the particular section of the
Isthmus through which it passed would be so great that the country
controlling this part would be eager to facilitate the building of the
canal. It is out of the question to submit to extortion on the part of a
beneficiary of the scheme. All the labor, all the expense, all the risk
are to be assumed by us and all the skill shown by us. Those controlling
the ground through which the canal is to be put are wholly incapable of
building it.

"Yet the interest of international commerce generally and the interest
of this country generally demands that the canal should be begun with
no needless delay. The refusal of Colombia properly to respond to our
sincere and earnest efforts to come to an agreement, or to pay heed to
the many concessions we have made, renders it in my judgment necessary
that the United States should take immediate action on one of two lines:
either we should drop the Panama canal project and immediately begin
work on the Nicaraguan canal, or else we should purchase all the rights
of the French company, and, without any further parley with Colombia,
enter upon the completion of the canal which the French company
has begun. I feel that the latter course is the one demanded by the
interests of this Nation, and I therefore bring the matter to your
attention for such action in the premises as you may deem wise. If in
your judgment it is better not to take such action, then I shall proceed
at once with the Nicaraguan canal.

"The reason that I advocate the action above outlined in regard to the
Panama canal is, in the first place, the strong testimony of the
experts that this route is the most feasible; and in the next place, the
impropriety from an international standpoint of permitting such conduct
as that to which Colombia seems to incline. The testimony of the experts
is very strong, not only that the Panama route is feasible, but that in
the Nicaragua route we may encounter some unpleasant surprises, and that
it is far more difficult to forecast the result with any certainty
as regards this latter route. As for Colombia's attitude, it is
incomprehensible upon any theory of desire to see the canal built upon
the basis of mutual advantage alike to those building it and to Colombia
herself. All we desire to do is to take up the work begun by the French
Government and to finish it. Obviously it is Colombia's duty to help
towards such completion. We are most anxious to come to an a