Norwich bulletin., 1913-05-20
GREAT BRITAIN ON
 EQUALITY WITH US. On Same Footing as Ourselves in Re- gard to Panama Canal.

!
 AIohonk Lake, N. Y, May 19- i Charlemagne Tower. former ambas- sador for the United States to Ger i many, addressed the Lake Mohonk i conference on international arbitra- 1 tion held here. His subject was 1 the treaty obligations of the United i States relating to the Panama canal 1 He described the treaty of 1846 be- l tween the United States and the Re
 public of Granada as the first ef- 1 fective step taken by our government in the direction of actual transit
 across the lsthmus of Panama, and ! then reviewed British prior rights in Central America and the Clayton Bulwer treaty of 1850. Continuing, MT. Tower said
 This defines our position in regard to the affairs of the iSthmuS It in sists that Great Britain shall place herself upon an exact equality with
 us: that she must give up any claims or privileges in which we do not share in order that we may be precisely alike but it marks also our obligation toward Great Britain, by our agree ment that whilst we insisted that she l should be on equal footing with US, we promised that we should be upon equal footing with her. We won our case and England came ultimately to our understanding both as to the 1 Mosquito coast and the islands because of the Clayton BHlwer treaty.
 It is to be observed that there are
 two distinct points of agreement which are set forth in this treaty as well as in all of the voluminous cor respondence that has taken place in re gard to it, which points of the agree
 ment have never been lost sight of as
 the basis of the negotiations relating
 to the canal across the isthmus name
 ly the neutrality of the canal and the
 absolute equality between ourselves
 and Great Britain in connection with it. We demanded this from the start, and Great Britain has acceded to our
 demand with that principle in view, which has never been changed.
 She was willing to join with us in
 building the canal, or she was willing that we should build it alone. And when after many years of delay we announced to her that we were in a position to undertake the work, and we made suggestions to her looking to that result. she agreed to make a new treaty with us. to supersede the old one, in order that the intended bene- fits might be secured and the work should progress.
 The new treaty was signed in Mo- Vember. 1901, by John Hay, secretary of state, and Lord Pauncefote, the since become widely known as the Hay y-Pauncefote treaty" By this contract the two powers agreed that: "The present treaty shall supersede that of April 19,1S50. Certain of the stipulations of this treaty are as fol- lows:
 "The United States adopts, as the basis of the naturalization of such ship canal the following rules sub- stantially as embodied in the conven- tion of Constantinople, for the free navigation of the Suez canal
 ',Fhe canal shall be free and open to the vessels of commerce and of war of all nations observing these rules, on terms of entire equality. so that there shall be no discrimination against any such nation or it's citizens or it's sub jects in respect of the conditions or charges of traffic or otherwise"
 This is not an obscure subject. On the contrary, the United States enter Cd freely and openly into these treat ies ana the situation is one that we have created for ourselves.
 We negotiated with Great Britain always with the understanding upon our part that she was to be upon the same footing as ourselves in regard to the canal; and she accepted, yielding the advantages that she had acquired in order to comply with our plans. It is not a question now as to whether we made a good bargain or a bad one: but it is of great importance to the American people that the United States government shall fulfill its en- agreements and shall carry out loyalty it's international obligations.