The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-12-08


 for the building of the canal across the
 Isthmus of Panama. This was the route i which commended itself to the deliberate l judgment of the congress, and we can now acquire by treaty the right to con struct the canal over this route. The question now therefore. is not by which route the isthmian canal shall be built, for that question has ben definitely and
 irrevocably decided. The question is simply whether or not we shall have an 1 isthmian canal
 When the congress directed that we ] should take the Panama route under treaty with Colombia the essence of the 1 condition, of course, referred not to the l government which controlled that route, ] but to the route itself; 10 the territory across which the route lay not 10 the name which for the moment the territory l bore on the map. The purpose Of the law was to authorize the President to make a treaty with the power in actual control 1 of the Isthmus of Panama. This purpose l has been fulfilled.
 | Relations of Government to Panama. l In the year of 1S46 this government en- 1 tered into a treaty with New Granada, l the predecessor upon the isthmus of the republic of Colombia and of the present republic of Panama, by which treaty it was provided that the government and citizens of the United States should al ways have free and open right of way or transit across the Isthmus of Panama by any modes of communication that might be constructed while in return our government guaranteed the perfect neu- trality of the aforementioned isthmus with the view that the free transit from the one to the other sea might not be in- terrupted or embarras sed. The treaty vested in the United States a substantial property right carved out of the rights of sovereignty and property which New Granada then had and possessed over the said territory The name of New Grana- da has passed away and it's territory has been divided. Its successor, the govern ment of Colombia, has ceased 10 own any property in the isthmus. A new republic that of Panama, which was at one time a sovereign state, and at another time mere department of the successive con- federations known as New Granada and Colombia. has now succeeded to the flshts which first one and then the other form erly exercised over the isthmus. But as long as the isthmus endures. the mere geographical fact of its existence, and the peculiar interest therein which is re- quired by our position, perpetuate the solemn contract which binds the holders of the territory to respect our right to freedom of transit across it, and binds us in return to safeguard for the sthmus
  tmable privilege The true interpreta- ton of the obligations upon which the United States entered in this treaty of 1Sl6 has been given repeatedly in the ut terances of Presidents and secretaries of state Secretary Cass in 1858 officially stated the position of this government as follows:
 "rhe progress of events has rendered the interoceanic route across the narrow portion Of Central America vastly inn portant to the commercial world, and es- pecially to the United States, whose pos sessions extend along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, and demand the easiest and speediest modes of communication. While the rights of sovereignty of the states occupying this region should al- ways be respected, we shall expect that these rights be exercised In a spirit be- fitting the occasion and the wants and circumstances that have arisen. Sover- eighty has it's duties as well as It's rights. and none of these local governments, even if administered with more regard to the just demands of other nations than they have been. would be permitted, in a spirit of eastern isolation. 10 close the gates of intercourse on the great high ways of the world, and justify the act by the pretension that these avenues of trade and travel belong to them and that they choose to shut them. or, what Is almost equivalent. to cucumber them with such unjust relations as would prevent their general use'
 Seven years later in 1865, Mr Seward, in different communcations, took the fol- lowing position:
 "The United States have taken and will take no interest in any question of in- ternal revolution in the state of Panama. or any state of the United States of Col ombia. but will maintain a perfect neu- t., alterations. The United States will, nevertheless hold themseivas ready to protect the transit trade across the isth- mus against invasion of either domestic or foreign disturbers of the peace of the state of Panama. Neither the text nor the spirit of the stipulation in that article by which he United States engages to preserve the neutrality of the Isthmus of Panama imposes an obligation on this government to comply with the requisl- ton (of the President of the United States of Colombia for a force to protect the Isthmus of Panama from body of n- surgents of that country). The purpose of the stipulation was to guarantee the isth- mus against seizure or invasion by a for egn power only
 Attorney General Speed, under date of November [. 1865. advised Secretary Sew ard as follows:
 Prom this treaty it cannot be supposed that New Granada invited the United States to become a party to the intestine troubles of that government, nor did the United States become bound to take sides in the domestic broils of New Granada. The United States did guarantee New Granada in the sovereign ty and property over the territory. This was as against other and foreign govern ments."
 For four hundred years, ever since shortly after the discovery of this hem isphere. the canal across the isthmus has been planned For two score years it has been worked at. When made it Is 10 last for the ages. It Is to alter the geog- raphy of a continent and the trade routes of the world. We have shown by every treaty we have negotiated or attempted to negotiate with the people In control of the isthmus and with foreign nations in reference thereto our Consistent good faith in observing our obligations; on the one hand to the peoples of the isthmus, and on the other hand to the civilized world whose commercial rights we are safeguarding and guaranteeing by our action. We have done our duty to others in letter and in spirit, and we have shown the utmost forbearance in exacting our own rights.
 Repudiation of Treaty by Colombia.
 Last spring. under the act above re- ferred to, treaty concluded between the representatives of the republic of Colom- bia and of our government was ratified by the senate. The treaty was entered into at the urgent solicitation of the people of Colombia and after a body of experts appointed by our government especially to go into the matter of the routes across