, 1892-04-30

passage of troops and ships of war, the con-
cession from Costa RIGA declares, "shall be
regulated by such provisions IN regard there
to as are now or may be hereafter established
in the treaties between Costa RIGA and other
powers, or by intelnational law" The con
~cession. granted by Nicaragua contains the
same express laneuaGe, while the concluding
paragraph Of Article VI. in both concessions
is as follows: Nicaragua (Cos'a Rlca) viii
endeavour to OBJ ain from the foqcers that arS
to guaranty the n utrality, that IN the trea-
ties that shall be made for that purpose they
shall agree also to guarantee a zone OF land
parallel to the canal and also a maritime zone
IN both oceans the dimensions Of which Will
be determined in such treaties" There is
here no notion advanced of the control
OF the canal by any single nation Of the
world, but a control shared by those natlons
which will unite by treaty with Nicaragua
and Costa RIGA. in an fectlve guarantee
of protection and neutrality. The great COM
mercial nations will surely claim a protection
Of a transit which their merchant vessels may
use at all times, and which their troops an0
ships of war may employ, by the privileges
of treaty or international law. And then
claim Will be all the moro unanswerable II
their citizens respond to the invitation
provided for in Article TX Of the Mica
ragua Concession, where The people
of all nations shall be invited to con-
tribute the necessary capital to the enter
prise and it shall be sufficient for this require
ment to publish all advertisement Tor thirty
consecutive days in one of the principal dolly
papers Of each of the cities, Ne1O York, London,
and Paris. On case Of trouble between the
United States, and any Of the Central Amer
lean states, the concession would prohibit the
use of the canal to American soldiers and
cruisers, a prohibition outlined also IN
the Dickinson-Ayon treaty between the
United States and Nicaragua. Nor does
there appear any evidence that IN o war with
any of the Spanish American nations on the
West Coast with any power possessing colo
MES IN the Pacific, the United States would
enjoy the exclusive favour Of the concessionary
Governments. Tie subsequent conduct of
the Nicaragua Maritime Canal Company has
also served to accentuate the principle OF
Joint control or protection Of the canal. The
Memorial of Minister Zavala to the Nicaragua
Congress for the year 1888 mentions among
other things, the appointment Of on additional
mission to Europe especially to give effect
to the final paragraph Of Article vi. already
cited. The Minister states that this was
done at the instance and the solicitation Of
the Nicaragua Canal people, who We re SO
exigent in the matter that they offered to pay
a part, or the whole, of the expenses Of the
Legation. The mission was confdedto Dir.
Adam Cardenas that thorough patriot, as he
is styled by Capt. Merry, but "hether in defer
ence to opinion at Washington, or for other
reason, the full results Of that mission have not
transpired. Both in the negotiation of the con.
cession with the two governments, and in their
subsequent conduct the agents Of the Nicaragua
enterprise have maintained the principle Of IN.
ternational control as against exclusive Ameri-
can control, and it is only when the question
of a Government guarantee is under considera-
ton that they are prepared to accept the latter
and tacitly admit that their former action was
unAmerican. There can be no doubt Of the
opinion entertained by Spanish-Americans on
the subject; it is almost unanimously I'D favour
of international control, and to people disposed
to live at peace with their neighbours there
would seem to be no insuperable difficulty in
the way of securing joint protection to a canal
to the satisfaction of all parties concerned.
But if a claim for exclusive American control
be insisted upon the terms of the concessions
from Nicaragua and Costa RIGA must be changed
aud he policy hitherto pursued by the patri-
otic'' American Company charged with theexe-
cution of the same, must be reversed.
Nor need the Clayton Bulwer treaty cast a
shadow sombre unto darkness over 50 splen-
did on antarDriaa for the wisdom of good feel