The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1900-11-20

snd which report was presented by Mr.
Hepburn 10 the House follows:
I'VE want our share of the worlds CON-
merce, and to secure It We must have all
Of the utilities that are possible NaE eaa
we expect to get our share without fierce
struggles. There is now the most intense
rivalry for this commerce on the part Of
commercial nations. And our rivals will
use all political and commercial influences
and diplomacy to drive US ont of the field.
There are persons who say that we are
bound by treaty stipuiations with the Coy
erEment of Great Britain TO refrain from
carrying out this great enterprise This
statement the committee does not believe.
We recognize the fact that fifty years ago
the United States and Great Britain enter
ed into al alliance to secure the building
OF the Nicaragua Canal Any person who
diSpassio1ately studies carefully that treaty
must come to the conclusion that the pri-
mary stipulatlons in the Clayton-BulWer
convention looked 70 the immediate build
.ng of a canal under thu influences that
might be exerted by the two Governments,
rather than to a prohibition Of either to
build it
This Nicaragua Canal can properly be
described, in other words, by calling it
the short route to the East And then
properly paraphrasiGg the sentence,
Great Britain and the-United States bound
themselves not 10 secure as against the
other the short route to the East 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
without the consent and cooperation Of
the United States But in violation of tee
spirit OF the contract Great Britain has
through her control over the Suez Canal
al chr -,srTla to he
East, one that is on her territory as COM
pIeteIy for all practical purposes as
though it were on the soil Of Ireland; one
that is completely under the control of
her guns at Gibraltar and the islands n
the Mediterranean and the Red Seas, and
yet We are biandly told that notwitbstand-
ing the failure on her part to observe the
letter of the seventh article and the spirit
Of the first article. that NE are bound by
q treaty Of alliance entered into City
years ago.
There is no comparison between the
meagre interests Of fifty years ago and
the colossal interests of today. : ne stu
alton has so changed. the interests OF our
people now and then are so diverse the
necessity OF responding to these ch=nged
conditions are so overwhelming that the
most censorious of those who lead in the
formation of the worlds judgment you'd
say that our present action must be IN
harmony with these new conditions tacher
than the old. There is law Of self-pres-
ervation that should control the action CT
communities, no less than OF individuals.
Irrepea1able statutes are rot tolerated
Even the most solemnly enacted consti-
tutions must give way 20 the demands CT
the later generations when it is found that
their provisions are harmful TO the public
welfare.
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 in
teTest5 not BY Joint contributions to II;
but the possibilities of Suez Canal, that
followed years afte~ 1850, dawned upon
the maritime world changed the interests
Of Great Britain She no longer desired
the Nicaragua Canal for her own uses