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monopoly. In the Orient, as well as in America, colonies had been held by European nations purely for purposes of national exploitation. The movement for independence in America indicated the fact that the time would come when, with the development of colonial resources, dependence would be succeeded by independence.

For a number of years after the American Revolution the Spanish colonies in America continued to be comparatively quiet and contented. Grave misfortunes, however, awaited the mother country. In 1808 Spain was invaded. Her King, Charles IV., was forced to abdicate and to transfer to Napoleon all right and titles to the Spanish Crown and to its colonial possessions. On June 15, 1808, Napoleon's brother, Joseph Bonaparte, was crowned King of Spain at Bayonne. The people of Spain refused to bow to alien rule. Juntas were formed in various parts of the country for the purpose of resisting in the name of Ferdinand VII., son of the dethroned monarch, the new government. Not long afterwards similar movements took place in South America. Loyalist juntas were formed, modelled on those that were organized in Spain. But owing to various causes, among which was the refusal of the Regency at Cadiz to recognize the American juntas, the loyalist movement in the colonies, although originally levelled against the Napoleonic government in Spain, was gradually transformed into a genuine movement for independence. As a result Spain,

after her legitimate government was restored, found herself at war with her American colonies.

In 1815 Simon Bolivar, then living in poverty and exile at Kingston, Jamaica, wrote the famous "prophetic" letter in which he declared that the destiny of America to be independent was “irrevocably fixed." On July 9, 1816, a congress at Tucuman declared the United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata, of which Buenos Aires was the head, to be a free and independent nation. In February of the following year the Chilean revolutionists gained at Chacabuco a decisive victory which presaged a similar declaration. On December 6, 1817, Henry Clay announced in the House of Representatives that he intended to move the recognition of Buenos Aires and probably of Chile.

In the struggle between Spain and her colonies the United States maintained a neutral position, although the sympathies of the people naturally ran strongly in favor of the revolutionists. In 1817 a commission consisting of Cæsar A. Rodney, John Graham, and Theodoric Bland, with Henry M. Brackinridge as secretary, was sent out to examine into the conditions existing in South America, and particularly in Buenos Aires and Chile. The views of the commissioners, which in many respects differed, were embodied in separate reports. These reports were duly submitted to Congress, as was also a special report from Joel R. Poinsett, who had acted as an agent of the United States at Buenos

Aires. The general tenor of the reports was unfavorable to the recognition of independence at that time; but this did not deter Mr. Clay from moving in the House of Representatives in March, 1818, an appropriation for the salary of a minister to the government which had its seat at Buenos Aires. This motion was lost by one hundred and fifteen noes to forty-five ayes. On May 10, 1820, Clay submitted in the House a resolution declaring it to be expedient to provide by law for the sending of ministers to any of the governments of South America that had established their independence. This resolution was carried by a vote of eighty to seventyfive, but it did not provide an appropriation. On February 9, 1821, a motion for an appropriation was lost by only seven votes. A year later, the President having expressed to Congress the opinion that recognition should no longer be withheld, an appropriation was duly made; and the recognition of the independence of the new American nations was begun. Against such recognition the Spanish minister at Washington, in the name of his government, solemnly protested, but the action of the United States was vindicated, with his accustomed ability, by John Quincy Adams, then Secretary of State, on grounds both of right and of fact.

On December 2, 1823, there came, as has elsewhere been seen, the celebrated pronouncement of President Monroe. When that pronouncement was made the danger of interference by the Allied Powers of

Europe in the affairs of Spanish America had in reality passed away. But a great question still remained. Recognition had been accorded; but the character of the relations of the United States with the other independent countries of the hemisphere remained to be determined and defined.

In a letter written at Lima on December 7, 1824, Bolivar, then at the head of the Republic of Peru, suggested the holding of a conference of representatives of the independent governments of America at Panama. The object of the conference was declared to be "the establishment of certain fixed principles for securing the preservation of peace between the nations of America, and the concurrence of all those nations in defence of their own rights." Bolivar's invitation embraced Colombia, Mexico, Central America, Buenos Aires, Chile, and Brazil. It did not include the United States. For this omission a sufficient reason may be found in the circumstance that the United States was not a party to the conflict then still in progress between Spain and her former colonies, but it has also been conjectured that the existence of African salvery in the United States was regarded by Bolivar as an obstacle to the free discussion of some of the matters of which the congress might be obliged to treat. The first intimation that the presence of the United States was desired was made by the representatives of Colombia and Mexico in conversations with Clay, who had become Secretary of State. The President,

John Quincy Adams, although he had warmly espoused the cause of the American nations as against any hostile projects of the Holy Alliance, felt obliged to proceed with caution, since the United States was maintaining in the Spanish-American conflict a neutral position; but Clay warmly urged that the invitation be accepted. The idea of a common interest arising from a similarity of political principles had taken a profound hold upon him. He was in reality the great champion of this conception. The invitation to the congress was accepted.

The subjects to be discussed were divided into two classes: First, those peculiarly and exclusively concerning the countries which were still at war with Spain; and secondly, those between belligerents and neutrals. In the discussion of the former, it was not expected that the United States would take part, but the occasion was thought to be opportune for the establishment of fixed principles of international law in matters in respect of which the previous uncertainty had been the cause of many evils.

The President appointed as plenipotentiaries of the United States two eminent men, Richard C. Anderson of Kentucky and John Sergeant of Pennsylvania. Their instructions, dated May 8, 1826, were drawn by Clay and were signed by him as Secretary of State. Covering a wide range, they disclosed the broad and far-reaching views to which, in co-operation with the President, now a sturdy advocate of Pan Americanism, he sought to give effect. At the

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