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tionable. It would be superior in dignity, in impartiality, and in general competency. It would be infinitely more likely to be regarded as beyond the reach of any but the most correct motives and influences, and the results would be infinitely more likely to command the cheerful acquiescence of both countries.

The CHAIRMAN. The subject of the next address on the program is in the form of a question, "Does the expression 'all nations' in Article 3 of the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty, include the United States?" Rear Admiral Charles H. Stockton, President of George Washington University, will address the Society on that subject.

Rear Admiral STOCKTON. Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: Before I commence the formal reading of the paper, I would like to say a few words as a preface to what I consider the state of the controversy concerning the Panama Canal tolls.

I look upon this matter, at the present stage, not as a foreign question, not as a question between the United States and Great Britain, but primarily as a domestic question. The late Congress passed an Act containing a discrimination in favor of a certain kind of shipping of the United States in regard to the canal. That Act was signed by the President of the United States, and is now the law of the land. A new Congress, however, has been summoned; a new administration is in power. In both Houses of Congress propositions have been made for the repeal of that part of the law discriminating in favor of coastwise shipping. The opinion of the President of the United States is not known, or at least it has not been declared. The proposition for reconsideration is before the Houses and before the nation. Discussion is therefore in order. The view I take is that there are certain people of the United States and certain people in both Houses of Congress who wish to repeal this Act, so far as it makes a discrimination in favor of American shipping. That discussion is a legitimate one in every city and village in the United States, from its capital city down to the smallest hamlet in the country. Every American citizen has a right to enter into this discussion until the matter has been finally settled. Those who are in favor of the repeal are not affected by the view that it is one of antagonism to one of the largest countries, but are only solicitous, and rightly and properly so, of the dignity and the honor of the United States. This aspect is the one

that appeals to me and that appeals naturally to any intelligent citizen of the United States. The question of the retaliation of five or ten per cent, or any retaliation that may come from another country, is a matter that can be safely ignored by the United States because of its commercial and physical position, but any question of honor and fair dealing is a matter of the utmost solicitude.

DOES THE EXPRESSION "ALL NATIONS" IN ARTICLE 3 OF THE HAY-PAUNCEFOTE TREATY INCLUDE THE UNITED STATES?

ADDRESS OF REAR ADMIRAL CHARLES H. STOCKTON, President of George Washington University.

In order to justify my contention for the affirmative, I will read the principal documents concerning the history of the interoceanic canal question which are more or less pertinent to the above question. I feel justified by what I consider the continuous thread found in this history that the United States entered in all and every phase of the question as a nation joined with one or more others in regard to the privileges, benefits and obligations in connection with the use of the interoceanic canal when constructed.

I furthermore maintain that whatever refuge may be found in municipal law in the way of technicalities, more popularly known as quibbles and evasions, is foreign to international law, which above all in its treaties represents an agreement in which honor and fidelity to obligation stand foremost. Not only the letter, but the spirit, governs.

Mr. Clay, at the time Secretary of State of the United States, wrote to Messrs. Anderson and Sergeant, United States representatives to the Panama Congress, May 8, 1826, that

A cut or canal for purposes of navigation somewhere through the isthmus that connects the two Americas, to unite the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, will form a proper subject of consideration at the Congress. That vast object, if it should be ever accomplished, will be interesting, in a greater or less degree, to all parts of the world. But to this continent will probably accrue the largest amount of benefit from its execution; and to Colombia, Mexico, the Central Republic, Peru, and the United States, more than to any other of the American nations. What is to redound

to the advantage of all America should be effected by common means and united exertions, and should not be left to the separate and unassisted efforts of any one power. * * * If the work should ever be executed so as to admit of the passage of sea vessels from ocean to ocean, the benefits of it ought not to be exclusively appropriated to any one nation, but should be extended to all parts of the globe upon the payment of a just compensation or reasonable tolls.

Following is a resolution of the Senate of the United States, adopted March 3, 1835:

Resolved, That the President of the United States be respectfully requested to consider the expediency of opening negotiations with the governments of other nations, and particularly with the governments of Central America and New Granada, for the purpose of effectually protecting, by suitable treaty stipulations with them, such individuals or companies as may undertake to open a communication between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, by the construction of a ship canal across the isthmus which connects North and South America, and of securing forever, by such stipulations the free and equal right of navigating such canal to all such nations, on the payment of such reasonable tolls as may be established, to compensate the capitalists who may engage in such undertaking and complete the work.

