Mr. Beaupré to Mr. Hay. [Telegram.] UNITED STATES LEGATION, Bogotá, June 23, 1903. (Received June 27, 1903.) Opposition Chamber of Representatives opened canal discussion yesterday demanding documents relating to the treaty. The Government objected because it was not ready to present the treaty. The Government was sustained; vote 38 to 5. Mr. Beaupré to Mr. Hay: BEAUPRÉ. [Telegram.] UNITED STATES LEGATION, Confidential. Am informed that the treaty will not be presented until the President is confident it will be confirmed. Chamber of Representatives is favorable, but unfriendly influence makes the majority in the Senate uncertain. Absentees have been sent for and the Government using influence on Senators here. Do you desire me to telegraph such information? No. 67.] Mr. Beaupré to Mr. Hay. BEAUPRÉ. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: Referring to the Department's No. 6 of April 28, 1903, and to my No. 44 of June 10, 1903, concerning the request of the Colombian Government to the Panama Canal and Railroad companies for the appointment of agents to negotiate the cancellation of present concessions, etc., I have the honor to report that on yesterday I received a note from the minister for foreign affairs in reply to mine of the 10th ultimo, a copy and translation of which I herewith transmit. I am, sir, your obedient servant, A. M. BEAUPRÉ. MINISTRY FOR FOREIGN RELATIONS, Mr. MINISTER: I have the honor to receive the attentive note which your excellency has been pleased to address to me on the 10th of the present month, with the English version of the notes in which the minister of hacienda of Colombia requested the railroad company and the New Panama Canal Company to name agents to represent them in the negotiations relative to the permission which is necessary for the transfer of their respective concessions to the Government of the United States. The Congress being in session, to which belongs the decision as to the approbation of the treaty between the Republic of Colombia and the United States for the construction of the interoceanic canal between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the said note of your excellency will be presented to that body to the end that they may know the construction that the Government of the United States gives to article 1 of that compact. The Congress of Colombia in determining the meaning, and, at the same time, the scope of article 1 of the treaty, will have to consult the antecedents of the negotiations, among which are found the said notes of the minister of hacienda, which have the dates 25th and 27th of December, 1902, respectively, while the treaty for the opening of the interoceanic canal was signed January 22, 1903; for this reason they were not interpretations of the pact, but they were destined to prevent certain foreseen eventualities in the course of the negotiations, as is seen in that which the minister of Colombia expressed in his memorial addressed to the Secretary of State in Washington the 22d of November, 1902. In paragraph b, section A, it says: "The preceding reasons serve in part also to show the necessity which exists that the Government of Colombia celebrate a special contract with the companies which are to cede their rights;" but to this must be added that the treaty alone between Colombia and the United States can not have the judicial effect of resolving or canceling the legal bonds which exist between the Republic of Colombia and those companies, bonds arising from a perfect contract which can not be dissolved, in conformity with the principles of universa! jurisprudence, because one of the parties celebrates a compact, on the same material, with a third, which in this case would be the United States. As in the same way the United States must celebrate a contract in order to acquire the rights of the said companies, and that negotiation can not be included in the treaty which is to be celebrated between the two countries, neither can the resolution of the obligation between Colombia and the two companies be verified in the treaty. If such were admitted, it would result that Colombia, relinquishing all her rights in relation with these entities (corporations?). or depriving herself of the means to make them effective, would leave in force her obligations to them. The very payment of the privileged shares which Colombia possesses in the canal company would not have any guarantee by the omission of a special contract, so much the more so that in the proposed reform by the Department of State to article 1 of the memorandum of April, it was clearly expressed that the United States would not contract any obligation in that respect ("no obligation under this provision is imposed upon or assumed by the United States"). The affirmations of your excellency as to the legality of the sale to a foreign government of the shares of the Panama Railway and by that manner to transfer the control of the work, imposes upon me the duty to call your excellency's attention to a very important circumstance, in that the necessity for the consent of Colombia to that sale is recognized in article 1 of the treaty, and to manifest to your excellency that each share, by representing a certain proportionate value of the privilege, or, that is, of the railroad itself, and the transfer of that to a foreign government being prohibited, the shares can not be sold, because with them they would become copartners in the property of the privilege, which is judicially inadmissible. The restrictive condition of the contracts of 1850 and 1867 do not exclude from