THE MONROE DOCTRINE AND THE PANAMA CANAL
No nation can claim rights without acknowledging the duties that go
with the rights. It is a contemptible thing for a great nation to render
itself impotent in international action, whether because of cowardice or
sloth, or sheer inability or unwillingness to look into the future. It
is a very wicked thing for a nation to do wrong to others. But the most
contemptible and most wicked course of conduct is for a nation to use
offensive language or be guilty of offensive actions toward other people
and yet fail to hold its own if the other nation retaliates; and it is
almost as bad to undertake responsibilities and then not fulfil them.
During the seven and a half years that I was President, this Nation
behaved in international matters toward all other nations precisely as
an honorable man behaves to his fellow-men. We made no promise which
we could not and did not keep. We made no threat which we did not carry
out. We never failed to assert our rights in the face of the strong, and
we never failed to treat both strong and weak with courtesy and justice;
and against the weak when they misbehaved we were slower to assert our
rights than we were against the strong.
As a legacy of the Spanish War we were left with peculiar relations
to the Philippines, Cuba, and Porto Rico, and with an immensely added
interest in Central America and the Caribbean Sea. As regards the
Philippines my belief was that we should train them for self-government
as rapidly as possible, and then leave them free to decide their own
fate. I did not believe in setting the time-limit within which we would
give them independence, because I did not believe it wise to try to
forecast how soon they would be fit for self-government; and once having
made the promise I would have felt that it was imperative to keep it.
Within a few months of my assuming office we had stamped out the last
armed resistance in the Philippines that was not of merely sporadic
character; and as soon as peace was secured we turned our energies to
developing the islands in the interests of the natives. We established
schools everywhere; we built roads; we administered an even-handed
justice; we did everything possible to encourage agriculture and
industry; and in constantly increasing measure we employed natives to
do their own governing, and finally provided a legislative chamber. No
higher grade of public officials ever handled the affairs of any colony
than the public officials who in succession governed the Philippines.
With the possible exception of the Sudan, and not even excepting
Algiers, I know of no country ruled and administered by men of the white
race where that rule and that administration have been exercised
so emphatically with an eye single to the welfare of the natives
themselves. The English and Dutch administrators of Malaysia have done
admirable work; but the profit to the Europeans in those States has
always been one of the chief elements considered; whereas in the
Philippines our whole attention was concentrated upon the welfare of the
Filipinos themselves, if anything to the neglect of our own interests.
I do not believe that America has any special beneficial interest in
retaining the Philippines. Our work there has benefited us only as
any efficiently done work performed for the benefit of others does
incidentally help the character of those who do it. The people of the
islands have never developed so rapidly, from every standpoint, as
during the years of the American occupation. The time will come when
it will be wise to take their own judgment as to whether they wish to
continue their association with America or not. There is, however,
one consideration upon which we should insist. Either we should
retain complete control of the islands, or absolve ourselves from all
responsibility for them. Any half and half course would be both foolish
and disastrous. We are governing and have been governing the islands
in the interests of the Filipinos themselves. If after due time the
Filipinos themselves decide that they do not wish to be thus governed,
then I trust that we will leave; but when we do leave it must be
distinctly understood that we retain no protectorate--and above all that
we take part in no joint protectorate--over the islands, and give
them no guarantee, of neutrality or otherwise; that, in short, we
are absolutely quit of responsibility for them, of every kind and
description.
The Filipinos were quite incapable of standing by themselves when we
took possession of the islands, and we had made no promise concerning
them. But we had explicitly promised to leave the island of Cuba,
had explicitly promised that Cuba should be independent. Early in my
administration that promise was redeemed. When the promise was made,
I doubt if there was a single ruler or diplomat in Europe who believed
that it would be kept. As far as I know, the United States was the first
power which, having made such a promise, kept it in letter and spirit.
England was unwise enough to make such a promise when she took Egypt.
It would have been a capital misfortune to have kept the promise,
and England has remained in Egypt for over thirty years, and will
unquestionably remain indefinitely; but though it is necessary for her
to do so, the fact of her doing so has meant the breaking of a positive
promise and has been a real evil. Japan made the same guarantee about
Korea, but as far as can be seen there was never even any thought of
keeping the promise in this case; and Korea, which had shown herself
utterly impotent either for self-government or self-defense, was in
actual fact almost immediately annexed to Japan.
We made the promise to give Cuba independence; and we kept the promise.
Leonard Wood was left in as Governor for two or three years, and evolved
order out of chaos, raising the administration of the island to a level,
moral and material, which it had never before achieved. We also by
treaty gave the Cubans substantial advantages in our markets. Then we
left the island, turning the government over to its own people. After
four or five years a revolution broke out, during my administration, and
we again had to intervene to restore order. We promptly sent thither a
small army of pacification. Under General Barry, order was restored and
kept, and absolute justice done. The American troops were then withdrawn
and the Cubans reestablished in complete possession of their own
beautiful island, and they are in possession of it now. There are plenty
of occasions in our history when we have shown weakness or inefficiency,
and some occasions when we have not been as scrupulous as we should have
been as regards the rights of others. But I know of no action by
any other government in relation to a weaker power which showed such
disinterested efficiency in rendering service as was true in connection
with our intervention in Cuba.
In Cuba, as in the Philippines and as in Porto Rico, Santo Domingo, and
later in Panama, no small part of our success was due to the fact that
we put in the highest grade of men as public officials. This practice
was inaugurated under President McKinley. I found admirable men in
office, and I continued them and appointed men like them as their
successors. The way that the custom-houses in Santo Domingo were
administered by Colton definitely established the success of our
experiment in securing peace for that island republic; and in Porto
Rico, under the administration of affairs under such officials as Hunt,
Winthrop, Post, Ward and Grahame, more substantial progress was achieved
in a decade than in any previous century.
