168 SPECIALPROVIDENCEDespite their yearning for peace, Wilsonians have often joined
Hamiltoniansinsupporting,ifnecessary,waragainststatesthatmake
warontheinternationalorder.HamiltoniansmaysnickerwhenWilsoni-
anstalkaboutwartomaketheworldsafefordemocracy-andWilso-
niansgroanatthethoughtofHamiltonianswa~tingtomaketheworld
safeforplutocracy-butinpracticethetargetsofWilsonianandHamil-
tonianwrathareoftenthesame. Hamiltoniansmay thinkthecrime
isprincipallyanassaulton thebalanceofpower.Wilsoniansseeitas
anattackoninternationallaw,orastheviolationofneutrality.Butsince
aspiringhegemonsgenerallydohavetotrampleonsuchinconveniences,
theresultisthatjustwhenAmericanmerchantsneedthemmost,Ameri-
canmissionarieshaveoftenbeenreadytotrooptothecolors.
Whenit cametoEuropean colonialempires in thethirdworld,
WilsonianidealismandHamiltonianrealismdictatedthesamecourse.
Barringexceptionalcircumstances (such as thecommunistthreat in
FrenchIndochina),WilsoniansbelievedthattheUnitedStatesshould
workbyallpeacefulmeanstounderminethecolonialsyst~m.Wilsonian
oppositiontocolonialismwasmoreconsistentandinflexiblethanthe
nuancedHamiltonianapproach. Nevertheless,overthelongsweepof
historythetwoschools ofthoughtsupportedAmericanpoliciesthat
limitedtheextensionofthecolonialsystemandundermineditwhere
possible.
Chinapolicyoverthelast 150 yearsillustrateshowtheconflicting
butalsocomplementaryperspectivesofHamiltoniansandWilsonians
combinedtoshapepolicy.Evenasmissionariesbattledmerchants,lob-
byingtooutlawtheopiumtradethatmerchantssawas commercially
necessary,bothgroupssawtheneedfortheUnitedStatestoopposethe
partitionofChinawhileensuringthatAmericannationals benefited
fromalltheconcessionsthattheEuropeanpowerswereabletoextract.
Merchantswantedaggressiveconsularprotectionbackedupbyaneffec-
tivenavalpresenceforcommercialreasons;missionarieswantedthesame
kindofprotectionfortheirownmorespiritualgoals.Bothmerchants
andmissionarieswanted,andstillwant,toseeChinaestablisha reliable,
independentjudiciary toprovidebothChinesecitizensandAmerican
investorswithalltheprotectionsofthelaw.Workingtogether,Hamil-
toniansandWilsonianskeptWashingtonfocusedonChinapolicy;and
certainlyonTaiwan,andpossiblyultimatelyonthemainland,Chinese
societymaywellevolveinthebroadgeneraldirectionthatbothAmeri-
canschoolswouldprefer.