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90
WRITINGS OF 5AM: HOUSTON, 1858
Our relations at that time were not in a satisfactory condition with the Emperor of all the Russians-the differences having grown out of a claim of that autocrat to a portion of this con- tinent-and in this connection Mr. Monroe made the emphatic declaration : "In the discussions to which this interest has given rise, and in the arrangements in which they may terminate, the occasion has been judged proper for asserting as a principle in which the rights and interests of the United States are involved, that the American continents, by the free and independent condition which they have assumed, and maintain, are henceforth not to be con- sidered as subjects for future colonization by any European Power." Subsequently he reviewed the political condition of the two hemispheres, and referring to the desire of the Holy Alliance to reestablish Spain in her late American possessions, he fearlessly stated that, "We owe it, therefore, to candor, and to the amicable relations existing between the United States and those Powers, to declare that we should consider any attempt on their part to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety. With the existing colonies or dependencies of any European 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 oppressing them, or controlling in any other manner their destiny by any European Power in any other light than as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition towards the United States," ... "It is impossible that the allied Powers should extend their political system to any portion of either continent [American] without endangering our peace and happiness; nor can any one believe that our southern brethren, if left to themselves, would adopt it of their own accord. It is equally impossible, therefore, that we should behold such interposition, in any form, with indifference." Shortly after the settlement of Europe by the Congress of Vienna, the more despotic continental Governments suddenly became seriously troubled on account of the liberal sentime,nts which strikingly manifested themselves in Spain and elsewhere. The Holy Alliance, in its conference at Troppau and Laybach, declared eternal hostility to all popular institutions, announcing
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