Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1904-01-06
PANAMA DISCUSSED.
Continued from ith page.

mander Hubbard reported In his letter
of Nov. 5, this officer and his troops
practically began war against the
United States, and only the forbear-
ance and GOODNESS Of our officers and
men prevented bloOdshed. Here the
president gives Commander Hubbard's
letters confirming the foregoing state
ments, the first Of which closes as fol-
| lows: Il feel that can not sufficient
ly strongly represent to the department
the grossness of the outrage and the
insult to our dignity, even apart from
the savagery of the threat.') Referring
to these letters the president proceeds:
| This plain official account of the &C.
curences Of Nov. 4, shows that, in
| stead Of there having been too much
| provision by the American government
| for the maintenance of order and the
| protection of life and property on the
| isthmus, the orders for the movement
| of the American warships had been
too long delayed: so long, in fact, that
| there were but forty-twO marines and
| sailors available to land and protect
F.! the lives of American men and women.
| 1t was only the GOODNESS and gallantry
with which this little band of men
wearing the American uniform faced
ten times their number of armed foes,
bent on carrying out the atrOcious
threat of the Colombian commander,
that prevented murderous castastro-
| phe. At Panama, when the revolution
broke out, there were no American
| troops or sailors. At Colon, Com
mander Hubbard acted with entire
| impartialty towards both sides. pre-
venting any movement whether by the
Colombians or the Panmans, which
would tend to produce bloodshed. On
Nov. he prevented body of the
| revOlutionists from landing at Colon.
Throughout he behaved in the most
| creditable manner (The president
next quotes a special correspondent in
the New York Evening Post setting
| forth in detail the unbearable oppres-
sion of the Colombian government in
Panama)
l call special attention to the con.
GLIDING portion of this interview
| which states the willingness of the
Panama people to fight the Colombian
| troops and the refusal of Commander
Hubbard to permit them to use the
railroad and therefore to get into a
| position where the fight could take
place. 1t thus clearly appears that the
| fact that there was no bloodshed on
the isthmus was directly due-and on
ly due to the prompt and firm en-
| forcement by the United States of its
| traditional policy. During the past
| forty years revolutions and attempts
at revolution have succeeded one anoth-
er with monotonOus regularity on the
| isthmus, and again and again United
States sailors and marines have been
| landed as they were landed in this in
stance and under similar instruction to
! protect the transit. One of these revo-
lutiOns resulted in three years of war
fare: and the aggregate of blOodshed
and misery caused by them has been
| incalculable. The fact that in this
( last revolution not life was lost.
save that of the man killed by the
shells of the Colombian gunboat, and
no property destroyed, was due to the
action which l have described. We,
In effect. policed the isthmus in the
interest of its inhabitants and of our
own national needs, and for the good
Of the entire civilized world
1 hesitate to refer to the injurious
insinuations which have been made of
completely by this government in the
revolutionary movement in Panama.
They are us destitute OF foundation as
of propriety. The only excuse for my
mentioning them is the fear lest I'M
thinking persons might mistake for ac-
quiescence the silence of mere self
respect. l think proper to say, there
fore, that no one connected with this
government had any part in prepar-
ing, melting, or encouraging the late
revolution on the Isthmus of Panama,
and that save from the reports of our
military and naval officers, given above,
no one connected with this government
had any previous knowledge Of the
revolution except such as was Access
sible to any person of ordinary iDtelli-
gence who read the newspapers and
kept up current acquaintance with
public affairs.
BY the unanimous action C its peo-
pie, without the firing of shot-with
unanimity hardly before recorded in
any similar case-the people of Pan
anna declared themselves an independ-
ent republic. Their recognition by this
government was based upon state Of
facts in no way dependent for its JUS
tification upon our action in ordinary
cases. | have not denied, nor do l
wish to deny, either the validity or the
propriety of the general rule that
new state should not be recognized as
independent till it has shown its abil-
ity to maintain its independence. This
rule is derived from the principle of
nonintervention, and as a corollary Of
that principle has generally been OBJ
served by the United States. But, like
the principle from which it is deduced,
the rule is subject to exceptions; and
there are in my opinion clear and i'm
perative reasons why departure from
| 1t was justified and even required in
| tI.>