diction over that road or any other interoceanic communication that may be made in or through that district.

And New Granada, for the considerations hereinafter mentioned, does hereby transfer and assign to the United States all the rights, title, interest, and control which she has by charter, contract, or in any other manner in, to, and over the said Panama Railroad, with full power and authority to receive for their own use all sums of money or compensation stipulated to be paid by the said railroad company for the privileges, or for the right of transit conferred by the charter granted to, or any contract made with, the said Panama Railroad Company. The United States are authorized and empowered to exact and enforce all the obligations which the said Panama Railroad Company has contracted with New Granada.

And it is hereby furthermore agreed and stipulated that the United States shall have and enjoy, in regard to the said railroad company, all the right and authority in and over the said road that New Granada has at any time had and enjoyed, and they shall have full power and authority to alter, modify, or extend the charter of the said Panama Railroad Company, and to make any agreement with it in relation to the use of the said road, and they shall also have full and exclusive power to make any provision for the construction of any other railroad or passageway across the Isthmus of Panama within the district of country mentioned in the next preceding article on such terms as they may deem proper.

ARTICLE III.

If, happily, the high contracting parties should be engaged in war with each other, they do hereby mutually agree that the district of country before described shall be neutral territory; that neither party shall occupy the same for belligerent purposes (reserving the right of either to pass over it), nor shall either solicit or accept the services or aid of the said municipalities in the said war, but they shall remain neutral; neither shall in any way interrupt the transit within the district aforesaid, or obstruct or interfere with the ordinary operations of business on the said road, but the governments and citizens of each of the high contracting parties respectively shall have the same use of the road during any such war and the same security for their persons and property on the said road and within the district aforesaid as if the said parties were at peace.

ARTICLE IV.

It is hereby agreed that both parties shall have the free use of the Panama Railroad, or any other means of passage across the isthmus, within the said district; but the said road or route shall be open to the common use of all nations which shall by treaty stipulations agree to regard and treat the district of country aforesaid at all times as neutral, and to respect the municipal authorities therein established, and all such nations shall have the use of said road or route to be established within the said district upon fair and reasonable terms; and they do further agree to invite foreign nations to join in the mutual guarantee of the neutrality of the said country, of the municipal governments aforesaid, and of the unobstructed use of the said Panama Railroad, or any other road or route which may be established across the isthmus within the limits of the territory before designated.

ARTICLE V.

New Granada hereby stipulates and agrees to pay, in the manner hereinafter provided, to the United States the sum of $- to be applied by the said United States to satisfy the claims of those of their citizens who suffered bodily injuries in the riot at Panama on the 15th of April last, to indemnify those citizens who had their property taken from them or destroyed in that riot, including damages to the railroad company and its property, and to make suitable provision for the families of the citizens of the United States who were killed on that occasion.

On the payment of the above sum of $

for the purposes aforesaid by the Government of New Granada the United States releases it from all further claim or demand on that account.

ARTICLE VI (No. 1).

In order to protect and render secure the transportation of persons and property across the Isthmus of Panama, and for the full enjoyment of the advantages of that interoceanic communication to the Government and people of the United States, it is important that there should be a safe and commodious harbor for merchant vessels and

national ships near the termination of communication on the Pacific. New Granada does for that purpose cede to the United States the island of Taboga and the other islands in the harbor of Panama, to wit, Flamingo, Ilenao, Perico, Čulebra, with all the rights and appurtenances thereunto belonging, in full sovereignty, to be owned and held forever by the United States in as full and ample a manner as they are or have been heretofore held by New Granada. It is understood that the cession now made of the said islands shall not impair the title of individuals to any part of the said islands, holding the same by bona fide grants from the Republic of New Granada or as assignees of such grants. Without other restriction the United States may hereafter exercise full and exclusive jurisdiction of the said islands of Taboga, Flamingo, Ilenao, Perico, Culebra.

ARTICLE VI (No. 2).

It being important to the interests of both the high contracting parties that there should be a safe and commodious harbor and shipyard or naval station at or near the termination of the route or transit way across the isthmus, on the Pacific, it is hereby agreed and stipulated that the islands of

or near the

harbor of Panama, including the island of Taboga, shall be included within the municipality of Panama in the same manner and to the same extent as is the city of Panama; and that in case the United States shall see fit to establish on the said islands, or any of them, a shipyard and marine depot, or to occupy any place on the same as a naval station, they shall and may be under the authority of the United States. The said islands and the waters around them necessary for the purposes herein mentioned shall be placed under the control and jurisdiction of the United States, and the United States shall have full authority and power to make such laws and regulations as may be deemed by them necessary or proper for the security of ships, merchandise, and persons on the said islands, and for the protection of the piers, wharves, workshops, buildings, or any other structures that may be erected or constructed thereon. And they may also make such provision for maintaining order, peace, and the good conduct of persons on the said islands, and to punish offenders against the rules and regulations which may be there established by the United States, or under their authority; and the authority and jurisdiction herein conferred on the United States over the said islands and adjacent waters around the same shall be independent of any control by the municipal authority of the city or State of Panama or the Republic of New Granada, without the express consent of the United States, and then under such restrictions as may be imposed by them.

