THE INTEROCEANIC CANAL PROBLEM 99 



which they could not extricate themselves, could be safely 

 ignored. The country at large favored the scheme of na- 

 tional construction, the executive endorsed it, Nicaragua 

 demanded it, and the surplus in the Treasury, for the first 

 time in years, was in a condition to meet the financial obli- 

 gations necessary to undertake the work. 



A " Bill to provide for the Construction of a Canal connect- 

 ing the Waters of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans," was 

 accordingly introduced into the House by Mr. Hepburn, 

 on December 7 (189.9), and a bill of similar purport was 

 placed before the Senate ten days later by Mr. Sullivan. 

 Both measures provided for the immediate purchase of a 

 strip of territory from Nicaragua and Costa Rica and called 

 for appropriations one bill, of 1130,000,000, and the other, 

 of $140,000,000 to meet the expenses of construction. 

 The Senate bill authorized and requested the President to 

 negotiate with the Government of Great Britain for the 

 abrogation or modification of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty, 

 "so far and to such an extent as to enable the United States 

 to own, construct, maintain, and operate under its exclusive 

 jurisdiction, a canal. . . ." 



It also provided for the purchase of any valid outstanding 

 concessions from Nicaragua or Costa Rica, but the House 

 bill not only ignored the treaty rights of Great Britain, but 

 the legal rights of the concessionary companies in Nicaragua 

 as well. 



In his report accompanying the House bill (H. R. 2538), 

 Mr. Hepburn expressly stated, in reference to these con- 

 cessionaries, that "it is not believed that any one of these 

 . . . has any right or interest that he can convey to the 

 United States." In order to forestall any arguments of an 

 ethical character which might be urged against the bill, he 

 set forth, with considerable positiveness, his belief that the 

 Nicaragua Canal, when finally built, would be entitled to no 

 place in the field of international law, and further, that all 

 considerations of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty could well be 

 put aside, for " It has been a dead letter from the day 

 the treaty was signed to the present moment." 



