The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1903-12-08

ment was ratified by the senate. This
treaty was entered into at the urgent
solicitation of the people of Colombia
after a body of experts appointed
by our government especially to go into
the matter of the routes across the
fsthmus had pronounced unanimously
in favor Of the Panama route. In draw
ing up this treaty every concession was
made to the people and to the govern
ment of Colombia. We were more
than just in dealing with them. Our
generosity was such as to make 1t a
serious question whether we had not
gone too far in their interest ut the OK
pense of u own. for in our scrupulous
desire to pay all possible heed not
merely to the real but even to the
fancied rights of our weaker %neighbor,
who already owed so much to our pro-
lection and forbearance. we yielded in
all possible ways to her desires in
drawing up the treaty. Nevertheless
the government Of Colombia not mere
~ %repudiated the treaty. but roDudi-
ated it in such manner rs to rake it
evident by the time the Colombian con-
gress adjourned that not the scantiest
hope remained of ever getting a salts
factory treaty from them.
Revolution In Panama, =
hi people of Panama had long been
discontinued with the republic of Co
lombia. and they had been kept quiet
only by the prospect Of the conclusion
of the canal treaty, which was to them
a matter of vital concern. When it be-
came evident that the treaty was hope
lessly lost the people of Panama rose
literally as n man. Not a shot was
fired by a single man on the isthmus
in the interest of the Colombian gov
eminent. Not a life was lost in the
accomplishment of the revolution. The
Colombian troops stationed on the 18TH
mus, who had long been unpaid. made
common us with the people of Pan
ANA. and with astonishing unanimity
the new republic was started. The
duty of the United States in the prem
ises was clear. In strict accordance
with the principles laid down by Sec
retaries Cass and Seward. the United
States gave notice that it would per-
init the landing of no eXpeditionary
force, the arrival of which would mean
chaos and destruction along the line of
the railroad and of the proposed canal
and all interruption of transit as an
inevitable consequence. The de facto
government of Panama was recog-
niZed.
Under such circumstances the gov
eminent of the United States would
have been guilty of folly and weak
ness, amounting in their sum to a crime
against the nation, had it acted other
wise than it did when the revolution of
Nov. 3 last took place in Panama. This
great enterprise of building the inter-
oceanic canal cannot be held up to
crafty the whims or out of respect to
the governmental impotence or to the
even more sinister and evil political
peculiarities Of people who, though
they dwell afar off, yet, against the
wish Of the actual jewellers on the 18TH
mus, assert an unreal supremacy over
the territory. The possession Of a ter
ritory fraught with such peculiar ca
pacities as the isthmus in question car
ries with it obligations to mankind.
The ourse Of events has shown that
this canal cannot be built by private
enterprise or by any other nation than
u own; therefore it must be built by
the United States.
New Treaty With Panama.
Every effort has been made by the
government of the United States to per-
suade Colombia to Il. course
which was essentially Il iy to our
interests and to the int of the
world. but to the interes Colon
bia itself. These efforts allied.
and Colombia. by her persi. IN re-
pulsips the advances that been