Early in March, soon after the adjournment of Congress, a communication from Lord Lansdowne, the British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, declining with courtesy and in friendly terms to accept the Senate amendments to the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty, was received by Lord Pauncefote, the British Ambassador at Washington. The objections urged most strongly are against those amendments which touch the neutrality of the proposed canal and its unimpeded use in time of war as well as in time of peace. "The first of them," said Lord Lansdowne, "which reserves to the United States the right of taking any measures which they may find necessary to secure by their own forces the defence of the United States, appears to His Majesty's government to involve a distinct departure from the principle which has until now found acceptance with both governments; the principle, namely, that in time of war, as well as in time of peace, the passage of the canal is to remain free and unimpeded, and is to be so maintained by the power or powers responsible for its control. Were this amendment added to the convention the United States would, it is presumed, be within their rights, if, at any moment when it seemed to them that their safety required it, in view of warlike preparations not yet commenced, but contemplated or supposed to be contemplated by another power, they resorted to warlike acts in or near the canal—acts clearly inconsistent with the neutral character which it has always been sought to give it, and which would deny the free use of it to the commerce and navies of the world. … If the new clause were to be added, the obligation to respect the neutrality of the canal in all circumstances would, so far as Great Britain is concerned, remain in force; the obligation of the United States, on the other hand, would be essentially modified. The result would be a onesided arrangement, under which Great Britain would be debarred from any warlike action in or around the canal, while the United States would be liable to resort to such action to whatever extent they might deem necessary to secure their own safety."