included in the original agreement of May 17 last, there has been continued negotiation between the company and the Ministry of Communications for the selection of specific lines. An alignment most favorably considered, both by the corporation and by the Ministry of Communications, is one leading from Siangyangfu (in Hupei), through Nanyangfu, Yencheng Ho, and Chenchowfu (in Honan), to Pochow (in Anhui), with a possible terminal at Wuhohsien, on the lower Huai River. The Minister has expressed himself in a sense favorable to granting this alignment as part of the line to be immediately constructed, but a final agreement to that effect has not yet been arrived at. The line is most attractive on account of the importance of the cities mentioned. Agreement has been reached upon the first line to be constructed. Instead of the line mentioned in the original contract, proceeding from Hengchowfu (in Hunan) to Nanning (in Kwangsi), there has been substituted an alignment from Chuchow, immediately south of Changsha, by way of Paoking (Hunan), Kweilin (Kwangsi), Liuchowfu (Kwangsi), to Chinchow or Yamchow, on the Gulf of Tongking. If a more desirable port is found in the western part of Kwangtung, it is to be substituted as a sea terminal. The organization of the engineering parties for the survey has been completed. They have, however, not as yet left because the method of handling the funds of the enterprise has not been entirely agreed upon. The contract of May 17 provides that at the end of each month the contracting company shall render a lump estimate for the ensuing month; upon the approval of this by the director general (Chinese), he is to notify the auditor, who will then turn over a cheque to the contracting company. The Minister of Communications is thus far not willing to turn over the complete control of the expenditure of money as provided in the contract. It is not likely, however, that the contracting company will accept any other arrangement, as its only security is the railway itself, and it therefore feels that it must insist upon a complete control of the expenditures for construction. I have [etc.] PAUL S. REINSCH ABROGATION OF PROVISIONS OF CERTAIN TREATIES CONFLICTING WITH THE SEAMEN'S ACT OF MARCH 4, 1915.-ACCEPTANCE OF THE ABROGATION BY CHINA (See Belgium) PROTECTION OF CHINESE INTERESTS IN ECUADOR BY THE (See Ecuador) AMERICAN LEGATION DISCRIMINATION IN FREIGHT RATES AFFECTING EQUALITY OF COMMERCIAL OPPORTUNITY IN CHINA. PROTEST OF THE UNITED STATES (See Japan) PROTECTION BY THE UNITED STATES OF CHINESE INTERESTS IN MEXICO (See Mexico) COLOMBIA CORRESPONDENCE RELATING TO THE TREATY OF APRIL 6, 1914, BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND COLOMBIA File No. 711.21/327 Minister Thomson to the Secretary of State [Telegram-Extract] 1 AMERICAN LEGATION, Bogotá, January 26, 1916. Colombian Government and public growing restless and impatient at the delay of the Senate in considering the Colombian treaty. I have received long and forceful note from Minister of Foreign Affairs urging action. Special message from the President at the earliest practical moment will relieve tension. THOMSON File No. 711.21/334 No. 248 Minister Thomson to the Secretary of State [Extract] AMERICAN LEGATION, Bogotá, January 26, 1916. SIR: I have the honor to enclose herewith a copy of a note from the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the 25th instant together with a translation of the same. It is very evident from the tone of the Minister's note that the Colombian Government feels that its interests have been treated with indifference by the United States Government, and I am rather inclined to think that many are growing somewhat suspicious. It is now nearly two years since the treaty was signed at Bogotá, and within a comparatively short time thereafter it was ratified by the Colombian Congress. Up to the present the Government and the press as well as the people have exercised great patience. I have [etc.] THAD A. THOMSON No. 709 [Inclosure Translation] The Minister for Foreign Affairs to Minister Thomson MINISTRY FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS, MR. MINISTER: On April 6, 1914, there was signed by the Government of Colombia, represented by various Plenipotentiaries, and by that of the United States, represented by your excellency, a Public Treaty for the purpose of defining the rights of the High Contracting Parties in the Canal and Railroad 1Continued from For. Rel. 1915, pp. 259–263. of Panama and to put an end to the other differences arising from the rebellion of the Department of Panamá which took place in 1903. Although the treaty received the approval of the Colombian Congress that same year, 1914, it has not yet been considered by the Senate of the United States in the various sessions, ordinary and special, which that body has held since that date. This long suspension of a pact which interests the Republic more than anything else can possibly interest it, and the condition of doubt which so much delay will cause to the effects of the treaty, are in the highest degree prejudicial to the Government and people of Colombia, who thus see their rights forgotten and for whom this situation begins to be unsupportable. In fact, if on the part of the Republic there was real solicitude to approve a convention which accepts a reparation far inferior to its rights and which at the same time perfects the title of the United States to enormous acquisitions, still Colombia and its Government see with great pain that the Senate of the Union is paying no attention to these reparations, not refusing them, but nevertheless postponing them in an almost indefinite manner. I therefore venture to request your excellency to kindly make known to your Government that that of Colombia awaits that the Senate of the United States should vouchsafe attention to the condition of a friendly nation which for more than twelve years has borne with disregard of the most essential rights of its jurisdiction, integrity and sovereignty and which has not yet succeeded in having this loss partially repaired, even by making the sacrifice of transferring legally to the United States its property rights almost complete. Well does the Colombian Government recognize, and well does it appreciate, the interest and decision with which the present Government of the United States attended to the necessity of celebrating a treaty which justice and international amity demanded. But now that your excellency's Government has shown in a solemn and unquestionable manner its spirit of justice and its high intentions, my Government hopes that it will conclude its just and lofty