Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-02-19

able US in an emergency and in certain
directions to increase the efficiency of our
navy does not constitute such state of
facts as allows our rivals to object to our
building this canal Other nations are now
making large additions to their naval pow
ers by the use of their Shipyards. We GER
tainly possess the right to increase the eff
cheney of our navy by increasing the num-
Der of our ships. When We nave the ships
We have the right to send them wherever
we choose, and the mere fact that the
rapid transfer through the Nicaragua canal
of our naval vessels to the Pacific, or from
the Pacific ocean to the Atlantic, increases
the efficiency of given squadron surely
ought not to be regarded as an undue ad-
vantage that the United States would have
through this waterway. We want to pre-
serve our power upon the high seas. Our
people are intent upon having their full
share of the commerce of the world.
Treaty obligations.
There are persons who say that we are
bound by treaty stipulations with the gov
eminent of Great Britain to refrain from
carrying out this great enterprise. This
statement We do not believe"
After quoting the article In the Clayton
Bulwer treaty referring to the canal. the
report goes on: sF5
No one can read that article without
concluding that the Nicaragua canal con-
templated was an undertaking early to be
completed through the kindly aid of the
two governments. Great Britain has al
lowed fifty years to elpase without any
movement on her part to carry out the
provisions of that article. 1t has been
dead letter from the day the treaty was
signed to the present moment.
In 1850 the Nicaragua route was the only
short route TO the east that any man
had in his thoughts. and the spirit of the
agreement was that Great Britain would
not secure the short route to the east with
cut the consent and cooperation Of the
United States. But in violation of the spirit
of the contract Great Britain has through
her control over the SueZ canal secured for
herself short route to the east, one that
is on her territory completely for all
practical purposes as though it was on the
soil of Ireland; one that is completely I'M
der the control of her guns at Gibraltar and
the islands in the Mediterranean and the
Red sea, and yet We are blandly told that
Notwithstanding the failure on her part to
observe the letter of the seventh article and
spirit of the first article. we are bound
by a treaty of alliance entered into fifty
years ago.
In this connection the report quotes Prof.
Lawrence in Principles of International
Law" where he discusses the extent to
which treaties are binding. The report then
proceeds:
Treaty with Nicaragua.
But think it safe to say that neither
the United States nor Great Britain has
TtSdEueu lllc 1lty
treaty as in force. In 1868 the United
States and Nicaragua exchanged ratifica-
lions of a treaty Of friendship. commerce
and navigation. 1t gives to the. United
States the right to send its forces into
Nicaragua to defend the citizens of the
United States and their property, the prop
erty in contemplation being the Nicaragua
canal The use of a military force always
implies the right to establish Notifications
for defensive purposes.
Now = il possible that the United States
would at that early day-only seventeen
years after the negotiations of the Clayton
Bulwer convention-have secured from Mic
aragla the right thus to use her military
forces if the authorities had not believed
that the Clayton-Rulwer treaty was abro-
gated? But again, at an earlier period-in
1S60-Great Britain herself concluded
treaty with the state of Nicaragua. in
which there was an article almost identical
with article sixteen above quoted. This
was eight years before our treaty with
Nicaragua. VIII il be cOntended that Great
Britain had the right TO secure from Mic
ardgua an agreement that she might enter
with her military forces the territory of
Nicaragua and use her military forces for
the defense of her people and her property,
including the right TO build such fortifica-
tons as might be needed for her military
forces. and yet the provisions of the Clay
ton-Bulwer treaty be in force?
Dead Treaty.
1T is doubtless true that in 1850 Great
Britain and the United States contemplate
ed the speedy completion of the Nicaragua
canal. They proposed to have joint inter-
ests, by joint contributions, to it, But the
possibilities of a Suez canal. that followed
years after 1880, dawned upon the maritime
world, changed the interests of Great
Britain. She no longer desired the Nicara-
qua route for her own uses. She directed
her conduct with reference to the new con-
dition. yet still uses this ghost of dead
treaty to brighten the people of the United
States from securing the great advantages
certain to flow to US from the successful
completion of this great undertaking."