commissioners representing the Amer- 
 ican Congress in Europe, he practi- 
 cally participated in the negotiation 
 which transformed the United States 
 10 
 
AND MOMMSEN'S LAW 
 
 from the condition of British prov- 
 inces to an independent nationality. 
 Later, he had himself come into pub- 
 lic life during the wars of Napoleon, 
 representing his country at various 
 European courts, The Hague, Ber- 
 lin, St. Petersburg, and London 
 and, from 'positions of close proxim- 
 ity, studied anxiously the European 
 situation as it then existed, always 
 with a view to American interests. 
 
 Bearing these facts in mind, it is 
 not difficult, perhaps, to understand 
 what J. Q. Adams was driving at 
 when he set forth the " Doctrine." 
 His thought naturally reverted to the 
 conditions existing in his own coun- 
 ii 
 
THE MONROE DOCTRINE 
 
 try prior to and during the Revolu- 
 tionary War, that is, the " Colonial 
 Period " and the " Provincial Status/' 
 his mind being influenced and his 
 expression colored by what he pre- 
 sumably had observed and gone 
 through during a long and intimate 
 subsequent European diplomatic ex- 
 perience. He was one of the very few 
 who at that juncture understood both 
 American conditions and European 
 modes of thought and procedure. Un- 
 der these conditions, what must he 
 have been aiming at when he drafted 
 the passages submitted by him, and 
 incorporated in President Monroe's 
 Message of 1823? To reach a con- 
 12 
 
AND MOMMSEN'S LAW 
 
 elusion on that point, it is necessary 
 in the first place to separate ourselves 
 from the present and have a clear con- 
 ception of conditions then existing. It 
 is to be remembered that in 1823 the 
 world, just emerged from the Napo- 
 leonic wars, was still, as compared 
 with what it now is, largely mediaeval. 
 Napoleon, " the armed soldier of 
 Democracy," as he has been some- 
 times termed in that stilted phraseol- 
 ogy in which men so delight, had been 
 effectually suppressed. He'was extin- 
 guished ; and the turn of the despots 
 had come. The " Holy Alliance/' so | 
 called, signifying the absolute sup- 
 pression of popular government, was 
 13 
 
THE MONROE DOCTRINE 
 
 in full swing. The United States had 
 emerged from the War of 1 8 1 2 a rec- 
 ognized sea power; and the Spanish 
 dependencies in America were carry- 
 ing on their long struggle with the so- 
 called " mother country/' So Mon- 
 roe's Secretary of State, recalling the 
 experiences of his early youth and the 
 lessons he , had later learned in Eu- 
 rope, framed the "Doctrine" as a 
 manifesto of somewhat defiant char- 
 acter. Issued in the face of Europe, 
 it was aimed at further American col- 
 onization by European powers, com- 
 bined with the proposed suppression 
 by them of the struggling Latin- 
 American nationalities. It was, so to 
 
 
AND MOMMSEN'S LAW 
 
 speak, a formal notification on the part 
 of the American Republic, designed 
 primarily to administer a check to any 
 colonizing intentions on the part of 
 European powers, as colonization was 
 understood in the period preceding 
 the " Sphere of Influence " dispensa- 
 tion. Colonization, meanwhile, was 
 in 1823 an entirely different thing 
 from what it is now. The colony was 
 in the European conception what it 
 had been in the days of Athens, a 
 dependency and adjunct of the mother 
 state. Going further, the Holy Alli- 
 ance, quoad America, was a reactionary 
 movement looking to the perpetua- 
 tion of that colonial status which 
 '5 
 
THE MONROE DOCTRINE 
 
 Mr. Adams so distinctly recalled 
 among the memories of his child- 
 hood. Out of that status the 
 United States had painfully strug- 
 gled, and the idea of Mr. Adams was 
 to encourage other American colonies 
 to move along the same lines to a sim- 
 ilar result. On the other hand, know- 
 ing little or nothing of the antecedents 
 of those colonies and dependencies, he 
 gravely misconceived the situation. 
 He had his countrymen and the Eng- 
 lish-speaking communities always in 
 mind. 
 
 Meanwhile, every single condition 
 referred to has since ceased to exist. 
 The character of the problem has 
 16 
 
AND MOMMSEN'S LAW 
 
 wholly changed. In the first place, 
 both the American continents are now 
 occupied, and occupied by responsible 
 and independent powers this with 
 the exception of certain English- 
 speaking dominions and dependen- 
 cies, practically self-governing. 
 