The Philippines, Cuba, and Porto Rico came within our own sphere of
governmental action. In addition to this we asserted certain rights in
the Western Hemisphere under the Monroe Doctrine. My endeavor was not
only to assert these rights, but frankly and fully to acknowledge the
duties that went with the rights.
The Monroe Doctrine lays down the rule that the Western Hemisphere is
not hereafter to be treated as subject to settlement and occupation
by Old World powers. It is not international law; but it is a cardinal
principle of our foreign policy. There is no difficulty at the present
day in maintaining this doctrine, save where the American power whose
interest is threatened has shown itself in international matters both
weak and delinquent. The great and prosperous civilized commonwealths,
such as the Argentine, Brazil, and Chile, in the Southern half of South
America, have advanced so far that they no longer stand in any position
of tutelage toward the United States. They occupy toward us precisely
the position that Canada occupies. Their friendship is the friendship of
equals for equals. My view was that as regards these nations there was
no more necessity for asserting the Monroe Doctrine than there was to
assert it in regard to Canada. They were competent to assert it for
themselves. Of course if one of these nations, or if Canada, should be
overcome by some Old World power, which then proceeded to occupy its
territory, we would undoubtedly, if the American Nation needed our help,
give it in order to prevent such occupation from taking place. But the
initiative would come from the Nation itself, and the United States
would merely act as a friend whose help was invoked.
The case was (and is) widely different as regards certain--not all--of
the tropical states in the neighborhood of the Caribbean Sea. Where
these states are stable and prosperous, they stand on a footing of
absolute equality with all other communities. But some of them have
been a prey to such continuous revolutionary misrule as to have grown
impotent either to do their duties to outsiders or to enforce their
rights against outsiders. The United States has not the slightest desire
to make aggressions on any one of these states. On the contrary, it
will submit to much from them without showing resentment. If any great
civilized power, Russia or Germany, for instance, had behaved toward us
as Venezuela under Castro behaved, this country would have gone to war
at once. We did not go to war with Venezuela merely because our people
declined to be irritated by the actions of a weak opponent, and showed a
forbearance which probably went beyond the limits of wisdom in refusing
to take umbrage at what was done by the weak; although we would
certainly have resented it had it been done by the strong. In the case
of two states, however, affairs reached such a crisis that we had to
act. These two states were Santo Domingo and the then owner of the
Isthmus of Panama, Colombia.
The Santo Domingan case was the less important; and yet it possessed a
real importance, and moreover is instructive because the action there
taken should serve as a precedent for American action in all similar
cases. During the early years of my administration Santo Domingo was in
its usual condition of chronic revolution. There was always fighting,
always plundering; and the successful graspers for governmental power
were always pawning ports and custom-houses, or trying to put them up as
guarantees for loans. Of course the foreigners who made loans under
such conditions demanded exorbitant interest, and if they were Europeans
expected their governments to stand by them. So utter was the disorder
that on one occasion when Admiral Dewey landed to pay a call of ceremony
on the President, he and his party were shot at by revolutionists in
crossing the square, and had to return to the ships, leaving the call
unpaid. There was default on the interest due to the creditors; and
finally the latter insisted upon their governments intervening. Two or
three of the European powers were endeavoring to arrange for concerted
action, and I was finally notified that these powers intended to take
and hold several of the seaports which held custom-houses.
This meant that unless I acted at once I would find foreign powers in
partial possession of Santo Domingo; in which event the very individuals
who, in the actual event deprecated the precaution taken to prevent such
action, would have advocated extreme and violent measures to undo the
effect of their own supineness. Nine-tenths of wisdom is to be wise in
time, and at the right time; and my whole foreign policy was based
on the exercise of intelligent forethought and of decisive action
sufficiently far in advance of any likely crisis to make it improbable
that we would run into serious trouble.
Santo Domingo had fallen into such chaos that once for some weeks there
were two rival governments in it, and a revolution was being carried
on against each. At one period one government was at sea in a small
gunboat, but still stoutly maintained that it was in possession of
the island and entitled to make loans and declare peace or war. The
situation had become intolerable by the time that I interfered. There
was a naval commander in the waters whom I directed to prevent any
fighting which might menace the custom-houses. He carried out his
orders, both to his and my satisfaction, in thoroughgoing fashion. On
one occasion, when an insurgent force threatened to attack a town in
which Americans had interests, he notified the commanders on both sides
that he would not permit any fighting in the town, but that he would
appoint a certain place where they could meet and fight it out, and that
the victors should have the town. They agreed to meet his wishes,
the fight came off at the appointed place, and the victors, who if I
remember rightly were the insurgents, were given the town.
It was the custom-houses that caused the trouble, for they offered the
only means of raising money, and the revolutions were carried on to
get possession of them. Accordingly I secured an agreement with the
governmental authorities, who for the moment seemed best able to speak
for the country, by which these custom-houses were placed under American
control. The arrangement was that we should keep order and prevent any
interference with the custom-houses or the places where they stood, and
should collect the revenues. Forty-five per cent of the revenue was then
turned over to the Santo Domingan Government, and fifty-five per cent
put in a sinking fund in New York for the benefit of the creditors. The
arrangement worked in capital style. On the forty-five per cent basis
the Santo Domingan Government received from us a larger sum than it
had ever received before when nominally all the revenue went to it. The
creditors were entirely satisfied with the arrangement, and no excuse
for interference by European powers remained. Occasional disturbances
occurred in the island, of course, but on the whole there ensued a
degree of peace and prosperity which the island had not known before for
at least a century.
All this was done without the loss of a life, with the assent of all
the parties in interest, and without subjecting the United States to
any charge, while practically all of the interference, after the
naval commander whom I have mentioned had taken the initial steps in
preserving order, consisted in putting a first-class man trained in our
insular service at the head of the Santo Domingan customs service. We
secured peace, we protected the people of the islands against foreign
foes, and we minimized the chance of domestic trouble. We satisfied the
creditors and the foreign nations to which the creditors belonged; and
our own part of the work was done with the utmost efficiency and with
rigid honesty, so that not a particle of scandal was ever so much as
hinted at.
