If the assertion of the United States that she herself is entirely unfettered in the use of the Canal, and that the conditions imposed upon foreign vessels in return for the privilege of using the Canal involve a most-favoured-nation treatment, were correct, the United States would not be bound to submit to the rules laid down by Article III, Nos. 2-6, of the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty. She could, therefore, if she were a belligerent, commit acts of hostility in the Canal against vessels of her opponent; could let her own men-of-war revictual or take in stores within the Canal even if there were no strict necessity for doing so; could embark and disembark troops, munitions of war, or warlike materials in the Canal, although all these were destined to be made use of during the war generally, and not only for the defence of the Canal against a possible attack. There ought, however, to be no doubt that the United States is as much bound to obey the rules of Article III of the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty as Great Britain or any other foreign State. These rules are intended to invest the Canal with the character of neutrality. If the United States were not bound to obey them, the Canal would lose its neutral character, and, in case she were a belligerent, her opponent would be justified in considering the Canal a part of the region of war and could, therefore, make it the theatre of war. The mere fact that Article III of the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty refers to the rules in existence concerning the neutralisation of the Suez Canal, and that Article IV of the Suez Canal Treaty of 1888 expressly stipulates the neutralisation of the Canal even should Turkey be a belligerent, ought to be sufficient to prove that the neutralisation of the Panama Canal is stipulated by the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty even should the United States be a belligerent. Furthermore, one must come to the same conclusion if one takes into consideration the objects, which are three in number, of the neutralisation of an inter-oceanic canal. The first object is that a canal shall be open in time of war as well as in time of peace, so that navigation through the canal may be unhampered by the fact that war is being waged. If the canal were not neutralised, the territorial sovereign would be compelled, if he were neutral in a war, to prevent the passing through the canal of men-of-war of either belligerent, because such passage would be equivalent to the passage of belligerent troops through neutral land territory. The second object is that the territorial sovereign shall be prevented from closing a canal or interfering with the free use of it by vessels of all nations in case he himself is a party to a war. If the canal were not neutralised, the belligerent territorial sovereign could, during the war, close the canal or interfere with its free use by neutral vessels.