The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-12-07

has always been vigilant to avail itself of
IS privileges conferred by the treaty, ex-
OF war between Peru and Spain the Uni
ted States would carry into effect the
guaranty qua ,, Of neutrality; There have been
ment In which this treaty has not, either
by the one side or the other, been used
mands. It was said by Mr.. IFS Fish I'm in ISL
that the department of state had reason
to believe that an attack upon Colombian
sovereignty on the isthmus had, on sew
eral occasions, been averted by warning
from from, this government In 1856 when 60
ties from Italy in the Cerruti case, Mr.
Bayard expressed the. serious concern that
Europe an power should resort to force
against sister republic of this hemis-
rupted use of a part of whose territory
we are guarantors under the solemn faith
of a treaty
Facts Established.
The above recital of facts establishes
beyond question: First, that the United
States has for over half a century pa
bsatons a unep o the 1a teay Of s e
ond, that when for the first time it be-
came possible for Colombia to do any,
peatedly rendered to it for 81 years by
the United States, the Colombian govern
ment peremptorily and extensively refused
thus to do its part, even though to do so
would have been to its advantage and inn
measurably to the advantage Of the state
diction; third, that throughout this period
revolutions, riots; and fractional distur-
Dances of every kind have occurred one
after the other in almost uninterrupted
succession, some of them lasting for
central government was unable to put
them down or to make peace with the
rebels fourth; that tnese dief st
have tended to grow more numerous and
more serious in the immediate past; fifth,
that the control of Colombia over the
Isthmus of Panama could not be MAIN
tanned without the armed intervention
other words, the government of Colombia,
though wholly unable to maintain order
on the .isthmus, has nevertheless declined
to ratify a treaty the conclusion of which
opened the only chance to secure its own
stability and to guarantee permanent
peace on, and the construction of canal
across, the isthmus.
Under such circumstances the govern
ment of the United States would have
been guilty of folly and weakness, amount
ing in their sum to a crime against the
nation, had it acted otherwise than it
did when the revolution of November
last took place in Panama. This great en-
terprise of building the interoceanic canal
or out ut Of respect to the governmental
Importance, or to the even more sinister
and evil political pecu1iarities, of people
who, though they dwell afar off, yet,
against the wish of the actual jewellers
on the isthmus, assert an M, unreal supre-
of a territory fraught with such peculiar
capacities as the isthmus in question car
r1eS with II ODHSdt1OAS u ne
course of events has shown that this ca
nal can not be built by private enterprise
or by any other nation than our own;
therefore it must be built by the United
States.
Treaty With New Republic.
Every effort has been made by the gov
eminent of the United States to persuade
Colombia to follow a course which was
essentially not only to our interest and
to the interests of the world, but to the
interests of Colombia itself. These efforts
have failed, and Colombia, by her persis-
tence in repulsing the advances that have