Under these circumstances those who do not know the nature of the
professional international philanthropists would suppose that these
apostles of international peace would have been overjoyed with what we
had done. As a matter of fact, when they took any notice of it at all it
was to denounce it; and those American newspapers which are fondest
of proclaiming themselves the foes of war and the friends of peace
violently attacked me for averting war from, and bringing peace to, the
island. They insisted I had no power to make the agreement, and demanded
the rejection of the treaty which was to perpetuate the agreement. They
were, of course, wholly unable to advance a single sound reason of any
kind for their attitude. I suppose the real explanation was partly their
dislike of me personally, and unwillingness to see peace come through or
national honor upheld by me; and in the next place their sheer, simple
devotion to prattle and dislike of efficiency. They liked to have people
come together and talk about peace, or even sign bits of paper with
something about peace or arbitration on them, but they took no interest
whatever in the practical achievement of a peace that told for good
government and decency and honesty. They were joined by the many
moderately well-meaning men who always demand that a thing be done, but
also always demand that it be not done in the only way in which it is,
as a matter of fact, possible to do it. The men of this kind insisted
that of course Santo Domingo must be protected and made to behave
itself, and that of course the Panama Canal must be dug; but they
insisted even more strongly that neither feat should be accomplished in
the only way in which it was possible to accomplish it at all.
The Constitution did not explicitly give me power to bring about the
necessary agreement with Santo Domingo. But the Constitution did not
forbid my doing what I did. I put the agreement into effect, and I
continued its execution for two years before the Senate acted; and I
would have continued it until the end of my term, if necessary, without
any action by Congress. But it was far preferable that there should be
action by Congress, so that we might be proceeding under a treaty which
was the law of the land and not merely by a direction of the Chief
Executive which would lapse when that particular executive left office.
I therefore did my best to get the Senate to ratify what I had done.
There was a good deal of difficulty about it. With the exception of one
or two men like Clark of Arkansas, the Democratic Senators acted in that
spirit of unworthy partisanship which subordinates national interest to
some fancied partisan advantage, and they were cordially backed by all
that portion of the press which took its inspiration from Wall Street,
and was violently hostile to the Administration because of its attitude
towards great corporations. Most of the Republican Senators under
the lead of Senator Lodge stood by me; but some of them, of the more
"conservative" or reactionary type, who were already growing hostile
to me on the trust question, first proceeded to sneer at what had
been done, and to raise all kinds of meticulous objections, which they
themselves finally abandoned, but which furnished an excuse on which
the opponents of the treaty could hang adverse action. Unfortunately the
Senators who were most apt to speak of the dignity of the Senate, and to
insist upon its importance, were the very ones who were also most apt
to try to make display of this dignity and importance by thwarting the
public business. This case was typical. The Republicans in question
spoke against certain provisions of the proposed treaty. They then,
having ingeniously provided ammunition for the foes of the treaty,
abandoned their opposition to it, and the Democrats stepped into the
position they had abandoned. Enough Republicans were absent to prevent
the securing of a two-thirds vote for the treaty, and the Senate
adjourned without any action at all, and with a feeling of entire
self-satisfaction at having left the country in the position of assuming
a responsibility and then failing to fulfil it. Apparently the Senators
in question felt that in some way they had upheld their dignity. All
that they had really done was to shirk their duty. Somebody had to do
that duty, and accordingly I did it. I went ahead and administered the
proposed treaty anyhow, considering it as a simple agreement on the part
of the Executive which would be converted into a treaty whenever
the Senate acted. After a couple of years the Senate did act, having
previously made some utterly unimportant changes which I ratified and
persuaded Santo Domingo to ratify. In all its history Santo Domingo has
had nothing happen to it as fortunate as this treaty, and the passing of
it saved the United States from having to face serious difficulties with
one or more foreign powers.
It cannot in the long run prove possible for the United States
to protect delinquent American nations from punishment for the
non-performance of their duties unless she undertakes to make them
perform their duties. People may theorize about this as much as
they wish, but whenever a sufficiently strong outside nation becomes
sufficiently aggrieved, then either that nation will act or the United
States Government itself will have to act. We were face to face at one
period of my administration with this condition of affairs in Venezuela,
when Germany, rather feebly backed by England, undertook a blockade
against Venezuela to make Venezuela adopt the German and English view
about certain agreements. There was real danger that the blockade would
finally result in Germany's taking possession of certain cities or
custom-houses. I succeeded, however, in getting all the parties in
interest to submit their cases to the Hague Tribunal.
By far the most important action I took in foreign affairs during the
time I was President related to the Panama Canal. Here again there was
much accusation about my having acted in an "unconstitutional" manner--a
position which can be upheld only if Jefferson's action in acquiring
Louisiana be also treated as unconstitutional; and at different stages
of the affair believers in a do-nothing policy denounced me as having
"usurped authority"--which meant, that when nobody else could or would
exercise efficient authority, I exercised it.
During the nearly four hundred years that had elapsed since Balboa
crossed the Isthmus, there had been a good deal of talk about building
an Isthmus canal, and there had been various discussions of the subject
and negotiations about it in Washington for the previous half century.
So far it had all resulted merely in conversation; and the time had come
when unless somebody was prepared to act with decision we would have
to resign ourselves to at least half a century of further conversation.
Under the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty signed shortly after I became President,
and thanks to our negotiations with the French Panama Company, the
United States at last acquired a possession, so far as Europe was
concerned, which warranted her in immediately undertaking the task. It
remained to decide where the canal should be, whether along the line
already pioneered by the French company in Panama, or in Nicaragua.
