Ji6 Presidential Addresses 



clare martial law; and, by virtue of vested consti- 

 tutional authority, when public order is disturbed, 

 [would] approve by decree the ratification of the 

 canal treaty as signed ; or, if the Government of the 

 United States prefers, [would] call extra session of 

 the Congress with new and friendly members 

 next May to approve the treaty." Having these 

 facts in view, there is no shadow of question that 

 the Government of the United States proposed a 

 treaty which was not merely just, but generous to 

 Colombia, which our people regarded as erring, if 

 at all, on the side of overgenerosity ; which was 

 hailed with delight by the people of the immediate 

 locality through which the canal was to pass, who 

 were most concerned as to the new order of things, 

 and which the Colombian authorities now recognize 

 as being so good that they are willing to promise 

 its unconditional ratification if only we will desert 

 those who have shown themselves our friends and 

 restore to those who have shown themselves un- 

 friendly the power to undo what they did. I pass 

 by the question as to what assurance we have that 

 they would now keep their pledge and not again re- 

 fuse to ratify the treaty if they had the power ; for, 

 of course, I will not for one moment discuss the 

 possibility of the United States committing an act 

 of such baseness as to abandon the new Republic 

 of Panama. 



Third. Finally the Congress definitely settled 

 where the canal was to be built. It was provided 

 that a treaty should be made for building the canal 



