Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-03-25

They We're LANDED at Colon as ON. tro.,. :
ndu many times before been landed. ana
tnty were landed under these circum-
stances On the morning OF Nov. : Inc
Jay 81 the rising at Panama. about 45o
! .oioinDlan troops landed at Colon and
NJ ,t'-lr Two Generals preceded 10y rail to
liit cry OF Panama. where they were ar
rested and placed in confinement bv the
Insurgents: who had been joined hy nj!
the toiomDlan troops on the Isthmus cx-
ttpt the 100 Just landed. and who had n
Iorce OF 1,5o0 men under arms on the
morning OF the next day, the 4th of No
Vcnoer: the remaining commander OF this
DoIys or colombian troops in Colon sent a
| hollce 10 the American Consul that if tba
Officers who had been arrested by the in
Snrsents in Panama the evening before
! were not released by o'clock Is Nj H.
would open fire on the town OF Colon
ana Kill every United States citizen in The
place.
There was then no American armed
! force of any description on The soil ar thn
isthnlus. The Nashville was in the h,Ir-
| Dor Tie American Consul appealed IL
| the commander of the Nashville fur pro-
lection. and he landed the forty-two ma
rineS and blueiackets They took masses
sion of the shed OF the Panama Railroad
company, a stone building capable OF de-
fence: collected there the American men
residing IN Colon, sent the American wo-
faiiroad steamer ard a German steamer
which were lying Mt the dock and pre-
nared to receive the threatened attack
|
Colombian troops, and FOR an hour and a
half this little force stood to its arms
ready to fire and expected to receive the
threatened and apparently intended at
tack of ten times their number Then
cooler Judgment prevailed with the
Colombian officers and the tension was
relieved. on the following day renewal
of the threatening attitude of the Colonl-
han troops led to a reoccupation of the
railroad shed and a return of the women
and children to the steamers but again
without ict md
the evening of the second day. the 5th of
November, after conference with the in
surgent leaders in which the American
officers took no part, the Colombian troops
boarded Colombian ship ard sailed
away from the harbur of Colon. leaving
no Colombian force on the ISthmuS. The
commander of the Nashville closes his re-
port Of these occurrences in these words:
] beg to assure the Department that
had no part whatever in the negotiations
that We're carried on between Col. Torres
and the representatives of the prov iSiOna
Government: that ! landed an armed
force only when the lives Of American
citizens were threatened. and withdrew
this force as soon as there seemed to ba
no ground for further apprehension of in
jury to American lives and property: that
lclandod an armed force because of the
failure of Col. Torres TO carry out his
Il agreement to withdraw and announced in
tenti0n to return, and that my attitude
throughout was strictly neutral as be-
tween the two parties. my only purpose
being to protect the lives ana property
of American citizens and to preserve the
frce and undisputed transit Of the Isth-
mus.
1t was not the neutral force of forty
two marines and biuejackcts. or anything
that the American Government or Amcri-
can officers said or did. that led the 40
ColombianS to retire from Colon. it was
the fact that they found themselves alone
among q hostile ana unanimous people
with an overwhelming insurgent force in
arms against them. which lett no alter
native but C?pture or retreat. The recug-
lritiOn of independence and the treaty with
Panama are the real grounds OF tolom-
bias complaint and upon the justice of
with full disclosure of every step taken
and every object sought.
Jrpon the firm foundation of that righte-
Gus action, with the willing authority OF
the lawful owners of the soil, we Will dig
the canal not for selfish reasons, not for
greed of gain. but for the worlds COM
mercc. benefitting Colombia most of all.
We shall not get back the money we
spend upon the canal any more than we
shall get back the money we have cX-
pended to make Cuba a free and indie
pendent republic, or the money we nav"
expended to set the people of the Philip
pines on the path of ordered liberty ana
competency for self-government. But we
shall promote our commerce. we shall
unite our Atlantic and Pacific coasts we
shall render inestimable service to man,
kind. and we shall grow in greatness ana
honor and in the strength that comes
from difficult tasks accomplished ana
from the exercise of the power tlat
strives in the nature of a great constiuc-
tive people.