Mr. Beaupré to the
Secretary of State.
Legation of the United States,
Bogotá, August 7,
1903.
No. 98.]
Sir: I have the honor to report that the
telegrams which I had the good fortune to get through yesterday and the
day before give a more or less accurate idea of the situation in so far
as the canal treaty is concerned.
These telegrams are the only ones thus far passed since the 15th ultimo,
and it was only after very earnest interviews with the vice-president,
the minister for foreign affairs, the minister of government, and the
director-general of mails and telegraphs that I finally succeeded.a
The report of the special committee of the Senate appointed to consider
the treaty presented on the 4th instant, and transmitted in my telegram
of the 5th instant, was signed by seven of the nine members of the
committee and was in the nature of a compromise. The two other members
made independent reports amending nearly every article of the treaty,
but as they will have no weight in the ultimate decision of the matter
it is not necessary to mention them.
On the morning of the 5th instant I addressed a note to the minister for
foreign affairs concerning the committee’s report, a copy of which is
herewith inclosed.
Early in the afternoon of the same day I received the Department’s
telegram of the 31st ultimo, and as the instructions therein had a
direct bearing upon the question I immediately dispatched another note
to the minister for foreign affairs, a copy of which is herewith
inclosed. A reference to my telegram of the 6th instant concerning the
treaty of 1846 will give a better understanding of the last clause of
this note. I have positive information that both notes were read to the
Senate in secret session.
The situation is chaotic just now and intense feeling is being manifested
in the debates in the Senate. Apparently there is little prospect that
the treaty will be ratified without modifications, but I must still hope
that a better sentiment will be brought about before the end.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
[Inclosure 1.]
Mr. Beaupré to
Doctor Rico.
Legation of the United States,
Bogota, August 5, 1903.
His Excellency Dr. Luis Carlos
Rico,
Minister for Foreign Affairs of
the Republic of Colombia.
Sir: I have the honor to inform your
excellency that I observe with regret the terms in which the
committee of the Senate has seen to frame their report with
reference to the Panama Canal treaty, and would earnestly request
your excellency to take into consideration the unfortunate
circumstance of interrupted cable communication which has prevented
my immediate consultation with my Government, and
[Page 176]
which alone has decided me to address
another note to your excellency in further interpretation of the
instructions I have referred to in my previous notes as having been
received from my Government.
It would appear to me that the committee has either been
insufficiently acquainted with the contents of my notes dated April
24 and June 10, 1903, or that they have failed to attach to these
direct communications the importance they demand as definite
expressions of opinion and intention on the part of my
Government.
From them it is clear that the committee’s proposed modification of
article 1 is alone tantamount to an absolute rejection of the
treaty. I feel it my duty to reiterate the opinion I have before
expressed to your excellency that my Government will not consider or
discuss such an amendment at all.
There is another important modification suggested by the committee to
article 13, suppressing the forms of tribunals there provided. I
deem it my duty again to express very emphatically my opinion that
this also will not be acceptable in any case.
The other modifications, though not equally serious in principle, are
nevertheless of such slight value to the interests of Colombia that
they do not warrant the risk of further discussion by the Senate of
the United States; even in the event, which I consider more than
doubtful, that they be even submitted to that body by my Government,
since all such amplifications or explanatory items can equally well
be given, either by separate emphatic assurances of the Government
itself, or be the subject of special legislation when the joint
commission mentioned in the treaty shall have begun its official
existence.
For the moment disregarding the probable correctness, or otherwise,
of my convictions, there is one point that I would especially urge
upon your excellency, and that is that the Senate should be reminded
of the dangerous consequences to the whole negotiations that the
undue delay hitherto experienced in arriving at conclusions will
undoubtedly produce on the attitude of my Government.
If the present modifications of the committee constitute really the
final decision that is likely to be arrived at by the Congress of
Colombia, the matter should be voted without any delay, and so give
at least a slight opportunity to my Government to consider the
matter before the expiration of the time for exchange of
ratifications provided in the treaty. Less than this can not be
expected by my Government, which in good faith signed the pending
treaty more than six months ago, and promptly ratified it without
modifications.
I take this opportunity to respectfully reiterate what I have before
expressed to your excellency, that it Colombia really desires to
maintain the present friendly relations existing between the two
countries, and at the same time secure to herself the extraordinary
advantages that the construction of the canal in her territory wall
undoubtedly produce, if backed by so close an alliance of national
interests as would supervene with the United States, the pending
treaty should be ratified exactly in its present form, without any
modifications whatever. I say this from a deep conviction that my
Government will not in any case accept amendments.
I avail myself of this opportunity to renew, etc.,
[Inclosure 2.]
Mr. Beaupré to
Doctor Rico.
Legation of the United States,
Bogota, August 5, 1903.
His Excellency Dr. Luis Carlos
Rico,
Minister for Foreign Affairs of
the Republic of Colombia.
Sir: I have the honor to inform your
excellency that in the matter of the pending treaty for the
construction of the Panama Canal it has hitherto been impossible for
me to do more than advise you of the construction I have from time
to time put upon the instructions received from my Government in
more or less general terms, as the various questions involved had
not been brought to a definite issue.
Now referring to my several notes on this subject, it is a matter for
great satisfaction to me that to-day, together with the publication
of the Senate committee’s report on the treaty, I have received such
definite instructions from my Government as enable me not only fully
to confirm, but materially amplify the terms of all my previous
notes above alluded to.
I may say that the antecedent circumstances of the whole negotiation
of the canal treaty, from official information in the hands of my
Government, are of such a nature as to fully warrant the United
States in considering any modification whatever
[Page 177]
of the terms of the treaty as
practically a breach of faith on the part of the Government of
Colombia., such as may involve the very greatest complications in
the friendly relations which have hitherto existed between the two
countries.
I am instructed to say that my Government has no right to covenant
with Colombia to impose new financial obligations upon the canal
company, and that the President would not submit to the Senate of
the United States any amendment in that sense, but would treat it as
voiding the negotiation, and as a failure to conclude a satisfactory
treaty with Colombia. The amendment to Article I of the treaty
proposed by the Senate committee is clearly in that sense.
I am also instructed to say that no additional payment by the United
States can in any case hope for approval by the Senate of the United
States. What I said to your excellency in my note of this morning,
with reference to the minor amendments proposed by the committee, I
can now emphasize in the language of my instructions, that any
amendment whatever requiring consideration by that body (the Senate)
would most certainly imperil the treaty’s consummation. Your
excellency’s Government and Congress should realize the great risk
of ruining the negotiation by improvident amendment.
It is impossible for me to express to your excellency more
emphatically the attitude of my Government on this important matter,
or to implore more earnestly than I now do the careful consideration
by Colombia of the reasons which in the opinion of my Government
should impel your excellency’s Government to urge upon Congress the
necessity of ratifying the treaty in its present form.
It is to be regretted that the reference to the necessity for the
practical reenactment of the treaty of 1846–1848 in the Senate
committee’s report should constitute almost a doubt as to the good
faith of the intention of the United States in its compliance
therewith. I must assure your excellency that unless that treaty be
denounced in accordance with its own provisions my Government is not
capable of violating it, either in letter or spirit; nor should
there be any fear on the part of Colombia that if ratified the
clauses guaranteeing her sovereignty in the pending treaty, couched
as they are in still more precise and solemn terms than those of
1846, will ever be disregarded in the slightest degree by the
Government of the United States.
I avail myself of this opportunity, etc.