 On the other hand, new industrial, 
 financial, and racial movements have 
 asserted themselves. In 1 8 2 3 in this re- 
 spect wholly undeveloped, the Amer- 
 icas, North and South, are now a fa- 
 vorite field for European investment. 
 Their railroad lines, their banks, their 
 improvements ol every character, are 
 largely held, and, in many cases, con- 
 trolled and managed, in European fi-> 
 
 
 
THE MONROE DOCTRINE 
 
 nancial circles. A tide of emigration 
 of the most pronounced character, 
 composed of many different currents, 
 has developed, from every country in 
 Europe. This, as a voluntary migra- 
 tion and in its present form, dates from 
 the Irish movement which set in a 
 score of years after the Monroe Doc- 
 trine was promulgated. The more re- 
 cent movements do not need to be 
 referred to. 
 
 It is, however, a noticeable feature 
 in our American development that so 
 far from bringing with them their own 
 government, laws, and political institu- 
 tions, there is no portion of the Amer- 
 ican population which would regard 
 it 
 
AND MOMMSEN'S LAW 
 
 with so little favor the introduction of 
 European methods or mother-country 
 practices as emigrants to America 
 taken as a whole. This is true of the 
 English, the French, the German, the 
 Italian and the Slav no less than] of 
 the Irish. One and all, they would 
 object even more than the stock known 
 as "native American" to that form 
 of colonization at which the Monroe 
 Doctrine was .aimed. The "Doc- 
 trine" as enunciated, therefore, is now 
 obsolete. It has no apparent application 
 to existing conditions and theories. 
 
 Moreover, it is to be remembered 
 that it Jsj. " Doctrine," and in no re- 
 spect a natural Jaw; and if, I next 
 19 
 
THE MONROE DOCTRINE 
 
 submit, there is one thing politically 
 more dangerous than another, it is a 
 "Doctrine,"- so called, misapplied, or 
 one which, having lost its original sig- 
 nificance, is now applied in an unin- 
 telligent way, or a "Jingo" spirit. 
 Such a " Doctrine," degenerated into 
 a cult or fetish, is apt to come in im- 
 pact with some real underlying law of 
 Nature and, when it does, the result 
 is the unexpected ! 
 
 Numerous examples at once sug- 
 gest themselves of these "Doctrines," 
 hardened into accepted cults. Let one 
 suffice. The " Balance of Power Doc- 
 trine," now a by-word, a century ago 
 was a terrible reality. Of it John 
 
 20 
 
AND MOMMSEN'S^LAW 
 
 Bright always a name to conjure 
 with in America has said : 
 
 " I think I am not much mistaken 
 in pronouncing the theory of the bal- 
 ance of power to be pretty nearly dead 
 and buried. You cannot comprehend 
 at a thought what is meant by that 
 balance of power. If the record could 
 be brought before you but it is not 
 possible to the eye of humanity to scan 
 the scroll upon which are recorded the 
 sufferings which the theory of the bal- 
 ance of power has entailed upon this 
 country. It rises up before me when I 
 think of it as a ghastly phantom which 
 during one hundred and seventy years, 
 whilst it has been worshipped in this 
 
 21 
 
THE MONROE DOCTRINE 
 
 country, has loaded the nation with 
 debt and with taxes, has sacrificed the 
 lives of hundreds of thousands of Eng- 
 lishmen, has desolated the homes of 
 millions of families. ... I am very 
 glad to be able to say that we may re- 
 joice that this foul idol- fouler than 
 any heathen tribe ever worshipped 
 has at last been thrown down, and that 
 there is one superstition less which has 
 its hold upon the minds of English 
 statesmen and of the English people." 
 Is it not barely possible that, as 
 things are now tending, a century 
 hence some future statesman or pub- 
 licist may comment in not dissimilar 
 terms on our Monroe Doctrine, the 
 
 22 
 
AND MOMMSEN'S LAW 
 
 scope and significance of which is to- 
 day, I submit, as little understood as 
 was the scope and significance of the 
 "Balance of Power Doctrine" in 
 Europe a century ago ? 
 
 Returning, however, to my proper 
 theme, the origin of the Monroe Doc- 
 trine, while to-day's existing condi- 
 tions never in the remotest degree 
 entered into the conception of the 
 framer of that " Doctrine/' and the 
 conditions which then confronted him 
 have since wholly disappeared it is 
 interesting to consider what results 
 he contemplated as likely to ensue at 
 a not remote day from the position 
 assumed. Two of those results are, I 
 
THE MONROE DOCTRINE 
 
 think, apparent and indisputable. I 
 refer, of course, to results existing in 
 his conception of the probable out- 
 come of the future as forecast from 
 the 1823 standpoint. 
 
