A brilliant idea had, indeed, struck the statesmen of the Colombian Republic. They had remembered that the concession to the Panama Company lapsed in October 1904, and that all its property that could not be carried away would revert to the Colombian government. Only defer any agreement with the United States till then, and the $40,000,000 to be paid to the New Panama Canal Company by the United States would drop like a golden nest-egg into the empty exchequer of the Colombian Republic. It was a brilliant idea, but the Colombian method of pursuing it was rather too crude and obvious. In order to meet the Colombian government the United States improved their offer, considerably increasing the bonus and making other changes. An agreement, known as the Hay-Herran Treaty, was actually arranged between the United States and Colombia, the latter represented by her minister at Washington, Dr. Tomas Herran. This treaty, before it became operative, had to be ratified by the Congress of Colombia, and the president of that state took care that a congress should be elected which would do no such thing. Meantime all kinds of influences, secret and open, were at work. The German "colonial party" had become interested in the question, and had conceived the possibility of Germany, rather than the United States, succeeding to the French concession. It is quite certain that the United States would have resisted any such proceeding, if necessary by actual war. There is little doubt, also, that the party in the United States which had supported the Nicaraguan scheme were throwing every obstruction in the way of a satisfactory agreement between the big and the little republic. The reader may guess what was the anxiety of the New Panama Canal Company during all this diplomacy and intrigue. They knew that the completion of the sale of its property to the United States depended on an agreement being concluded between that country and Colombia; and they also knew that unless they sold before October 1904, they would have practically nothing to sell, because the franchise and possessions of the company would be forfeited to the Colombian government at that date. It would be better to sell on the best terms they could obtain to Germany or anybody else before the fatal day arrived. Meantime the United States brought every force of argument and menace to bear on the Colombian government. Secretary Hay sent urgent dispatches to the American minister at Bogota. He reminded Colombia that the decision to adopt the Panama route was not irrevocable. The Spooner law authorized the American president to await only "a reasonable time" for an agreement with Colombia. Having waited so long, he was able and indeed bound to resume the Nicaraguan project.