DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, April 21, 1902. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge receipt at your hands of a communication dated the 31st of March, 1902, and another of the 18th of April, inclosing a proposal of the Republic of Colombia for a concessionary convention or treaty between the Republic of Colombia and that of the United States of America respecting the completion, maintenance, operation, control, and protection of an interoceanic canal over the Isthmus of Panama.

I am directed by the President to inform you that I shall be ready to sign with you the proposed convention as soon as

First. The Congress of the United States shall have authorized the President to enter into such an arrangement; and

Second. As soon as the law officers of this Government shall have decided upon the question of the title which the New Panama Canal Company is able to give of all the properties and rights claimed by it and pertaining to a canal across the Isthmus and covered by the pending proposal.

Accept, sir, the renewed assurances of my highest consideration.

Señor Don JOSÉ VICENTE CONCHA.

JOHN HAY.

[Translation.]

LEGATION OF COLOMBIA, Washington, D. C., April 23, 1902. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the reception of your excellency's communication of the 21st instant, by which you are pleased to inform me that you are authorized by the President of the United States to sign with the Republic of Colombia the treaty relative to the opening of the Panama Canal, and the other details connected with the said work, in accordance with the draft I submitted to the Government of the United States on the 18th instant, and that you will proceed to do so as soon as permission shall have been given by the Congress of this Republic, and as the official lawyers shall have given their opinion regarding the title of the new canal company for the transfer of its rights.

When the occasion to sign the above-mentioned treaty shall arise I will present, according to usage, the full powers authorizing me to do so.

Accept, excellency, the sentiments of my high consideration.

In pursuance of the offer made orally and in my personal note of the 12th instant to your excellency, I have the honor to transmit here

with a draft of a treaty embodying the proposal of my Government touching the interoceanic canal through Nicaragua. This draft, save a few changes which I had to make in obedience to superior orders, is the same as that which your excellency prepared on February 12 and was pleased to amend on March 11 and 25 and on April 26 last in deference to observations presented by me.

If your excellency will, as you said to me you would, lay this proposal before the proper committees of Congress, I should be pleased if it were accompanied by the protocol on the same subject which I had the honor to sign with your excellency on December 1, 1900. These papers will show that Nicaragua has been and is still disposed to enter into direct negotiations with the United States as soon as provision therefor shall have been made by Congress, and at the same time make it clear that, since no decision has yet been reached by that body in the matter, the present proposal is not to be taken as final, but remains subject to amendments by which the conclusion of a perfected and more suitable agreement between the contracting parties may be facilitated.

Please accept, Mr. Secretary, the assurances of my most distinguished consideration.

DRAFT.

The United States of America and the Republic of Nicaragua, being desirous to assure the construction of a ship canal to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, have for that purpose resolved to conclude a convention, and have accordingly appointed as their plenipotentiaries:

The President of the United States,

The President of the Republic of Nicaragua,

Who, after communicating to each other their full powers, which were found to be in due form, have agreed upon the following articles:

ARTICLE I.

The Republic of Nicaragua leases in perpetuity to the United States the exclusive right to construct, own, and operate a ship canal through the territory of Nicaragua, to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

The United States guarantees in perpetuity the sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity of the Republic of Nicaragua.

No change either in the Government or in the laws or treaties of Nicaragua shall, without the consent of the United States, affect any right of the United States under the present convention, or under any treaty stipulation between the two countries (that now exist or that may hereafter exist) touching the subject matter of this convention.

If Nicaragua shall hereafter enter as a constituent into any other Government, or into any union of confederation of States so as to merge her sovereignty or independence in such Government, union. or confederation, the rights of the United States under this convention shall not be in any respect lessened or impaired; and the United States will thereupon be released for the time being from all obligation to guarantee the sovereignty, independence, or territorial integrity of the Republic of Nicaragua.

ARTICLE II.

The United States, after the adoption by Congress of legislation to carry this convention into effect, will proceed without delay, at its own cost and without expense to Nicaragua, to construct the canal on the route which it shall determine to be the most practicable; and it shall have the right to use, without cost, any water, stone, clay, earth, or other material belonging to Nicaragua, on the public domain, that may be needed.

The canal is hereby declared to be a work of public utility.

Neither the Government of Nicaragua or any of its authority shall obstruct or interfere with the United States either in its preliminary exploration and surveys, or in the work of construction, or in the management, control, and preservation of the canal when completed.

ARTICLE III.

The United States shall have the right to make excavations to such depths, and to raise embankments and dam streams to such height, as shall, in its opinion, be necessary for the proper and safe construction, improvement, operation, repair, and maintenance of the canal and the control of the waters appurtenant to it.

If, in the construction or operation of the canal, or of any works in connection therewith, any lands within Nicaraguan territory belonging to the Republic, or to private persons, should be overflowed, no claim shall be made against the United States on account of these belonging to Nicaragua; nor shall the claims of any private person, on account of the overflow of lands, be permitted in any manner to hinder or delay the United States in the construction or operation of the canal or of any work in connection therewith, but the United States engages to make compensation in proceeding to condemn such lands for the intended public uses, had as provided in Article V of this convention.

ARTICLE IV.

