BUILDING THE PANAMA CANAL
In foreign affairs the most important action Roosevelt took during the second administration was in regard to the building of the Panama Canal. His action is still termed “unconstitutional” by many people, and a bill is now under discussion to compensate Colombia for the alleged damages she sustained through the secession of the State of Panama, and the building of the canal without her consent.
Roosevelt’s defense, and the defense of his eminent Secretary of State, John Hay, was, to put it bluntly, “We got the canal.”
During the four centuries that had passed since Balboa crossed the Isthmus, statesmen had talked of connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans by an Isthmus canal. It had been talked about in Washington for a half-century, but nothing had come of it.
Shortly after Roosevelt became President, an agreement was reached with the French Panama Company, and the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty was signed, by which the United States acquired possession, so far as Europe was concerned, which warranted her undertaking the task.
The logical location for the canal was the line already begun by the French company in Panama. Panama belonged to Colombia. Colombia had promised friendly co-operation. Her delegate to the Pan-American Congress in Mexico had joined in the unanimous vote which requested the United States to proceed with building the canal.
Both Colombia and the Isthmus had been places of frequent revolutions and outbreaks. Many times United States warships had been forced to patrol the Isthmus, at times at the urgent request of the Colombian government. Through another revolution Colombia had come under the dictatorship of Marquin, its former vice-president. Marquin, although he had consented to the Hay-Herran Treaty, by which Colombia had agreed to the building of the canal, now made use of his power as a dictator to break his promise. He summoned a congress especially to break the canal treaty. This congress, which Roosevelt describes as “a congress of mere puppets,” carried out Marquin’s wishes. The treaty was rejected.
The President, through Secretary Hay, had warned Colombia that grave consequences might follow her rejection of the treaty. He had information that the entire population of Panama felt that it was of vital concern to their prosperity that the canal be immediately built; newspaper correspondents predicted a revolution on the Isthmus.
On November 8, 1903, the revolution occurred. The Colombian troops stationed on the Isthmus joined in the revolution, and there was no bloodshed, except the life of an unfortunate Chinaman.
Roosevelt immediately recognized the Republic of Panama and the other principal nations did likewise. A canal treaty was at once negotiated with the new republic, and, after considerable debate in the Senate, the treaty was ratified by that body and the work on the canal began.
Roosevelt’s case against Colombia was that, so long as the United States was considering the alternative route through Nicaragua, Colombia eagerly pressed this country to build a canal across the Isthmus. When the United States was committed to this latter course, Colombia, under her usurper, refused to fulfil the agreement, with the hope of securing the rights and property of the French Panama Company, so as to secure the $40,000,000 the United States had authorized as payment to this company. John Hay thus defended Roosevelt’s course: “The action of the President in the Panama matter is not only in the strictest accordance with the principles of justice and equity, and in line with the best precedents of our public policy, but it was the only course he could have taken in compliance with our treaty rights and obligations.”
In November, 1906, the President’s interest in the work on the canal led him to go in person to Panama. This act caused a storm of disapproval in certain quarters, similar to that which President Wilson met when he decided to attend the peace conference at Paris. Roosevelt’s critics pointed out that no President had ever gone beyond the bounds of his country. Roosevelt went and let his critics howl. Here, in one thing at least, Wilson and Roosevelt were in agreement, namely, that where the President of this country sets foot that place is within the sphere of the United States.
XIII
Good Will Abroad; A Square Deal at Home
In Roosevelt’s opinion and in the opinion of the entire country, his act in sending the fleet upon its world mission did more to favorably advertise the United States to the world and to establish cordial international relations, than any other of his deeds as President. His object in sending the battle fleet on this voyage was to prove to foreign nations that American battleships could be assembled in the Pacific Ocean as well as in the Atlantic, without this movement assuming the nature of a threat against any Asiatic or European power.
The impression prevailed among foreign navies that the American fleet could not pass from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The English and German naval authorities thought it impossible to take their own fleets of great battleships around the world, and, of course, they did not believe that the American fleet could make the voyage.