HOUSE RESOLUTION OF 1839. In 1839 the canal question was taken up in the House of Representatives, on a memorial of merchants of New York and Philadelphia, on which an elaborate report was made by Mr. Mercer, from the Committee on Roads and Canals. The report in conclusion proposed a resolution that the President should be requested "to consider the expediency of opening or continuing negotiations with the governments of other nations, and particularly with those the territorial jurisdiction of which comprehends the Isthmus of Panama, and to which the United States have accredited ministers or agents, for the purpose of ascertaining the practicability of effecting a communication between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, by the construction of a ship canal across the isthmus, and of securing forever, by suitable treaty stipulations, the free and equal right of navigating such canal to all nations." This resolution was unanimously agreed to by the House.

Mr. Cass, Secretary of State, wrote to Mr. Lamar, Minister to Central America, on July 25, 1858:

The progress of events has rendered the interoceanic routes across the narrow portions of Central America vastly important to the commercial world, and especially to the United States, whose possessions extending along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts demand the speediest and easiest modes of communication. While the just rights of sovereignty of the states occupying this region should always be respected, we shall expect that these rights will be exercised in a spirit befitting the occasion and the wants and circumstances that have arisen. Sovereignty has its duties as well as its rights, and none of these local governments, even if administered with more regard to the just demands of other nations than they have been, would be permitted, in a spirit of Eastern isolation, to close these gates of intercourse on the great highways of the world, and justify the act by the pretension that these avenues of trade and travel BELONG TO THEM, and that they choose to shut them, or, what is almost equivalent, to ENCUMBER them with such unjust regulations as would prevent their general

use.

Article 35, treaty between the United States and New Granada:

The United States of America and the Republic of New Granada, desiring to make as durable as possible the relations which are to be established between the two parties by virtue of this treaty, have declared solemnly, and do agree to the following points:

1st. For the better understanding of the preceding articles, it is and has been stipulated between the high contracting parties, that the citizens, vessels and merchandise of the United States shall enjoy in the ports of New Granada, including those of the part of the Granadian territory generally denominated Isthmus of Panama, from its southernmost extremity until the boundary of Costa Rica, all the exemptions, privileges and immunities concerning commerce and navigation, which are now or may hereafter be enjoyed by Granadian citizens, their vessels and merchandise; and that this equality of favors shall be made to extend to the passengers, correspondence and merchandise of the United States, in their transit across the said territory, from one sea to the other. The Government of New Granada guarantees to the Government of the United States that the right of way or transit across the Isthmus of Panama upon any modes of communication that now exist, or that may be hereafter constructed, shall be open and free to the Government and citizens of the

United States, and for the transportation of any articles of produce, manufactures or merchandise, of lawful commerce, belonging to the citizens of the United States; that no other tolls or charges shall be levied or collected upon the citizens of the United States, or their said merchandise thus passing over any road or canal that may be made by the Government of New Granada, or by the authority of the same, than is, under like circumstances, levied upon and collected from the Granadian citizens; that any lawful produce, manufactures or merchandise, belonging to citizens of the United States, thus passing from one sea to the other, in either direction, for the purpose of exportation to any other foreign country, shall not be liable to any import duties whatever; or, having paid such duties, they shall be entitled to drawback upon their exportation; nor shall the citizens of the United States be liable to any duties, tolls or charges of any kind, to which native citizens are not subjected for thus passing the said Isthmus. And, in order to secure to themselves the tranquil and constant enjoyment of these advantages, and as an especial compensation for the said advantages, and for the favors they have acquired by the 4th, 5th, and 6th articles of this treaty, the United States guarantee, positively and efficaciously, to New Granada, by the present stipulation, the perfect neutrality of the beforementioned isthmus, with the view that the free transit from the one to the other sea may not be interrupted or embarrassed in any future time while this treaty exists; and, in consequence, the United States also guarantee, in the same manner, the rights of sovereignty and property which New Granada has and possesses over the said territory.

President Polk, in his annual message to the Senate, says, in regard to this treaty, as follows:

4. In entering into the mutual guarantees proposed by the 35th article of the treaty, neither the Government of New Granada nor that of the United States has any narrow or exclusive views. The ultimate object, as presented by the Senate of the United States in their resolution (of March 3, 1835) [to which I have already referred], is to secure to all nations the free and equal right of passage over the Isthmus. If the United States, as the chief of the American nations, should first become a party to this guarantee, it can not be doubted, indeed it is confidently expected by the Government of New Granada, that similar guarantees will be given to that Republic by Great Britain and France. Should the proposition thus tendered be rejected, we may deprive the United States of the just influence which its acceptance might secure to them, and confer the glory and benefits of being the first among the nations in concluding such an ar

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