This program was carried out later on. The Panamanians had very little trouble in overawing the few Colombian officers within their territory. They knew that the Colombian Government had no navy, from the fact that a year before the Colombian navy had been sent to the City of Panama to coerce the authorities there who were disputing with the Colombian Government over some items of revenue which were an issue; and meeting force with force the authorities of the City of Panama had succeeded, with the assistance of a small tug-boat and one piece of cannon, in sweeping the seas of the entire Colombian naval power, and as evidence of their success the two masts of the Colombian navy were sticking up out of the mud-banks of Panama Bay. Nor were the inhabitants of Panama or Colon much concerned as to a possible attack from a Colombian army. That would entail a long march of hundreds of miles through morass and jungle, and could not be successfully accomplished in less than a year’s time. And so the Panamanians were free to act in their purposes of securing independence without danger of very much interference from the home government. The result of the revolution was very gratifying to the Panamanians. As soon as they learned that the treaty had been refused ratification, they immediately wired to Dr. Varilla at New York. He apparently was at his post waiting the news, for it was whispered in Washington that he took the night train from New York, reached Washington in the morning, and arrived at the White House early in the forenoon. And from all indications President Roosevelt must have been waiting just inside the door to receive him, for it is said that the President was on hand to grasp Dr. Varilla by the hand and welcome him to the White House, and that when he came out two hours later, Panama was virtually recognized as an independent government. Within a few days a treaty was negotiated between Panama and the United States. Terms of the Treaty This treaty, called the Hay-Varilla treaty, was ratified in December, 1903. Its terms provided that the sum of ten millions of dollars be paid by the United States to the Government of Panama, and the further sum of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year for all time, commencing nine years after the ratification of the treaty by both countries. The Republic of the United States was to have absolute title and sovereignty to a strip of land ten miles wide, five miles on either side of the center of the canal prism, extending from Colon to Panama, and three miles out into the water on either side, but without including either of the cities of Colon or Panama within its area.