Then, too, Europe was expecting a war between the United States and Japan and thought that if such a fleet sailed into the Pacific, Japan would think that the United States intended to attack her. Roosevelt desired to clear up all of these notions. He wanted to establish friendly relations with Japan and he wanted more than anything else to arouse the pride of the American people in their navy.
All of the President’s purposes were accomplished. The cruise made a deep and favorable impression abroad, and no single thing in the history of the new United States Navy did as much to stimulate the American public’s enthusiasm as this voyage. Everything worked out just as was thus predicted by the “London Spectator” when the fleet sailed from Hampton Roads:
“All over America the people will follow the movements of the fleet; they will learn something of the intricate details of the coaling and commissariat work under war-like conditions, and in a word their attention will be aroused. Next time Mr. Roosevelt or his representatives appeal to the country for new battleships they will do so to people whose minds have been influenced one way or the other. The naval programme will not have stood still. We are sure that, apart from increasing the efficiency of the existing fleet, this is the aim which Roosevelt has in mind. He has a policy which projects itself far into the future, but it is an entire misreading of it to suppose that it is aimed narrowly and definitely at any single power.”
The fleet of sixteen battleships which, though it may seem small in comparison with the navies that have been engaged in the world war, was a large one in those days, went through the Strait of Magellan to San Francisco. From there Roosevelt ordered them to sail to New Zealand and Australia, stopping at the Philippines, China and Japan, then home through the Suez Canal, stopping in the Mediterranean. There was never a hitch or a delay in the schedule. The most notable incident of the cruise was the warm reception given to the fleet by the Japanese. When the fleet returned after its sixteen months’ voyage, Roosevelt greeted it in Hampton Roads. The battleships arrived there on Washington’s Birthday, February 22, 1907.
Roosevelt’s views on the success of this expedition are best summed up in the following address, which he spoke on the flagship of the admiral to the officers and enlisted men:
“Over a year has passed since you steamed out of this harbor, and over the world’s rim, and this morning the hearts of all who saw you thrilled with pride as the hulls of the mighty warships lifted above the horizon. You have been in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres; four times you have crossed the line; you have steamed through all the great oceans; you have touched the coast of every continent. Ever your general course has been westward; and now you come back to the port from which you set sail. This is the first battle fleet that has ever circumnavigated the globe. Those who perform the feat can but follow in your footsteps.
COPYRIGHT, UNDERWOOD & UNDERWOOD
ROOSEVELT ARRIVING AT GARDINER, MONT., ON THE WAY TO YELLOWSTONE PARK
“The little torpedo flotilla went with you around South America, through the Straits of Magellan, to our own Pacific Coast. The armored cruiser squadron met you, and left you again, when you were half-way round the world. In all your long cruise not an accident worthy of mention has happened to a single battleship, nor yet to the cruisers or torpedo boats. You left this coast in a high state of efficiency and you return with your efficiency increased; better prepared than when you left, not only in personnel, but even in material. During your world cruise you have taken your regular gunnery practice, and skilled though you were before with the guns, you have grown more skilful still; and through practice you have improved in battle tactics, though here there is more room for improvement than in your gunnery. Incidentally, I suppose I need hardly say that one measure of your fitness must be your clear recognition of the need always steadily to strive to render yourselves more fit; if you ever grow to think that you are fit enough, you can make up your minds that from that moment you will begin to go backward.
“As a war machine the fleet comes back in better shape than it went out. In addition, you, the officers and men of this formidable fighting force, have shown yourselves the best of all possible ambassadors and heralds of peace. Wherever you have landed you have borne yourselves so as to make us at home proud of being your countrymen. You have shown that the best type of fighting man of the sea knows how to appear to the utmost possible advantage when his business is to behave himself on shore, and to make a good impression in a foreign land. We are proud of all the ships and all the men in this whole fleet, and we welcome you home to the country whose good repute among nations has been raised by what you have done.”