Panama belonged to the Republic of Colombia. Nicaragua bid eagerly for
the privilege of having the United States build the canal through her
territory. As long as it was doubtful which route we would decide
upon, Colombia extended every promise of friendly cooperation; at the
Pan-American Congress in Mexico her delegate joined in the unanimous
vote which requested the United States forthwith to build the canal; and
at her eager request we negotiated the Hay-Herran Treaty with her, which
gave us the right to build the canal across Panama. A board of experts
sent to the Isthmus had reported that this route was better than the
Nicaragua route, and that it would be well to build the canal over it
provided we could purchase the rights of the French company for forty
million dollars; but that otherwise they would advise taking the
Nicaragua route. Ever since 1846 we had had a treaty with the power then
in control of the Isthmus, the Republic of New Granada, the predecessor
of the Republic of Colombia and of the present Republic of Panama, by
which treaty the United States was guaranteed free and open right of way
across the Isthmus of Panama by any mode of communication that might
be constructed, while in return our Government guaranteed the perfect
neutrality of the Isthmus with a view to the preservation of free
transit.
For nearly fifty years we had asserted the right to prevent the closing
of this highway of commerce. Secretary of State Cass in 1858 officially
stated the American position as follows:
"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 the gates of intercourse of 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 relations as would prevent their general use."
We had again and again been forced to intervene to protect the transit
across the Isthmus, and the intervention was frequently at the request
of Colombia herself. The effort to build a canal by private capital had
been made under De Lesseps and had resulted in lamentable failure. Every
serious proposal to build the canal in such manner had been abandoned.
The United States had repeatedly announced that we would not permit
it to be built or controlled by any old-world government. Colombia was
utterly impotent to build it herself. Under these circumstances it
had become a matter of imperative obligation that we should build it
ourselves without further delay.
I took final action in 1903. During the preceding fifty-three years the
Governments of New Granada and of its successor, Colombia, had been in
a constant state of flux; and the State of Panama had sometimes been
treated as almost independent, in a loose Federal league, and sometimes
as the mere property of the Government at Bogota; and there had been
innumerable appeals to arms, sometimes of adequate, sometimes for
inadequate, reasons. The following is a partial list of the disturbances
on the Isthmus of Panama during the period in question, as reported to
us by our consuls. It is not possible to give a complete list, and
some of the reports that speak of "revolutions" must mean unsuccessful
revolutions:
May 22, 1850.--Outbreak; two Americans killed. War vessel demanded to
quell outbreak.
October, 1850.--Revolutionary plot to bring about independence of the
Isthmus.
July 22, 1851.--Revolution in four Southern provinces.
November 14, 1851.--Outbreak at Chagres. Man-of-war requested for
Chagres.
June 27, 1853.--Insurrection at Bogota, and consequent disturbance on
Isthmus. War vessel demanded.
May 23, 1854.--Political disturbances. War vessel requested.
June 28, 1854.--Attempted revolution.
October 24, 1854.--Independence of Isthmus demanded by provincial
legislature.
April, 1856.--Riot, and massacre of Americans.
May 4, 1856.--Riot.
May 18, 1856.--Riot.
June 3, 1856.--Riot.
October 2, 1856.--Conflict between two native parties. United States
force landed.
December 18, 1858.--Attempted secession of Panama.
April, 1859.--Riots.
September, 1860.--Outbreak.
October 4, 1860.--Landing of United States forces in consequence.
May 23, 1861.--Intervention of the United States force required, by
intendente.
October 2, 1861.--Insurrection and civil war.
April 4, 1862.--Measures to prevent rebels crossing Isthmus.
June 13, 1862.--Mosquera's troops refused admittance to Panama.
March, 1865.--Revolution, and United States troops landed.
August, 1865.--Riots; unsuccessful attempt to invade Panama.
March, 1866.--Unsuccessful revolution.
April, 1867.--Attempt to overthrow Government.
August, 1867.--Attempt at revolution.
July 5, 1868.--Revolution; provisional government inaugurated.
August 29, 1868.--Revolution; provisional government overthrown.
April, 1871.--Revolution; followed apparently by counter revolution.
April, 1873.--Revolution and civil war which lasted to October, 1875.
August, 1876.--Civil war which lasted until April, 1877.
July, 1878.--Rebellion.
December, 1878.--Revolt.
April, 1879.--Revolution.
June, 1879.--Revolution.
March, 1883.--Riot.
May, 1883.--Riot.
June, 1884.--Revolutionary attempt.
December, 1884.--Revolutionary attempt.
January, 1885.--Revolutionary disturbances.
March, 1885.--Revolution.
April, 1887.--Disturbance on Panama Railroad.
November, 1887.--Disturbance on line of canal.
January, 1889.--Riot.
January, 1895.--Revolution which lasted until April.
March, 1895.--Incendiary attempt.
October, 1899.--Revolution.
February, 1900, to July, 1900.--Revolution.
January, 1901.--Revolution.
July, 1901.--Revolutionary disturbances.
September, 1901.--City of Colon taken by rebels.
March, 1902.--Revolutionary disturbances.
July, 1902.--Revolution
The above is only a partial list of the revolutions, rebellions,
insurrections, riots, and other outbreaks that occurred during the
period in question; yet they number fifty-three for the fifty-three
years, and they showed a tendency to increase, rather than decrease, in
numbers and intensity. One of them lasted for nearly three years before
it was quelled; another for nearly a year. In short, the experience
of over half a century had shown Colombia to be utterly incapable of
keeping order on the Isthmus. Only the active interference of the
United States had enabled her to preserve so much as a semblance of
sovereignty. Had it not been for the exercise by the United States of
the police power in her interest, her connection with the Isthmus would
have been sundered long before it was. In 1856, in 1860, in 1873, in
1885, in 1901, and again in 1902, sailors and marines from United States
warships were forced to land in order to patrol the Isthmus, to protect
life and property, and to see that the transit across the Isthmus
was kept open. In 1861, in 1862, in 1885, and in 1900, the Colombian
Government asked that the United States Government would land troops
to protect Colombian interests and maintain order on the Isthmus. The
people of Panama during the preceding twenty years had three times
sought to establish their independence by revolution or secession--in
1885, in 1895, and in 1899.