 Of " Hegemony " we now hear 
 much. As a political term it had in 
 1823 not come into existence. Greek 
 in origin, even as late as 1860 it was 
 explained in the London "Times" as 
 "leadership among states," or, as that 
 "land of professors" phrased it, "the 
 hegemony of the Germanic Confed- 
 eration." The origin of the term must, 
 of course, be looked for in the history 
 of ancient Greece, where it signified 
 the leadership of Athens on the one 
 24 
 
AND MOMMSEN'S LAW 
 
 hand, and Sparta on the other. There 
 can be no question that when enunci- 
 ating the famous "Doctrine," Mon- 
 roe's Secretary, a student of history as 
 well as a scholarly man, had in mind 
 a family of American States under 
 the hegemony, or, as he would have 
 expressed it, the leadership, of the 
 United States; this country alone 
 having then achieved a standing 
 among nations, as well as independ- 
 ence. Using a familiar form of 
 speech, the United States was, in Mr. 
 Adams's mind, to be the " Big Bro- 
 ther" in that family circle. This fact 
 is evidenced in the struggle over the 
 Panama Congress, subsequently such a 
 25 
 
THE MONROE DOCTRINE 
 
 distinctive feature in the J. Q. Adams 
 Administration. The scheme, as we 
 all know, proved abortive, and sub- 
 sequent experience shows clearly that 
 neither Mr. Adams nor Mr. Clay had 
 any realizing sense of the limitations 
 under which, humanly speaking, he- 
 gemony was practicable. Indeed, at 
 that time those limitations had not 
 forced themselves on the minds of 
 public men. Napoleon, for instance, 
 planned that Eastern Europe, wholly 
 irrespective of racial considerations, 
 was to constitute a family, or circle, 
 of kingdoms under the hegemony of 
 France. He had not the faintest con- 
 ception of a limiting law. We, a cen- 
 26 
 
AND MOMMSEN'S LAW 
 
 tury later, after abundant lessons al- 
 most as severe as those incident to the 
 "Balance of Power" dispensation, 
 have had occasion to realize that he- 
 gemony, practically speaking, is only 
 possible with communities of the same 
 racial descent. A distinctly foreign 
 element invariably asserts a disturbing 
 presence. This, before his downfall, 
 Napoleon had occasion to realize; and 
 now the law may be studied in oper- 
 ation in the cases of Norway and 
 Sweden, Holland and Belgium, Aus- 
 tria and Italy, Austro-Hungary, Great 
 Britain and Ireland, and most recent 
 of all, in that of the Balkans. It is 
 a long record^ of unending discords. 
 27 
 
THE MONROE DOCTRINE 
 
 Results in such cases are never satis- 
 factory. For this reason, and under 
 conditions now existing on the two 
 American continents, the hegemonic 
 application of the Monroe Doctrine 
 is, I confidently submit, out of the 
 question. Racial limitations bar the 
 way. So much for hegemony, and 
 the law of its limitation. I now pass 
 to another law. 
 
 I will call it " Mommsen's Law/' 
 because nowhere else than in Momm- 
 sen's " History " have I seen it stated 
 with such Germanic directness, bor- 
 dering on brutality. This "Law" 
 reads as follows : ; 
 
 " By virtue of the law, that a people 
 28 
 
AND MOMMSEN'S LAW 
 
 which has grown into a state absorbs 
 its neighbors who are in political non- 
 age, and a civilized people absorbs its 
 neighbors who are in intellectual non- 
 age, by virtue of this law, which is 
 as universally valid and as much a law 
 of nature as the law of gravity, the 
 Italian nation (the only one in anti- 
 quity which was able to combine a 
 superior political development and a 
 superior civilization, though it pre- 
 sented the latter only in an imperfect 
 and external manner) was entitled to 
 reduce to subjection the Greek states 
 of the East which were ripe for de- 
 struction, and to dispossess the peo- 
 ples of lower grades of culture in the 
 29 
 
THE MONROE DOCTRINE 
 
 West Libyans, Iberians, Celts, Ger- 
 mans by means of its settlers; just 
 as England with equal right has in 
 Asia reduced to subjection a civiliza- 
 tion of rival standing but politically 
 impotent, and in America and Aus- 
 tralia has marked and ennobled, and 
 still continues to mark and ennoble, 
 extensive barbarian countries with the 
 impress of its nationality. ... It is 
 the imperishable glory of the Roman 
 democracy or monarchy for the two 
 coincide to have correctly appre- 
 hended and vigorously realized this its 
 highest destination." ' 
 
