The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1900-12-22
MEANING OF NUMBER TWO
No Hostile Fleet Can Pass Through
the Canal.
THIRD AMENDMENT KILLS ARTICLE THREE
BY This Article We Engaged to Invite Other
Nations to Adhere to the Treaty. Our
Government VIII Build and
HnntroI CapaI
Control Canal.
(By the Associated Press.)


Washington, Dec. Ex-senator Lodge,
who had charge of the Hay -Pauncefote
Treaty in the Senate today made the
following statement:
THE Senate was not Influenced by hos
tility toward England, and still less
would it reflect upon the Secretary of
State. The amendments were made by
the Senate solely because in its opinion
they were necessary for the interests of
TIE United States, for the avoidance of
any question as to the control of the
canal, and consequently for the sake of
peaceful and harmonious relations with
the rest of the world on that subject in
the future.
THE first amendment is a simple dec
laration that the Clayton Bulwer Treaty
ceases to exist and is superseded by the
Hay Pauncefote Treaty. The object of
the latter was to remove the former as
an obstacle to the construction of the
Isthmian canal.
Under article II of the Hay Paunce-
fote Treaty as ii stood we were clearly
bound if engaged in war to permit a hos
tile feet if it succeeded in getting inside
the three mile zone to pass unmolested
through the canal. If we meant to keep
it then it was a promise no nation ought
to make. If We knew that we should
not keep it in time of war then it was
only honest and fair to relieve ourselves
of the obligation in the treaty itself.
This was the purpose of the second
Davis amendment, which entirely dis
posed of any such promise and which fol-
lows exactly in principle, and almost ex-
actly in words Article Y, of the Suez con-
vention which reserved similar rights to
Turkey. whose interest in the Suez canal
is trivial compared to ours in that pro-
posed in Nicaragua
'The third amendment strikes out Ar
ticle III by which we engaged to invite
other nations to adhere to the treaty and
thereby become parties to it. Had there
been no Clayton Bulwer Treaty we should
have negotiated with no one except Costa
Rica and Nicaragua as to building the
canal.
ut is we'll recognized in international!
law that. when the conditions under
which a treaty has been made have radi
cally changed and new conditions and
new demands have arisen this fact IS All
ample ground for seeking an abrogation
or modification of the original instrument.
The American people desire to build and
mean to build ard control the Isthmian
Canal. They wish to remove it by ami
cable arrangement in suitable ahd be-
coming manner. The Hay Pauncefote
Treaty was framed for this object The
Senate is part of the treaty making pow
er, and treaties sent to it for ratifica lion
are not strictly treaties, but projects for
treaties.
''The Senate continuing the negotiation
begun by Mr.. Hay offers three new propo-
sitions to England They ask her to omit
the clause inviting other nations to ad-
here, which does not touch her at all to
agree in unmistakable language TO the
suppression of the Clayton Bulwer Treaty
by the Hay Pauncefote Treaty, which is
the whole purpose of the negotiation;
finally to accept the reservation of rights
in time of war which she granted to
Turkey in the Suez Convention. end of
which as the present possessor. of, sne is
now herself the beneficiary. England s
interest in having the canal built, be it
great or small. is second unly to ours.
We agree that all vessels OF commerce
and vessels Of war pass through the
canal on the same terms as our own,
and in war between powers agree to pre-
serve the neutrality of the canal toward
all belligerents. In reference to the
wishes of Nicaragua and Costa Rica in
regard to this treaty and to any way We
may hereafter make with them we re-
linquish the right to erect permanent
Notifications, and although taere is no
need of such Notifications the right to
erect them is an important right, and
its REIMBURSEMENT goes to The last verge
of concession. The vast cyDense and
maintenance and defence CT the canal are
ours, and the American people will never
permit canal there which they 10 not
control, because the defense of the United
States overrides every other coHsidera-
ton