EDITOR'S TABLE. 



845 



Nicaragua, Costa Rica, the Mosquito 

 Coast, or any part of Central America ; 

 nor will make use of any protection 

 which either affords or may afford, or 

 any alliance which either has or may 

 have to or with any state or people 

 for the purpose of erecting or main- 

 taining any such fortiiication." More- 

 over, that " vessels of the United States 

 or G-reat Britain traversing the said 

 canal shall, in case of war hetween the 

 contracting parties, be exempted from 

 blockade, detention, or capture by either 

 of the belligerents ; and that this prom- 

 ise shall extend to such a distance from 

 the two ends of the said canal as may 

 hereafter be found expedient to estab- 

 lish " ; that " they will guarantee the 

 neutrality thereof, so that the said canal 

 may for ever be open and free"; and 

 that they " will invite every state with 

 which both or either have friendly in- 

 tercourse to enter into stipulations with 

 them similar to those they have entered 

 into with each other." 



This is solid American ground. 

 These deliberate and explicit declara- 

 tions of both Houses of Congress and 

 of the treaty-making powers of Govern- 

 ment must be taken as expressing the 

 national conviction — 1. That the con- 

 struction of a canal at the American 

 Isthmus is an open project to be entered 

 upon by any " capitalists," " individu- 

 als," or " companies " that may under- 

 take it; 2. That it is a great interna- 

 tional work to be under the joint con- 

 trol of the nations; and, 3. That the 

 international protectorate is to be se- 

 cured by treaty arrangements which it 

 is proper for the President of the United 

 States to initiate. 



This is the just and honorable his- 

 toric position of the American Govern- 

 ment, and, as we may fairly assume, of 

 the American people, in relation to this 

 great enterprise. It is a definite and 

 explicit line of public policy which has 

 been variously and repeatedly pro- 

 claimed without protest or dissent. We 

 have recognized the great desirableness 

 of the interoceanic canal for this coun- 



try, and its importance to the world ; 

 and we have pledged the faith of the 

 republic to cooperate with other nations 

 in atfording international security to 

 whatever individual or company would 

 carry out the work. 



Ferdinand de Lesseps now comes for- 

 ward and offers to construct the canal. 

 He is no dreamer, but a man of action. 

 He has had experience in thi* work, and 

 means business. Fortified by the al- 

 most unanimous approval of a large 

 convention, which represented the best 

 engineering skill of the age, he has de- 

 termined the plan and route of a canal 

 that he thinks will best meet the de- 

 mands of the future ; and stakes his repu- 

 tation upon its practicability. M. de 

 Lesseps's character gives seriousness to 

 the proposition, and probably brings 

 the measure nearer a practical realiza- 

 tion than it has ever been before. It 

 is a question that can not much longer 

 be postponed. 



And now come grave intimations 

 that the American Government is to 

 reverse its historic policy on the Isth- 

 mian Canal question. The honorable 

 and consistent ground it has hitherto 

 maintained is to be abandoned, faith is 

 to be broken, pledges repudiated, and 

 treaties abrogated. The canal is not 

 to be controlled by international law, 

 and the cooperation of maritime na- 

 tions, but it must bo exclusively con- 

 trolled by the United States. "VThoever 

 makes it, and whoever pays for it, we 

 are to seize it and hold it whenever we 

 please. A select committee of the 

 House of Representatives on the Inter- 

 oceanic Canal has unanimously recom- 

 mended the immediate adoption of the 

 following joint resolutions: 



Be it resolved bv the Senate and House of 

 Representatives of the United States of Amer- 

 iea in Congress assembled : 



That the establishment of any foi-m of pro- 

 tectorate of any one of the Powers of Europe 

 over the independent states of this contment, 

 or the introduction from any quarter of a 

 scheme or policy which would carry with it a 

 rii(ht to any ilurojican Power to interfere with 

 their concerns, or to control in any other man- 



