Whatever may have been his motives--in the light of events which have followed it would seem unjust to question them--Senator Hanna was undoubtedly responsible for the revolution in Congress and in public sentiment which resulted in the selection of the Panama route. M. Bunau-Varilla declares that he met Myron T. Herrick in Paris, converted him, and through him met Senator Hanna, whom he also convinced. In Crowley's "Life and Work of Marcus Alonzo Hanna," it is declared that a series of interviews between M. Bunau-Varilla and Senator Hanna had much to do with Mr. Hanna's decision to make a fight in behalf of Panama. It was claimed by William Nelson Cromwell, in his suit for fees against the New Panama Canal Company, that he was responsible for converting Senator Hanna to the Panama project, and it was asserted, also, that he furnished the data from which Senator Hanna made his speech which converted the Senate, and the House, and the country, and led to the adoption of the Panama route. At this juncture Providence seemed to lend support to the Panama route, for one of the many volcanoes in Nicaragua became active and did considerable damage. Occurrences since then have borne out the wisdom of avoiding the Nicaragua route. A few years ago the city of Cartago, only about a hundred miles distant from the site of the works that would have been installed to control the waters of Lake Nicaragua, was entirely destroyed by an earthquake. With the Spooner bill enacted into law, the next proposition which confronted the United States Government was that of reaching an understanding with Colombia, which would permit the building of the canal at Panama. That country was reminded on every hand and in divers ways that unless an acceptable treaty were forthcoming the President of the United States would be forced to adopt the Nicaragua route. But, notwithstanding these reminders, Colombia still moved slowly in the matter. After being repeatedly urged to come to terms, and after one Colombian minister to the United States had been recalled and another resigned, the Hay-Herran treaty finally was negotiated.