

168 AMERICAN DIPLOMATIC QUESTIONS 



canal as supported by Presidents Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, and 

 Harrison. The position of the executive was concurred in 

 by Congress, and approved by the country at large. 



Events growing out of the Spanish War went far to con- 

 vince a conservative minority, who doubted the wisdom or 

 expediency of abrogating the ClaytQjfci&ulwer treaty, that 

 they had probably erred in judgment. The long voyage of the 

 Oregon from San Francisco to Santiago, at a time of national 

 peril, furnished the only proof still lacking to demonstrate 

 the necessity of a canal connecting the oceans which should 

 be under the military protection of the United States Gov- 

 ernment. The expansion policy of the United States in the 

 West Indies, and the acquisition of a Pacific empire with its 

 promises of trade and of a greatly enlarged American mer- 

 chant marine, further stimulated the desire of the country 

 for a ship canal under American control. Shipping subsidies *, 

 we're under discussion in the Senate ; a greatly increased 

 navy was called for to protect distant possessions ; new and 

 unlooked-for conditions suddenly transformed the nation into 

 an alert and aggressive power. With these changes of 

 national sentiment, public interest became more than ever 

 aroused in the completion of the Nicaraguan Canal. Unani- 

 mous committee reports in both houses of Congress favored 

 prompt construction by the United States Government; a 

 growing disposition in Congress manifested itself for the ac- 

 quisition of a strip of Nicaraguan and Costa Rican territory, 

 in order that the canal might lie wholly within American 

 soil. Resolutions of Congress again declared the Clayton- 

 Bulwer Ireaty to be void. The press was unsparing in its 

 /'attacks upon the old compact, and never before had all par- 

 j ties so persistently clamored for the immediate undertaking 

 \of the work upon a national basis, although in defiance of 

 \treaty obligations. 



/In January, 1900, a rumor became current that negotiations \ 

 were in progress to conclude a new treaty with Great Britain 

 relative to the ship canal. Knowing the sentiments of the 

 administration on the subject, the proponents and friends of 

 the canal rejoiced in the prospect of final delivery from the 