The peculiar relations of the United States toward the Isthmus, and the
acquiescence by Colombia in acts which were quite incompatible with the
theory of her having an absolute and unconditioned sovereignty on the
Isthmus, are illustrated by the following three telegrams between two of
our naval officers whose ships were at the Isthmus, and the Secretary
of the Navy on the occasion of the first outbreak that occurred on
the Isthmus after I became President (a year before Panama became
independent):
September 12, 1902.
Ranger, Panama:
United States guarantees perfect neutrality of Isthmus and that a free
transit from sea to sea be not interrupted or embarrassed. . . . Any
transportation of troops which might contravene these provisions of
treaty should not be sanctioned by you, nor should use of road be
permitted which might convert the line of transit into theater of
hostility.
MOODY.
COLON, September 20, 1902.
Secretary Navy, Washington:
Everything is conceded. The United States guards and guarantees traffic
and the line of transit. To-day I permitted the exchange of Colombian
troops from Panama to Colon, about 1000 men each way, the troops without
arms in trains guarded by American naval force in the same manner as
other passengers; arms and ammunition in separate train, guarded also by
naval force in the same manner as other freight.
MCLEAN.
PANAMA, October 3, 1902.
Secretary Navy, Washington, D.C.:
Have sent this communication to the American Consul at Panama:
"Inform Governor, while trains running under United States protection,
I must decline transportation any combatants, ammunition, arms, which
might cause interruption to traffic or convert line of transit into
theater hostilities."
CASEY.
When the Government in nominal control of the Isthmus continually
besought American interference to protect the "rights" it could not
itself protect, and permitted our Government to transport Colombian
troops unarmed, under protection of our own armed men, while the
Colombian arms and ammunition came in a separate train, it is obvious
that the Colombian "sovereignty" was of such a character as to warrant
our insisting that inasmuch as it only existed because of our protection
there should be in requital a sense of the obligations that the
acceptance of this protection implied.
Meanwhile Colombia was under a dictatorship. In 1898 M. A. Sanclamente
was elected President, and J. M. Maroquin Vice-President, of the
Republic of Colombia. On July 31, 1900, the Vice-President, Maroquin,
executed a "coup d'etat" by seizing the person of the President,
Sanclamente, and imprisoning him at a place a few miles out of Bogota.
Maroquin thereupon declared himself possessed of the executive power
because of "the absence of the President"--a delightful touch of
unconscious humor. He then issued a decree that public order was
disturbed, and, upon that ground, assumed to himself legislative power
under another provision of the constitution; that is, having
himself disturbed the public order, he alleged the disturbance as a
justification for seizing absolute power. Thenceforth Maroquin, without
the aid of any legislative body, ruled as a dictator, combining the
supreme executive, legislative, civil, and military authorities, in the
so-called Republic of Colombia. The "absence" of Sanclamente from the
capital became permanent by his death in prison in the year 1902. When
the people of Panama declared their independence in November, 1903, no
Congress had sat in Colombia since the year 1898, except the special
Congress called by Maroquin to reject the canal treaty, and which did
reject it by a unanimous vote, and adjourned without legislating on any
other subject. The constitution of 1886 had taken away from Panama the
power of self-government and vested it in Columbia. The _coup d'etat_
of Maroquin took away from Colombia herself the power of government and
vested it in an irresponsible dictator.
Consideration of the above facts ought to be enough to show any human
being that we were not dealing with normal conditions on the Isthmus
and in Colombia. We were dealing with the government of an irresponsible
alien dictator, and with a condition of affairs on the Isthmus
itself which was marked by one uninterrupted series of outbreaks
and revolutions. As for the "consent of the governed" theory, that
absolutely justified our action; the people on the Isthmus were the
"governed"; they were governed by Colombia, without their consent, and
they unanimously repudiated the Colombian government, and demanded that
the United States build the canal.
I had done everything possible, personally and through Secretary Hay,
to persuade the Colombian Government to keep faith. Under the
Hay-Pauncefote Treaty, it was explicitly provided that the United States
should build the canal, should control, police and protect it, and keep
it open to the vessels of all nations on equal terms. We had assumed the
position of guarantor of the canal, including, of course, the building
of the canal, and of its peaceful use by all the world. The enterprise
was recognized everywhere as responding to an international need. It was
a mere travesty on justice to treat the government in possession of
the Isthmus as having the right--which Secretary Cass forty-five years
before had so emphatically repudiated--to close the gates of intercourse
on one of the great highways of the world. When we submitted to Colombia
the Hay-Herran Treaty, it had been settled that the time for delay,
the time for permitting any government of anti-social character, or of
imperfect development, to bar the work, had passed. The United States
had assumed in connection with the canal certain responsibilities not
only to its own people but to the civilized world, which imperatively
demanded that there should be no further delay in beginning the work.
The Hay-Herran Treaty, if it erred at all, erred in being overgenerous
toward Colombia. The people of Panama were delighted with the treaty,
and the President of Colombia, who embodied in his own person the entire
government of Colombia, had authorized the treaty to be made. But after
the treaty had been made the Colombia Government thought it had the
matter in its own hands; and the further thought, equally wicked and
foolish, came into the heads of the people in control at Bogota that
they would seize the French Company at the end of another year and take
for themselves the forty million dollars which the United States had
agreed to pay the Panama Canal Company.
