Page:Life and Select Literary Remains of Sam Houston of Texas (1884).djvu/189

Rh to join England in resisting this French movement. President Monroe consulted ex-President Jefferson; and in his Message to Congress, December, 1823, he advised that the following two declarations should be adopted as the foreign policy of the United States in meeting European interposition to regain lost rule in America: "The first principle appears in this clause, 'That we should consider any attempt to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety'; a principle which, now that it includes Central and South America, was too broadly stated to become in subsequent time a rule for general action; though in the special case of intervention threatened at the time, it had enough of purpose to secure its end. The second principle announced expressed also more than was intended, since it was in violation of the very principle of the right of foreign colonization, which has governed all nations in all ages, and on which rests the foundation of the American Republic. It was in these words: 'That the American continents, by the free and independent condition which they have assumed and maintain, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European power.' " Since the extreme utterances of Mr. Webster, shortly after Houston's entrance into Congress, and Houston's position as to Mexico subsequent to Texan independence and annexation had their origin and seeming propriety in these declarations, their consideration becomes vital at the opening of Houston's national career.

The controlling question which agitated public sentiment and gave intensity to debate in Congress at this era, was the course taken in the Presidential election. The entire history of previous elections, even when Washington, the leader in the war for "national independence," was a candidate the second time, showed how the ambition for place and power can blind men to self-respect, and make them incapable of self-control. The election of the first Adams, and then of Jefferson, had brought out a spirit of rancor that threatened for a time violence and anarchy. Madison's election was on issues that involved sectional interests connected with the war for "national equality"—an issue as vital as that of "national independence." The two terms of President Monroe, from 1817 to 1825, characterized then and since as "the era of good feeling," was, in spite of the agitation of the Missouri Compromise, a triumph of the spirit of conciliation. When, however, during 1823-4, four Presidential candidates were in the field; when, because of the divided vote the people failed to elect, and politicians were free to employ their arts; when by the management of men supposed to have their personal ambition, John Quincy Adams, supported by a small section of the country, was elected by