A statement of policy in the message to Congress of President Monroe in 1825, to the effect that the United States could not regard with indifference any further territorial expansion on the part of European Powers on the American Continent. The occasion for the pronouncement was the suspected intention of the Holy Alliance to interfere on behalf of Spain in her struggle with her revolted colonies. Various interpretations have been given to this doctrine, some, like that of Mr. Olney, going much further than President Monroe’s words warrant, but it is now generally held to mean that the United States will consider her interests involved, if any European Power seeks territorial aggrandisement in any part of America, or interferes with the internal affairs of any American State.
A nickname of Louis XVI, referring to the power given him by the Constitution of 1791 to veto the acts of the Legislative Assembly. Marie Antoinette was known as Madame Véto, as it was believed that it was largely her influence which induced the King to exercise his right.
A Spanish order of religious chivalry, established in 1317. They succeeded the Templars in Aragon.
A treaty between Louis XIII and the Huguenots, after their last appearance in arms in 1622. The King undertook to observe the Edict of Nantes, and gave the Huguenots two towns. La Rochelle and Montauban, as places of safety.
A club composed of friends of the Duc d’Orléans (Philippe Egalité), which was formed about 1789. Its object was to supplant the reigning dynasty by the Orleans branch. Among its prominent members were Mirabeau, Siéyès and Sillery.
In 1884 the Transvaal Boers attacked Montsioa, a Bechuana chief under British protection, and forced him to make a treaty with them, in defiance of the London Convention. In the following year a force under Sir Charles Warren occupied the disturbed territory, which was brought under the British administration, and the Boers were forced to withdraw.
The extreme reactionaries of the Pelucones, or Conservative party, in Chile in 1850. They took their name from President Montt, and his Secretary of State, Varas.
An agrarian secret society, similar in its constitution and methods to the Whiteboys, which was guilty of numerous outrages in Ireland in 1881.