President Maroquin, through his Minister, had agreed to the
Hay-Herran Treaty in January, 1903. He had the absolute power of an
unconstitutional dictator to keep his promise or break it. He determined
to break it. To furnish himself an excuse for breaking it he devised
the plan of summoning a Congress especially called to reject the canal
treaty. This the Congress--a Congress of mere puppets--did, without a
dissenting vote; and the puppets adjourned forthwith without legislating
on any other subject. The fact that this was a mere sham, and that the
President had entire power to confirm his own treaty and act on it if he
desired, was shown as soon as the revolution took place, for on November
6 General Reyes of Colombia addressed the American Minister at Bogota,
on behalf of President Maroquin, saying that "if the Government of the
United States would land troops and restore the Colombian sovereignty"
the Colombian President would "declare martial law; and, by virtue of
vested constitutional authority, when public order is disturbed, would
approve by decree the ratification of the canal treaty as signed; or, if
the Government of the United States prefers, would call an extra session
of the Congress--with new and friendly members--next May to approve the
treaty." This, of course, is proof positive that the Colombian dictator
had used his Congress as a mere shield, and a sham shield at that, and
it shows how utterly useless it would have been further to trust his
good faith in the matter.
When, in August, 1903, I became convinced that Colombia intended to
repudiate the treaty made the preceding January, under cover of securing
its rejection by the Colombian Legislature, I began carefully to
consider what should be done. By my direction, Secretary Hay, personally
and through the Minister at Bogota, repeatedly warned Colombia that
grave consequences might follow her rejection of the treaty. The
possibility of ratification did not wholly pass away until the close of
the session of the Colombian Congress on the last day of October. There
would then be two possibilities. One was that Panama would remain quiet.
In that case I was prepared to recommend to Congress that we should at
once occupy the Isthmus anyhow, and proceed to dig the canal; and I
had drawn out a draft of my message to this effect.[*] But from the
information I received, I deemed it likely that there would be a
revolution in Panama as soon as the Colombian Congress adjourned without
ratifying the treaty, for the entire population of Panama felt that
the immediate building of the canal was of vital concern to their
well-being. Correspondents of the different newspapers on the Isthmus
had sent to their respective papers widely published forecasts
indicating that there would be a revolution in such event.
[*] See appendix at end of this chapter.
Moreover, on October 16, at the request of Lieutenant-General Young,
Captain Humphrey, and Lieutenant Murphy, two army officers who
had returned from the Isthmus, saw me and told me that there would
unquestionably be a revolution on the Isthmus, that the people were
unanimous in their criticism of the Bogota Government and their disgust
over the failure of that Government to ratify the treaty; and that the
revolution would probably take place immediately after the adjournment
of the Colombian Congress. They did not believe that it would be before
October 20, but they were confident that it would certainly come at the
end of October or immediately afterwards, when the Colombian Congress
had adjourned. Accordingly I directed the Navy Department to station
various ships within easy reach of the Isthmus, to be ready to act in
the event of need arising.
These ships were barely in time. On November 3 the revolution occurred.
Practically everybody on the Isthmus, including all the Colombian troops
that were already stationed there, joined in the revolution, and there
was no bloodshed. But on that same day four hundred new Colombian
troops were landed at Colon. Fortunately, the gunboat _Nashville_, under
Commander Hubbard, reached Colon almost immediately afterwards, and when
the commander of the Colombian forces threatened the lives and property
of the American citizens, including women and children, in Colon,
Commander Hubbard landed a few score sailors and marines to protect
them. By a mixture of firmness and tact he not only prevented any
assault on our citizens, but persuaded the Colombian commander to
reembark his troops for Cartagena. On the Pacific side a Colombian
gunboat shelled the City of Panama, with the result of killing one
Chinaman--the only life lost in the whole affair.
No one connected with the American Government had any part in preparing,
inciting, or encouraging the revolution, and except for the reports of
our military and naval officers, which I forwarded to Congress, no one
connected with the Government had any previous knowledge concerning the
proposed revolution, except such as was accessible to any person who
read the newspapers and kept abreast of current questions and current
affairs. By the unanimous action of its people, and without the firing
of a shot, the state of Panama declared themselves an independent
republic. The time for hesitation on our part had passed.
My belief then was, and the events that have occurred since have more
than justified it, that from the standpoint of the United States it
was imperative, not only for civil but for military reasons, that there
should be the immediate establishment of easy and speedy communication
by sea between the Atlantic and the Pacific. These reasons were not
of convenience only, but of vital necessity, and did not admit of
indefinite delay. The action of Colombia had shown not only that the
delay would be indefinite, but that she intended to confiscate the
property and rights of the French Panama Canal Company. The report of
the Panama Canal Committee of the Colombian Senate on October 14,
1903, on the proposed treaty with the United States, proposed that all
consideration of the matter should be postponed until October 31, 1904,
when the next Colombian Congress would have convened, because by that
time the new Congress would be in condition to determine whether through
lapse of time the French company had not forfeited its property and
rights. "When that time arrives," the report significantly declared,
"the Republic, without any impediment, will be able to contract and will
be in more clear, more definite and more advantageous possession, both
legally and materially." The naked meaning of this was that Colombia
proposed to wait a year, and then enforce a forfeiture of the rights and
property of the French Panama Company, so as to secure the forty million
dollars our Government had authorized as payment to this company. If we
had sat supine, this would doubtless have meant that France would have
interfered to protect the company, and we should then have had on the
Isthmus, not the company, but France; and the gravest international
complications might have ensued. Every consideration of international
morality and expediency, of duty to the Panama people, and of
satisfaction of our own national interests and honor, bade us take
immediate action. I recognized Panama forthwith on behalf of the United
States, and practically all the countries of the world immediately
followed suit. The State Department immediately negotiated a canal
treaty with the new Republic. One of the foremost men in securing the
independence of Panama, and the treaty which authorized the United
States forthwith to build the canal, was M. Philippe Bunau-Varilla, an
eminent French engineer formerly associated with De Lesseps and then
living on the Isthmus; his services to civilization were notable, and
deserve the fullest recognition.
From the beginning to the end our course was straightforward and in
absolute accord with the highest of standards of international morality.
Criticism of it can come only from misinformation, or else from a
sentimentality which represents both mental weakness and a moral twist.
