New-York tribune., 1881-12-16
THE CL4YTON-BULTER TREATY..


The most important of the remarkable series
Of State papers which Mr.. Blaine has made
nnblic of late, and at the same time the
strongest IN its argument and the most ylg-
orous and positive in its assertion of the night
of this country to protect and advance Its IN
terests on the American continent, is unques-
tionablv the letter to Minister Lowell III favor OF
tbo Modification of the Clayton -Bulwcr Treaty,
which we print this morning. There Is no eS-
Gaming Mr. Blaine's conclusion that the treaty
is unjust toward the United States, and tliat
the condition of affairs under which 1t was
adopted has so changed that this Govern
ment cannot, without a blind disregard ol It's
future safety, consent to he longer b0uhu by
its restrictive provisions The treaty, hade
more than thirty years ago, sought 10 put
England and the United States on equal
terms concerning an isthmus canal, and pledged
them both TO seek no exclusive control over
sucb work, and to erect no fOrlticatlons near
If. At that time we had no Pacific coast
nossoss;ous save the unsettled wilds of
Oregon. The present effect OF the treaty,
as Mr. Blaine plainly shows, is to give Eng
land the power to seize and hold the canal
at any time, by the use of her great
navy, while il ii, the hands of the United States
by prohibiting the employment OF our military
| forces to fortify the approaches to the canal
| as a precautionary measure Only by equip
ping as strong a navy as Great Britain keeps
| in service would we be on terms of equality
| with her. "The ClaytOn-Bu Treaty" says
| Mr. Blaine. " commands this Government not
to use a single regiment of troops to protect
| its interests in connection with the inter
oceanic canal but TO surrender the transit
"to the guardianship and control of the
"British Navy" He gives explicit notice that
the United States " will not consent to per-
"petuatc any treaty that impeaches our right
" full and long established claim to priority on
90 the American Continent"
The justice of our position on the question
| is shown by an dd h0mtnem argument, which
England cannot fail to appreciate. put, as 1t is,
| in n spirit of 'frankness and kindness The
| Secretary shows how careful Great Britain has
| been to keep the short road to her possessions
| in India in her exclusive control, by
obtaining a dominant interest in the Sucz
Canal, by keeping up impregnable fortresses at
Gibraltar and Malta, by acquiring Cyprus, and
| bv fortifying the entrance TO the Red Sea so as
| to make it a mare cl0usum. " As England In
sists," says Mr. Blaine, "by the might of
| cher power that her enemies in war shall
| strike her Indian possessions only by doubling
the Cape of Good Hope, so the Government
| of the United States will equally insist that
the interior more speedy and safer route
of the canal shall be reserved for ourselves,
while our enemies, if we shall ever be so
unfortunate as to have any, shall be re-
manded to the voyage around Cape Horn"
What answer can be made to this 2 Are not
our great and growing Pacific States as impor-
tant to us, being an integral part of our political
| system, as are to England her distant dependen-
ces in the tropics Of Asia9 And have we not the
right to take the precautions for their defence
which England has taken to guard her Indian
| Empire
Mr. Blaine does not ask for TIE en-
| tire abrogatiOn Of the Objectionable
and obsolete treaty. He is willing to re-
tain and give fresh vigor to the clause re-
straining Great Britain and the United States
from making acquisitions of territory
in Central America and also that respecting
! free ports at the canal mouths, and he suggests
| that the distance from the canal at which cap
lures of vessels can be made in time of wal
be specified; but he insists that the
joint protectorate provision be regarded
rs obsolete, and that the United States he left
free to make its own arrangements with any
country across whose territories a canal may be
cut, as was done with Colombia in lS46. His
closing word is that it is the fixed purpose
| of the United States to conine the canal ques-
ton strictly and solely rs an American ques-
ton, TO be dealt with and decided by the
| American Government. After this plain decla-
ration joint protectorate of an lsthmus canal
mnst be considered as an impossibility. The