THE INTEROCEANIC CANAL PROBLEM 139 



United States purchase of Tigre Island as a coaling station 

 (the same island that had figured so prominently in British- 

 American relations in 1850). Would such action on the part 

 of the United States be considered by Great Britain as a vio- 

 lation of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty? In his letter to Mr. 

 Adams, Secretary Seward hinted that the Clayton-Bulwer 

 treaty was void because it related to the building of a certain 

 canal which had never even been undertaken. " It may be a 

 question," he said, " whether the renunciatory clauses of the 

 treaty are to have perpetual operation." The matter was not 

 pressed by Mr. Adams, but the episode is important here, as 

 demonstrating the birth of a new sentiment, which was in 

 later years destined to expand into a national policy. 



The Dickinson-Ayer treaty with Nicaragua, which stands 

 in force to-day, was ratified in June, 1868. It cedes to the 

 United States a right of way, though not an exclusive one, 

 for canal building purposes ; it guarantees freedom of ports 

 and neutrality of canal, subject to the political sovereignty of 

 Nicaragua. The United States also agreed to use its influence 

 to induce other commercial nations to cooperate with it in 

 guaranteeing such neutrality. 



This treaty, therefore, like the one concluded with Colom- 

 bia, twenty years previously, contemplated the neutrality 

 of the canal; in this respect it was in full accord with the 

 provisions of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty. A new treaty 

 was also made with Colombia (1868), in the negotiations 

 for which Mr. Seward exhibited a decided change of senti- 

 ment from 1862, touching the neutrality of the isthmian 

 route. He inserted a clause in the draft of this Colombian 

 treaty which provided that enemies of the United States 

 should be excluded from the use of the proposed canal in 

 times of war. The Colombia Government rejected the arti- 

 cle, adding in its place a clause favoring international con- 

 trol. The treaty was given full discussion in the Senate, 

 but failed of ratification. Had the Senate accepted this 

 agreement with Colombia, it is quite certain that Great 

 Britain would have protested against it as a violation of the 

 Clayton-Bulwer treaty. No doubt Mr. Seward well knew 