To have acted otherwise than I did would have been on my part betrayal
of the interests of the United States, indifference to the interests of
Panama, and recreancy to the interests of the world at large. Colombia
had forfeited every claim to consideration; indeed, this is not stating
the case strongly enough: she had so acted that yielding to her would
have meant on our part that culpable form of weakness which stands on a
level with wickedness. As for me personally, if I had hesitated to act,
and had not in advance discounted the clamor of those Americans who have
made a fetish of disloyalty to their country, I should have esteemed
myself as deserving a place in Dante's inferno beside the faint-hearted
cleric who was guilty of "il gran rifiuto." The facts I have given
above are mere bald statements from the record. They show that from
the beginning there had been acceptance of our right to insist on free
transit, in whatever form was best, across the Isthmus; and that towards
the end there had been a no less universal feeling that it was our
duty to the world to provide this transit in the shape of a canal--the
resolution of the Pan-American Congress was practically a mandate
to this effect. Colombia was then under a one-man government, a
dictatorship, founded on usurpation of absolute and irresponsible power.
She eagerly pressed us to enter into an agreement with her, as long
as there was any chance of our going to the alternative route through
Nicaragua. When she thought we were committed, she refused to fulfil the
agreement, with the avowed hope of seizing the French company's property
for nothing and thereby holding us up. This was a bit of pure bandit
morality. It would have achieved its purpose had I possessed as weak
moral fiber as those of my critics who announced that I ought to
have confined my action to feeble scolding and temporizing until the
opportunity for action passed. I did not lift my finger to incite the
revolutionists. The right simile to use is totally different. I simply
ceased to stamp out the different revolutionary fuses that were already
burning. When Colombia committed flagrant wrong against us, I considered
it no part of my duty to aid and abet her in her wrongdoing at our
expense, and also at the expense of Panama, of the French company,
and of the world generally. There had been fifty years of continuous
bloodshed and civil strife in Panama; because of my action Panama has
now known ten years of such peace and prosperity as she never before saw
during the four centuries of her existence--for in Panama, as in Cuba
and Santo Domingo, it was the action of the American people, against the
outcries of the professed apostles of peace, which alone brought peace.
We gave to the people of Panama self-government, and freed them from
subjection to alien oppressors. We did our best to get Colombia to let
us treat her with a more than generous justice; we exercised patience
to beyond the verge of proper forbearance. When we did act and recognize
Panama, Colombia at once acknowledged her own guilt by promptly offering
to do what we had demanded, and what she had protested it was not in her
power to do. But the offer came too late. What we would gladly have done
before, it had by that time become impossible for us honorably to do;
for it would have necessitated our abandoning the people of Panama, our
friends, and turning them over to their and our foes, who would have
wreaked vengeance on them precisely because they had shown friendship to
us. Colombia was solely responsible for her own humiliation; and she had
not then, and has not now, one shadow of claim upon us, moral or legal;
all the wrong that was done was done by her. If, as representing the
American people, I had not acted precisely as I did, I would have been
an unfaithful or incompetent representative; and inaction at that crisis
would have meant not only indefinite delay in building the canal, but
also practical admission on our part that we were not fit to play the
part on the Isthmus which we had arrogated to ourselves. I acted on my
own responsibility in the Panama matter. John Hay spoke of this action
as follows: "The action of the President in the Panama matter is not
only in the strictest accordance with the principles of justice and
equity, and in line with all the best precedents of our public policy,
but it was the only course he could have taken in compliance with our
treaty rights and obligations."
I deeply regretted, and now deeply regret, the fact that the Colombian
Government rendered it imperative for me to take the action I took; but
I had no alternative, consistent with the full performance of my duty
to my own people, and to the nations of mankind. (For, be it remembered,
that certain other nations, Chile for example, will probably benefit
even more by our action than will the United States itself.) I am well
aware that the Colombian people have many fine traits; that there is
among them a circle of high-bred men and women which would reflect
honor on the social life of any country; and that there has been an
intellectual and literary development within this small circle which
partially atones for the stagnation and illiteracy of the mass of the
people; and I also know that even the illiterate mass possesses many
sterling qualities. But unfortunately in international matters every
nation must be judged by the action of its Government. The good people
in Colombia apparently made no effort, certainly no successful effort,
to cause the Government to act with reasonable good faith towards the
United States; and Colombia had to take the consequences. If Brazil,
or the Argentine, or Chile, had been in possession of the Isthmus,
doubtless the canal would have been built under the governmental control
of the nation thus controlling the Isthmus, with the hearty acquiescence
of the United States and of all other powers. But in the actual fact the
canal would not have been built at all save for the action I took. If
men choose to say that it would have been better not to build it, than
to build it as the result of such action, their position, although
foolish, is compatible with belief in their wrongheaded sincerity. But
it is hypocrisy, alike odious and contemptible, for any man to say both
that we ought to have built the canal and that we ought not to have
acted in the way we did act.
After a sufficient period of wrangling, the Senate ratified the treaty
with Panama, and work on the canal was begun. The first thing that
was necessary was to decide the type of canal. I summoned a board of
engineering experts, foreign and native. They divided on their report.
