merce of the House of Representatives, and was described by Mr. Hay as comprising copies of letters from the Colombian minister, dated the 31st of March and the 18th and 23d of April, accompanied by the letter of exposition and the letter of William Nelson Cromwell, both dated the 31st of March, referred to in the minister's letter of that date; and also a memorandum of a convention which the Government of Colombia is ready to sign with that of the United States of America, respecting the completion, maintenance, control, and protection of an interoceanic canal over the Isthmus of Panama together with pertinent correspondence relating, not alone to the contingent offer to the United States of title and rights in respect to the Panama Canal, but also to the alternative title and rights in respect to the previously proposed canal by the Nicaraguan route, the latter comprising, among other papers, copies of protocols entered into between this Government and those of Nicaragua and Costa Rica, December 1, 1900. The hitherto unpublished correspondence in connection with the Hay-Concha negotiations is herewith submitted in order to meet the request of the Senate. There was not in May, 1902, nor at any time, a "Hay-Concha protocol,” such as is specified in the resolution. House Document No. 611 contains substantially all the material correspondence antecedent to the formulation of the original Hay-Herran treaty, signed January 22, 1903. The negotiation taken up with Minister Concha got no further than the submission of the draft convention (printed in H. Doc. No. 611) and the announcement made by Mr. Hay to Minister Concha that he would be ready to sign with him the proposed con vention as soon as the Congress of the United States shall have authorized the President to enter into such an arrangement and the law officers of this Government shall have decided upon the question of the title which the New Panama Canal Co. is able to give of all the properties and rights claimed by it and pertaining to a canal across the Isthmus and covered by the pending proposal. The conditions thus prescribed by Mr. Hay precedent to the conclusion of a canal treaty with Colombia were not effected until several months later. After a prolonged discussion of the relative merits of the Nicaraguan and the Panaman routes, the Congress, by the act approved June 28, 1902, preferentially approved the construction of a ship canal over the Isthmus of Panama. The title offered by the New Panama Co. was later pronounced to be good and sufficient. By this time Minister Concha had quitted Washington. The Colombian negotiation was then taken up at the point where Minister Concha had left it, and carried to a conclusion with his successor, Minister Herran, January 22, 1903. Although its ratification was advised and consented to on the part of the United States Senate, it failed to receive approval at Bogota. The secession of Panama followed, changing the conditions of the isthmian problem and necessitating negotiations de novo with the actual sovereign power of the Territory of Panama. The history of the negotiation of the present Hay-Bunau Varilla canal treaty with Panama, and of the position then assumed by Colombia has been abundantly recorded in the voluminous correspondence heretofore communicated to the Congress. Many of the papers in regard to these events have been printed in the annual volumes of diplomatic correspondence entitled "Foreign Relations of the United States," and cover the period between the separation of Panama and the initiation of the negotiation which culminated in the signature of the tripartite treaties of 1909. The course of this latter negotiation, stretching over a period of some three years, is reviewed in the report made by Secretary Knox to the President February 20, 1913 (H. Doc. No. 1444, 62d Cong., 3d sess.), but the correspondence incident to the conduct of the negotiations was not submitted therewith. It would seem that the request of the Senate for information, not heretofore communicated to the Congress, having relation to the described tripartite conventions, will be met by the communication of a concordant selection of hitherto unpublished correspondence, of record in the Department of State, showing the course of the negotiations which led up to the signature of the three treaties mentioned in the resolution. With this view the accompanying collection of papers is laid before the President. In the opinion of the undersigned, their communication to the Senate would not be incompatible with the public interests. Respectfully submitted. Washington, May 6, 1914. (List of papers follows.) W. J. BRYAN. PART IV-a. LIST OF PAPERS RELATING TO THE NEGOTIATION OF THE TRIPARTITE TREATIES OF JANUARY, 1909. 1904. From American legation at Bogota, December 20. To same, January 9. 1905. From same, January 13. No. 17. From same, May 8. Telegram. From Colombian minister at Washington, October 21. Not included. (Printed S. Doc. No. 542, 2d sess., 60th Cong.)1 1906. To same, February 2. Not included. Printed in above document. From same, April 6. Not included. Printed in above document. From American legation at Bogota, April 7. No. 66. From same May 23. From same, June 12. Telegram. From same, June 13. From same, June 13. No. 103. To same, June 14. Telegram. From Colombian minister at Washington, July 2. From American legation at Bogota, July 14. Telegram. To American legation at Bogota, July 2. No. 27. Memorandum signed by Mr. Vasquez Cobo, and handed to Mr. Root, September 20. From American legation at Bogota, August 20. Not included. (Pritend S. Doc., No. 542, 60th Cong., 2d sess.) Memorandum (confidential) from legation of Colombia at Washington, November 8, 1906. 1907. From Colombian legation, January 3. From same, March 4. From same, March 7. Personal note to Mr. Buchanan. To same, April 24. From same, April 25. From same, May 10. Substance. (At this point there were numerous oral conferences between Mr. Taft, Mr. Cortes, the Colombian minister, and Mr. Cromwell, etc.) 1 See No. 16, Appendix. Protocol for a treaty between Colombia and Panama, signed August 17, by Minister Cortes. for Colombia; by Mr. Arango, for Panama; and approved by William H. Taft, for the United States (by direction of the President). Protocol of same date, for a treaty between the United States and Panama, signed by W. H. Taft and Mr. Arango. From Colombian minister at Washington, August 18. To same, August 26. Substance. From same, December 5. To same, December 17. From same, December 20. No. 277. From same, December 28. From same, January 26. To same, January 28. 1908. From Colombian minister, March 12. From Secretary of State to London and County Banking Co. (Ltd.), March 17. To Colombian minister, March 17. From same, March 31. To Colombian minister, April 9. From American legation at Bogota, October 6. No. 174. To Colombian minister. December 29. To same, December 30. From same, December 31. To the President, January 11 (submitting the tripartite treaties for the Senate, printed Ex. N., 60th Cong., 2d sess.) Not included. From President of Colombia to Colombian minister at Washington, January 12. Telegram. From American legation at Bogota, January 13. From American legation at Panama, January 30. From Panama minister, January 31. To American legation at Bogota, telegram, February 9. From same. February 12. From same. February 14. Telegram. From same. telegram, March 10. To same. March 15. Telegram. From Colombian minister, March 16. From American legation at Bogota, March 16. Telegram. From same, March 18. Telegram. To Colombian minister, March 22. No. 82. From American legation at Bogota, March 23. From Colombian legation, March 24. No. 62. From American legation at Bogota, March 26. Telegram. From same, March 29. No. 247. Edited. From American legation at Bogota, September 29. Telegram. From same, October 1. No. 12. To same, October 4. Telegram. 1910. From same, January 5. Telegram. |