The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1885-02-13

! association was formed in London for a
like purpose; in 1915 Louis Napoleon,
/ then u prisoner of state in the fortress of
! Ham. prepared an elaborate monograph
/ On the subject, and in the following year
! an act was passed by the Government of
/ Nicaragua comforting upon him the neces-
| sary powers to organize a company In
| Europe for the opening of a canal across
| the Nicaraguan Isthmus, for the COM
merce Of the world. Two years later the
aid Of tie Roman Catholic Church and
/ Plus TX. was invoked by organization
| for the same purpose; the document is a
| curiosity in the modern political history
| of Europe. These facts must be borne
| in mind by the reader in estimating the
reasons for and the Significance of the ia
nous ClaytonBulwer Treaty made beween
| England aud the United States in 1859.
| At that time the United States was in no
| condition to undertake a work of such
magnitude alone; it had all it could do to
| develop its own resources, and build its
! own national highways; nor was it in any
| condition to offer successful resistance to
| any other Power which should attempt
| the work. The essence of the Clayton
BUlwer Treaty consisted in its provisions
| that neither Great Britain nor the United
! States should ever obtain for itself the
| exclusive control over any Nicaraguan
canal, nor erect nor maintain any forti6-
cations commanding the same, nor take
! advantage of any intimacy or use any al
lance which either power might possess
with any Central American territory for
the purpose of acquiring any advantages
in or any control over such a canal which
the other Power might not equally pos
sess. In short, the two Powers went into
a sort of international partnership, con-
ditioned that if ever such canal was
built through the efforts of either party.
both parties should jointly protect and
| jointly use it on equal terms.
Thirty-four years have passed away
since then-a full generation and now
our Government has negotiated q treaty
| with the Government of Nicaragua, the
terms of which we gave last week, and
need not therefore, repeat here but
which provides that the United States
| Government shall build the canal, shall
! take three-quarters of the canal tolls, and
shall have the exclusive right to fOrtify
the termini. The Secretary of State is
reported as maintaining that the new
treaty with Nicaragua is not in technical
violation of the provisions of the old
| treaty with Great Britain we do not
know on what grounds, but any reader
can easily judge for himself, by COM
pairing the terms of the two treaties,
whether the two are in substantial accord
or not. A good way to determine such a
question is to "put yourself in his place. "
Suppose we had discovered that Great
Britain had negotiated a secret treaty with
Nicaragua, agreeing to construct such q
canal. and receiving power to erect the
necessary forts at the termini for its pro-
lection without saying anything to US,
should we feel aggrieved Any American
Administration which allowed such a
treaty to pass without vigorous protest
would hear vigorous protest from the
people of the United States.
Whether the Clayton ulwer Treaty was
a wise one to make in 1850 we shall not
discuss, though there could be made out 6
| strong argument in its favor in view of the
then condition of our own nation mol
shall we consider the other question,
whether it is wise to maintain it now that
we are rich enough to build the canal il
we want to, and perhaps strong enough tc
defend it against all assailants, without
the aid of our late partner. Honor before
interest. We have made the contract
and it is not to be lightly broken. The
righteous nation, like the righteous man
though he sweareth to his own hurt, We
changeth not.
When nation has made a contrac
which changed circumstances make it M
longer wise, or perhaps even possible, t,
carry out, it is clear that mutual consen
should be invoked to annul what mutua
consent was necessary to create. Whethe
the proposed treaty with Nicaragua is fol
for the interest of the United States is
secondary question. The first question
is, What does national honor require o
= us? For national honor is always wortl
more, in the estimation of all honorabl
men, than national interest. And it
perfectly clear that national honor rt
quires that we should open negotiation
. | with Great Britain for the abrogation {
the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, and if thes
j fail, then give timely notice that we Re
fuse to be longer bound by its stipulation
j.. before negotiating new treaty with an
: other Power in violation of its provision
i. 1t may be that, if Great Britain had cor
- sidered herself free to do so, she woul
have been ready to enter herself into n
gotiations with Nicaragua to constru
such a canal, or into negotiations wit
France for the construction Of the riv.
q canal of Panama: and, however we migl
Il object to her undertaking such a work,
o is clear that we cannot, with honor, pr
7. vent her by a contract which we at Il
/. same time repudiate as obsolete. If
does not bind one party it does not bin
IL either; and for US to trust to its obser
:. ! L. T0rit