The evening times., 1900-03-10
Docs II Allow Defcnce.

Does II Allow Defence
If the Davis amendment to the Hay
Pauncefote Treaty means and viii accom-
plish all its friends claim for it. then We
have no hesitation in saying that it fur
nishes the means Of escape from a ridieu-
lous. humiIistiug. and dangerous position
in which this Government has been placed
by its State Department But we are no.
yet sure enough concerning the text of the
amendment TO give it unqualified ap-
proval There appears TO be an uuneces-
sary and therefore suspicious ambiguity
about its language that We DO not like.
Ambiguity in diplomatic agreements be
tween nations seldom fails to be- injurious
to one or the other party. Thus, there
was-not exactly an ambiguity but some
thing equally as good in the Clayton
Bulwer Treaty. 1t will be remembered
that in that pestiferous convention Great
Britain agreed never to effect any perma-
nent settlement in Central America. Later
when this treaty provision was violated in
the establishment of the Crown Colony of
British Honduras Mr.. Clayton is alleged
TO have declared that Of course the prohi-
biriou did not extend 20 the Mosquito
Coast and ,he Bay Islands CLAYTON il the
flesh is no more. bu, his spirit may suu
exert departmental influence. Let Us.
therefore avoid obscuritips of expression in
our International notes. deeds. ana mort
gsges
Members Of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee are quoted as saving that the
Davis amendment undoubtedly c0nfers
upon the United States the right to close tho
Canal against its enemy in tine of war
II it does. it is by an implication which
to our imperfect vision looks badly strain
ed. The treaty as amended provides that
nothing in the conditions and stipulationa
which forbid the United States to fortify
or defend the Canal to assemble a fleet in
Lake Nicaragua in time of War. or TO use
the waterway on terms and conditions diff
ferent to those extended TO its enemy
shall apply to measures which the United
States may find j; necessary to take for
securing by its own forces the defence OF /
the United states and The maintenance OF /
public order
The general public viii want TO know
very definitely just what American rights F,
in war this clause is safe to cover. Does /
it guarantee our right to close the Canal |
to the enemy's war vessels and transports |
carrying troops or supplies to a hostile |
feet or fortified islands? Does it estab- |
lish a right to send an American army to /
Nicaragua. that State consenting? These |
are things the American people have in |
sisted upon with great unanimity since |
the moment the startling and offensive |
Hay-Pauncefote Treaty was sprung upon |
the nation. What this country wants is |
Nicaragua Canal exclusively American |
in ownership and control. and capable OF |
use for military purposes by our govern
ment to its advantage and to the disad-
vantage of an enemy There is not the
slightest objection to its absolute neu-
tralization and equal use by all nations
in time of peace nor to an open door for
innocent commerce in time of war con-
sistently with the military necessities of
the United States But, as we and others
have said a hundred times. the Canal will
be a strategic connecting link between and |
scientifically part of our great separated
coast lines, and to leave it open to the
fleets of foe moving to attack our shores
would be insane folly.
In the exact state Of the circumstances
Il would be worse than folly. We should
insist relentlessly upon all the rights OF
closure and defence necessary TO overcome
the strategic advantage which Great Brit
ain would have over us in the event OF
hoStilities between the countries. We
should not permit our authorities to bind
a
dition Of belligerency obtained. Great Brit
ain has been fortifying Jamaica, St kits,
and other West Indian islands for wears.
strictly with a view to the Canal. That
power has eoaling stations and great naval
and military arsenals great deal near
er to the eastern coast of Nicaragua than
any territory this country controls. II his
tory is capable OF teaching us any lesson
at all, 1t teaches us that these British
preparations mean what like things have
meant in the British past Great Britain
seized Gibraltar to control the mouth Of
the Mediterranean, seized Egypt to con-
troll the Suez Canal, and one day will at
tempt to seize Nicaragua and make the
greatest of the worlds commercial high
ways in the future also British. This is
not sentiment nor Anglophobia; it is a
strictly fair deduction from the record of
English policy and practice from the Ellz-
ebethan era down to the present time We