The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1900-03-08
, nIn,r nj the Alliance

For once, in a way. President Mckinley
has changed his mind in a popular direC-
ton II is but a few days since II vas
asserted by Administration people gener-
ally that he was determined to force the
Hay Pauncefote Treaty through the Senate
without allowing il to be altered or amend
ed in the smallest particular It is en-
tirely plain that he has beaten a hasty
retreat from this position since the return
Of Senator Lodge from Boston. and the re-
ceipt of information from other sources
thst his reported determination to place
the Nicaragua Canal under Eur, pean con-
/ troll and to surrender the Monroe Doctrine.
would certainly involve sweeping Re-
/ publican defeat at the polls next Novem
Der.
i may be said with confidence that Mr.
/ Mckinley has not bowed 10 circumstances
this time without a struggle. He keenly
/ appreciates the painful position in which
change OF course on his part places Sec
| r. tary Hay, but IL is evident that the dan
ger to himself and his party has out
weighed the interests Of his Foreign Min
lister.
amendment to the Hay Pauncefote Treaty
prepared by Senator Davis and discussed
at the meeting of the Senate Foreign AZ
fairs Committee yesterday. II is expected
that the amendment will be adopted by
the committee at meeting tomorrow. It
provides that the United States shall have
the right to take measures for the defence
Of the canal ard OF its coasts OF which the
waterway viii form the connecting LINK,
In exactly the way that the same rights
/ are reserved to Turkey and Egypt in the
! Suez Canal treaty.
| The Hay auncefote Treaty contains
many excerpts from the Suez agreement.
and it is rather singular that they are
none Of them calculated to promote Ameri-
! can liberty Of action. while they are
/ largely useful in establishing control over
our own property and enterprise by the
/ Concert of Europe. But the saving clauses
! in the Suez treaty. which distinctly and
I deliberately provide that nothing in the
4 articles establishing neutrality and the
| right Of beIligerent passage shall inter
/ fere with the rights OF the Sultan and the
| Khedive TO use such means as may be
! necessary to safeguard the integrity OF
7 their dominions or Of their coasts beyond
I the termini of the canal are not repro
| duced.
/ Perhaps Mr.. Hay may be able 10 explain
how il came TO pass that he omitted to
adopt this part Of the Suez treaty, while
helping England to as much Of it as he
I did? II he had insisted upon inserting a
provision that nothing in the agreement
proposed should prevent the United States
from taking such measures as might be
necessary for the protection Of its prop
/ erty. coasts. and so on, in time OF war,
much of the opposition which the Hay
/ Panpcefote Treaty has met might have
/ been avoided. Such a provision. It is an
nounced, Senator Davis has arranged in hi;
amendment.
In advance OF any immediate explanation
Secretary Hay may be about to make We
do like to express our full opinion Of the
position in which the present development
puts him. Why did not he take advantage
Of the clause in the Suez treaty permit
ting Turkey aud Egypt TO Iortify and de-
fend the Suez Canal? Was he outwitted
by the British Foreign Office. or was il
his deliberate design to give his own
country as little influence as possible IN
the control OF the Nicaragua CanaI2 II
the latter. did he act Of his own volitiou
and on his own initiative, or under orders
These are questions which cannot be evad-
ed without very grave embarrassment tc
the Administration