his
famous doctrine, so debated, so misunderstood, and perhaps so dangerous,
if--as has sometimes been thought--it might be used as a means of
illegitimate preponderance at the expense of the sovereignty of other
nations. The Monroe Doctrine embodies, nevertheless, and we should not
hesitate to say so, the first principle of international law of a great
part of this continent, if not the whole. This it means for us Mexicans,
ever since the President of the Republic announced it to Congress in his
memorable message of April, 1896, received with general acclamation by
the national representatives, and later by the whole country. The
integrity of the nations of this continent is of vital interest to all,
collectively, and not alone to the country immediately affected. Any
attack on this integrity should constitute an offense in the eyes of the
other nations of America. Accordingly, one of our great thinkers and
statesmen has wisely said: "America for Americans means each country for
its own people, to the exclusion of all foreign interference, whether
this comes from other countries of this continent or whether it comes
from any other nation whatsoever. And we in our trying struggles of the
past have given ample proof to the whole world of our homage to
independence and our hatred of all foreign intervention"--to use
President Diaz's own words.

From among the various formulas adopted by the interpreters of the
Monroe Doctrine, we Latin American nations should gather and keep as a
precious pledge, that which Theodore Roosevelt embodied in his famous
speech delivered on the occasion of the opening of the Buffalo
Exposition. Addressing the republics of the New World, the illustrious
statesman, then Vice-President of the United States of America, said:

I believe with all my heart in the Monroe Doctrine. This
doctrine is not to be invoked for the aggrandizement of any
one of us here on this continent at the expense of any one
else on this continent. It should be regarded simply as a
great international Pan American policy, vital to the
interests of all of us. The United States has and ought to
have, and must ever have, only the desire to see her sister
commonwealths in the western hemisphere continue to
flourish, and the determination that no Old World power
shall acquire new territory here on this western continent.
We of the two Americas must be left to wor