the Republic of Colombia, nor to the Republic of Colombia, by reason of any such indebtedness or claims relating thereto. The Republic of Colombia recognizes and agrees that it is itself solely obligated for such external and internal debt; assumes the obligation to pay and discharge the same by itself alone; and agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the Republic of Panama, should occasion arise, from any liability in respect of such external and internal indebtedness, and from any expense which may result from failure or delay in respect of such payment and discharge. ARTICLE IV. Each of the contracting Republics releases and discharges the other from all pecuniary claims and obligations of any nature whatever, including the external and internal debt of the Republic of Colombia, which either had against the other on the 3rd day of November, 1903, it being understood that this reciprocal exoneration relates only to the national debts and claims of one against the other, and that it does not relate to individual rights and claims of the citizens of either Republic. Neither party shall be bound to allow or satisfy any of such individual claims arising from transactions or occurrences prior to November 3, 1903, unless the same would be valid according to the laws of the country against which the claim is made, as such laws existed on November 3rd, 1903. ARTICLE V. The Republic of Panama recognizes that it has no title or ownership of any sort to the fifty thousand shares of the capital stock of the New Panama Canal Company, standing in the name of the Republic of Colombia on the books of said company at Paris, and the Republic of Panama confirms the abandonment of all right and title, which, with respect to said shares, it made in the Courts of Justice of France. ARTICLE VI. The citizens of each Republic, residing in the territory of the other, shall enjoy the same civil rights which are or shall hereafter be accorded by the laws of the country of residence to the citizens of the most favored nation. It being understood, however, that the citizens of either of the two Republics residing in the other shall be exempt from military service imposed upon the citizens of such Republic. All persons born within the territory now of the Republic of Panama, prior to the 3rd day of November, 1903, who were, on that day, residents of the territory now of the Republic of Colombia, may elect to be citizens of the Republic of Colombia or of the Republic of Panama; and all persons born within the territory now of the Republic of Colombia who were, on said 3rd day of November, 1903, residents of the territory now of the Republic of Panama, may elect to be citizens of the Republic of Panama or of the Republic of Colombia, by making declaration of their election in the manner hereinafter provided. within one year from the date of the proclamation of the exchange of the ratifications of this treaty, or, in case of any persons who shall not on that day be of full age, within one year from their attainment of their majority according to the laws of the country of their residence. Such election may be made by filing in the office of the Minister or Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the country of residence a declaration of such election. Such declaration may be made before any officer authorized to administer oaths and may be transmitted by mail to such Minister or Secretary of Foreign Affairs, whose duty it shall be to file and register the same, and no other formality except the transmission thereof shall be required and no fees shall be imposed for making of filing thereof. It shall be the duty of the respective Departments of Foreign Affairs of the High Contracting Parties to communicate promptly to each other the names, occupations, and addresses of the persons so exercising such election. All persons entitled to make such declarations who shall not have made the same within the period hereinbefore limited shall be deemed to have elected to become citizens of the country within whose present territory they were born. But no further declaration shall be required from any such person who has already by formal declaration before a public official of either country, and in accordance with its laws, made election of the nationality of that country. The natives of the countries of either of the two contracting Republics who have heretofore or shall hereafter become citizens by naturalization, or otherwise as herein provided for, in the other Republic, shall not be punished, molested, or discriminated against by reason of their acts of adhesion to the country whose citizenship they have adopted. ARTICLE VII. Both Republics agree. each for itself, that neither of them shall admit to form any part of its nationality any part of the territory of the other which separates from it by force. ARTICLE VIII. As soon as this treaty and the contemporaneous treaties of even date between the United States of America and the Republic of Colombia and between the United States of America and the Republic of Panama shall be ratified and exchanged, negotiations shall be entered upon between the Republics of Colombia and Panama for the conclusion of additional treaty or treaties, covering questions of commerce, postal, telegraph, copyright, consular relations, extradition of criminals, arbitration and the like. ARTICLE IX. It is agreed between the High Contracting Parties and is declared, that the dividing line between the Republic of Colombia and the Republic of Panama shall be as follows, to wit: From Cape Tiburon on the Atlantic to the head waters of the Rio de la Miel, and following the range by the Cerro de Gandi to the Sierra de Chugargun and that of Mali, going down by the Cerros of Nique to the heights of Aspave, and from there to the Pacific