



And State Papers 259 



surrounding it, was necessarily for the benefit and 

 not the detriment of the adjacent American re 

 publics. 



After considerably more than half of a century 

 these objects have been exactly fulfilled by the legis 

 lation and treaties of the last two years. Two years 

 ago we were no further advanced toward the con 

 struction of the Isthmian Canal on our terms than 

 we had been during the preceding eighty years. 

 By the Hay-Pauncefote treaty, ratified in December, 

 1901, an old treaty with Great Britain, which had 

 been held to stand in the way, was abrogated and 

 it was agreed that the canal should be constructed 

 under the auspices of the Government of the United 

 States, and that this Government should have the 

 exclusive right to regulate and manage it, becoming 

 the sole guarantor of its neutrality. 



It was expressly stipulated, furthermore, that this 

 guaranty of neutrality should not prevent the United 

 States from taking any measures which it found 

 necessary in order to secure by its own forces the 

 defence of the United States and the maintenance 

 of public order. Immediately following this treaty 

 Congress passed a law under which the President 

 was authorized to endeavor to secure a treaty for 

 acquiring the right to finish the construction of, and 

 to operate, the Panama Canal, which had already 

 been begun in the territory of Colombia by a French 

 company. The rights of this company were accord 

 ingly obtained and a treaty negotiated with the Re 

 public of Colombia. This treaty has just been rati- 



