74 Presidential Addresses 



to protect the lives and property of American citizens 

 and to preserve the free and uninterrupted transit of 

 the Isthmus. 



Very respectfully, 



(Signed) JOHN HUBBARD, 



Commander, U. S. Navy, Commanding. 

 THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY, 



Bureau of Navigation, Navy Department, 



Washington, D. C. 



This plain official account of the occurrences of 

 November 4 shows that, instead of there having 

 been too much prevision by the American Govern- 

 ment for the maintenance of order and the protec- 

 tion of life and property on the Isthmus, the orders 

 for the movement of the American warships had 

 been too long delayed; so long, in fact, that there 

 were but forty-two marines and sailors available to 

 land and protect the lives of American men and 

 women. It was only the coolness and gallantry with 

 which this little band of men wearing the American 

 uniform faced ten times their number of armed foes, 

 bent on carrying out the atrocious threat of the Co- 

 lombian commander, that prevented a murderous 

 catastrophe. At Panama, when the revolution broke 

 out, there was no American man-of-war and no 

 American troops or sailors. At Colon, Commander 

 Hubbard acted with entire impartiality toward both 

 sides, preventing any movement, whether by the 

 Colombians or the Panamans, which would tend to 

 produce bloodshed. On November 9 he prevented 

 a body of the revolutionists from landing at Colon. 



