Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1904-01-05
ARGUMENT
By THE PRESIDENT
Concluded from the second page.)

any person of ordinary intelligence
who read the newspapers and KEEP
up a current acquaintance with public
affairs.
BY the unanimous action Of its PEG,
pie, without the firing OF a shot-with
a unanimity hardly before recorded in
any similar case-the people of Pana
ma declared themselves an independ
ent republic. Their recognition By
this government was based upon d
state of facts in no way dependent for
its justification upon our action il
ordinary cases. ! have not denied
nor do ! wish to deny, either the val
idity or the propriety Of the general
rule that a new state should not be
recognized as independent till it has
shown its ability to maintain its indie
pendence. This rule is derived from
the principle Of nonintervention, and
as a corollary of that principle has
generally been observed BY the United
States. But, like the principle from
which 1t is deduced, the rule is sub.
ject to exceptions; and there are In
my opinion clear and imperative reas'
ons why a departure from it was jus.
titled and ven required in the pres,
ent instance. These reasons embrace,
first, our treaty rights; second, our
national interests and safety; and,
third. the interests Of collective civil.
cation.
| have already adverted to the treaty
of 1876. by the ~thirty-ffty article OF
which the United States secured the
right to a free and open transit across
the isthmus Of Panama, and to that
end agreed to guarantee to New Gran,
ada her rights to sovereignty and
property over that territory. This ar
ticle Is sometimes discussed as If the
latter guarantee constituted its sole
object and bound the United States to
protect the sovereignty of New Gran
ada against domestic revolution.
Nothing, however, could be more er,
N-EH&#
roneous than this supposition. That
our wise and patriotic ancestors, with
all their dread of e~ntangling alliances,
would have entered into a treaty with
New Granada solely or even primar-
lily for the purpose of enabling that
remnant Of the original Republic of
Colombia, then resolved into the states
of New Granada, Venezuela, and Ec-
uador, to continue from Bogota to rule
over the Isthmus of Panama, Is a
conception that would in itself be In.
credible. even II the contrary did not
clearly appear. It Is true that since
the treaty was made the United States
has again and again been Obliged
forcibly to intervene for the preserva.
ton OF order and the maintenance OF
an open transit, and that this inter.
venf1on has usually operated to the
advantage OF the titular government OF
Colombia. but 1t Is equally true that
the United States in intervening, with
or without Colombia's consent, for the
protection Of the transit, has disclaim.
ed any duty to defend the Colombian
government against domestic insured
ton or against the erection Of an in.
dependent government on the Isthmus
OF Panama. The attacks against which
the United States engaged to protect
New Granadian sovereignty were those
OF foreign powers; but this engage
ment was only a means to the accomp
lishment Of a yet more important end
The great design of the article was
to assure the dedication Of the 18th
mus to the purposes OF free and un
INSTRUCTED "interoceanic transit, tho
contamination of which would be
found in an interoceanic canal.
In the light Of our present situation,
the establishment Of easy and speedy
communication by sea between the At
lantic and the Pacific presents Itself
not simply as something to be desired,
but as an object to be positively and
promptly attained. Reasons Of con.
venience have been superseded by
reasons Of vital necessity, which Dc
not admit Of indefinite delays.
To such delays the rejection by
Colombia Of the Hay-Herran treaty
directly exposed us. As proof OF this
fact I need only refer TO the pro
gram outlined In the report Of the
majority OF the Panama canal com.
mittee, read In the Colombian senate
on the 14th Of October last. In this
report, which recommended that the
discussion Of a law to authorize the