144 AMERICAN DIPLOMATIC QUESTIONS 



trary, that it was "nothing more than the pronounced ad- 

 herence to principles long since adopted." 



It is difficult to see just how Mr. Elaine had been enabled 

 to justify to himself the correctness of this last statement, 

 especially in view of the fact that the American canal policy, 

 as set forth in his circular note, had been but the actual out- 

 growth of the previous decade, while the theory of a com- 

 pletely neutralized canal, on the other hand, had obtained in 

 the United States for more than half a century. 



No doubt the British Government was surprised by the 

 receipt of Mr. Elaine's circular letter. The full statement of 

 the new American position had been made in complete disre- 

 gard, if not in open contempt, of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty. 

 The British Minister for Foreign Affairs, Lord Granville, was 

 pointedly brief in reply, and his answer bears a hint that he 

 suspected Mr. Elaine felt the weakness of his own position. 

 He merely said that the matter in question had already been 

 settled by the engagements of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty, 

 and that " Her Majesty's Government relied with confidence 

 upon the observation of all the obligations of that treaty." 



Mr. Elaine anticipated the issue to be presented, and be- 

 fore the receipt of Granville's note, he despatched to Mr. 

 Lowell, the American Minister in London, a lengthy commu- 

 nication upon the subject (November 19, 1881). The letter 

 is no less remarkable for its plausibility than for its lack of 

 logical consistency. 



1. "This convention [Clayton-Bulwer]," he said, "was 

 made more than thirty years ago, under exceptional and ex- 

 traordinary conditions which have long since ceased to 

 exist, conditions which at best were temporary in their 

 nature and which can never be reproduced. The remarka- 

 ble development of the United States on the Pacific coast 

 since that time has created new duties for this government, 

 and developed new responsibilities upon it, the full and com- 

 plete discharge of which requires, in the judgment of the 

 President, some essential modifications in the Clayton-Bulwer 

 treaty." 



2. "The interests of Her Majesty's Government, [in a 



