The Acting Secretary of State to Minister Northcott.
Washington, October 23, 1909.
Your October 13, 5 p.m. The treaty between United States and Colombia was negotiated in order to facilitate the negotiation between Colombia and Panama, and to that end the United States graciously conferred favors upon Colombia in regard to the use of the canal and gave Colombia other advantages as equivalents for the agreement between Colombia and Panama besides aiding Panama to carry out the engagements of the Colombia-Panama treaty. The statement of the Colombian minister for foreign affairs that the abandonment of the Root-Cortes treaty will virtually eliminate the treaty with Panama means in effect that the consideration upon which the favors of the Root-Cortes treaty were predicated is to be treated as nonexistent, thus eliminating the initial reason for a new treaty between United States and Colombia. It would be impossible for the United States to impose, by independent convention with Colombia, any conditions constraining the free hand of Colombia and Panama in settling their questions by mutual agreement. Whether the United States would be in a position to make any treaty with Colombia would depend on ascertainment of the terms on which Colombia and Panama may agree, and then the United States could only consider such arrangement with Colombia as might facilitate the Colombian-Panama agreement. In short, the whole tripartite accord would have to be done over again, with little or no prospect of reaching conclusions as favorable to all three parties as those which Colombia proposes to set aside. In the light of subsequent events it is more than doubtful if even similarly favorable concessions by us to Colombia and Panama could gain the approval of the United States Senate. For these reasons the Government of the United States must decline to acquiesce in wiping out the tripartite treaty, and can not enter upon a separate negotiation with Colombia alone.