work through efforts, by means of its well-deserved and powerful influence, that the Treaty of April 6, 1914, may have the result which the two Governments intended when making it, and that it may not be reduced to a sterile effort. Should the result be otherwise, the unutterable injuries suffered by Colombia would be aggravated instead of being repaired, since, in addition to the impairment of its rights and the damage and prejudice caused to it since 1903, it would be forgotten: 1st, that it, at the suggestion and proposal of the United States, agreed to suspend its demand for arbitration for the adjustment of the controversy; 2d, that the same Government which committed the spoliation of the rights of Colombia more than twelve years ago and the Administration which next succeeded it showed a disposition in favor of the reparation of those wrongs; 3d, that if the Treaty of 1914 should not be considered and approved, then the violation of the rights of Colombia would not be an act peculiar to the Government which committed it, but one which in fact received the acquiescence and ratification of the American Union, by virtue of the failure of the Senate to act; 4th, that if the treaty should fail to go into effect, then the Republic would be placed in a situation incompatible with all international amity, since not only would its original rights be disregarded but so also would be its high spirit of conciliation; 5th, that the indefinite neglect of the treaty prejudices high commercial interests, daily more important, as to a country whose situation and physical conditions are unsurpassedly attractive, and even prejudice the respect of the other Latin American peoples to whom the ruin of the rights of a sister-people, consummated as it were by repeated afflictions, cannot be a matter of indifference; 6th, that it is not just that, having caused Colombia a series of daily wrongs and damages in its civil and commercial, personal and public, relations with the rebel Department of Panama, it should oblige it to suffer those wrongs indefinitely, all because of the protection which the Government of the United States gives to the rebellious section and on account of the failure of the same nation to approve the Treaty of 1914. Understanding and experiencing the high spirit of justice which distinguishes your excellency, I beg you to kindly make known this representation, as deferential as it is earnest, to your Government, in the quickest way that your excellency may find convenient. I renew [etc.] MARCO FIDEL SUAREZ File No. 711.21/328 No. 33 The Minister of Colombia to the Secretary of State [Extract] LEGATION OF COLOMBIA, Washington, February 2, 1916. SIR: Thinking that it might be of importance to you to have a copy of the cablegram received by this Legation, I have now the honor to enclose it. * * * I am well aware of your great interest to see a favorable final settlement of this matter which for more than twelve years maintains in painful expectation the people of Colombia. Availing [etc.] [Inclosure] JULIO BETANCOURT The Foreign Office to the Legation of Columbia BOGOTÁ, January 27, 1916. The following note was addressed to the American Legation yesterday: [A translation of the Foreign Office note No. 709 of January 25, inclosed with Mr. Thomson's No. 248 of January 26.] File No. 711.21/327 The Secretary of State to Minister Thomson [Telegram] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, February 2, 1916. You may inform Colombian Government orally and confidentially that Foreign Relations Committee of Senate today reported Colombian Treaty out of committee by vote of eight to seven, amending it to reduce indemnity from $25,000,000 to $15,000,000 and make expression of regret mutual. LANSING File No. 711.21/336 No. 257 Minister Thomson to the Secretary of State AMERICAN LEGATION, Bogotá, February 4, 1916. SIR: I have the honor to transmit herewith a copy and translation (very hastily made) of a note which I have only just this moment received from the Minister for Foreign Affairs with regard to the report of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs to the Senate of the United States concerning the Treaty of April 6, 1914. The mail leaves at once, so I am unable to add any comment. I have [etc.] 106413° F B 1916-19 THAD. A. THOMSON [Inclosure Translation] The Minister for Foreign Affiairs to Minister Thomson MINISTRY FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS, MR. MINISTER: The modifications which the Committee of the Senate of the United States has presented to that high Body with the Treaty of April 6, 1914, preoccupy at this time the Government and people of Colombia. They in effect diminish greatly the satisfaction and indemnity acknowledged to the Republic by that act; and also, should these modifications be adopted finally by the Senate of the Union, they would cause various and very grave difficulties when they came to be considered by the Congress of Colombia. I therefore beg your excellency to kindly inform His Excellency the President of the United States that Colombia and its Government will receive with special appreciation the new favor, should His Excellency vouchsafe to grant it, of recommending in a special message to the Senate of the United States of America the approval without amendments of the Treaty of April 6, 1914. I reiterate [etc.] MARCO FIDEL SUAREZ File No. 711.21/329 Minister Thomson to the Secretary of State [Telegrams] AMERICAN LEGATION, Your February 2. The Colombian Government expresses disappointment at the proposed amendment which, if adopted, will cause, it says, gravest difficulties when submitted to Congress; and it requests me to urge the President to send special message in favor of unaltered treaty. No comment by the press or the Minister for Foreign Affairs concerning mutual regret which, I believe, will be accepted, while Colombia, measured by financial conditions, might be forced to accept whatever the United States may offer. It is a question whether any amount less than the treaty provides would restore cordial relations. THOMPSON File No. 711.21/330 AMERICAN LEGATION, Bogotá, February 10, 1916. I now believe that any amount less than stipulated in the treaty would fail to accomplish the object stated in its preamble. Would it be worth while to offer anything less? Expression of mutual regret will most certainly encounter in the Colombian Congress strong opposition encouraged by foreign interests. A few members of the committee on foreign affairs with political aspirations will also most likely oppose this expression but I believe the treaty with such an amendment would be accepted. THOMPSON |