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Mr. Porter to Mr. Hay.

[TELEGRAM.]

EMBASSY OF THE UNITED States,

Paris, November 11, 1903.

(Received 3:50 p. m.)

The French generally are much pleased with events in Panama and sur attitude there. In conversation with minister for foreign affairs he expressed himself in very sympathetic manner. Has authorized French consul at Panama to enter into relations with de facto government. Recognition will no doubt follow in time, and it seems to be disposition of European powers to await formal recognition by the United States before acting. PORTER.

RECEPTION OF MINISTERS OF PANAMA.

Mr. Varilla to Mr. Hay.

[TRANSLATION.]

LEGATION OF the Republic OF PANAMA,

MR. SECRETARY OF STATE:

Washington, November 11, 1903.

I have the very great honor to bring to your knowledge the fact that the Republic of Panama has designated me to fill, near the Government of the United States of America, the post of envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary with full powers to negotiate.

While begging you, Mr. Secretary of State, to transmit to His Excellency the President of the Republic of the United States the substance of the present communication, I venture to ask you to solicit from his kindness the appointment of a date on which he will authorize me to present to him my letters of credence. I have, etc.

P. BUNAU Varilla.

Mr. Loomis to Mr. Varilla.

No. 1.]

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, November 12, 1903.

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 11th instant, in which you advise me that the Republic of Panama has appointed you to fill, near this Government, the post of envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, with full powers to negotiate.

You further ask that this information may be communicated to the President and that he will kindly fix a date at which you may present your letters of credence.

In reply I have the honor to say that the President will be pleased to receive you for the purpose mentioned to-morrow, Friday, at 9:30 a. m.

If you will be good enough to call at this Department shortly before the hour mentioned, the Secretary of State will be pleased to accompany you to the White House.

Accept, etc.

FRANCIS B. LOOMIS.

Acting Secretary.

REMARKS MADE BY THE MINISTER OF PANAMA.

MR. PRESIDENT: In according to the minister plenipotentiary of the Republic of Panama the honor of presenting to you his letters of credence you admit into the family of nations the weakest and the last born of the republics of the New World.

It owes its existence to the outburst of the indignant grief which stirred the hearts of the citizens of the Isthmus on beholding the despotic action which sought to forbid their country from fulfilling the destinies vouchsafed to it by Providence.

In consecrating its right to exist, Mr. President, you put an end to what appeared to be the interminable controversy as to the rival waterways, and you definitely inaugurate the era of the achievement of the Panama Canal.

From this time forth the determination of the fate of the canal depends upon two elements alone, now brought face to face, singularly unlike as regards their authority and power, but wholly equal in their common and ardent desire to see at last the accomplishment of the heroic enterprise for piercing the mountain barrier of the Andes. The highway from Europe to Asia, following the pathway of the sun, is now to be realized.

The early attempts to find such a way unexpectedly resulted in the greatest of all historic achievements, the discovery of America. Centuries have since rolled by, but the pathway sought has hitherto remained in the realm of dreams. To-day, Mr. President, in response to your summons, it becomes a reality.

THE PRESIDENT'S REPLY TO THE REMARKS MADE BY SEÑOR BUNAU VARILLA ON THE OCCASION OF THE PRESENTA

TION OF HIS LETTERS OF CREDENCE.

MR. MINISTER: I am much gratified to receive the letters whereby you are accredited to the Government of the United States in the capacity of envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the Republic of Panama.

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FORECAST OF ROOSEVELT'S ADMINISTRATION

There are two kinds who seek a Presidency. One aims at eminence, the other hungers for fame. With one the White House is an object; with the other a method. The first, if made President, sits calmly down; he has had his victory and the White House is his. With him of the fame-hunger, it is the other way about. Given the White House his great work begins. He does not think to write his name with the immortals by simply signing himself "President." He can only achieve the purpose that has called him to the field by labors of lasting good to the whole people.

It shines out as a best hope of the hour that Mr. Roosevelt is heart and soul a fame-hunter. He must go down the aisles of coming time a great President, or in his own conscience he will have failed. To that end, he sets before himself the examples of those mighty ones of time past. The Washingtons, the Jeffersons, the Jacksons, the Lincolns and the Grants are his exemplars. With such to be as guides to him—and because he is true and bold and wise, and no man owns him-it will not be strange should he conquer entrance to Valhalla.

Mr. Roosevelt intends the Panama Canal to be the great work of his régime. With all the power in his hands and no one has measured the power of a President-he will push the Panama business to its conclusion.

The propriety of the Canal, no one American-save the trans-Continental railways was ever heard to deny. But, to the last crowned head of them, every European ruler, and even the elected one of France, has been and is opposed. They believe with Sir Walter Raleigh that he who holds the Isthmus of Darien holds the key to the world, and are solicitous that no such lock-opener shall hang at the girdle of America.

It will be well for the world while Mr. Roosevelt abides in Washington. He will not be duped abroad or deluded at home. The Government will be neither a plutocracy nor a mobocracy, but a democracy, while he prevails. He will be the friend of Capital, the friend of Labor, the fool and tool of neither. It was he who said during his stay the door of the White House should yield as easily to the touch of Labor as to the touch of Capital, but no easier.

ALFRED HENRY LEWIS

See the article "Roosevelt, Theodore," in the Encyclopedic Index, for a brief record of Roosevelt's work. The article, "Panama Canal," should also be read in the record.

In accordance with its long-established rule, this Government has taken cognizance of the act of the ancient territory of Panama in reasserting the right of self-control and, seeing in the recent events on the Isthmus an unopposed expression of the will of the people of Panama and the confirmation of their declared independence by the institution of a de facto government, republican in form and spirit, and alike able and resolved to discharge the obligations pertaining to sovereignty, we have entered into relations with the new Republic. It is fitting that we should do so now, as we did nearly a century ago when the Latin peoples of America proclaimed the right of popular government, and it is equally fitting that the United States should, now as then, be the first to stretch out the hand of fellowship and to observe toward the new-born State the rules of equal intercourse that regulate the relations of sovereignties toward one another.

I feel that I express the wish of my countrymen in assuring you, and through you the people of the Republic of Panama, of our earnest hope and desire that stability and prosperity shall attend the new State, and that, in harmony with the United States, it may be the providential instrument of untold benefit to the civilized world through the opening of a highway of universal commerce across its exceptionally favored territory.

For yourself, Mr. Minister, I wish success in the discharge of the important mission to which you have been called.

NAVY DEPARTMENT, Washington, November 12, 1903.

SIR: In accordance with the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 9th instant, calling for all correspondence and other official documents relating to the recent revolution on the Isthmus of Panama, I have the honor to transmit herewith all such matter on file in the Navy Department.

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ened by armed force, occupy the line of railroad. Prevent landing of

*Same order to commander of Dixie, at Kingston, Jamaica.

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