Presidential addresses and state papers, Volume 2 (of 7)Roosevelt, Theodore
History
Presidential addresses and state papers, Volume 2 (of 7)
Roosevelt, Theodore
Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919; United States -- Politics and government -- 1901-1909
Immediately after the adjournment of the Congress a revolution broke
out in Panama. The people of Panama had long been discontented with
the Republic of Colombia, and they had been kept quiet only by
the prospect of the conclusion of the treaty, which was to them a
matter of vital concern. When it became evident that the treaty was
hopelessly lost, the people of Panama rose literally as one man. Not
a shot was fired by a single man on the Isthmus in the interest of
the Colombian Government. Not a life was lost in the accomplishment
of the revolution. The Colombian troops stationed on the Isthmus, who
had long been unpaid, made common cause with the people of Panama,
and with astonishing unanimity the new republic was started. The duty
of the United States in the premises was clear. In strict accordance
with the principles laid down by Secretaries Cass and Seward in the
official documents above quoted, the United States gave notice that
it would permit the landing of no expeditionary force, the arrival
of which would mean chaos and destruction along the line of the
railroad and of the proposed canal, and an interruption of transit
as an inevitable consequence. The de facto Government of Panama was
recognized in the following telegram to Mr. Ehrman:
“The people of Panama have, by apparently unanimous movement,
dissolved their political connection with the Republic of Colombia
and resumed their independence. When you are satisfied that a
de facto government, republican in form and without substantial
opposition from its own people, has been established in the State
of Panama, you will enter into relations with it as the responsible
government of the territory and look to it for all due action to
protect the persons and property of citizens of the United States
and to keep open the isthmian transit, in accordance with the
obligations of existing treaties governing the relations of the
United States to that territory.”
The Government of Colombia was notified of our action by the following
telegram to Mr. Beaupré:
“The people of Panama having, by an apparently unanimous movement,
dissolved their political connection with the Republic of Colombia
and resumed their independence, and having adopted a government of
their own, republican in form, with which the Government of the
United States of America has entered into relations, the President
of the United States, in accordance with the ties of friendship
which have so long and so happily existed between the respective
nations, most earnestly commends to the Governments of Colombia and
of Panama the peaceful and equitable settlement of all questions at
issue between them. He holds that he is bound not merely by treaty
obligations, but by the interests of civilization, to see that the
peaceful traffic of the world across the Isthmus of Panama shall
not longer be disturbed by a constant succession of unnecessary and
wasteful wars.”
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