110 



control of such citizen or association of citizens. It 

 is well understood that the cases enumerated in re- 

 gard to cessation are also included in those to be de- 

 cided upon by the court established according to 

 Article 13 : said court will decide upon the fact and 



ART. 16. This treaty will cease and determine if 

 the United States of America does not execute or 

 cause to bo executed the explorations and maps ot tne 

 canal herein referred to, within three years from and 

 after the ratification and exchange of this convention ; 

 or does not commence or cause to be commenced tne 

 construction of the canal within five years after the 

 paid ratification, or if she fails to have the same 

 finished within fifteen years from said ratification. 



ABT. 17. Should any differences unfortunately oc- 

 cur between the United States of America and the 

 United States of Colombia, in reference to this con- 

 vention, said differences shall be submitted to the 

 arbitration of some impartial government, and the de- 

 cision thereof carried out and respected in all cases. 



ABT. 18. The United States ot Colombia and the 

 United States of America mutually agree to second 

 their efforts in soliciting the friendship and guarantee 

 of the other nations in favor of the stipulations of 

 neutrality mentioned in Articles 7 and 9, as well as 

 of the sovereignty of the United States of Colombia 

 over the territory of the Isthmus of Panama and of 

 Darien. 



AKT. 19. The present treaty is to be approved and 

 ratified by the President of the United States of 

 Colombia, by and with the advice and consent of the 

 Congress thereof; and by the President of the United 

 States of America, by and with the advice t and con- 

 sent of the Senate thereof; and the ratifications shall 

 be exchanged in the city of Bogota within twenty 

 months, to be reckoned from the day of the signing of 

 this convention. 



In testimony whereof, we, the plenipotentiaries of 

 the United States of Colombia, and of the United 

 States of America, have signed and sealed these 

 presents in the city of Bogota, on the 14th day of 

 January, 1869. 



[L. s.l MIGUEL SAMPER, 



TOMAS CUENCA, 



Plenipotentiaries of the United States of Colombia. 

 [L. s.] PETER J. SULLIVAN, 



Minister Resident and Plenipotentiary of the United 

 States of America. 



Executive Power of the Union, Bogota, January 

 16, 1869. The foregoing treaty is approved. Pass 

 the same to the Congress for tne exercise respecting 

 it of the 12th of the attributes conferred upon that 

 body by the 49th Art. of the National Constitution. 

 [L. s.] SANTOS GUTIERREZ. 



The Secretary of the Interior and of Foreign 

 Relations : S. PEREZ. 



The preamble of the above treaty declares 

 the opening of the canal between the two 

 oceans across the continental isthmus to be es- 

 sential to the prosperity of the two contracting 

 countries and to the world at large, both in the 

 interest of commerce and of civilization. A 

 number of the leading journals in Bogota 

 strongly opposed the confirmation of this treaty, 

 their main object being, it was thought, to get 

 as much money from the United States as pos- 

 sible. This opposition of the press, together 

 with French and English influences, induced 

 the Federal Senate to reject the treaty. In the 

 State of Panama public opinion began, how- 

 ever, to appreciate the necessity of having the 

 canal, and on October 16, 1869, the Legislative 

 Assembly passed, unanimously, the following 

 resolution : 



COLOMBIA, UNITED STATES OF. 



Resolved, That Congress be solicited to reconsider 

 the treaty for the excavation of a canal uniting the 

 Atlantic and Pacific Oceans by way ot the Isthmus of 

 Panama and Darien, which was celebrated in Bogota 

 on the 14th of January of the present year, between 

 the Government of Colombia and that of the United 

 States of America. 



The representatives from the State of Pana- 

 ma to the national Congress were consequent- 

 ly instructed to use every endeavor to secure 

 the passage of the canal project. So anxious 

 are the people that the matter shall be carried 

 through, and so convinced of the great benefits 

 which would accrue to them and to the com- 

 merce of the world by the opening of a 

 canal through their State, that they would be 

 perfectly willing, were the coming Congress to 

 take unfavorable action upon it, to sever them- 

 selves from the Colombian Confederation al- 

 together, and claimj>rotection from the Govern- 

 ments of the United States and Great Britain. 



The United States Senate took no action on 

 the treaty during the year 1869 ; but General 

 Grant, who has always taken a profound in- 

 terest in this question, which has increased with 

 his elevation to the presidency, obtained per- 

 mission from the Colomhian Government to 

 send a force to the isthmus to examine and 

 locate a survey for the most practicable route 

 for a canal. President Grant accordingly di- 

 rected the Secretary of the Navy to detail a 

 sufficient force to make the necessary surveys 

 and select the best route. For this work the 

 Secretary of the Navy detailed the Nipsic, 

 Commander Selfridge, and the Guard. These 

 vessels were to take out several officers belong- 

 ing to the Coast Survey to assist in the work. 

 The whole matter was placed under the su- 

 perintendence of Rear- Admiral Davis, who is 

 familiar with the isthmus and with the sev- 

 eral routes heretofore proposed for a ship-canal. 

 For when, in March, 1866, the Senate passed 

 the following resolution 



Resolved, That the Secretary of the Navy furnish, 

 through, a report of the Superintendent of the Naval 

 Observatory, the summit-level^ and distance by sur- 

 vey of the various proposed lines for interoceanic 

 canals and railroads between the waters of the Atlan- 

 tic and Pacific Oceans ; as also their relative merits as 

 practicable lines for the construction of a ship-canal, 

 and especially as relates to Honduras, Tehuante- 

 pec, Nicaragua, Panama, and Atrato lines, and also 

 whether, in the opinion of the Superintendent, the 

 isthmus of Darien has been satisfactorily explored ; 

 and if so, furnish in detail charts, plans, lines of 

 levels and all information connected therewith, and 

 upon what authority they are based 



Admiral Davis, in reply to this resolution, 

 on the 12th of July, 1866, submitted a report, 

 through the "Secretary of the Navy, which ex- 

 hausted the whole subject and contained all the 

 information then known relative to a ship- 

 canal across the isthmus. The facts and con- 

 clusions set forth in this report will be of great 

 service to the surveying party which at the 

 close of the year 1869 was to leave for the 

 isthmus. In concluding his report, Admiral 

 Davis says : 

 It is to the Isthmus of Darien that we are first to 



