confess that my notion of it came to this: President Monroe informed the
kings of Europe that they must keep away from this hemisphere. Whereupon
the kings obeyed him and have remained obedient ever since. Of George
Canning I knew nothing. Another large game of jackstraws was being played
in Europe in 1823. Certain people there had formed the Holy Alliance.
Among these, Prince Metternich the Austrian was undoubtedly the master
mind. He saw that by England's victory at Waterloo a threat to all
monarchical and dynastic systems of government had been created. He also
saw that our steady growth was a part of the same threat. With this in
mind, in 1822, he brought about the Holy Alliance. The first Article of
the Holy Alliance reads: "The high contracting Powers, being convinced
that the system of representative government is as equally incompatible
with the monarchical principle as the maxim of sovereignty of the people
with the Divine right, engage mutually, in the most solemn manner, to use
all their efforts to put an end to the system of representative
governments, in whatever country it may exist in Europe, and to prevent
its being introduced in those countries where it is not yet known."

Behind these words lay a design, hardly veiled, not only against South
America, but against ourselves. In a volume entitled With the Fathers, by
John Bach McMaster, and also in the fifth volume of Mr. McMaster's
history, chapter 41, you will find more amply what I abbreviate here.
Canning understood the threat to us contained in the Holy Alliance. He
made a suggestion to Richard Rush, our minister to England. The
suggestion was of such moment, and the ultimate danger to us from the
Holy Alliance was of such moment, that Rush made haste to put the matter
into the hands of President Monroe. President Monroe likewise found the
matter very grave, and he therefore consulted Thomas Jefferson. At that
time Jefferson had retired from public life and was living quietly at his
place in Virginia. That President Monroe's communication deeply stirred