New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-02-05
BULWER TREATY TO END.
of mankind" and ito strengthen the bonus "
friendship and alliance that exist"

These seven articles relate to the principal o1
Jet OF the treaty. us su1orana artcIe' which
declared that the two governments. naVlns ~
only desired, in entering this convention, 70
complish a particular object but also 10 eslaos
lish general principle, hereby agree TO eNte
their protection by treaty stipulation 10 az,
other practical communication across tn e,,,r,,,
mus, and especially to the interoceanic comih,u
nications. should the same prove practlcaD,tny
whether by canal or railroad. which are re- re.
proposed to be established by the way Oh
huantepec or Panama" This general prfncipie
was never carried out by treaty stipulation Vi
otherwise.
ENGLAND'S RETENTION OF HONDURAS
About two months after the treaty was signed
the British Minister filed declaration at 'ne
state Department that Her Majesty does no'
understand the engagements of that conNenlo"
to apply to Her Majesty's settlement at Hohuu
or to its dependencies" but the treaty hau
already been ratified by the Senate without such
exceptions, and within three years the united
States was ready to denounce the treaty because
England continued to hold Honduras and the
Bay Islands
While the primary object of the treaty was
to aid the building of the Nicaragua Canai I'M
mediately. it equally plain that an I'M
portant object the United States had in view
was to dispossess Great Britain of settlements
in Central America, whether under the cover
of Indian sovereignty or otherwise rms GoE s
eminent was tenacious that Great DII'a am
threatening military or naval strategic points
along the American maritime frontier 10 as
this the treaty parties agreed not 10 ex-
ercise dominion over or TO fortify or coionize any
part of Central America. Great Britain now
ever has continued to this day 10 hold the
colony of Belize, which in 1850 was confned
to a mere right to cut wood. This logging camp
the coast now embraces an area as large as
Massachusetts. Connecticut and Rhode Island
combined and its boundaries have not ceased
extending in spite of frequent remonstrances
from the United States. For this cause. sue
.1x,f-r
OF Arthur, Harrison and Cleveland. have re-
garded the treaty as voidable, and Mr.. Blaine
only restrained from abrogating IL by Presi-
dent Harrison's conservatism secretary
Gresham was preparing to denounce 1t In lS3f
when Great Britain withdrew from the Mosquito
agreement and satisfied the American authori-
ties that Honduras valueless strategically.
MR.. BLAINE's NEGOTIATIONS.
When Mr.. Blaine was launching his vigorous
diplomacy" in 1881 he instructed Minister
Lowell to undertake to procure modification of
the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty. which he regarded
necessary because of the great development
of the United States on the Pacific Coast since
1886. and especially In view of the French canal
project at Panama, where the United States was
the sole guarantor of neutrality He held that
the treaty Objectionable In conceding to
Great Britain the control Of any canal that
might be constructed-a concession made when
this Nation was in its swaddling clothes-that
it impeached the long established claim of the
United States to priority the American Cont
nent, and that there danger that a third
Power might intervene and assume direction of
the project which by the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty
was under the exclusive control of Great Brit
ain and the United States. He proposed:
First-The cancellation of the provision for
bidding the United States to fortify and hold
political control of the country.
Second-Treating absolute the provisions
for treaty stipulations for joint protectorate
over a canal at Tehuantepec or Panama.
Third-Defnition of the distance within which
capture might be made on the high
In conclusion, he declared that the United
States objected to the assent of European Gov
ernments to the neutrality of the canal because
the right to assent implies the right to dis
sent"
MR. FRELINGHUYSENS VIEW.
The negotiations were continued by Secretary
Frelinghuysen the following year, who said near
the close of a long instruction to Mr.. Lowell.
traversng the whole subject exhaustively:
The Clayton ulwer Treaty was concluded to
secure thing which did not exist and which
now never exist 1t TO secure the
struction of canal under the grant of 1S49
from Nicaragua that the United States con-
scented to waive the exclusive and valuable
rights which had been given TO them: that they
consented 70 agree with Great Britain that they
would not occupy, fortify, COLOMBO assume
dominion over any part of Central America, and
that they consented to admit Her Majestys
Government at some future day to a share in
the protection which they have exercised over
the Isthmus of Panama. The Government and
the people of the United States, though rich in
land and industry. were poor in money and
floating capital in 1850.
The scheme for a canal. even without the COM
pcations of the Mosquito Protectorate, was too
vast for the means of the Americans of that day,
who numbered then considerably less than one
half of their numbers to-day. They went to
England, which had what they had not. surren-
dered their exclusive privileges, offered equal
share of all they had in those regions in order,
as expressed in the Seventh Article OF the
treaty, that no time should be unnecessarily
lost in commencing and constructing the said
canal Through no fault of theirs, time was
unnecessarily lost. the work was never begun
and the concession failed.
The conditions of 1882 not those of 1852.
The people Of the United States have now
abundance of surplus capital for such enter
prises. and have need to call upon foreign
capitalists. The Legislative Of the Government
of the United States may also desire to be free
to place the credit of the United States at the
service Of one or more of these enterprises. The
President does not feel himself warranted in
making any engagement or any admission
specting the extinct provisions of the Clayton
Bulwer Treaty which would prevent or interfere
with such a purpose. On the contrary, frank
requires him TO say that as the persons who
held the grant which the United States under
stood to be accepted by the two governments
under the provisions of the treaty have not
carried out the proposed enterprise, the United
States esteem themselves competent to refuse
to afford their protection jointly with Great
Britain to any other persons or company and
hold themselves free hereafter TO protect any
interoceanic communication in which they or
their citizens may become interested in such
way as treaties with the local sovereign powers
may warrant and their interests may require.
INFLUENCE OF THE RAILWAYS.
A few more letters were exchanged, but no
amicable arrangement could be reached. and the
matter was not again seriously discussed until
last year. The most potent influence in Eng