#10. Convention between the United States and Great Britain Concerning a Ship Canal Connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, April 19, 1850 (Clayton-Bulwer Treaty)* Convention signed at Washington April 19, 1850 Ratified by the President of the United States May 23, 1850 Ratifications exchanged at Washington July 4, 1850 Entered into force July 4, 1850 Proclaimed by the President of the United States July 5, 1850 9 Stat. 995; Treaty Series 122 CONVENTION BEetween the United States of America and HER BRITANNIC MAJESTY The United States of America and Her Britannic Majesty, being desirous of consolidating the relations of amity which so happily subsist between them, by setting forth and fixing in a Convention their views and intentions with reference to any means of communication by Ship Canal, which may be constructed between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, by the way of the River San Juan de Nicaragua and either or both of the Lakes of Nicaragua or Managua, to any port or place on the Pacific Ocean,-The President of the United States, has conferred full powers on John M. Clayton, Secretary of State of the United States; and Her Britannic Majesty on the Right Honourable Sir Henry Lytton Bulwer, a Member of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, Knight Commander of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, and Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of Her Britannic Majesty to the United States, for the aforesaid purpose; and the said Plenipotentiaries having exchanged their full powers, which were found to be in proper form, have agreed to the following articles. ARTICLE I The Governments of the United States and Great Britain hereby declare, that neither the one nor the other will ever obtain or maintain for itself any exclusive control over the said Ship Canal; agreeing, that neither will ever erect or maintain any fortifications commanding the same, or in the vicinity thereof, or occupy, or fortify, or colonize, or assume, or exercise any dominion over Nicaragua, Costa Rica, the Mosquito Coast, or any part of Central America; nor will either make use of any protection which either affords or may afford, or any alliance which either has or may have, to or with any State or People for the purpose of erecting or maintaining any such fortifications, or of occupying, fortifying, or colonizing Nicaragua, Costa Rica, the Mosquito Coast or any part of Central America, or of assuming or exercising dominion Bevans, Treaties and Other International Agreements of the United States of Amerlea, 1776-1949 (1972), v. 12, pp. 105-108. 'TS 401 *For a detailed study of this convention, see 5 Miller 671. over the same; nor will the United States or Great Britain take advantage of any intimacy, or use any alliance, connection or influence that either may possess with any State or Government through whose territory the said Canal may pass, for the purpose of acquiring or holding, directly or indirectly, for the citizens or subjects 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. ARTICLE II Vessels of the United States or Great Britain, traversing the said Canal, shall, in case of war between the contracting parties, be exempted from blockade, detention or capture, by either of the belligerents; and this provision shall extend to such a distance from the two ends of the said Canal, as may hereafter be found expedient to establish. ARTICLE III In order to secure the construction of the said Canal, the contracting parties engage that, if any such Canal shall be undertaken upon fair and equitable terms by any parties having the authority of the local Government or Governments, through whose territory the same may pass, then the persons employed in making the said Canal and their property used, or to be used, for that object, shall be protected, from the commencement of the said Canal to its completion, by the Governments of the United States and Great Britain, from unjust detention, confiscation, seizure or any violence whatsoever. ARTICLE IV The contracting parties will use whatever influence they respectively exercise, with any State, States or Governments possessing, or claiming to possess, any jurisdiction or right over the territory which the said Canal shall traverse, or which shall be near the waters applicable thereto; in order to induce such States, or Governments, to facilitate the construction of the said Canal by every means in their power; and furthermore, the United States and Great Britain agree to use their good offices, wherever or however it may be most expedient, in order to procure the establishment of two free Ports,—one at each end of the said Canal. ARTICLE V The contracting parties further engage that, when the said Canal shall have been completed, they will protect it from interruption, seizure or unjust confiscation, and that they will guarantee the neutrality thereof, so that the said Canal may forever be open and free, and the capital invested therein, secure. Nevertheless, the Governments of the United States and Great Britain, in according their protection to the construction of the said Canal, and guaranteeing its neutrality and security when completed, always understand that, this protection and guarantee are granted conditionally, and may be withdrawn by both Governments, or either Government, if both Governments, or either Government, should deem that the persons, or company, undertaking or managing the same, adopt or establish such regulations concerning the traffic thereupon, as are contrary to the spirit and intention of this Convention, either by making unfair discriminations in favor of the commerce of one of the contracting parties over the commerce of the other, or by imposing oppressive exactions or unreasonable tolls upon passengers, vessels, goods, wares, merchandise or other articles. Neither party, however, shall withdraw the aforesaid protection and guarantee, without first giving six months notice to the other. ARTICLE VI The contracting parties in this Convention engage to invite every State with which both or either have friendly intercourse, to enter into stipulations with them similar to those which they have entered into with each other; to the end, that all other States may share in the honor and advantage of having contributed to a work of such general interest and importance as the Canal herein contemplated. And the contracting parties likewise agree that, each shall enter into Treaty stipulations with such of the Central American States, as they may deem advisable, for the purpose of more effectually carrying out the great design of this Convention, namely, that of constructing and maintaining the said Canal as a ship-communication between the two Oceans for the benefit of mankind, on equal terms to all, and of protecting the same; and they, also, agree that, the good offices of either shall be employed, when requested by the other, in aiding and assisting the negotiation of such Treaty stipulations; and, should any differences arise as to right or property over the territory through which