at such point and by such line as shall be determined by the Tribunal of Arbitration hereinafter provided for, and the determination of said line shall conform to the decision of such Tribunal of Arbitration as next provided. As to the territory submitted to arbitration (the region of Jurado) the boundaries and attribution of which to either the Republic of Colombia or the Republic of Panama will be fixed by the determination of the line aforesaid by said Tribunal of Arbitration, the title thereto and the precise limits thereof, and the right to the sovereignty thereof as between the High Contracting Parties, shall be conclusively determined by arbitration in the following manner: A Tribunal of Arbitration shall be created to investigate and determine all questions of fact and law concerning the rights of the High Contracting Parties to or in all the territory in the above mentioned region of Jurado. The Tribunal shall consist of three members; the Republic of Colombia shall nominate one member, the Republic of Panama shall nominate one member, both of whom shall be nominated within three months after the exchange of ratifications of this treaty, and the two members of the Tribunal thus nominated shall jointly nominate a third member, or, in the event of their failure to agree within three months next after the appointment of the last of them, and on request of the President of either- of the High Contracting Parties, the third member of the Tribunal shall be appointed by the President of the Republic of Cuba. The Tribunal shall hold its sessions at such place as the Tribunal shall determine. The case on behalf of each party, with the papers and documents, shall be communicated to the other party within three months after the appointment of the third member of the Tribunal. The counter-cases shall be similarly communicated with the papers and documents within three months after communication of the cases respectively. And within two months after communication of the counter-case the other party may communicate its reply. The proceedings of the Tribunal shall be governed by the provisions, so far as applicable, of the Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes signed at The Hague by the representatives of both the parties hereto on the 18th day of October, 1907. The Tribunal shall take into consideration all relevant laws and treaties and all facts proved of occupancy, possession and political or administrative control in respect of the territory in dispute. ARTICLE X. This treaty shall not be binding upon either of the High Contracting Parties, nor have any force until and unless the treaties signed on this same date between the Republic of Colombia and the United States of America and between the Republic of Panama and the United States of America are both duly ratified and ratifications thereof are exchanged simultaneously with the exchange of the ratifications of this treaty. ARTICLE XI. The present treaty shall pe submitted for ratification to the respective Governments, and ratifications hereof exchanged at Washington as soon as possible. In Witness Whereof, We, the respective Plenipotentiaries, have signed the present treaty in duplicate in the Spanish and English languages, and have hereunto affixed our respective seals. Done at the City of Washington, the 9th day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and nine. (Signed) (Signed) ENRIQUE CORTES [SEAL] No. 7. MESSAGE OF PRESIDENT TAFT, AUGUST 19, 1912. [House Document No. 914, Sixty-second Congress, second session.] THE PANAMA CANAL. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, SUGGESTING HAY-PAUNCEFOTE [August 19, 1912, read, referred to the Committee on Military Affairs, and ordered to be printed.] To the Senate and House of Representatives: Congress has passed a bill for the government of the Panama Canal when it shall have been completed, in section 5 of which it is provided that no tolls shall be levied upon vessels engaged in the coastwise trade of the United States. Under existing law no vessels but those of the United States can engage in the coastwise trade. The same bill provides for the imposition, within the discretion of the President, of tolls not exceeding $1.25 per net registered ton upon all other vessels using the canal. In the debates in the House and Senate it was contended that this was a discrimination in favor of vessels of the United States in violation of the following provision of the Hay-Pauncefote treaty: The 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 its citizens or subjects, in respect of the conditions or charges of traffic, or otherwise. Such conditions and charges of traffic shall be just and equitable. (Art. III, sec. 1, p. 1904.) After full examination of the Hay-Pauncefote treaty and of the treaty which preceded it, I feel confident that the exemption of the coastwise vessels of the United States from tolls and the imposition of tolls on vessels of all nations engaged in the foreign trade is not a violation of the Hay-Pauncefote treaty. But distinguished lawyers in the House and Senate differ from this construction, and the Secretary of State has received an informal protest from the British Government that the contemplated legislation is a violation of her treaty rights. The necessity for the enactment of the provisions of the bill looking to the maintenance and government of the canal I have already explained in a special message, and this necessity makes me anxious. to sign the bill. On the other hand, the question of the foreign relations of the Government is one in respect of which the Executive has especial responsibility, and such a protest from a friendly Government, supported as it is by the expressed views of distinguished Members of both Houses, invites the greatest care and the closest |