Bisbee daily review., 1903-12-08

PiShiiScS was CicdI III StrlCl dcCOru- ance with the principles laid down by Secretary Seward in official docu- ments, the United States gave notice | that it would permit the landing of no expeditionary force. the arrival of which would mean chaos and destruc- tion along the line of the railroad and of the proposed canal, and an inter- | ruption of transit as an inevitable consequence. The experience of over half a centu. ry has shown Colombia to be utterly | incapable of keeping order on the Isthmus. Only the active interfer-
 ence of the United States has enabled her to preserve so much as a sem.
 blance of sovereignty
 Latest Proposition of Colombian Gov. ment.
 A most extraordinary request is that
 which has just been been received and
 which runs as follows:
 Knowing that revolution has al-
 reaGy commenced in Panama Gan emi.
 nent Colombian) says that if the Gov ernment of the United States will land troops to preserve Colombian sover-
 eighty. and the transit, if requested by Colombian charge d'affaires. this Government will declare martial law; and, by virtue of vested constitutional authority. when public order is Gis-
 turbed. will approve by decree the rat. ification of the canal treaty as signed; or, if the Government C the United
 of the Congress-with new and friend.
 ly members-next May to approve the
 treaty. (An eminent Colombian) has
 the perfect confidence of vice-presi-
 dent, he says, and if it became neces- sa-y will go to the Isthmus or send
 representative there to adjust matte-3
 along above lines to the satisfaction of the people there"
 This dispatch is noteworthy from
 two standpoints. Its offer of immedi. ately guaranteeing the treaty to us is
 in sharp contrast with the positive and contemptuous refusal of the Con-
 gress which has just closed it's sessions
 to consider favorably such treaty; it shows that the Government which
 made the treaty really had absolute control over the situation, but did not
 choose to exercise this control. The dispatch further calls on us to restore order and secure Colombian suprem- acy in the Isthmus from which the Co- lombian Government has just by it's action decided to bar us by preventing the construction Of the canal The facts establish beyond ques- tion: First, that the United States has for over half a century patiently and in good faith carried out its obli- gaticns under the treaty of 1S46. sec- ond, that when for the first time it be- came possible for Colombia to do any thing in requital of the services thus repeatedly rendered to it for fifty-sev- en years by the United States, the Co., lombian Government peremptorily and extensively refused thus to do it's part, even though to do so would have been to its advantage and immeasur- ably to the advantage of the State of Panama, at that time under its juris- diction; third, that throughout this pe- riod of revolution, riots and factional disturbances of every kind have oc- cured one afte the other in almost un- interrupted succession, some of them 1 lasting for months ana even for years. ! while the central government was un- able to put them down or to make | peace with the rebels; fourth, that these disturbances instead of showing | any sign of abating nave tended to | grow more numerous and more seri- | ous in the immediate past; fifth, that | the control of Colombia over the Isth- | mus of Panama could not be maintain. ed without the armed inteyvention | and assistance of the United States. | In other words, the Government Of Co., lombia, though wholly unable to main- tain orcer on the Isthmus, has never theless declined to ratify a treaty the conclusion of which opened the only chance to secure its own stability and 10 guarantee permanent peace on. and the construction of canal across, the Isthmus.
 Under such circumstances the Gov ernment of the United States would have been guilty of folly and weak ness, amounting in their sum to crime against the Nation, had it acted otherwise than it did when the revolu. tion of November last took place in Panama. This great enterprise of building the interoceanic canal can