the penalty of forfeiture the sale of portions of the privilege. This is indivisible as to the rights conceded and the obligations imposed, and if it were not so the result would be that if a foreign government bought the total or a greater part of the shares, it would become, by this means, proprietor of the railroad, or at least of a part so great of its value that it would give to it the administration of the work, and in this way the prohibition of the sale of the privilege to a foreign government would be eluded. Your excellency knows very well that any interpretation ought to be discarded that makes illusionary that which is stipulated, and in this case the condition in reference would be reached if any proceeding was admitted by which the privilege for the construction and exploitation of the railroad could be transferred to a foreign government. I avail myself, etc., (Signed) To His Excellency, Hon. A. M. BEAUPRÉ, Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States, etc. Mr. Loomis to Mr. Beaupré. [Telegram.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Have you fully acquainted Colombian Government with Department instruction of April 28? Keep department informed as to situation. LOOMIS, Acting. Mr. Beaupré to Mr. Hay. No. 68.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: I have the honor to confirm my telegram of this date, which should read as follows: “July 2, 9 a. m. Confidential. Have received information, privately, that the President had a meeting of senators at the palace yesterday, urging the necessity of the ratification of the treaty. Heated discussion ensued, the majority declaring in opposition to the treaty. At present the majority in the Senate seem against ratification." I am, sir, your obedient servant, A. M. BEAUPRÉ. Mr. Beaupré to Mr. Hay. Telegram.] UNITED STATES LEGATION, Bogotá, July 5, 1903. (Received July 9.) I have fully acquainted Colombian Government with your instructions of April 28. The reply of ministry for foreign affairs I have the honor to transmit. Summary of reply as follows: My note will be referred to Congress that it may know the construction given article 1 by the Government of the United States. To determine meaning article 1 Congress will take into consideration all negotiations prior to signing the treaty, including the notices minister hacienda to companies, which, antedating the treaty, are not explanatory thereof, intended in anticipation of foreseen events in the negotiations. See paragraph B, section A, memorial Colombian minister to the Department, 22d last November. The treaty alone can not cancel obligations between Colombia and companies as well. The United States must make contract to acquire rights of the companies which can not be included in the treaty. Were this not so Colombia, while relinquishing her rights, would yet be bound by obligations to companies. To omit contract Colombia would have no guarantee for the payment of her shares in canal company, especially as in article 1 of the memorandum of April obligation of this kind is waived by the United States. Necessity for consent of Colombia to sale of shares Panama Railway recognized in article 1 the treaty. The minister affirms the prohibition extends to purchase of one or more shares, as by this means control could be secured and the prohibition eluded. Mr. Beaupré to Mr. Hay. [Telegram.] BEAUPRÉ. UNITED STATES LEGATION, Bogotá, July 5, 1903. (Received July 12, 1903.) Confidential. Have received information privately that a paraphrase of your cipher telegram June 9 was read in the Senate secret session. Created sensation. Construed by many as a threat of direct retaliation against Colombia in case the treaty is not ratified. This, and the statement of just-arrived members of Congress from Panama that this department would revolt if the treaty is not ratified, caused alarm, and the effect is favorable. Unusual honors extended legation of the United States 4th of July. BEAUPRÉ. No. 72.] Mr. Beaupré to Mr. Hay. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: Referring to my No. 60 of June 24, 1903, with which I transmitted a copy of the President's message to Congress, I now have the honor to inclose herewith a translation of said message. I am, sir, your obedient servant, Honorable Senators and Representatives: A. M. BEAUPRÉ. Full of joy and smiling hopes I see to-day fulfilled the greatest of my desires in that I see reunited the National Congress. The afflicted country hopes, through your intelligence and your love of it, a remedy for the ills which oppress it. And I hope to see myself, for the greater part, relieved of the immense responsibility which has weighed over me, that of caring personally for the salvation of the institutions and the administration of the public business, by the meeting of the legislators. The profound disturbance of the public order, which began in 1899, prevented the fulfillment of the laws in regard to elections, and consequently the reunion of Congress, which ought to have taken place in 1900 and 1902. Therefore there arose a political situation unforeseen by the constitution and the law, in that the Government was forced to assume the functions of legislation as well as to protect itself against those who sought to destroy it by force, and to attend to the satisfaction of many necessities of all classes. One of these necessities was that the National Congress should be formed and reunited, but this could not be attended to during the war, because many of the cities of the Republic were occupied, either continuously or for short