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

in spirit OF justice but in n spirit of gem
ercsity with the people through whose land
we might build it. The Hay-Herran treaty,
IL it erred at all. erred in the direction of
an over-generosity towards the Colombian
Government. In our anxiety to be fair we
had gone to the very verge in yielding to
a weak nations demands what that nation
was helplessly unable to enforce from us
against our will. The only criticisms made
upon the Administration for the terms Of
the Hay-Herran treaty We're for having
granted too much to Colombia not for fail
ure IL grant enough. Neither in the Con-
gress nor in the public press. at the time
that this treaty was formulated. was there
complaint that II did not in the fullest and
amplest manner guarantee to Colombia
everything that she could by any color Of
title demand.
Nor is the fact to be lost sight of that
the rejected treaty. while generously re-
spending to the pecuniary demands of Co
lombia, in other respects merely provided
for the construction of the canal in con-
the act of the Congress of June IS, 1902.
By that act, as heretofore quoted, the
President was authorized to acquire from
perpetual control of certain strip IF
land; and it was expressly required that
the control thus to be obtained should
include Jurisdiction to make police and
sanitary regulations and to- establish such
judicial tribunals as might be agreed on for
their enforcement. These were conditions
precedent prescribed by the Congress; and
for their fulfllment suitable stipulat ions
stated in public prints that Colombia OBJ
jected to these stipulations, on the ground
that they involved REIMBURSEMENT Of her
"sovereignty;'' but in the light Of what has
taken place, this alleged objection must be
considered as an afterthought In reality
the treaty. instead of requiring a cessiOn
of Colombia's sovereignty over the canal
strip. expressly acknowledged, confirmed.
and preserved her sovereignty over it. The
treaty in this respect simply proceeded on
the lines on which all the negotiations lead
ing up to the present situation have been
conducted. In those negotiations the eX-
ercse by the United States. subject to the
paramount rights of the local sovereign, of
a substantial control over the canal and
the Immediately adjacent territory, has
been treated as a fundamental part of any
that might be made. 1t has
fol med an essential feature of all our plans,
and its necessity is fully recognized in the
-Pauncefote treaty. The Congress, in
that such control should be Sc
cured adopted no new principle, but only
in sts legislation a condition
the importance and propriety of which were
recognized. During all the
years of negotiation and discussion that
treaty Colombia never intimated that The
requirement by the United States Of con-
troll over the canal strip would render un-
attainable the construction of canal by
way of the Isthmus of Panama; nor We're
we advised. during the months when legis-
lation of 1902 was pending before Congress,
that the terms which 1t embodied would
render negotiations with Colombia imprac-
ticabe. 1t 8 plain that no nation could
and guarantee the neutrality of
the canal with less degree of control than
was stipulated for in the Hay-Herran
treaty. refusal to grant such degree of
control was necessarily refusal to make
any practicable treaty at all. Such refusal
therefore squarely raised the question
whether Colombia was entitled to bar the
transit of the worlds traffic across the
Isthmus.
Colombia's Change Of Front.
That the canal Itself was eagerly de-
manded by the people of the locality
through which it was to pass, and that the
people of this locality no less eagerly long
ed for its construction under American con-
troll, are shown by the unanimity of action
in the new Panama Republic. Further
more, Colombia, after having rejected the
treaty in spite of our protests and warnings
when it was in her power to accept it, has
since shown the utmost eagerness to accept
the same treaty If only the status quo
could be restored. One of the men standing
highest in the official circles of Colombia,
on November 6, addressed the American
minister at Bogota, saying that if the Gov
of the United States would land
troops to preserve Colombian sovereignty
and the transit, the Colombian Govern
ment would declare martial law; and by
virtue of vested constitutional authority,
when public order is disturbed (woulD ap-
prove by decree the ratification Of the canal
treaty as signed; or, if the Government of
the United States prefers. twould) call ex-
ira session of the Congress-with new and
friendly members-next May to approve the
is no shadow of question that the Govern
ment of the United States proposed a
treaty which was not merely just, but gen.
erous to Colombia, which our people re-
garded as erring. If at all. on the side of
overgeneroSity; which was hailed with de-
light by the people of the immediate local
ity through which the canal was to pass
who were most concerned as to the new
order OF things, and which the Colombian
authorities now recognize as being so good
that they are willing to promise it's un-
conditional ratification If only we will de-
sert those who have shown themselves our
friends and restore to those who have
shown themselves unfriendly the power to
undo what they did 1 pass by the question
as to what assurance we have that they
would now keep their pledge and not again
refuse to ratify the treaty If they had the
power; for, of course, I will not for one
moment discuss the possibility Of the United
States committing an act of such baseness
as to abandon the new Republic of Panama
Third. Finally the Congress definitely
settled where the canal was to be built 1t
was provided that a treaty should be made
for building the canal across the Isthmus
OF Panama; and II, after reasonable time
1t proved impossible to secure such treaty,
that then We should go to Nicaragua The
tu ba haop do. far I+