Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-01-04

fulfllment. If the pending treaty with
Panama should not be ratified by the Sem
ate this would not alter the fact that we
could not go to Nicaragua. The Congress
has decided the route, and there is no al
tentative under existing legislation.
Three Alternatives
When in August-it it began to appear prob
able that the Colombian legislature would
not ratify the treaty 1t became incumbent
upon me to consider. well what the situa-
ton was and to be ready to advise the
Congress as to what were the various al
ternatves of action open to us. There
were several possibilities. One was that
Colombia would at the last moment see
the unwisdom of her position. That there
might be nothing omitted, Secretary Hay,
through the minister al Bogota, repeatedly
warned Colombia that grave consequences
might follow from her rejection of the
treaty. Although it was a constantly di-
minishing chance, yet the possibility of
ratification did not wholly pass away until
the close of the session of the Colombian
Congress.
second alternative was that by the
close of the session on the last day of Oc-
toter, without the ratification of the treaty
by Colombia and without any steps taken
by Panama, the American Congress on
assembling early in November would be
confronted with a situation in which there
had been a failure to come to terms as to
building the canal along the Panama route,
and yet there had not been q lapse of
reasonable time-using the word reasonable
in any proper sense-such would justify
the Administration going 10 the Nicaragua
route This situation seemed on the whole
the most likely, and as matter of fact l
had made the original draft of my Message
to the Congress with view to its exist
ence.
1t was the opinion of eminent interna-
tional jurists that in view of the fact that
the great design of our guarantee under
the treaty of 1916 was to dedicate the
Isthmus to the purposes of interoceanic
transit, and above all to secure the con-
structon of an interoceanic canal, Colom-
bia could not under existing conditions re-
fuse to enter into a proper arrangement
with the United States to that end, with
out violating the spirit and substantially
repudiating the obligations of a treaty the
full benefits of which she had enjoyed for
over fifty years. Ny intention was to con-
suit the Congress as to whether under such
circumstances it would not be proper to
announce that the canal was to be dug
forthwith; that we would give the terms
that we had offered and no others; and
that If such terms were not agreed to we
would enter into an arrangement with
Panama direct, or take what other steps
were necdful in order to begin the enter
prise.
A third possibility was that the people of
the lsthmus, who had formerly constituted
an independent state, and who until re-
Gently were united to Colombia only by
loose tie of federal relationship, might take
the protection of their own vital interests
into their own hards, reassert their former
rights, declare their independence upon just
81 onnds and establish government com
petent and willing to do its share in this
great work for civilization. This third pos
sibility is what actually occurred. Every
one knew that 1t was a poss bility, but 1t
was not until toward the end of October
that 1t appeared to be an imminent proba-
bility. Although the Administration, of
course. had special means of knowledge, no
such means We're necessary in order to
appreciate the possibility, and toward the
end the likelihood, of such a revolutionary
outbreak and OF its success. 1t was mat
ter of common notoriety Quotations from
the daily papers could be indefinitely multi
piled to show this state of affairs; a very
few will suffice. From Costa Rica on
August 81 a special was sent to the Wash
iDgton Post, running as follows:
San Jose, Costa Rica, August 81.
Travellers from Panama report the 18th
mus alive with fires of a new revolution.
1t is inspired, it is believed, by men who,
In Panama and Colon, have systemat tically
engendered the pro- American feeling to Sc
cure the building Of the Isthmian canal by
the United States.
The Indians have risen, and the late fol-
lowers of Gen. Benjamin Herrera are mus
tering in the mountain villages, preparatory
II joining in an organized revolt, caused by
the rejection of the canal treaty.
Hundreds of stacks of arms, confiscated
by the Colombian Government at the close
of the late revolution, have reappeared
from some mysterious source, and thou
sands of rifles that look suspiciously like
the Mausers the United States captured in
Cuba are issuing to the gathering forces
from central points of distribution. With
the arms goes arnmunition. fresh from fac
tories showing the movement is not spas
modic. but is carefully planned.
The government forces in Panama and
Colon numbering less than 15C0 men, are
reported to be a little more than friendly to
paid since the revolution closed and their
only hope of prompt payment is another
war.
General Huertes commander of the forces
who is ostensibly loyal to the Bogeta gov
ernment, is said TO be secretly friendly to
the proposed revolution. At least all his
personal friends open in denunciation
of the Bogota government and the failure
of the Colombian Congress to ratify the
canal treaty.
The consensus of opinion gathered from
late arrivals from the isthinus is that the
revolution is coming and that 1t will sue
ceed.
special dispatch to the Washington
Post under date of New York, September
1, runs as follows:
B. c. Duque. editor and proprietor of the
Panama Star and Herald resident of the
isthmus during the past twenty-seven years,
who arrived today in New York, declared
that II the canal treaty fell through a revo-
m ton yptrf6 ha fl-aiS To fall