The United States agree not to protect offenders against the laws or government of the said city, state, or republic who may flee to the said islands, but, on proper demand made, to deliver them up or permit them to be taken therefrom. The property of every description on the said islands and waters about the same shall be exempt from all taxation, except that which may be imposed by the United States or by their consent, and the persons thereon shall be exempt from the civil and criminal jurisdiction of the city and State of Panama or the Republic of New Granada, unless the extent of the jurisdiction or authority of the municipality or the State of Panama, or of the Republic of New Granada, shall be such as the United States may from tíme to time designate.

Nothing herein contained shall interfere with the rights, title, or interest of the owners of the real estate on the said islands.

ARTICLE VII.

For and in consideration of the grants and cessions contained in the foregoing articles it is hereby stipulated and agreed that the United States shall allow or pay to the Republic of New Granada the full sum of dollars, currency of the said United States. Of the said sum of $ the United States shall retain the sum of $ specified in the fifth article of this convention, to be applied to the purposes in that article particularly designated, and the balance of $ shall be paid to the Republic of New Granada, in the city of New York, within sixty days after the exchange of the ratifications of this convention.

ARTICLE VIII.

The present convention shall be ratified by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate thereof, and by the President of the Republic of New Granada, with the consent and approbation of the congress of the

S. Doc. 237-3

same; and the ratifications shall be exchanged in the city of Washington within one year from the date of the signature thereof, or sooner if possible.

day of

In faith whereof the respective plenipotentiaries have signed and sealed these presents in the city of Bogota, on the , in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty

2.-Mr. Seward to Mr. Sullivan.

No. 58.]

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, September 27, 1868.

SIR: Your dispatch No. 82, of the 12th August last, on the subject of the proposed canal across the Isthmus of Darien, has been received and taken into mature consideration.

In reply, I am directed to make the following observations on the articles of the convention submitted by you and on the amendments desired by the Government of the United States of Colombia:

ARTICLE I.

The United States of Colombia agree and consent that the United States of America shall make, and the United States of America agree to make, the necessary survey for such ship canal, and if they ascertain the same to be feasible, then to locate the same, together with all its necessary appendages and appurtenances of locks, ports, harbors, stations, supply feeders, and sluices on land and sea, upon the domain and within the jurisdiction of the United States of Colombia, and to adopt a plan of construction and to make thorough and detailed estimates of the expense and cost of construction; and for that purpose the United States of America may employ proper civil and military superintendents, engineers, accountants, and other agents, and laborers, ships of war and transports, the military force-however, not to exceed at any time five hundred rank and file without express consent of the United States of Colombia first obtained and all persons engaged in such service, whether civil, naval, or military, shall, while so engaged, render lawful submission and obedience to the civil authorities of Colombia. When the survey and locations shall be complete the President of the United States shall certify the same, with the necessary maps and descriptions, to the President of the United States of Colombia, and the same surveys, locations, and descriptions shall be filed in the archives of the two Governments. The route and plan thus fixed may afterwards be varied as occasion shall require under the authority of the United States of America, due notice being given of such modifications to the United States of Colombia.

Said canal shall in no case be constructed on or across the route of the Panama Railroad, unless the company's consent has been first obtained.

EXPLANATION.

Article 1 is understood to be agreed upon by both parties.

ARTICLE II.

It is proposed in behalf of the United States to substitute in lieu of Article what follows:

The United States of Colombia agree to concede, set apart, appropriate, and devote to the purposes of such ship canal all the territory, including land, ocean, and tributary waters, which shall be designated for the purposes thereof in such plan, and which may be found necessary, including in any case ten miles of waste, unsettled, and unimproved lands on each side of the canal throughout its entire length; and all the materials for such construction found with the territory so to be conceded.

Private owners of property being entitled to have a just indemnity, to effect which the Government of Colombia shall order expropriations to be made according to its laws; but the valuation thereof in no case to be enhanced by reason of the proposed or actual construction of the canal.

At the expiration of this convention the United States shall give back to the Colombian Government all such lots or portions of the lands herein ceded on both sides

of the canal as shall not have been appropriated or be necessary for the use or purpose of the said canal, and also all such lots or portions thereof as shall not have been alienated or disposed of by the United States of America.

