The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1853-05-02

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Therefore. 1 hsS e !aEorisy. Ia hsss Of tAs cec
trios Of de treaty y tAa put6A eovesnmeat ard ~
\ rrsat chief himssM-a men % whom hsse nc
time to pronounce . sslosy, ess vho be- es.s
| euloTised BY men whe were Qnaes 40 cspeots o.
comforting distinction By asy ting they nigh.
say even tbs Senator from 1ll1.ois himself Al
the distance Of nearly quartef Al q century ago
when desiring TO open the great avenue TO % Pa
lcihc, be did not dream Of such thing - the ex-
| elusive privilege. His contract, which have BE-
fore me, provided for opening the canal which he
protected TO all the nations OF the earth the same
terms and, in fact, there 10 not principle estao
ished by the Senate in its resolution Of 1896, by
| the House Of Representatives in its reso uton OF
| 1899, and ey the concurrent action OF Presidents
Jackson, Polk, and Taylor. that 10 not in accord
ance with tho principle established by the capital
ists who were patronised BY the Dutch govern
ment Foreigners have not adopted the narrow
and contracted policy which 20 commended itself
elusive right over a canal which no one State
could possibly maintain and protect in the face OF
the great commercial nations Of the earth.
But the Sc uator said-and must call the atten-
| ton Of the Senate BAG 10 the act-that when we
had obtained the exclusive right. he would not
| keep t-not he! He was loo liberal, too generous,
fair towards other nations Of the earth to keep
| any such thing! A soon a. be obtained his exclu-
awe right. and made his nal, and had the mo-
nopoly OF navigating it; soon he had fortified
and protected II. ~ ~ to compel other nations to
respect it-he would turn round and gius to every
body else in the soovd tie right to 60 through at
When my neighbofs propose to make highway
| say: "No, you shau not. No man shah dare to
spend dollar il. will have tAe excusips right
# Uay' 1 will make the highway; but after
have gone 10 the xpeuse of making il, and while
| have the sole burden of keeping up all the re-
pairs, If any Of you desire to travel upon ii, the
same terms with myself. you prfreiy scsicon,s,
But take care! Dare not attempt to repair it, or
4 "a g. u
structon-l most have the exclusive honor of
/ that" mere restAtement Of such q proposition
seems to me to make it absolutely unnece ssary to
comment upon il
vented the grant OF the right of way from the local
| Government. He said, again and again, that / bad
prevented that Ii waa of the chief objects of
socitude with me, while acting Secretary of
State. that our capitalists should obtain that. Il
was obtained; and on the true policy which had
been recognised by all the leading statesmen of this
country. The treaty with Nicaragua nc goti-
ated under instructions from President Taylor. 1t
provided for the protection of the right of way 1t
was presented to the Senate of the United States;
and for reasons which 1 have never known and
90 not know to this day alter resigned the Office
of Secretary Of State, and had gone away from this
piace--lt was not acted upon. Ii never re-
ected. No vote was taken upon it. II was over
looked In the mass of business, or for some other
cause 1t was entirely neglected; and yet am
sured, torsoo,h, by him, one Of the very men who
| neglccte public duty in regard to il, because
! that treaty did moi pass | hear from others that
be opposed it, because he preferred the Hse treaty,
and that be assisted in defeating IL The Senator
means that defestsd the right of way, because /
| did not send the Hise treaty here-a treaty which
| say sgan, no Senator could have voted for if 1t
bad come here.
Sir, the right of way was secured by American
capitalists, aided by all the efforts the minister
sent by President Taylor to Central America could
make The Senator ought to have known il was
granted to American citizens a. the very moment
ne charged with the loss of IT, He has re-
peatedly said we had obtained it by grant TO
| English and American capitalists. At the same
| time if he had read the public documents sent
| TO Congress a subject about which he has
| talked more than any other living man, he would
have known that statement was incorrect, and
| that the grant was made, on the application of
| American capitalists, to themselves. The Presi-
dent did all he had right to do to encourage and
protect II.
| If these capitalists construct ship canal, Eng.
land will protect IL, the United States will protec.
it. and every other civilized nation We apply to
will protect it, when accomplished, because no
nation ought TO be entitled TO use il except
| upon the terms of agreeing to protect it, England
agrees, by the treaty, TO nssist not only pro-
tecting this ship canal. but any railroad or ship
canal that can be made through the whole Isthmus
We have interest, that am aware OF, to prefer
| the route by way of Nicaragua to that BY Tehuan.
| tepec. If we could obtain canal route nearer to
our country than either Nicaragua or Panama
we ought TO prefer it. Undoubtedly, if we could
W
that; but if cannot obtain 4 passage at point
nearer to than the southern part OF the Isthmus
of Darien, it 10 of the deepest interest to this a
try to have it at that point. Pains taken, a.
the Senator will know BY looking into the eorre-
spondence, to ASCERTAIN which was the most prac.
ticabe route; and from oil the information before
me- including that obtained from Lord Palmer
s,on himself, AZ we'll sc IRON my oun countrymep,
the route believed TO be the most easily pracfic able
was through Nicaragua. Whether it ia the best
route. not at al! interested 10 atfi rm deny;
Tor if ship canal can be obtained anyrAsys through
that Isthmus. the treaty ! signed protects it, and
insures to my countrynen the right of passage
through il, and we have no longer any cause Tor
such Jealousy vas entertained by President
Jackson and Mr.. LivinRston, the Secretary of
State. in 1881. No matter who may construct this
any other canal, in any part of the whole Isth-
mus between North and South America we have
the right to navigate it tie terms of the mo.t
favored nation, by virtue of the very treaty which
| the Senator violently denouncss for his own
persoual and party purposes
The Senator says that by adopting the treaty
| have recognised thsrignt of Great Britain, or any
European nation, to interfere in the affairs of this
| continent. This Government has, TO a much
greater extent, recognised their right to claim an
equality OF commercial privileges, from it's very
| origin, by every commercial treaty ~hich it has
| tries with all tho European powers. In each of
them you have agreed to q certain extent, that
they have the right to interfere in your affairs and
they have conceded the right, on your part TO in.
condemn every commercial treaty which we have
| ever madel Does he think that he can make an
appeal successfully to the vulgar passions in order
to make this treaty odous, and thereby to make
the men in Senate of the United States who voted
for il odiousl We never made treaty of any kind
| with a European power which does not acknow-
ledge, to great an extent greater, the right
of European Interference in the affairs Of this con
tinent. he has voted for treaties which regulate
| all our Tonnage and import duties. and all our
com me rciat intercourse with them. We have made
treaties with them to control our own boundar ies
and legislative arrangements to control our most
important political and commercial Interests.
| The Senator has rupg the changes on the word
"partnership" from day to day, until one who did
not know him would suppose that we had entered
into some great joint stock mercantile establish
ment with England You might as well say ,ha,
all men living near navigable river or turnpike
road, railroad, had entered into q p0yfpsrshjp
to say that the nations of the earth about
vel this highway on the same terms had entered
, into partnership" Every man in the District
, of Colombia bad entered into a partner ship abou
Pennsyvania avenue of the same kind We al
travel it on the same terms. Ifanybody shoulc
attsmptto destroy it, all equally in terestec
to protect II, and we would protect it.
!, The reference made by the Senator to the in
structions to our charge d'aaires in Central Anne
RIGA, to prove that he directed to oppose tn,
treaty Of MIR. Hise, IL evidence of degree of reck
lessnees folly of which ] regret to accuse an,