The Lamar register., 1901-05-29
The clny.on.nulwer Treaty

| 1t IL understood that the draft OF the
proposals embodies the views OF
United States senators. Thus Informed,
the British government will know In
advance what terms will be accepta-
BILE to the Senate, whose ratification of
the treaty is necessary. As long as
negotiations are pending hope Will not
be abandoned that the two countries
Will finally dispose of this matter sat
isfactorily. The only existing treaty
with respect to the isthmian canal Is
the Clayton Bulwer treaty, by which
each OF the two powers agreed not to
exercise exclusive control over the ca
nal and guaranteed Its neutrality. The
| Hay-Pauncefote treaty, MS ratified by
| the Senate, declared that one Of Its
| purposes was to remove any objec-
tion which might arise out of the Clay
ton-Bulwer treaty to the construction
of such canal under the auspices OF
| the government of the United States
without impairing the general princi-
pie of naturalization established in Ar
other article the Hay-Pauncefote
treaty expressly superseded the Clay
ton-Bulwer treaty. Lord Pnuncefote
reported to the British foreign office
that the federal government would en-
deavor by friendly negotiation TO OBJ
tain Great Britains consent to a modi-
fication of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty.
In view of these recOgnitions Of the
existence of the old Clayton Bulwer
convention and of the possible failure
to set 1t aside as an obstruction to our
isthmlnn canal project by another
treaty, the question whether the
United States would be justified by
the law of nations In setting said con-
vention aside without the consent Of
Great Britain becomes interesting.
Former Secretary of State John w.
Foster, in his address to the Yale stu
dents last week, declared that the
changed conditions from those existing
half century ago would be sufficient
authority to terminate the convention
that 1t is no longer binding upon the
United States.
"The reluctance of this country in
carrying forward Its plans about the
canal has been due to the hope that
England would accept the Hay
Pauncefote treaty rs amended.
The hope is gone, and the
United States must now go
ahead and declare the Clayton-Bul-
wer treaty terminated. Its best inter-
ests demand such action. This govern
gation to any power"
One of our American writer's on in
ternatIonal law says that the inviola-
bilIty of treaties, though not especially
guaranteed. is the first law of nations;
that changes in the internal affairs of
the sIgnntory nations, even changes in
their government, do not affect their
obligatory force.
Lord Lansdowne, the British minis
ter of foreign affairs, In the answer of
his government declining to accept the
amended Hay-Pauncefote treaty, said
that the convention Is an international
contract of unquestiOnable validity-"a
contract which, according to well es-
tablished international usage, ought
not to be abrogated or modified, save
with the consent of both the parties
to the contract"
1t has been maintained by many
American statesmen that the binding
authority of the old treaty has been
weakened, destroyed, by the British
encroachments in Central America
contrary to the article prohibiting
Great Britain from assuming dominion
in Central America. Mr.. Foster says
that the United States is faith-ob-
serving country i'll the matter of
treaties, but as much cannot be said
of other nations, Great Britain in
cluded." The fact that other treaty
compacts have been violated, or that
Great Britain has violated them. it
seems to the Ledger, furnishes no JUS
tificaticn for further international sins
of similar nature. The assertion of
the doctrine that changed conditions
and the lapse of time will justify the
abrogation of IL treaty, permanent OH
its face, without the consent of the
other party, might come home to trou-
BILE us In the future. This seems to
be only another way of saying that
the will and desire of the dissatisfied
party to an international compact will
justify its abrogation. If such be
sound doctrine, what guarantee can
we give Great Britain that new
treaty, drawn to correct the defects or
rnmnyo tho b,rdaue of tho old Ola VI on