 Not until the framer of the Mon- 
 
 1 History of Romt^ book v, chap. viu. 
 
 30 
 
AND MOMMSEN'S LAW 
 
 roe Doctrine had been ten years in 
 
 his grave did Mommsen lay the law 
 
 down in these terms ; yet Mr. Adams 
 manifestly had its essence clearly in 
 mind when he penned the "Doc- 
 trine" incorporated in the message of 
 1823. In Europe he had been a care- 
 ful observer of the forcible goings-on 
 of Napoleon Napoleonic "Benev- 
 olent Assimilation " ! He had repre- 
 sented this country in Russia for a 
 number of years; and, as a reminis- 
 cence of that struggle for independ- 
 ence which had figured so largely in 
 the memory of his childhood, he 
 vividly recalled the partition of Po- 
 land. It is unnatural to assume that 
 3 1 
 
THE MONROE DOCTRINE 
 
 these memories and lessons were not 
 uppermost in his mind when he 
 put the Monroe Doctrine in written 
 shape. So far as Europe and Momm- 
 sen's Law were concerned, exempli- 
 fied in the case of Poland and practiced 
 by Napoleon, he wished to lay down 
 for America a doctrine of" hands off." 
 And this he did. 
 
 While both "Hegemony" and 
 "Mommsen's Law" were thus dis- 
 tinctly present in the enunciation of 
 the Monroe Doctrine, the last en- 
 tered into consideration only so far 
 as Europe was concerned ; and, from 
 that point of view, the " Doctrine " 
 served its purpose. Both Mommsen's 
 32 
 
AND MOMMSEN'S LAW 
 
 Law and the law of hegemonic 
 limitation are, however, still opera- 
 tive ; nor can they be left out of con- 
 sideration in any discussion of the 
 " Doctrine" in its present possible ap- 
 plication and practical working. The 
 question presents itself, Has the 
 United States, as the original " Big 
 Brother," and now the dominant Am- 
 erican world-power, taken in this 
 matter the place of Europe? In 
 other words, conceiving a family of 
 American States, it is well to bear 
 in mind that, while the Monroe Doc- 
 trine proper has become inoperative, 
 the law of limitations in the case 
 of "Hegemony" and " Mommsen's 
 33 
 
THE MONROE DOCTRINE 
 
 Law " is, and will remain, in opera- 
 tion. This Mr. Adams had occasion 
 to realize in the latter years of his life, 
 though it is questionable whether he 
 ever appreciated the operation of the 
 law he had vetoed as respects Europe 
 when working to the accretion of his 
 own country. He certainly offered all 
 the resistance in his power to it when 
 it presented itself under the guise of a 
 " Reannexation of Texas," and in the 
 name of "Manifest Destiny." Natural 
 laws in their operation have thus a 
 way of assuming strange names ; later 
 we meet " Mommsen's Law," re- 
 christened as the "Ostend Manifesto," 
 and only recently it again masquer- 
 34 
 
AND MOMMSEN'S LAW 
 
 aded as "Benevolent Assimilation." 
 All these, however, are merely aliases; 
 "Sphere of Influence" is the very 
 latest. Be not in this matter deceived 
 by forms of speech. Keep in mind 
 the French aphorism Cbercbez la 
 femme ! 
 
 I state these propositions in connec- 
 tion with my theme, the " Origin of 
 the Monroe Doctrine." It is for oth- 
 ers, during the discussions now begun, 
 to refer, as Mr. Root has this evening 
 done, to the "Doctrine" historically, 
 to the glosses attempted on it, miscon- 
 ceptions which prevail concerning it, 
 and the limitations which have devel- 
 oped in its operation. With these prop- 
 35 
 
THE MONROE DOCTRINE 
 ositions I have no concern. I confine 
 my contribution to the origin of the 
 " Doctrine/' the conditions which 
 prevailed at the time it was enunciated, 
 and the fact that another world has 
 since come into existence. Further- 
 more, it is hardly necessary for me, 
 addressing this particular audience, to 
 say that I speak neither as an origin- 
 ator nor an advocate. I merely call at- 
 tention to an alleged natural Law, pro- 
 pounded many years ago by an emi- 
 nent publicist and historian. His state- 
 ment of it may be correct, and it may 
 be a law of universal application ; possi- 
 bly, on the other hand, it is a figment 
 of Mommsen's imagination, or appli- 
 
