It relieves Great Britain of all responsibility and obligation to enforce the neutrality of the canal, which by the former treaty had been imposed upon or assumed by her jointly with the United States, and thus meets the main stress of the objection which seemed to underlie or be interwoven with her other objections to the former Senate amendments. The United States alone as the sole owner of the canal, as a purely American enterprise, adopts and prescribes the rules by which the use of the canal shall be regulated, and assumes the entire responsibility and burden of enforcing, without the assistance of Great Britain or of any other nation, its absolute neutrality.

It was also believed that this change would be in harmony with the national wish that this great interoceanic waterway should not only be constructed and owned, but exclusively controlled and managed, by the United States.

Third. The next important change from the former treaty consists in the omission of the words " in time of war as in time of peace" from clause 1 of Article III.

No longer insisting upon the language of the Davis amendment which had in terms reserved to the United States express permission to disregard the rules of neutrality prescribed, when necessary to secure its own defense, which the Senate had apparently deemed necessary because of the provision in Rule I, that the canal should be free and open "in time of war as in time of peace" to the vessels of all nations — it was considered that the omission of the words "in time of war as in time of peace" would dispense with the necessity of the amendment referred to, and that war between the contracting parties, or between the United States and any other power, would have the ordinary effect of war upon treaties when not specially otherwise provided, and would remit both parties to their original and natural right of self-defense and give to the United States the clear right to close the canal against the other belligerent, and to protect it and defend itself by whatever means might be necessary.

Fourth. In conformity with the Senate's emphatic rejection of Article III of the former treaty, which provided that the high contracting parties would, immediately upon the exchange of ratifications, bring it to the notice of other powers and invite them to adhere to it, no such provision was inserted in the draft of the new treaty.

It was believed that the declaration that the canal should be free and open to all nations on terms of entire equality (now that Great Britain was relieved of all responsibility and obligation to enforce and defend its

neutrality) would practically meet the force of the objection which had been made by Lord Lansdowne to the Senate's excision of the article inviting the other powers to come in, viz., that Great Britain was placed thereby in a worse position than other nations in case of war with the United States.

Fifth. The next change from the former treaty is the omission of the provision in clause 7 of Article III, which prohibited the fortification of the canal, and the transfer to clause 2 of the remaining provision of clause 7, that the United States shall be at liberty to maintain such military police along the canal as may be necessary to protect it against lawlessness and disorder.

The whole theory of the treaty is that the canal is to be an entirely American canal. The enormous cost of constructing it is to be borne by the United States alone. When constructed, it is to be exclusively the property of the United States and is to be managed, controlled, and defended by it. Under these circumstances, and considering that now by the new treaty Great Britain is relieved of all the responsibility and burden of maintaining its neutrality and security, it was thought entirely fair to omit the prohibition that "no fortification shall be erected commandng the canal or the waters adjacent."

Sixth. It will be observed that, although the words "in time of war as in time of peace" had been omitted from clause 1 of Article III upon the theory that the omission of these words would dispense with the necessity of the Davis amendment, and that war between the United States and any other power would have the ordinary effect of war upon treaties and remit both parties to their natural right of self-defense the same words are retained in the sixth clause of Article III, which provides that the plant, establishment, buildings, and all works necessary to the construction, maintenance, and operation of the canal shall be deemed part of it for the purposes of this treaty, and "in time of war as in time of peace" shall enjoy complete immunity from attack or injury by belligerents and from acts calculated to impair their useful

ness.

It was considered that such specific provision was in the general interest of commerce and of civilization, and that all nations would regard such a work as sacred under all circumstances.

It was hoped that the changes above enumerated from the former treaty would practically reconcile the conflicting contentions of the two governments and would lead to the much-desired result of an entire concurrence of views between them.

With the exception of these changes care was taken in the draft of the new treaty to preserve the exact language, which had passed both the Senate and the British Government without objection, and, as is believed, without criticism.

The hope that the changes thus made had effectually met the British objections to the former treaty as amended by the Senate was almost realized.

The proposed draft of the new treaty was transmitted to Lord Lansdowne, and after mature deliberation he proposed on the part of His Majesty's Government only three substantial amendments.

He recognized the weighty importance of the change by which Great Britain was relieved of all responsibility for enforcing the neutrality and maintaining the security of the canal, and that all this burden was solely assumed by the United States. He also appreciated the importance of the other proposed changes in the direction of harmony.

Under this modified aspect of the relations of the two nations to the canal, he was not indisposed to consent to the abrogation of the ClaytonBulwer treaty if the "general principle" of neutrality, which was reaffirmed in the preamble of the new treaty as well as of the former one, should be preserved and secured against any change of sovereignty or other change of circumstances in the territory through which the canal is intended to pass, and that the rules adopted as the basis of neutralization should govern, as far as possible, all interoceanic communication across the Isthmus. He referred in this connection to Articles I and VIII of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty.

