THE INTEROCEANIC CANAL PROBLEM 145 



Central American canal] ... are so inconsiderable in com- 

 parison with those of the United States, that the President 

 hopes " for a readjustment of the treaty. 



3. At present the treaty " concedes to Great Britain the 

 control of whatever canal may be constructed." This is 

 necessarily the case because of England's great sea power. 



4. The United States (owing to its position in the West- 

 ern Hemisphere) " will not consent to perpetuate any treaty 

 that impeaches our rightful and long-established claim to 

 priority on the American continent." 



5. Great Britain practically holds the route to India, her 

 fortifications at all the important strategic points secure to 

 her the mastery of the Mediterranean and the Sigdjseas, and 

 this, together with the controlling interest in the Suez Canal, 

 practically converts those waters into a mare clausum 

 Therefore, he argued, " If a hostile movement should at any 

 time be made against the Pacific coast, threatening danger to 

 its people and destruction to its property, the Government of 

 the United States would feel that it had been unfaithful to 

 its duty and neglectful toward its own citizens, if it per- 

 mitted itself to be bound by a treaty which gave the same 

 right through the canal to a warship bent on an errand of 

 destruction that is reserved to its own navy sailing for the 

 defense of our coast and the protection of the lives of our 

 people. And as England insists by the might of her power 

 that her enemies in war shall strike her Indian possessions 

 only by doubling the Cape of Good Hope, so the Govern- 

 ment of the United States will equally insist that the inte- 

 rior, more speedy, and safer route of the canal shall be 

 reserved for ourselves, while our enemies, if we shall ever be 

 so unfortunate as to have any, shall be remanded to the voy- 

 age around Cape Horn." 



6. *'. . . Only by the United States exercising supervision 

 can the Isthmus canals be definitely and at all times secured 

 against the interference and obstruction incident to war. A 

 mere agreement of neutrality on paper between the great 

 powers of Europe might prove ineffectual to preserve the 

 canal in time of hostilities. The first sound of a cannon 