 36 
 
AND MOMMSEN'S LAW 
 
 cable only locally. These aspects of 
 the case are no affair of mine. I merely 
 quote the law as enunciated, and call 
 attention to its possible relations with 
 the Monroe Doctrine. I draw no in- 
 ferences, much less advocate or urge 
 acceptance. I refer to this law exactly 
 as I would refer to the law of gravity, 
 were I here discoursing on the de- 
 velopment of aeronautics. None the 
 less, when the Monroe Doctrine is 
 considered in connection with the 
 law of hegemonic limitation and 
 " Mommsen's Law," the apparent 
 logic of to-day's Mexican situation ' 
 
 1 This paper was read at the first session of 
 the Eighth Annual Meeting of the American 
 
 37 
 
THE MONROE DOCTRINE 
 
 accentuates itself. It was, I believe, 
 Secretary Olney, who, some twenty 
 years ago, laid down the principle 
 that the United States is "practi- 
 cally sovereign on this continent, and 
 that its fiat is law upon the subject to 
 which it confines its interposition/' 
 In other words, the United States is as 
 respects the field in question a law 
 unto itself. It defines the limits and 
 character of its suzerainty. Not unnat- 
 
 Society of International Law, at Washington, 
 D.C., the evening of April 22, 1914; on the 
 previous day (Tuesday, April 21) Vera Cruz 
 had been occupied by the United States naval 
 forces, acting under the order of President Wil- 
 son, issued in consequence of the Tampico in- 
 cident and the consequent attitude of the 
 Huerta Government. 
 
 38 
 
AND MOMMSEN'S LAW 
 
 urally the sensibilities of other mem- 
 bers of the American family of nations 
 were more or less disturbed by this 
 utterance, indisputably Delphic while 
 in no way called for by the necessities 
 of the case in hand. However, not to 
 be outdone, and with a view perhaps 
 to clearing away any oracular obscur- 
 ity in the previous utterance, President 
 Roosevelt a few years later [1904] 
 thus further expanded, while expound- 
 ing, the " Doctrine " : 
 
 "It is not true that the United 
 States feels any land hunger or enter- 
 tains any projects as regards other 
 nations of the Western Hemisphere 
 save such as are for their welfare. All 
 39 
 
THE MONROE DOCTRINE 
 
 that this country desires is to see the 
 neighboring countries stable, orderly, 
 and prosperous. Any country whose 
 people conduct themselves well can 
 count upon our hearty friendship. If 
 a nation shows that it knows how 
 to act with reasonable efficiency and 
 decency in social and political mat- 
 ters, if it keeps order and pays its 
 obligations, it need fear no interfer- 
 ence from the United States. Chronic 
 wrongdoing, or an impotence which 
 results in a general loosening of the 
 ties of civilized society, may, in 
 America as elsewhere, ultimately re- 
 quire intervention by some civilized 
 nation, and in the Western Hemi- 
 40 
 
AND MOMMSEN'S LAW 
 
 sphere, the adherence of the United 
 States to the Monroe Doctrine may 
 force the United States, however re- 
 luctantly, in flagrant cases of such 
 wrongdoing or impotence, to the 
 exercise of an international police 
 power." 
 
 Viewed in this way, and with the 
 law of "Hegemonic Limitation" 
 and "Mommsen's Law," "that two- 
 handed engine at the door," is it not 
 desirable that the still so-called " Mon- 
 roe Doctrine" should at this juncture 
 receive further and thoughtful con- 
 sideration? An example of this we 
 have had this evening in the address of 
 Mr. Root. Freed from gloss and mis- 
 
THE MONROE DOCTRINE 
 
 construction, the " Doctrine " has been 
 brought back' to a basis at least intel- 
 ligible. Still, National Self-Compla- 
 cency is a weakness from which even 
 We are not altogether exempt ; in cer- 
 tain of the Pan-American family circle 
 "Benevolent Assimilation" may after 
 all be looked upon as only a euphe- 
 mistic form of "Nutritive Degluti- 
 tion." The veil drawn aside, may not 
 " Mommsen's Law," in all its naked- 
 ness, stand revealed? For now and 
 here, as heretofore and elsewhere, 
 
 " We are puppets, Man in his pride, and 
 
 Beauty fair in her flower; 
 Do we move ourselves, or are moved by 
 an unseen hand at a game 
 
 42 
 
AND, MOMMSEN'S LAW 
 
 That pushes us off from the board, and 
 others ever succeed ? 
 
 " For the drift of the Maker is dark, an 
 
 Isis hid by the veil. 
 Who knows the ways of the world, how 
 
 God will bring them about ? 
 Our planet is one, the suns are many, 
 
 the world is wide. 
 Shall I weep if a Poland fall ? shall I 
 
 shriek if a Mexico fail ? " 
 
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