times, by the forces of the rebels, and on this account the legal authorities could not reside in them nor exercise their proper functions. I was authorized to call Congress in extraordinary session, but I could not have an election for members of the House of Representatives, nor was there a complete number of senators. Such being the circumstances, I resolved that as soon as the battles had ceased or been made insignificant I would see that an election was held for members of the departmental assemblies and for representatives, designating for each one of the acts prescribed by the election laws a different date from the one fixed by them. In doing this I was moved by the fact that the Congress would owe its existence to this and would not fail to approve it, and also that the question of the opening of an interoceanic canal by way of Panama demanded a more prompt solution than could be given by the Congress which ought to reunite on the 20th of July, 1904. For in this light it was possible that the deferring of the solution which the Government of the United States hoped from Colombia would be equivalent to a definite renunciation of the project of the contract. Neither could I refuse to call Congress, having offered on various solemn occasions and in important documents, and having contracted to do so in my name, by agents as authorized and as respectable as those who signed the surrenders at the end of the war. At the same time that I have hoped that the legislature, in the session of this year, would solve that question, I have desired and hoped also that it would solve others of supreme importance, and that it would take measures to remedy the infinite evils caused by the late war, and prepare and open for Colombia an era of greatness, prosperity, and peace. The constitution, which authorized me to take measures which in time of peace could not have been exercised without consent of Congress, imposes on those governing the duty to give to that body, peace being declared, a reasonable account of the acts executed in the exercise of those extraordinary powers. This account ought to be prepared and completed in the forms which, according to the constitution, the ministers of Government have to give to Congress in their ordinary sessions. The ministers of my Government have made efforts to have ready the said reports, but they have only been able to prepare the main proofs, and at present it is impossible to make it complete. The disorder in which, on account of the last revolution, the public administration of all branches have been thrown for the last three years, and the lack of communications which in all that time was almost total and which is still so, have made and now make it impossible to collect the necessary data which have to be gotten in all the offices of the Republic-data which can not, without great labor, be collected before July of next year. The ministers of Government will give you all the information necessary for the study and investigation of these points, and which they have acquired in many cases not without great study of these same questions and great difficulty. A continuation of this message would require the placing therein the data of the ministers, data which I have not cared to include in this document. because they would give to it excessive length. The ministers will submit to you for your consideration the businesses for which it is urgent that you provide legislation. In my proclamation addressed to my fellow citizens on the 1st of January of this year I set forth most of the views that I should state now, Allow me to transcribe here some fragments of that document. [NOTE. This message of the vice president to the nation I will give a summary of rather than a translation.] Doctor Marroquin begins by congratulating the country on the conclusion of peace, which is owing, he says, to the unselfish patriotism of so many Colombians who gratuitously lent their services. He refers to the revolution which broke out in 1899 as being the severest which this country has yet experienced, owing to the dissensions among the members of the Conservative Party; the open support given by foreigners; secret machinations in the countries of Europe and America with the object of impeding the acquisition of munitions of war; of a foreign press placed at the service of the disturbers of order; and sickness, the child of war, which, ravaging entire army corps, has frustrated plans and embarassed operations. The result has been to bring_about immense suffering, and to place the finances of the country, which were already in a bad condition, in the most critical situation the country has ever known. At the same time a spirit of speculation has been rife, and unfortunately many of those who ought to have done their utmost to bring about a restoration of peace have for this very reason desired the continuance of hostilities. After enumerating the many evils which the country has suffered, he refers to the interoceanic canal, on the results of which undertaking he builds his hopes for future prosperity. He justifies the arbitrary action of the executive power by the results, i. e., by an honorable peace. The war has had this advantage, that it has taught the people, to their cost, the blessings inseparable from peace. He desires henceforth to rule as the chief not of a party but of the entire nation. His excellency then goes on to the policy to be adopted in the future. He frankly acknowledges the errors committed in the past, which were the cause of continuous revolutions. Colombians must set out to work, |