EXPLANATIONS.

1. The English word "waste" used in the Colombian amendment does not with sufficient accuracy describe unsettled or unimproved lands, but rather means lands which are worthless or incapable of improvement or use.

2. The amendment proposed by the Colombian ministers seems to concede a tract of land ten miles wide on each side of the canal for the purposes of that canal, while in point of fact it concedes only half that quantity of land. The United States are to build the canal and defray its cost. All the lands which shall be conceded to them are expected to be sold and its avails to be applied in reimbursing the cost of the construction. Colombia is to pay nothing; and yet, according to the amendment proposed by her ministers, Colombia is to receive the avails of the sale of one-half of the territory conceded.

The concession of the lands required by the United States would not be required at all if it were believed that the capitalists would be procured without that inducement. I can not too earnestly express my conviction that the real hazard of the enterprise is not that Colombia shall concede more than is necessary to secure its success, but that all the inducements which can be offered by both Governments will be insufficient to invite the necessary capital.

3. It is supposed, indeed, that under the expropriation laws of Colombia private property would be valued without enhancement by the reason of the proposed or actual construction of the canal. There can be no harm, however, in establishing that principle definitely. The public patrons of the enterprise could afford to take no private property at all for the uses of the canal if they were to be charged in favor of individual citizens of Colombia with profits upon the outlay to be made by the patrons themselves.

4. The modification proposed by me in regard to the restoration of portions of domain at the expiration of the convention sufficiently explains itself.

ARTICLE III.-(Newly proposed by this Government.)

The United States of Colombia stipulate not to undertake or allow the opening of any other interoceanic canal, or of any new railway through their territory, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, without the consent of the United States.

EXPLANATION.

1. The intelligent economists who have been consulted are of opinion that the article, as originally proposed and as approved by the Colombian ministers, would be ineffectual as an inducement to capital without excluding any new interoceanic railway, as well as any other interoceanic canal.

ARTICLE IV.i

The outlay, cost, and expense of the survey, location, construction, and equipment of the said canal and its ports, stations, depots, and harbors, including damages paid for private property, and the indemnity that may correspond to the Panama Railroad Company, should the case arrive, in accordance with the contract, celebrated by

the Government of Colombia, and approved by Congress on the 15th of August, 1867, shall be for the account of the United States of America, but exclusively with reference to the purposes of this convention. The objects devoted in Article II by the United States of Colombia for the work of the canal shall be delivered to the United States of America, but exclusively for the purposes of this convention.

EXPLANATION.

The Colombian minister's amendment seems to be reasonable and proper, and is accepted.

ARTICLE V.-(New as now proposed by this Government.)

The United States of America shall construct the said canal, with its appendages and appurtenances, and may employ the necessary force of skill, art, and labor for that purpose, and may also maintain a necessary military and naval force. The civil employés engaged being subject to the laws and Government of the United States of Colombia; and the United States engage that the military and naval employés so engaged shall always conform themselves to the laws and Government of the United States of Colombia. The naval and military forces shall in no case exceed one thousand, rank and file, of both armies, unless the express consent of the United States of Colombia shall have been first obtained.

EXPLANATION.

1. The original Article V, on revision, seems to require amendment so as to prevent possible differences between the two nations in regard to the employés.

Civil employés will be directly subject to the laws of the Colombian Government as administered by the authorities. The United States guarantee that the military and naval forces, while remaining under the command of their own officers, will respect and obey those laws. 2. Doubtless five hundred, rank and file, would be an adequate force to protect surveyors against hostile Indians or other disturbers of the peace; but in prosecuting a work of so great magnitude as the proposed ship canal, the number of workmen employed at times might well be expected to fully exceed the number of five hundred or one thousand.

The Secretary of war of the United States has been consulted, and he is of opinion that to secure the public peace and a continuance of work in the contingency of surprise, it would be well to stipulate for a force of one thousand.

There would be no reason in any case to apprehend that the United States would be disposed to employ a force unnecessarily large. Every consideration of convenience and economy will incline them to use the smallest number possible. The United States have never shown a disposition to maintain military forces for political purposes in foreign countries.

ARTICLE VI.

As fast as the canal and its appendages and appurtenances shall be constructed, the control, possession, direction, and government of the same shall belong to and be exercised by the United States of America, the Government of the United States of Colombia at the same time being always at liberty after the exchange of this convention to maintain a permanent committee of agents, with a right to examine the accounts, inspect the operations concerned, measure the tonnage of vessels, and report thereupon to the Government of Colombia; but not to interfere with the survey, control, management, direction, and working of the canal.