He therefore proposed, by way of amendment, the insertion of an additional article, on the acceptance of which His Majesty's Government would be inclined to withdraw its objection to the formal abrogation of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty.

The amendment thus proposed by him was in the following language, viz.:

In view of the permanent character of this treaty, whereby the general principle established by Article VIII of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty is reaffirmed, the high contracting parties hereby declare that the rules laid down in the last preceding article shall, so far as they may be applicable, govern all interoceanic communication across the Isthmus which connects North and South America, and that no change of territorial sovereignty or other change of circumstances shall affect such general principle or the obligations of the high contracting parties under this treaty.

This proposed article was regarded by the President as too far-reaching for the purpose in view, and as converting the vague and indefinite

provisions of the eighth article of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty, which contemplated only future treaty stipulations when any new route should prove to be practicable, into a very definite and certain present treaty, fastening the crystallized rules of neutrality adopted now for this canal upon every other interoceanic communication across the Isthmus, and as perpetuating in a more definite and extended form, by a sort of re-enactment of the eighth article, the embarrassing effects of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty, of which the United States hoped to be relieved altogether.

He believed that now that a canal is about to be built at the sole cost of the United States for the equal benefit of all nations, it was sufficient for the present treaty to provide for that one canal, and that it was hardly within the range of possibility that the United States would ever build more than one canal between the two oceans.

The President was, however, not only willing, but desirous, that the "general principle" of neutralization referred to in the preamble of this treaty should be applicable to this canal now intended to be built, notwithstanding any change of sovereignty or of international relations of the territory through which it should pass. This "general principle" of neutralization had always in fact been insisted upon by the United States, and he recognized the entire justice of the request of Great Britain that if she should now surrender the material interest which had been secured to her by the first article of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty, which might result in the indefinite future should the territory traversed by the canal undergo a change of sovereignty, this "general principle should not be thereby affected or impaired.

These views were communicated to His Majesty's Government, and as a substitute for the article proposed by Lord Lansdowne the following was proposed on the part of the United States:

It is agreed that no change of territorial sovereignty or of the international relations of the country or countries traversed by the before-mentioned canal shall affect the general principle of neutralization or the obligations of the high contracting parties under the present treaty.

Upon a full exchange of views, this article proposed by the United States was accepted by Great Britain and becomes Article IV of the treaty now submitted. It is thought to do entire justice to the reasonable demands of Great Britain in preserving the general principle of neutralization and at the same time to relieve the United States of the vague, indefinite, and embarrassing obligations imposed by the eighth article of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty.

During the discussions upon this article it was suggested that al

though no particular route was mentioned in the proposed treaty as the route to be traversed by the canal, yet as the canal had been so commonly mentioned as the "Nicaragua Canal," and the intended treaty as the "Nicaragua Canal treaty," it might possibly be claimed that the treaty did not apply to a canal by the Panama route, or by any other possible route. But it had always been intended by the President that the treaty should apply to the canal which should be first constructed, by whichever or whatever route, and to remove the apprehension referred to and to exclude all possible doubt in the matter, it was agreed that the preamble should be amended by inserting in the preamble after the word "oceans" the words "by whatever route may be considered expedient."

His Majesty's Government at first strenuously objected to the absence from the treaty of any provision for other powers coming in, so as to be bound by its terms. It protested against being bound by what it regarded as stringent rules of neutrality which should not be equally binding upon other powers.

Lord Lansdowne accordingly proposed the following amendment, viz:

To insert in Rule 1 of Article III, after the word "nation," the words "which shall agree to observe these rules," and in the following line, after the word "nation," the words "so agreeing," so as to make the clause read:

"1. The canal shall be free and open to the vessels of commerce and of war of all nations which shall agree to observe these rules, on terms of entire equality, so that there shall be no discrimination against any nation so agreeing," etc.

The President, however, could not consent to this amendment, because he apprehended that it might be construed as making the other powers parties to the contract and as giving them contract rights in the canal, and that it would thus practically restore to the treaty the substance of the provision which the Senate had struck out as Article III of the former treaty. He believed also that there was a strong national feeling against giving to the other powers anything in the nature of a contract right in an affair so peculiarly American as the canal; that no other powers had now any right in the premises or anything to give up or part with as consideration for acquiring such a contract right; that they are to rely on the good faith of the United States in its declaration to Great Britain in this treaty; and that it adopts the rules and principles of neutralization there set forth. These rules are adopted in the treaty. with Great Britain as a consideration for getting rid of the ClaytonBulwer treaty, and the only way in which other nations are bound by them is that they must comply with them if they would use the canal.