New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-02-06
CANAL TREATY SIGNED.
SENT TO THE SENATE BY THE
PRESIDENT FOR APPROVAL.
INTEREST IN THE NICARAGUAN WATER
WAY TAKES A DECIDED BOOM.
[BY TELEGRAPH To THE TRIBUNE.l

[BY TELEGRAPH To THE TRIBUNEl
Washington Feb. 5.-Secretary Hay and AM
bassador Pauncefote at II o'clock to-day signed
the convention between the United states
and Great Britain which guarantees the neutral
ity of the Nicaragua Canal and abrogates those
portions of the Clayton -Bulwer Treaty which
had long been irksome to this Government. The
new agreement. which will in all likelihood be
referred to hereafter as the HayPauncefote
Treaty. promptly transmitted by the Presl-
dent TO the Senate for ratification.
The treaty was read in executive session OF
the Senate. Mr. Davis. chairman OF the Com
mittee on Foreign Relations. moved TO make
the text public as it was a subject in which
all greatly interested, but after some dis
cCssion it decided to refer 1t TO the COM
mittee on Foreign Relations before taking that
step. The comments Of Senators on the treaty
after hearing it read were favorable. 1t was
said to allow the United States all the au-
thority that was needed, and the neutrality of
the canal was guaranteed.
CEREMONY AT THE STATE DEPARTMENT
Though the convention is expected to be, for
the United States al least of the most far reach
ing Importance the ceremony Of signing IL was
extremely simple Lord Pauncefote arrived at
the State Department shortly before II O'clock
accompanied by Robert Bromley. of the En-
bassy
The American and English engrossed copies of
the treaty had already been carefully compared.
and soon as Lord PauDcefote entered Secre-
tary Hays Office Sydney Smith chief OF the
Diplomatic Bureau. was summoned with the
documents, and William Ciwin. the veteran mes
senger who has witnessed the signing of every
treaty since he came into the Department under
Secretary Fish. twenty-eight years ago, pro-
duced the necessary lighted candle and the
Z tic
the end of the American copy Of the agreement
Lord Pauncefote signing beneath. Then the
British Ambassador affixed his signature to the
end Of the British copy, and Secretary Hay
signed below. Mr. Bromley and Mr.. Smith COM
pleted the formalities by impressing the personal
seals Of the two plenipotentiaries after their
names William Gwin blew out the candle, and
Secretary Hay taking out his watch. announced
that IT was Just II o'clock. Not more than five
minutes had been consumed in carrying out the
result of nearly fifty years of diplomatic nego-
tiation.
Lord Pauncefote and Secretary Hay remained
in consultation alone for perhaps twenty min
utes discussing other matters than isthmlan
canal prospects. In the mean time Mr.. brorn-
ley sent a cable dispatch to Downing Street and
was preparing the English copy for transmits
sion by special messenger on Wednesdays
steamer for England, while Mr. Smith had
haStened
American copy to be sent with a bFef letter OF
transHittal TO the Senate ----~-sae--'-
GREAT INTEREST AROUSED.
The treaty was the absorbing topic of discus
sion in official circles to-day and copies of The
Tribune were eagerly sought for it's thorough
presentation of the subject. Perhaps the deep
est interest was manifested in the Navy. where
the Nicaragua Canal is regarded as the in
dispensable safeguard of the United States in
the event of a maritime war The removal of
the last obstacle the construction of the canal
as a National enterprise, in the opinion of naval
officers, assured it's early completion, and the
provision for its absolute neutrality under the
guarantee of all nations to them a crown
ing triumph of the highest diplomacy and good
policy. The complete neutralizing of the Ameri-
can short cut according to a settled naval
maxim, may be considered indispensable to the
maintenance of the unalterable doctrine of
America for Americans" With bases of opera
tions for the United States Navy at Key West
San Juan de Puerto Rico and Isle of Pines on
the east. and with Honolulu. Pago Pago, Pich-
ilinque, San Francisco and probably the Gala
pagos on the west, approach to the canal is
securely controlled.
VIEWS OF NAVAL STRATEGISTS
No naval officer wants forthcation in Costa
Rica or elsewhere in Central America any more
than Malta and Crete on the north and Perrin
and Alden on the south. No United States naval
plans have contemplated a National coaling sta
tion within several hundred miles of the Mica
ragua Canal itself, the strategic experts of the
service having long ago agreed that the coal
piles at each terminal should be conducted as
private business enterprises for selling fuel to all
who applied. The safety of the canal, they as
sert rests wholly on its absolute neutrality not
only between its eastern and western harbors
but for a hundred miles from each terminus
Within these limits it was deemed essential to
prohibit and prevent belligerents from offensive
tactics. Once within these lines, a belugerent
must be secure from molestation by any but q
neutral force on duty for the purpose of enforc-
ing neutrality II nations want to fight, they
must do their fighting elsewhere, according to
the new agreement which the United States and
Great Britain guarantee to enforce against the
rest of the globe if necessary.
The only possible difficulty to be encountered
in carrying out this compact is that England
might at some remote day come 10 war with the
United States. Naval officers agree that no
other nation alliance Of Powers is to be
feared. But their plans provide for such con-
tingency, for they point out that the United
States could place fifty thousand men in Mic
aragua in a few weeks IL they were needed to
control the canal, and that moreover the Navy
operating few hundred miles from it's own es-
tablished bases would undoubtedly hold off a
feet however large, that possessed no firm base
nearer than Halifax and Victoria.
CAUSE OF ENGLAND'S ASSENT.
SOME RECoMPENsE ExPECTED-THE PUB
LEGATION OF THE TERMS