ine had attempted in vain to
remove; in fact his bungling diplomacy had riveted it yet more closely
by making Great Britain maintain it as a point of honor. To this subject
Hay now devoted himself, and as he encountered no serious difficulties,
a treaty was drawn up in 1900 practically as he wished it. It was not,
however, popular in the United States. Hay preferred and arranged for a
canal neutralized by international guarantee, on the same basis as the
Suez Canal; but American public sentiment had come to insist on a canal
controlled absolutely by the United States. The treaty was therefore
rejected by the Senate, or rather was so amended as to prove
unacceptable to Great Britain.

Hay believed that he had obtained what was most desirable as well as all
that was possible, that the majority of the American people approved,
and that he was beaten only because a treaty must be approved by
two-thirds of the Senate. He therefore resigned. President McKinley,
however, refused to accept his resignation, and he and Lord Pauncefote
were soon at work again on the subject. In 1901 a new treaty was
presented to the Senate. This began by abrogating the Clayton-Bulwer
Treaty entirely and with it brushing away all restrictions upon the
activity of the United States in Central America. It specifically
permitted the United States to "maintain such military police along
the canal as may be necessary to protect it against lawlessness
and disorder." By interpreting this clause as allowing complete
fortification, the United States has made itself the guardian of the
canal. In return for the release from former obligations which
Great Britain thus allowed, the United States agreed that any canal
constructed should be regulated by certain rules which were stated in
the treaty and which made it "free and open to the vessels of commerce
and of war of all nations observing these Rules, on terms of entire
equality," in time of war as well as of peace. This time the treaty
proved satisfactory and was accepted by the Senate. Thus one more source
of trouble was done away with, and the first obstacle in the way of the
canal was removed.

The Clayton-Bulwer Treaty was, however, only a bit of the tangled jungle
which must be cleared before the first American shovel could begin its
work. For over twenty years a contest had been waged between experts
in the United States as to the relative merits of the Panama and the
Nicaragua routes. The latter was