240 TOWER— TREATY OBLIGATIONS [April 17, 



Consul to the settlement, in 1847, which Consul had received his exequatur 

 from the British government which was a recognition of the British claim. 

 " But, on our side," Mr. Marcy, Secretary of State, declared in answer 

 to this, (1856), "Great Britain had not any rightful possessions in Central 

 America, and at the same time, if she had any, she was bound by the ex- 

 press tenor and true construction of the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty to avacuate 

 them, so as to stand on precisely the same footing in that respect as the 

 United States." 



This defines our position in regard to the affairs of the isthmus ; 

 it insists that Great Britain shall place herself upon an exact equality 

 with us ; that she must give up any claims or privileges in which 

 we did not share, in order that we may be precisely alike ; but it 

 marks also our obligation toward Great Britain, — for whilst we 

 insisted that she should be on an equal footing with us, we promised 

 that we should be upon an equal footing with her. We won our 

 case and England, giving up the Mosquito Coast and the islands, 

 came ultimately to our understanding, because of the Clayton- 

 Bulwer Treaty ;■ — -but the provision of the treaty was that : 

 neither the United States nor Great Britain should exert any influ- 

 ence that either may possess, " for the purpose of acquiring directly 

 or indirectly, for the citizens of the one any rights or advantages in 

 regard to Commerce or navigation through the said Canal which 

 shall not be offered on the same terms to the citizens or subjects of 

 the other." 



General Cass said, (1858): 



" What the United States want in Central America, next to the happiness 

 of its people, is the security and neutrality of the inter-oceanic routes which 

 lead through it. If the principles and policy of the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty 

 are carried into effect, this object is accomplished." 



It is to be observed that there are two distinct points of agree- 

 ment which are set forth in this Treaty as well as in all of the 

 voluminous correspondence that had taken place in regard to it, — 

 which points of agreement have never been lost sight of as the 

 basis of the negotiations relating to the Canal across the isthmus ; 

 namely the neutrality of the canal itself and the absolute equality 

 between the United States and Great Britain in connection with it. 

 We demanded it from the start and Great Britain has acceeded to 



