Newport weekly independent., 1904-01-08

generosity; which was hailed with de- l light by the people of the immediate | locality through which the canal was to pass, who were most concerned as to the new order of things. and which the Co., | iombian authorities now recognize as be- ing So good that they are willing to prom l ise Its unconditional ratification if only l we will desert those who have shown
 themselves our friends and restore to | those who have shown themselves un- | friendly the power to undo what they did. | l pass by. the question to what assur- ance we have that they would now keep ratify the treaty if they had the power; l for of course, I will not for one moment discuss the possibility of the United states committing an act of such Dasc . ness as to abandon the new republic oi Panama.
 Third. Finally the congress definitely settled where the canal was to be punt. It was provided that a treaty should pc made for building the canal across the isthmus a of Panama; and if, after reason s,,no such treaty, that then we should go to Nicaragua. The treaty has been made;
 the intent of the congress was to insure a, canal across Panama. and that whether the republic. granting the title was called New, Granada, Colombia or Panama mat, mat, tered not one whit As events turned out, the question of reasonable time uid not 1Se enter into the ma matter at n all he- M came increasingly err sin 0' improbable mp that the Colombian congress would ratify tnl equivalent thereto, yet all chance for such action their part did not vanish l until the congress closed at the end Of I broken out. Panama became dga inde- pendent state and the control oene I eanaI uunaer pesas ahich 91eanS9s aone We coul have of fullmssns flGirnsna 'nstSey the treaty with Panama should not be atified by the senate, this would not alteA the fact that gress has decided the route, And there is no alternative under existing lSgislahon'
 anee Tne af tba that ratify the treaty it seemed that Nhe gov ernment would have to go to thes Near agua route, and that he had made the I original draft of his message to congress- along that line. This was one of ofAthree alternatives that confronted the govern Panama mgSt Wds tahe the @ of their own interests into their own hands and establis.. government competent struction of the canal. This is what oc- I cured. and made the reyerting to the Nicaraguan route unnecessary, and, in fact, impossible under the authority of the president as vested in him by the | action of congress.
 Report of Commander Hubbard.
 The president emphatically denies that this government had any hand in the l instigating of this revolution. He knew, as all the world did, that such was i'm minent and the navy department took necessary measures to protect American interests. but nothing further He gives | copies of the orders sent to commanding l officers of American warships, and their various reports upon the situation He l charges Colombia with virtually making
 war upon the United States at Colon, and l quotes the report of Commander Hub bard. of the Nashville, dated November l }, to sustain this charge. In this report Commander Hubbard says, in part:
 Pending a complete report of the oc- currences of the last three days in Colon, l Colombia I most respectfully invite the departments, attention to those. of the date of Wednesday, November 4, which amounted to practically the i,s making m ,s of officer in command of the Colombian l troops in Colon. At one o'clock. p. m. on
 that date was summoned on shore by preconcerted signal and on landing met | the United States consul, vice consul and
 Col, Shaler. the general .superintendent
 formed me that he had received notice from the officer commanding the Colom-
 bian troops, Col Torres. through the Colombian. officers. Gems. Tobal and
 Amaya, who had been seized in Panama on the evening of the 3d of November by were not released by two o'clock D. nl.,
 he, Torres, would open fire on the town of Colon and and Kill kill every United States | the United States citizens should take road company. a stone building suscept- ible of being put into good state for. de- fense and that would immediately land arming the citizens, as the complement
 of the ship would permit. This was agreed to and immesdiately returned on for landing was immediately given and at 1:so p. m. the boats left the ship with
 a party of 42 men under the command of
 Lieut.. Commander H. M. Witzel with l Midshipman J. F. Jackson as second in command. Time being pressing, 1 gave
 building above referred to- to put 1t into
 the best state of defense possible, and protect the live lives of the citizens assembled | The Colombians surrounded the build ing of the railroad company almost i'm | mediately after we had taken possession, and for about one and half hours their attitude was most threatening it being seemingly their purpose to provoke an ! steady, and while the tension was very great no shot was fired; At, about 3l5 P n m, col iltaIr Torres came am into the building as most friendly to Americans, claiming that the whole affair was a misappre- hension and that he would like to send the alcalde of Colon to Panama to see Gen. Tobal and have him direct the dis continuance of the show of force A spe- | cial train was furnished and safe conduct guaranteed. At about 5:3o p. m Col
 Torres made the proposition of withdraw | luS HIS troops to MOnKey Hill, If l would withdraw the Nashvilles force and leave the town in possession of the police until l the return of the alcalde on the morning of thu, 5th. Alter an interview with the | United States consul and Col Shaler as to the probability of good faith in the matter, I decided to accept the proposi- | tion and brought my men on board the disparity in numbers between my. force | to one, making me desirous of avoiding a conflict so long the object in view, the protection of American citizens, was not imperiled.
 1 "I am positive that the determined at- 1 titude of our men. their cooIness and evil | dent intention of standing their ground. | had most salutary and decisive effect | on the immediate situation and was the | initial step in the ultimate abandoning | of Colon by these troops and their return l to Cartagena the following day. e-- T feel that cannot sufficiently strong | ly represent to the department the gross | ness of this outrage and the insult to our | dignity even apart from the savagery of I the threat"
 l In view of the reports Of the various naval officers in Panama waters the presi- ] dent concludes that. instead of there hay | ing been too much provision by the Amer | ican government for the maintenance of