Milford chronicle., 1903-12-11


and the institution of fall maneuver wor
accomplish satisfactory results.
l heartily congratulate the congress up
on the steady progress in building u
the American navy. There should be n
cessation in adding to the effective unit
of the fighting strength of the fleet
Meanwhile the navy department and tn
officers of the navy are doing well thei
part by providing constant service at SCI
under conditions akin to those of actua
warfare The best work ashore is in
dispensable. but the highest duty of
naval officer is to exercise command a
sea. 1t IS eminently desirable that ma
val general stan should be established.
g. - .ii,sHr-
lsthmian Canai.
BY the act of June Is. 1892. the congress
authorized the president TO enter into
treaty with Colombia for the building OF
the canal across the isthmus of Panama
it being provided that i'm the event OF
failure to secure such treaty after the
lapse of reasonable time recourse
should be had to building a canal through
Nicaragua. 1t has not been necessary to
consider this alternative. as I am enabled
to lay before the senate a treaty provid-
ing for the building of the canal across
the isthmus of Panama. This was the
route which commended itself to the de-
liberate judgment of the congress- and
We Eetll now acquire Dy treaty the right
10 construct the canal over this route.
The question now therefore is not by
which route the isthmus canal shall be
built, for that question has been def
nitely and irrevOcably decided. The
question is simply whether or not We
shall have an isthmus canal.
When the congress directed that we
should take the Panama route under
treaty with Columbia the essence of the
condition of course referred not to the
government which controlled that route.
but to the route itself to the territory
across which the route lay not to the
name which for the moment the territory
bore on the map. The purpose of the
law was to authorize the president to
make a treaty with the power in actual
control of the isthmus of Panama. This
purpose has been fulfilled.
Reputation of Treaty BY Colombia.
Last spring treaty concluded be-
tween the representatives Of the re-
public of Colombia and of our government
was ratified by the senate This treaty
was entered into at the urgent solicita-
ton of the people of Colombia and after
a body of experts appointed by our gov
ernment especially to go into the matter
of the routes across the isthmus had pro-
nounced unanimously in favor of the
Panama route. In drawing up this
treaty every concession was made to the
l1blAt anu 10 the government OF AOlOm-
bia. We were more than just in dealing
with them. Our generosity was such as
TO make 1t serious question whether we /.
had not gone too far in their interest at /
the expense of our own. for in our scru- /
pulous desire to pay all possible heed not 1
merely to the real but even TO the fancied I
rights of our weaker neighbor who al [
ready owed so much to our protection .
and fOrbearance, we yielded in all pOssi-
Die ways to her desires in drawing up
he treaty. Nevertheless the government .
If Colombia not merely repudiated the
reaty, but repudiated it in such manner
IS to make 1t evident by the time the
Colombian congress adjourned that not
he scantiest hope remained Of ever get
ing a satisfactory treaty from them.
Revolution In Panama.
The people of Panama had long been /
iscontented with the republic of Colom-
Tia, and they had been kept quiet only
" the prospect of the conclusion of the
anal treaty. which was to them a matter
# vital concern. When it became evil
ent that the treaty was hopelessly lost
he people of Panama rose literally as one
nan. Not a shot was fired by a single
1an on the isthmus in the interest of the
colombian government. Not a life was
)st in the accomplishment of the revo-
alton. The Colombian troops stationed
II the isthmus. who had long been un-
aid, made common cause with the peo-
lie of Panama. and with astonishing
the new republic was started.
he duty of the United States in the
remises was clear. In strict accordance
18th the principles laid down by Secre-
lries Cass and Seward the United States /
ave notice that it would permit the land
lg of no aXpeditionary force, the arrival
{ which would mean chaos and destruc-
on along the line of the railroad and OF
le proposed canal and an interruption
melt In. a..N. IL
he de facto government of Panama was
cognized.
Under such circumstances the govern
ent Of the United States would have
zen guilty of folly and weakness. {
in their sum to crime ,
sainst the nation had 1t acted otherwise
AN 1t did when the revolution of No
,mber last took place in Panama. This
eat enterprise of building the inter-
eanic canal cannot be held up to graf {
Y the whims or out OF respect to the I
'vernmental impotence or to the even
ore sinister and evil political peculiar
IS or people who. though they dwell Q
ar of. yet. against the wish of the 4
tual dwellers on the isthmus assert
unreal supremacy over the territory y
le possession of territory fraught I
tn such peculiar capacities as the 18TH s
us in question carries with it obliga- ~
ms to mankind. The course of events =
$ shown that this canal cannot be L
lit by private enterprise or by any v
her nation than our own therefore II 4
lst be built by the United States.
New Treaty With Panama. u
every effort has been made by the q
of the United States to per- a
ade Colombia to follow a course which A
IS essentially not only to our interests Az
to the interests of the world, but to u
2 interests of Colombia itself. These
orts have failed, and Colombia, by her
-sistence in repulsing the advances
1t have been made, has forced us for ~
: sake of our own honor and of the in ~
est and well being, not merely of our n
n people. but of the people of the 81
hmus of Panama and the people of the NJ
ilized countries of the world, to take
'isive steps to bring to an end condi- G.
n of affairs which had become intoler- tC
e. The new republic of Panama i'm m
diately offered to negotiate a treaty =.
h us. This treaty I herewith SUBJ u
!. By 1t our interests are better safe "
lrded than in the treaty with Colom-
which was ratified by the senate at M
last session. 1t Is better I'm Its terms
n the treaties offered to us by the re-
'lics Of Nicaragua and Costa Rica. At 81
the right to begin this great under dI
ing ie rnadn auaflah1a