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 him is to be seen in his reply, written October 24, 1823.
Jefferson says in part: "The question presented by the letters you
have sent me is the most momentous which has ever been offered to my
contemplation since that of independence.... One nation most of all
could disturb us.... She now offers to lead, aid and accompany us....
With her on our side we need not fear the whole world. With her, then,
we should most seriously cherish a cordial friendship, and nothing would
tend more to unite our affections than to be fighting once more, side by
side, in the same cause."

Thus for the second time, Thomas Jefferson advises a friendship with
Great Britain. He realizes as fully as did Bonaparte the power of her
navy, and its value to us. It is striking and strange to find Thomas
Jefferson, who wrote the Declaration of Independence in 1776, writing in
1823 about uniting our affections and about fighting once more side by
side with England.

It was the revolt of the Spanish Colonies from Spain in South America,
and Canning's fear that France might obtain dominion in America, which
led him to make his suggestion to Rush. The gist of the suggestion was,
that we should join with Great Britain in saying that both countries
were opposed to any intervention by Europe in the western hemisphere.
Over our announcement there was much delight in England. In the London
Courier occurs a sentence, "The South American Republics--protected by
the two nations that possess the institutions and speak the language of
freedom." In this fragment from the London Courier, the kinship at
which I have hinted as being felt by England in 1783, and in 1803, is
definitely expressed. From the Holy Alliance, from the general European
diplomatic game, and from England's preference for us who spoke her
language and thought her thoughts about liberty, law, what a man should
be, what a woman should be, issued the Monroe Doctrine. And you will
find that no matter what dynastic or ministerial interruptions have
occurred to obscure this recognition of kinship with us and preference
for us upon the part of the English people, such interruptions are
always temporary and lie always upon the surface of English sentiment.
Beneath the surface the recognit