The majority of the members, including all the foreign members, approved
a sea-level canal. The minority, including most of the American members,
approved a lock canal. Studying these conclusions, I came to the belief
that the minority was right. The two great traffic canals of the world
were the Suez and the Soo. The Suez Canal is a sea-level canal, and it
was the one best known to European engineers. The Soo Canal, through
which an even greater volume of traffic passes every year, is a lock
canal, and the American engineers were thoroughly familiar with it;
whereas, in my judgment, the European engineers had failed to pay proper
heed to the lessons taught by its operation and management. Moreover,
the engineers who were to do the work at Panama all favored a lock
canal. I came to the conclusion that a sea-level canal would be slightly
less exposed to damage in the event of war; that the running expenses,
apart from the heavy cost of interest on the amount necessary to build
it, would be less; and that for small ships the time of transit would
be less. But I also came to the conclusion that the lock canal at the
proposed level would cost only about half as much to build and would be
built in half the time, with much less risk; that for large ships the
transit would be quicker, and that, taking into account the interest
saved, the cost of maintenance would be less. Accordingly I recommended
to Congress, on February 19, 1906, that a lock canal should be built,
and my recommendation was adopted. Congress insisted upon having it
built by a commission of several men. I tried faithfully to get good
work out of the commission, and found it quite impossible; for a
many-headed commission is an extremely poor executive instrument. At
last I put Colonel Goethals in as head of the commission. Then, when
Congress still refused to make the commission single-headed, I
solved the difficulty by an executive order of January 6, 1908, which
practically accomplished the object by enlarging the powers of the
chairman, making all the other members of the commission dependent upon
him, and thereby placing the work under one-man control. Dr. Gorgas
had already performed an inestimable service by caring for the sanitary
conditions so thoroughly as to make the Isthmus as safe as a health
resort. Colonel Goethals proved to be the man of all others to do the
job. It would be impossible to overstate what he has done. It is the
greatest task of any kind that any man in the world has accomplished
during the years that Colonel Goethals has been at work. It is the
greatest task of its own kind that has ever been performed in the world
at all. Colonel Goethals has succeeded in instilling into the men under
him a spirit which elsewhere has been found only in a few victorious
armies. It is proper and appropriate that, like the soldiers of such
armies, they should receive medals which are allotted each man who has
served for a sufficient length of time. A finer body of men has never
been gathered by any nation than the men who have done the work of
building the Panama Canal; the conditions under which they have lived
and have done their work have been better than in any similar work ever
undertaken in the tropics; they have all felt an eager pride in their
work; and they have made not only America but the whole world their
debtors by what they have accomplished.
APPENDIX
COLOMBIA: THE PROPOSED MESSAGE TO CONGRESS
The rough draft of the message I had proposed to send Congress ran as
follows:
"The Colombian Government, through its representative here, and directly
in communication with our representative at Colombia, has refused to
come to any agreement with us, and has delayed action so as to make it
evident that it intends to make extortionate and improper terms with us.
The Isthmian Canal bill was, of course, passed upon the assumption that
whatever route was used, the benefit to the particular section of the
Isthmus through which it passed would be so great that the country
controlling this part would be eager to facilitate the building of the
canal. It is out of the question to submit to extortion on the part of a
beneficiary of the scheme. All the labor, all the expense, all the risk
are to be assumed by us and all the skill shown by us. Those controlling
the ground through which the canal is to be put are wholly incapable of
building it.
"Yet the interest of international commerce generally and the interest
of this country generally demands that the canal should be begun with
no needless delay. The refusal of Colombia properly to respond to our
sincere and earnest efforts to come to an agreement, or to pay heed to
the many concessions we have made, renders it in my judgment necessary
that the United States should take immediate action on one of two lines:
either we should drop the Panama canal project and immediately begin
work on the Nicaraguan canal, or else we should purchase all the rights
of the French company, and, without any further parley with Colombia,
enter upon the completion of the canal which the French company
has begun. I feel that the latter course is the one demanded by the
interests of this Nation, and I therefore bring the matter to your
attention for such action in the premises as you may deem wise. If in
your judgment it is better not to take such action, then I shall proceed
at once with the Nicaraguan canal.
"The reason that I advocate the action above outlined in regard to the
Panama canal is, in the first place, the strong testimony of the
experts that this route is the most feasible; and in the next place, the
impropriety from an international standpoint of permitting such conduct
as that to which Colombia seems to incline. The testimony of the experts
is very strong, not only that the Panama route is feasible, but that in
the Nicaragua route we may encounter some unpleasant surprises, and that
it is far more difficult to forecast the result with any certainty
as regards this latter route. As for Colombia's attitude, it is
incomprehensible upon any theory of desire to see the canal built upon
the basis of mutual advantage alike to those building it and to Colombia
herself. All we desire to do is to take up the work begun by the French
Government and to finish it. Obviously it is Colombia's duty to help
towards such completion. We are most anxious to come to an agreement
with her in which most scrupulous care should be taken to guard her
interests and ours. But we cannot consent to permit her to block
the performance of the work which it is so greatly to our interest
immediately to begin and carry through."
Shortly after this rough draft was dictated the Panama revolution came,
and I never thought of the rough draft again until I was accused of
having instigated the revolution. This accusation is preposterous in
the eyes of any one who knows the actual conditions at Panama. Only the
menace of action by us in the interest of Colombia kept down revolution;
as soon as Colombia's own conduct removed such menace, all check on the
various revolutionary movements (there were at least three from entirely
separate sources) ceased; and then an explosion was inevitable, for
the French company knew that all their property would be confiscated
if Colombia put through her plans, and the entire people of Panama felt
that if in disgust with Colombia's extortions the United States turned
to Nicaragua, they, the people of Panama, would be ruined. Knowing the
character of those then in charge of the Colombian Government, I was not
surprised at their bad faith; but I was surprised at their folly. They
apparently had no idea either of the power of France or the power of
the United States, and expected to be permitted to commit wrong with
impunity, just as Castro in Venezuela had done. The difference was that,
unless we acted in self-defense, Colombia had it in her power to do
us serious harm, and Venezuela did not have such power. Colombia's
wrongdoing, therefore, recoiled on her own head. There was no new
lesson taught; it ought already to have been known to every one that
wickedness, weakness, and folly combined rarely fail to meet punishment,
and that the intent to do wrong, when joined to inability to carry
the evil purpose to a successful conclusion, inevitably reacts on the
wrongdoer.
For the full history of the acquisition and building of the canal see
"The Panama Gateway," by Joseph Bucklin Bishop (Scribner's Sons). Mr.
Bishop has been for eight years secretary of the commission and is one
of the most efficient of the many efficient men to whose work on the
Isthmus America owes so much.