Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1904-01-11

the end of October; and within three
days thereafter the revolution in
Panama had broken out. Panama be
came an independent state, and the
control of the territory necessary foI
building the canal then became obtain
able. The condition under which
alone we couIu have gone tC
Nicaragua thereby became impossible
of fulfllment. If the pending treaty
with Panama should not be ratified by
the senate this would not alter the
fact that we could not go to Mica
ragua. The congress has decided the
route, and there is no alternative
under existing legislation.
The president adds: When in
August it began to appear probable
that the Colombian legislature would
not ratify the treaty it became in
cumbent upon me to consider well
what the situation was and to be
ready to advise the congress as to
what were the various alternatives 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
at Bogota, repeatedly warned Co
lombia that grave consequences might
follow from her rejection of the
treaty. Although it was a constantly
diminishing chance, yet the possibility
of ratification did not wholly. pass
away until the close of the session
of the Colombian congress. A second
alternative: was that by the close of
the session on the last day of October,
without the ratification of the treaty
by Colombia and without any. steps
taken by Panama, the American con
gress on assembling early in Novem-
Der would be confronted with a situa-
ton in which there had been a
failure to come to terms as to build
the canal along the Panama route, and
yet there had not been a lapse of a
reasonable time such as would justify
the administration going to the Mica
ragua route. This situation seemed
on the whole the most likely, and as a
matter of fact I had made the original
draft of my message TO the congress
with a view to It's existence.
1t was the opinion of eminent
international jurists that in view OF
the fact that the great design OF our
guarantee under the treaty of 1876
was to dedicate the isthmus to the
purposes of interoceanic transit, and
above all to secure the construction
of an interoceanic canal, Colombia
could not under existing conditions re-
fuse to enter into a proper arrange
ment with. the United States to that
end, without violating the spirit and
substantially repudiating the obliga-
tons of a treaty the full benefits of
which she had enjoyed for over fifty
years. My intention was to consult
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
needful in order to begin the enter
prise.
"a third possibility was that the
people of the isthmus, who had for
merly constituted an independent
state, and who until recently were
united TO Colombia only by a loose tie
of federal relationship, might take the
protection OF their own vital interests
into their own hands, reassert their
former rights, declare their in
dependence upon just grounds, and es-
tablish a government competent and
willing to do its snare in this great
work for civilization. This third pos
sibility is what actually occurred.
Everyone knew that it was a pos
sibility, but it was not until towards
the end of October that it appeared
to be an imminent probability. Al
though the administration, of course,
had special means of knowledge, no
such means were necessary in order TO
appreciate the possibility, and toward
the end the likelihood, of such rev.
dictionary outbreak and of its success.
Il was a matter of common notoriety.
Quotations from the daily papers
could be indefinitely multiplied to
show this state of AFFAIRS" and the
president presents various extracts to
show what was imminent on the
isthnus. There were dispatches early
in September The revolution did
not occur till Nov. 4. Continuing he
says that he thereupOn gave orders
to insure our having warships within
easy reach of the isthmus in case of
an uprising. Then follows the details
of the revolution.
The official account or the occur
rences of November 4, declares the
president, shows that, instead OF
there having been too much provision
by the American government for the
maintenance of order and the protec-
tion of life and property on the
isthmus, the orders for the movement
of the American warships had been