concession in favor of the Government or the citizens and subjects of a third power relative to an interoceanic means of communication which in any of its terms may be incompatible with the terms of the present convention, the Republic of Panama agrees to cancel or modify such treaty in due form, for which purpose it shall give to the said third power the requisite notification within the term of four months from the date of the present convention, and in case the existing treaty contains no clause permitting its modifications or annulment, the Republic of Panama agrees to procure its modification or annulment in such form that there shall not exist any conflict with the stipulations of the present convention. ARTICLE XXI. The rights and privileges granted by the Republic of Panama to the United States in the preceding Articles are understood to be free of all anterior debts, liens, trusts, or liabilities, or concessions or privileges to other Governments, corporations, syndicates or individuals, and consequently, if there should arise any claims on account of the present concessions and privileges or otherwise, the claimants shall resort to the Government of the Republic of Panama and not to the United States for any indemnity or compromise which may be required. ARTICLE XXII. The Republic of Panama renounces and grants to the United States the participation to which it might be entitled in the future earnings of the Canal under Article XV of the concessionary contract with Lucien N. B. Wyse now owned by the New Panama Canal Company and any and all other rights or claims of a pecuniary nature arising under or relating to said concession, or arising under or relating to the concessions to the Panama Railroad Company or any extension or modification thereof; and it likewise renounces, confirms and grants to the United States, now and hereafter, all the rights and property reserved in the said concessions which otherwise would belong to Panama at or before the expiration of the terms of ninety-nine years of the concessions granted to or held by the above mentioned party and companies, and all right, title and interest which it now has or may hereafter have, in and to the lands, canal, works, property and rights held by the said companies under said concessions or otherwise, and acquired or to be acquired by the United States from or through the New Panama Canal Company, including any property and rights which might or may in the future either by lapse of time, forfeiture or otherwise, revert to the Republic of Panama under any contracts or concessions, with said Wyse, the Universal Panama Canal Company, the Panama Railroad Company and the New Panama Canal Company. The aforesaid rights and property shall be and are free and released from any present or reversionary interest or claims of Panama and the title of the United States thereto upon consummation of the contemplated purchase by the United States from the New Panama Canal Company, shall be absolute, so far as concerns the Republic of Panama, excepting always the rights of the Republic specifically secured under this treaty. ARTICLE XXIII. If it should become necessary at any time to employ armed forces for the safety or protection of the Canal, or of the ships that make use of the same, or the railways and auxiliary works, the United States shall have the right, at all times and in its discretion, to use its police and its land and naval forces or to establish fortifications for these purposes. ARTICLE XXIV. No change either in the Government or in the laws and treaties of the Republic of Panama shall, without the consent of the United States, affect any right of the United States under the present convention, or under any treaty stipulation between the two countries that now exists or may hereafter exist touching the subject matter of this convention. If the Republic of Panama shall hereafter enter as a constituent into any other Government or into any union or confederation of states, so as to merge her sovereignty or independence in such Government, union or confederation, the rights of the Unitd States under this convention shall not be in any respect lessened or impaired. ARTICLE XXV. For the better performance of the engagements of this convention and to the end of the efficient protection of the Canal and the preservation of its neutrality, the Government of the Republic of Panama will sell or lease to the United States lands adequate and necessary for naval or coaling stations on the Pacific coast and on the western Caribbean coast of the Republic at certain points to be agreed upon with the President of the United States. ARTICLE XXVI. This convention when signed by the Plenipotentiaries of the Contracting Parties shall be ratified by the respective Governments and the ratifications shall be exchanged at Washington at the earliest date possible. In faith whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the present convention in duplicate and have hereunto affixed their respective seals. Done at the City of Washington the 18th day of November, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and three. INDEX "All nations"; meaning of, 96; all the world's people, 96, American Canal Commission, negotiated with France, 44. America; did she build canal for self? 126, 221. Arbitration; asked by England, 18. Ambiguity; explained by parol, 98. Ancon; first ship at formal opening, 46, 47. Atrato river, 30. Arthur, President, 210. Balboa finds the Pacific, 10.. Bastidas Rodrigo, 9. Bard amendment, defeated, 91. Blaine, James G.; would declare by proclamation equality to all nations "on the globe," 90. Belgium; war against, 5. Bernhardi Von; neutrality a "paper bulwark,” 5, 204. British statement, by Sir Grey, 121. Boundaries of canal sufficient, 85. Bunau-Varilla, 20, 31, 33, 34, 35, 36, 43, Bluntschli; theory of the state, 110. Canal history, 205. Cass, Lewis, 88. 95. Citizens; may express private view, 3; have part of gov- ernmental power, 123. Chagres river, 9, 10; proposed dam, 30. Clay, Henry, 87. Canal charter, Panama grant, 39. Canal Commission recommends canal purchase, 210. Clayton, John M., 15, 19, 103. Chicago Legal News, article printed in, 196. Clayton-Bulwer treaty, 15; dispute over, 17; America would not give it up, 18; mentioned, 26. Cleveland, Grover, 89, 210. |