The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-12-16
WAR WITH FRANCE
Possibility, LOOMS SAYS, MIGHT
HAVE FOLLOWED
FAILURE OF UNITED STATES
mo ACT AS THEY DID IN THE PANA-
MA MATTER.

A.sistant Secretary of State Speaks
in Explanation, Not Apology, OF
the Course Taken By Roosevelt
OFFERS SpecuIatiOns Upon What
,isbt Have Happened Unless the
COMMUNICATION Had Acted as IL
Did.
New York. Dec. 15.-The conditions
which resulted in the recent establish
,nent of the republic of Panama, were
discussed tonight at the banquet of
the Quill Club held at Hotel Mammal
IAN by Francis B. Loomis, assistant
secretary of state of the United States
and M. Philippe Bunau-Varilla, min
lister for Panama. Among those pres
ont was President Frissel of the
Hampton Institute.
Assistant Secretary LOOMS, in pre-
aenting his views on Panama, and our
rola+ions with other Latin American
countries. said:
1--WE have not desired to annex Pan
anna. and we have not done so. Inc
President simply executed the will OF
+he American people with due regard
TO international law and rights. He
was instructed by Congress to secure
o canal route on the isthmus of Pan
ANA, if possible. He waited until the
adjournment of the Colombian Con-
gress, and gave the government of that
country every opportunity to ratify the
treaty or to propose some proper meth
cd looking to the ratification of new
treaty, and the Colombian Congress,
in utter bad faith, rejected the treaty
and adjourned"
Then the revolution occurred, and the
President recognized the new repub-
lie. The right of secession, Mr..
LOOMS said, was expressly stipulated
in some of the Panama constitutions.
Mr.. I,oomis said the administration
had no apologies to offer for it's course.
Then Grew Mercenary.
1.-THE rejection of the treaty at Be-
gotta" continued Mr.. Loomis, was an
unfriendly act from the viewpoint of
International law. Colombia appealed
to US to enter into treaty to build
canal, the treaty was negotiated with
her in a most liberal spirit on our part
and was then rejected by the Colom-
bian government and Congress without
debate.
ut occurred to certain men in Be-
gotta that the United States could be
made to pay $4,000, 900 or $25,0O0,000 IN
stead of $4,000, 900, or, better still, as
has been disclosed by recent published
official correspondence, If the treaty
were rejected or no action taken upon
it and the whole matter postponed for
another year, the concession OF the
present French canal company having
expired by that time, the renewal Of
that concession would be declared in
valid and all the rights, privileges and
work of the French canal company be
practically conf1scated and disposed OF
to the United States for $40,000,0OO in
addition to the $10,00O000 as proposed,
and the annuity of $250,000. This was
radiant and alluring prospect, and the
temptation proved too strong.
This particular bit of canal history
and the possible consequences of the
action of the Colombian government in
rejecting the treaty have not been ex-
haustively discussed. If you will con-
slider 1t carefully you will see that out
of the conditions created by the failure
of the Colombians to ratify the treaty
and their deeply grounded belief that
they could invalidate the renewal of
the concession of the French company
and sell that concession to the United
States for $40. 900 000-out of these posi-
bilities came one of our strongest needs
for prompt and courageous action when
the opportunity was offered by the rev.
olution in Panama on Nov 3.
Then Possible War with France.
IF the Colombian Congress had de-
clared invalid the renewal of the
French concession, which might have
happened on the isthmus,~I may safely
assert, without fear of contradiction
by any well informed person, that the
government of France would not have
stood serenely by and witnessed the
pillage of thousands of her people
through the act which Bogota politi-
clans devised for the looting of the
French company of $40,000000.
The moment that the cables flashed
from Bogota to Paris the astounding
news that the extension of the French
concession was cancelled, French
squadron from Martinique would have
borne down upon the isthmus and per-
haps landed marines at Colon and sent
them across the isthmus to Panama
and along the line of the canal to pro-
tect the interests and property of
French citizens. There would, in all
probability, have been an armed con-
fiict between France and Colombia, or
France at least would have felt her
self compelled to hold the isthmus for
a long period. This would have
wrought Immediately and poignantly
upon the sensibilities of the American
people in respect to the Monroe Doc
trine, and we should no doubt have
found ourselves viewing France with
annoying apprehension. The French
warships might easily have been fol-
lowed by those of England and Hol-
land; and Panama, like the Balkan
states, might we'll have been expected
to furnish the spark to set half the
world in flames"