CHAPTER XIII. THE TREND OF DIPLOMACY
On the whole, as has already been noted, the history of American diplomacy from 1877 to 1897 is scarcely more than an account of a series of unrelated incidents. Not only did the foreign policy of Blaine differ sharply from that of Cleveland, but there was no great question upon which public interest came to a focus, except temporarily over the Venezuelan matter, and no lesser problems that continued long enough to challenge attention to the fact that they remained unsolved. There were visible, nevertheless, several important tendencies. Our attitude toward Samoa and Hawaii indicated that the instinctive desire to annex territory had not disappeared with the rounding out of the continental possessions of the United States; American interest in arbitration as a method of settling disputes was expressed again and again; the place of the Monroe doctrine in American international policy was clearly shown; and the determination of the United States to be heard in all affairs that touched her interests was demonstrated without any possibility of doubt.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
The most complete and reliable authority is J.B. Moore, A Digest of International Law (8 vols. 1906), by one who was intimately connected with many of the incidents of which he wrote; the text of the treaties is in W.M. Malloy, Treaties, Conventions, International Acts, etc., between the United States of America and other Powers (2 vols., 1910). Valuable single volumes are: J.B. Moore, American Diplomacy (1905); and C.B. Fish, American Diplomacy (1915). W.F. Johnson, America's Foreign Relations (2 vols., 1916), is interesting but somewhat marred by the author's tendency to take sides on controversial points; see also J.B. Henderson, American Diplomatic Questions (1901). J.S. Bassett, Short History of the United States (1913), contains a brief and compact chapter.
Essential material on particular incidents is found in the following. On Japan, "Our War with One Gun" in New England Magazine, XXVIII, 662; J.M. Callahan, American Relations in the Pacific and the Far East (1901); W.E. Griffis, Townsend Harris (1896). On Samoa, J.W. Foster, American Diplomacy in the Orient (1903); R.L. Stevenson, Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa (1892). On the seal fisheries, J.W. Foster, Diplomatic Memoirs (2 vols., 1909). On Hawaii, Cleveland's message in J.D. Richardson, Messages and Papers of the Presidents, IX, 460. On Venezuela, Grover Cleveland,Presidential Problems, Chap. IV.
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[1] The development of the United States as a commercial power was seen in the increased use of consuls as agents for procuring and publishing industrial and commercial information.
[2] Cf. Fish, American Diplomacy, 398.
[3] For later aspects of the controversy, see below, pp. 532-533.
[4] Cf. map p. 10.
[5] J.W. Foster, who was intimately connected with the case, suggests that the defects in the American argument were due partly to following briefs prepared by an agent of the Alaska Commercial Company in Washington. The agent was interested in getting everything possible for his company but his knowledge of the law in the case was slight. Cf. Foster, Memoirs, II, 26 f.; Moore, American Diplomacy, 97-104.
[6] The attempts to protect the herds by government regulation failed to have any important results. An international arrangement was made in 1911, but the slaughter had proceeded so far that grave question arose whether any agreement would be effective short of absolute prohibition. In 1912 Congress passed a law forbidding any killing on the land for a term of five years; in 1917 when the restrictions were released the herds had greatly increased. In 1918 the seals numbered 530,480. American Year Book, 1918, 503-4.
[7] Cf. Political Science Review, Aug., 1916, 481-499.
[8] Cf. below, p. 387 ff. Hawaii was brought into the Union as a territory in 1900.