When the route of the canal shall have been determined, the entire area of land and water to the distance of five miles on each side of the center line thereof, during the construction period, and of three miles on each side of the center line thereof as soon as the canal shall have been completed and in operation, shall constitute a district to be called the "canal district." This district shall extend to the distance of one marine league from low-water mark into the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, and shall comprehend such part of the San Juan River and of Lake Nicaragua and of the adjacent territory of Nicaragua as may be included within the above-mentioned limits. The concession hereby made to the United States includes the right to construct and operate between the terminal ports, and on lands within or adjacent to the canal district, and around the southeast shore of Lake Nicaragua, such railways, telegraphs, telephones, and other auxiliary works, and to erect and use such buildings, workshops, and other structures, as may be necessary to secure continuity of communication along the line of the canal and between the said terminal ports, and be useful in the construction, improvement, operation, repair, and maintenance of the canal.

If by reason of topographical conditions, according to the judg ment of the contracting parties, said railways, telegraphs, telephones, and other auxiliary works should at any place require unavoidably to be carried or lie at a greater distance than five miles from the center line of the canal during the construction period, or be found at a greater distance than three miles from the center line after the canal shall have been completed and put into operation, there, as well as around the southeastern shore of Lake Nicaragua, shall be included. an area of five hundred feet wide on each side of said railways, telegraphs, telephones or other auxiliary works, and the said areas, as well as the railways, telegraphs, telephone buildings, workshops, and other structures and the lands on which they are situated, shall be considered as a part of the canal and within the canal district for the purposes of this convention.

ARTICLE V.

When the canal district is established, the Government of the United States will furnish the Government of Nicaragua with a map. showing the limits thereof, as established by this convention; and thereupon the right of entry, occupation, possession, use, and control of all the lands and waters of Nicaragua comprised in such district shall be considered as granted by a lease in perpetuity to the United States for the purpose of the canal.

Areas of land and water so comprised that form part of the public domain of Nicaragua shall pass into the possession, use, and control of the United States without any cost or charges. If any areas of land or water so taken, or any right, title, estate, use, or interest therein, are claimed at the date of this convention as the property, legal or equitable, of private persons or corporations, the United States may acquire such rights, titles, estates, use, or interests, by purchase from the owners, or, failing in that, may proceed to condemn them, as stated further on in this convention.

For the purpose of fixing the compensation to be paid by the United States in the condemnation proceedings contemplated in Articles III and V, a mixed commission of four jurists of repute, two to be appointed by each of the contracting parties, shall assess and award the damages to be paid by the United States. The procedure and regulations to be observed by said commission for the taking of evidence, and in the trial of cases to condemn and award damages, shall be in accordance with the laws of Nicaragua not in conflict with this convention. The damages awarded shall be compensatory only and fixed without reference to appreciation of values by the contemplated or actual construction of the canal. In case of disagreement of the commission on the amount of damages to be awarded in any case, an umpire shall be appointed by the two Governments who shall render the decision, and in case the Governments do not agree in the appointment, this umpire shall be selected by lot from four candidates, two presented by each party. In the event of death, absence, or inca pacity of any such commissioner or umpire, or of his omitting, declining, or ceasing to act, his place shall be filled by the appointment of another person in the manner above indicated.

All decisions by a majority of the commission or by the umpire shall be final. They shall keep a record of their proceedings, of

which they shall furnish each Government a copy. They shall maintain an office at Managua, and shall exercise their functions there or at such other points in Nacaragua as they may find convenient.

ARTICLE VI.

Condemnation proceedings may be begun by the United States by filing in the office of the commission at Managua an instrument declaring its intention to appropriate any or all titles, estates, rights, uses, and interests of every description, legal or equitable, of persons, societies, and corporations in and to land and water areas within the canal district, and it may in like manner institute proceedings to condemn and appropriate such titles, estates, rights, uses, and interests in land and water areas outside of and adjacent to said canal district to enable said Government to construct, repair, and operate said canal.

Said instrument of appropriation shall contain a general description of said land and water areas and of the title, estate, right, use, or interest therein intended to be appropriated, which shall belong to the Government of the United States on making payment therefor as hereinafter provided. Said Government may purchase any such title, estate, right, use, or interest of the owner thereof, or, if the latter is under legal disabilities, of his guardian or other representative or person competent to contract in his behalf, and the deed therefor when made and delivered shall vest the property purchased in the United States.

Or said Government may at its option proceed, upon filing said act of appropriation, by giving ten days' notice by personal service on said owner or by publication for the term of three weeks to all whom it may concern, in some newspaper to be designated by standing order of the commission of an advertisement, said notice or advertisement reciting the substance of such instrument of appropriation; and upon completed service of said notice, either personally or by publication, said Government may deposit for the use of the owners. in American gold, with a bank or other fiscal agent to be designated by standing order of the commission, a sum which said Government is willing to pay for the title, estate, rights, uses, or interests appropriated, and the same shall thereupon belong to the United States.

If the owner or owners refuse or fail to accept as sufficient compen sation the moneys so deposited for their use as aforesaid, the commission or umpire, as the case may be, shall proceed to assess and award the damages, and shall in like manner also determine in all cases the person or persons justly entitled to receive said moneys. deposited and awarded, and order equitable distribution thereof. Said proceedings before the commission or umpire shall only affect the amount or compensation to be awarded and the distribution thereof. Any sum awarded in addition to that already deposited shall be deposited in like manner as the original for the use of the persons entitled thereto.

ARTICLE VII.

The sovereignty of Nicaragua and the laws of the Republic not inconsistent with this convention shall be in full force in the Nicaraguan territory comprised in the canal district. But the United