tended to the auxiliary railways for the transportation of persons in the service of the Republic of Panama, and to its police force charged with the preservation of order outside the canal zone.

If it should become necessary at any time to employ armed forces for the safety or protection of the canal, or of ships that make use of the same, the United States is granted the right (in articles 23 and 24), at all times and in its discretion, to use its police and land and naval forces, or to establish fortifications for these purposes.

Lastly, if at any time the Republic of Panama should enter as a constituent into any other government, or into any union or confederation of States, so as to merge its sovereignty in such government or confederation, the rights of the United States acquired by this treaty are not to be in any way lessened or impaired thereby.

Such, in brief, are the salient points in the treaty with the "Baby Republic" of Panama. It was agreed to and signed, as I have said, on the 18th of November, 1903, -two weeks after the people of that State severed their political connection with the Republic of Colombia. It was duly ratified by both governments, and the ratifications were exchanged at Washington on the 26th of February, 1904. The new Panama Canal Company produced satisfactory title, and were duly paid the $40,000,000 for their holdings. The Republic of Panama, having executed the stipulated concessions, was paid the $10,000,000 for the use of the canal zone. And thus the transaction stands closed.

It is claimed that this was accomplished legitimately, and in strict accordance with international usage and the law of Congress. There have been, and possibly still are, some differences of opinion on both these points. But the people have indorsed the action of the President in the premises; and, moreover, what has been

done is an accomplished fact and cannot now be undone, even if that were desirable.

The rights of sovereignty of even the weakest and most insignificant of the Central and South American States should be scrupulously respected by the great powers, and more especially by the United States, which stands in a peculiar relation to them. But these rights should be exercised in a spirit befitting the occasion and the wants and necessities of civilization. Sovereignty has its duties as well as its rights. Neither Colombia nor other of those governments, even if administered with more regard to the just demands of commercial nations than they have sometimes been, can be permitted to close the gates of intercourse on the great highways of the world, and justify the act by the pretension that these avenues of international trade and travel belong to them exclusively, and therefore that they may choose to close them; or, what is equivalent to the same thing, to encumber them with such exorbitant and unreasonable demands and unjust relations as would prevent their general use.

It was the great design of the guarantee by the United States, in the 35th article of the Treaty of 1846 with New Granada (now Colombia) to dedicate the isthmus of Panama to the purposes of inter-oceanic transit. Never at any time had that guarantee been held, by either government, to be an obligation by the United States to protect Colombia against the consequences of internal dissension or domestic insurrection. The obligation was to protect the sovereignty of Colombia against possible designs by foreign powers, and to keep open and free the isthmian transit.

It is very true that, under a general rule of international law, a new State should not be recognized as independent until it has shown its ability to maintain its

independence. The rule is derived from the principle of non-intervention, to which the United States has long stood committed. But like all general rules, and the principle of non-intervention from which it is deduced, it has its exceptions; and the present case was one in point. Our treaty rights of 1846 were involved; our national interests and safety were at stake; and the interests of collective civilization were involved.

By the Act of Congress of June 28, 1902, the President was authorized to secure for the United States the property and franchise of the new Panama Canal Company, and the perpetual control of a strip of land not less than six miles wide across the isthmus of Panama. In case he should be unable to obtain a satisfactory title from the canal company, and the control of the necessary territory from Colombia within a reasonable time, he was to endeavor to provide for a canal, under American control, by the Nicaragua route. He was not authorized to go to Nicaragua under any other conditions. The company produced title, and the Republic of Panama, as the successor in title of Colombia, granted control of the necessary territory on the isthmus. The alternative of the Nicaragua route was thus eliminated from the obligation imposed by the law. If, therefore, there has been a mistake in the choice between the two routes, as some very able and patriotic men have contended, the responsibility for it should rest where it belongs; namely, with the canal Commission and with Congress.

Appendix A

REATY of Arbitration for the settlement of the question. of Boundary between the Republic of Venezuela and the Colony of British Guiana, signed February 2, 1897. Ratifications exchanged June 14, 1897.