the said Canal shall pass-between the States or Governments of Central America,—and such differences should, in any way, impede or obstruct the execution of the said Canal, the Governments of the United States and Great Britain will use their good offices to settle such differences in the manner best suited to promote the interests of the said : Canal, and to strengthen the bonds of friendship and alliance which exist between the contracting parties. ARTICLE VII It being desirable that no time should be unnecessarily lost in commencing and constructing the said Canal, the Governments of the United States and Great Britain determine to give their support and encouragement to such persons, or company, as may first offer to commence the same with the necessary capital, the consent of the local authorities, and on such principles as accord with the spirit and intention of this Convention; and if any persons, or company, should already have, with any State through which the proposed Ship-Canal may pass, a contract for the construction of such a Canal as that specified in this Convention,―to the stipulations of which con tract neither of the contracting parties in this Convention have any just cause to object, and the said persons, or company, shall, moreover, have made preparations and expended time, money and trouble on the faith of such contract, it is hereby agreed, that such persons, or company, shall have a priority of claim over every other person, persons or company, to the protection of the Governments of the United States and Great Britain, and be allowed a year, from the date of the exchange of the ratifications of this Convention, for concluding their arrangements, and presenting evidence of sufficient capital subscribed to accomplish the contemplated undertaking; it being understood, that if, at the expiration of the aforesaid period, such persons, or company, be not able to commence and carry out the proposed enterprise, then the Governments of the United States and Great Britain shall be free to afford their protection to any other persons, or company, that shall be prepared to commence and proceed with the construction of the Canal in question. ARTICLE VIII The Governments of the United States and Great Britain having not only desired in entering into this Convention, to accomplish a particular object, but, also, to establish a general principle, they hereby agree to extend their protection, by Treaty stipulations, to any other practicable communications, whether by Canal or rail-way, across the Isthmus which connects North and South America; and, especially, to the interoceanic communications, should the same prove to be practicable, whether by Canal or rail-way,-which are now proposed to be established by the way of Tehuantepec, or Panama. In granting, however, their joint protection to any such Canals, or rail-ways, as are by this Article specified, it is always understood by the United States and Great Britain, that the parties constructing or owning the same, shall impose no other charges or conditions of traffic thereupon, than the aforesaid Governments shall approve of, as just and equitable; and, that the same Canals, or rail-ways, being open to the citizens and subjects of the United States and Great Britain on equal terms, shall, also, be open on like terms to the citizens and subjects of every other State which is willing to grant thereto, such protection as the United States and Great Britain engage to afford. ARTICLE IX The ratifications of this Convention shall be exchanged at Washington, within six months from this day, or sooner, if possible. In faith whereof, we, the respective Plenipotentiaries, have signed this Convention, and have hereunto affixed our seals. Done, at Washington, the nineteenth day of April, Anno Domini, one thousand eight hundred and fifty. JOHN M. CLAYTON [SEAL] HENRY LYTTON BULWER [SEAL] #11. New Granada Contracts with French and American Companies for the Construction of the Panama Railroad, 1847, 1848, and 1850* Before the treaty concluded in 1846 [with New Granada] had been ratified the increasing value of the communication across the Isthmus of Panama attracted the attention of enterprising men in Europe as well as in our own land. The first movement to establish such a communication was made by a number of individuals in Paris, who formed an association under the name of the Panama Company for the purpose of connecting the two oceans by a railroad across the isthmus. Through their agent and attorney, Mateo Klein, they negotiated a contract with the Government of New Granada, which secured to the company, for a period of ninety-nine years, the exclusive privilege of constructing and maintaining a railroad at Panama, to be completed within six years, to be counted from the expiration of four months after the approval of the concession by the Congress of the Republic. The agreement was executed at Bogota on the 10th day of May, 1847, and was approved on the 8th day of the following month. The French company was unable to control the capital necessary for the proposed enterprise, and in June 1848, its privileges lapsed. Subsequently, on the 28th day of December, 1848, the grant was revived in a modified form in favor of William Henry Aspinwall, John Lloyd Stephens, Henry Chauncey, and their associates, under the name of the Panama Railroad Company, an organization which was afterwards, in 1849, incorporated by the legislature of New York. All former concessions of a like character were declared null and void and the grant as modified gave the company the same exclusive privilege of establishing a railroad between the two oceans across the Isthmus of Panama as was contained in the contract with Klein, to continue for forty-nine years from the day of its completion and its being opened to public use. Six years were allowed for the construction of the road, with the assurance that an extension of two years would be granted, without the enforcement of any penalty, if it were found impracticable to finish it within the required time. Under this grant the company constructed the road, and on the 27th day of January, 1855, it was completed and the first passenger train passed over the track, and ever since then it has continued in operation. On the 16th day of April, 1850, the contract was put in a new form, so as to render it unnecessary to refer to the original contract with Klein in order to understand the rights of the contracting parties. Subsequently there were other modifications and changes. In its present amended form the company is entitled to the use and possession of the railroad, the telegraph between Colon and Panama, the buildings, warehouses, and wharves belonging to the road, and in general all the dependencies and other works now in its possession necessary to the service and development of the enterprise for a period of ninety-nine Report of the Isthmian Canal Commission, 1899-1901 (1904), pp. 128-129. In 1856 New Granada concluded a Treaty of Amity, Commerce and Navigation with France, which is included in Appendix CC, pp. 458-459 of the Report. |