The Savannah morning news., 1903-12-20

Washington, Dec. 1S.-After a ses-
sion of two and a quarter hours, the
Senate to-day adjourned until Jan. 4.
To-days sitting was devoted large
~ to a speech by Mr.. Pettus of
Alabama. on the situation in Panama.
in which he took the position that
the recognition of the republic of
Panama by the United States had
been premature, and of such char
acter as to render it OF doubtful APP
pearance.
Senator German sought but failed,
10 secure an order upon the Postmas-
ter General directing him to send to
the Senate the full record of the Post
Office Department inquiry. His reso-
luton to this effect was defeated for
the time by an objection from Mr..
Quay.
The Morgan resolution offered yes
terday was laid before the Senate,
and Mr.. Pettus said that if Panama
was an independent nation, it was inn
portant to know whether IT was legl-
timatelv such.
He said 1t was important to know
whether the participation of the Unit
ed States in the birth of the new ma
ton had been of a character to tarnish
the honor of this country. God FOR
bid" he exclaimed, that this giant
republic of ours should ever become
too great to maintain its own honor.
Recognized Too Soon.
Mr.. Pettus announced it to be his
purpose to confine his consideration to
the legal aspects of the case, adding
that if the recital should prove a Sc
admin a.
ton the fault must be attributed to
the law, and not himself. He quoted
authorities to show that de facto gov
ernments should only be recognized
when established, and declared that
such law is a severe commentary upon
what the United States have been do
ing in Panama. No logic, he said,
could be sufficient to defend an indie
feasible act
Mr.. Pettus contended that If the
United States should take the canal
property in Panama they should pay
part of Colombias public debt. Yet
he feared that this would not be done,
even though demanded by common law
and ordinary decency. He also de-
clared that Colombia had right to
reject it's treaty with the United States
If it so desired.
He asserted that one brigade of
regular United States troops would be
sufficient to cope with the entire force
of Colombia, but surely, he said, the
great power given us by the Master
was not to be used by us like bully.
whenever" he added, 1.-THE nation
gets too large to be just, it will be
too large to be respected by it's own
citizens"
He declared that war against Co
lombia had already been practically
waged, but argued that no other au-
thority than Congress could assume
this responsibility.
Wanted to Reconsider.
In the executive session Mr.. Nor
gan moved to reconside,- the motion
by which the nomination of w. l. Blu
chanan to be minister to Panama was
confirmed on Thursday last and the
motion was discussed for half an hour
without being acted upon. Senators
Morgan and Bacon both said they had
intended to oppose confirmation of Mr..
Buchanan's nomination, but had not
observed when it was taken up in the
Senate, and had, therefore, been un-
prepared for the announcement of his
confirmation. They were not even
aware of the fact that the nomination
had been reported from the Committee
on Foreign Relations.
Senator Morgan said he had been