192 LESTER BURRELL SHIPPEE British government as to its attitude on joint negotiation, when the question was again actively taken up, 9 while at the same time Middleton, in St. Petersburg, was instructed to proceed with the preliminary steps looking toward a settlement with Russia in accordance with the suggestion of that government. 10 Joint action, however, was not accepted by Great Britain, for in Rush's instructions was incorporated a portion of that pro- nouncement, later known as the Monroe Doctrine, which seems to have been first made in a formal way by J. Q. Adams in discussing the Northwest situation with Baron Tuyl. After giving the Baron a hint as to the nature of the instructions which were being forwarded to Middleton, Adams says r 11 "I told him especially that we should contest any right to any territorial establishment on this continent, and that we should assume distinctly the principle that the American continents are no longer subject for any new European establishments." Baron Tuyl, although considering that there would be diffi- culties in the way of the negotiation, did not foresee that they would be insurmountable. But the difficulties with Great Britain for joint diplomatic action with the United States as regards the Russian stand were insurmountable after this assertion, although the proposi- tion had at first struck Canning as feasible, since he thought the negotiations would deal only with the matter of the closed sea. 12 The principle regarding further colonization on the American continents was inadmissible ; it not only met the dis- approval of the British government on general grounds, but it was peculiarly untenable as referring to the disputed Ore- gon region. 13 Although Middleton did not know that England would not join the United States in representations to Russia until the 9 Instructions to Rush, 22 July, 1823, Am. S. P. For. Rel., V. 791-3. 10 Instructions to Middleton. Ibid., 436-7. ii Memoirs, VI, 163. 12 See Stapleton, Life and Times of George Canning, III, 117-8 Stapleton was in a position to speak since he had long been Cannings secretary. The same idea is not only expressed in his official dispatches but in his reminiscences by Rush; see Residence at the Court of London, 2d Series, II, 82 seq. 13 This point is taken up in discussing the British negotiations.
