ure Canal
_subject to the antecedent restrictions imposed upon her by the
Hay-Pauncefote Treaty_, for Article IV of the latter stipulates
expressly that _no_ change of territorial sovereignty over the
territory concerned shall affect the neutralisation or obligation of
the parties _under the treaty_.

These are the unshakable historical facts. The United States did not
_first_ become the sovereign of the Canal territory and make the Canal,
and _afterwards_ grant to foreign nations the privilege of using the
Canal under certain conditions. No, she has never possessed the power
of refusing to grant the use of the Canal to vessels of foreign nations
on terms of entire equality, should she ever make the Canal. Free
navigation through the Canal for vessels of all nations on terms of
entire equality, provided these nations were ready to recognise the
neutrality of the Canal, was stipulated by the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty,
and this stipulation was essentially upheld by the Hay-Pauncefote
Treaty, and it was not until two years after the conclusion of the
Hay-Pauncefote Treaty that the United States acquired sovereign rights
over the Canal territory and made preparations for the construction of
the Canal. For this reason the contention of the United States that she
has granted to foreign nations the use of the Canal under certain
conditions and that such grant includes a conditional most-favoured-nation
treatment, is absolutely baseless and out of place. She has not granted
anything, the free use of the Canal by vessels of all nations having
been the condition under which Great Britain consented to the
abrogation of the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty and to the stipulation of
Article II of the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty according to which--in
contradistinction to Article I of the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty--the United
States is allowed to have a canal constructed under her auspices.

III.

If the assertion of the United States that she herself is entirely
unfettered in the use of the Canal, and that the conditions imposed
upon foreign vessels in return for the privilege of using the Canal
involve a most-favoured-nation treatment, were correct, the United
States would not be bound to submit to the rules laid down by Article
III, Nos. 2-6, of the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty. She could, therefore, if
she were a belligerent, commit acts of hostility in the Canal against
vessels of her opponent; could let her own men-of-war revictual or take
in stor