"An Impertinence"
"The Monroe Doctrine cannot be justified, it is only an aspiration which we Europeans consider an impertinence. The inviolability of American soil is invoked without there being at hand the slightest means of warding off an attack of a respectable European Power." So said Johannes Vollert in 1903.
I am told by men who freely admit England's friendliness and its value to America that after all, England is not disinterested. She saw herself confronted by the hostility of great powers abroad and needed the support of America; hence her friendliness. Is it not asking a great deal of any Government that we should demand that it should rest its policies on disinterested affection for another people and not upon the welfare of those for whose wellbeing they have been placed in office? But, if we discount English friendship on that ground, let us be logical and consistent. We have publicly and enthusiastically admitted our debt to France for the help she gave us in our Revolution. But before the year 1776 Vergennes, who was over the Foreign Office in Paris, had written a memorial on American affairs. "In the document the importance of maintaining a close alliance between the different branches of the House of Bourbon and of opposing on all occasions the interests of Great Britain was clearly demonstrated and especial stress was laid upon the necessity of aiding the Americans in their struggle for independence. The defeat and submission of the colonies would, Vergennes declared, be followed by disastrous consequences for the French and Spanish possessions in the West Indies. If, however, the Americans won by their own exertions, they would be themselves disposed to conquer the French and Spanish West Indies, so as to provide fresh outlets for their productions. Hence it was of supreme importance that France should at once lay the colonists under a debt of gratitude...."