And State Papers 715 



control over the canal strip would render unattain- 

 able the construction of a canal by way of the Isth- 

 mus of Panama; nor were we advised, during the 

 months when, legislation of 1902 was pending be- 

 fore the Congress, that the terms which it em- 

 bodied would render negotiations with Colombia 

 impracticable. It is plain that no nation could con- 

 struct and guarantee the neutrality of the canal with 

 a less degree of control than was stipulated for in 

 the Hay-Herran treaty. A refusal to grant such 

 degree of control was necessarily a refusal to make 

 any practicable treaty at all. Such refusal there- 

 fore squarely raised the question whether Colombia 

 was entitled to bar the transit of the world's traffic 

 across the Isthmus. 



That the canal itself was eagerly demanded by 

 the people of the locality through which it was to 

 pass, and that the people of this locality no less 

 eagerly longed for its construction under American 

 control, are shown by the unanimity of action in the 

 new Panama Republic. Furthermore, Colombia, 

 after having rejected the treaty in spite of our pro- 

 tests and warnings when it was in her power to 

 accept it, has since shown the utmost eagerness to 

 accept the same treaty if only the status quo could 

 be restored. One of the men standing highest in 

 the official circles of Colombia, on November 6, ad- 

 dressed the American minister at Bogota, saying 

 that if the Government of the United States would 

 land troops to preserve Colombian sovereignty and 

 the transit, the Colombian Government would "-de- 



