send the treaty back to them amended, you can at once imagine the
state of things that it will find there. The moment of unanimity
and enthusiasm, which only comes once in the life of a revolution,
will have passed away and given way to the play of politics and
factions. They will have a certain advantage which they have not
had before in dealing with the matter. We shall have ratified the
treaty with amendments, which gives them another chance to revise
their perhaps hasty and enthusiastic action. They will consider
themselves as entitled to make amendments as well as we, and it
needs only a glance at the treaty to show what an infinite field
of amendments there is from every point of view. The Junta in
making their report to the present Constitutional Convention said
that, although many of the provisions seemed harsh and hard, yet
it was judged for the public good to accept it as it was. When
they get the amended treaty in their hands again, they will compare
it with the treaty we made with Colombia, and see how vastly more
advantageous to us this treaty is than that one was, and there are
never lacking in a body of men like the Constitutional Convention
a plenty of members who like to distinguish themselves by defending
the interests of their country through the advantageous amendment
of a treaty. Meanwhile the country will be open to the intrigues
of the Colombians, and even to the military attacks upon the
frontier.

"All these considerations would, of course, have no weight whatever
if the amendments were vital to our interests, but, as I said to
you yesterday, it was the opinion of all of us who have studied
the matter that every point made by the amendments was intended to
be covered--I do not say how successfully--by the provisions of
the treaty itself. This letter of Mr. Varilla's shows that the
intentions of each Government were thoroughly understood by the
other, exactly in the sense of the amendments now proposed. I
earnestly hope that our friends in the Senate may see the strength
of our present position if the treaty is ratified without amendment,
and the certain complications that will arise if, after a long
debate here, the treaty is put once more in the hands of the Panamans
for reconsideration and amendment.

"If the object of the amendments, as some people say, is to get it
ratified by the new permanent Government, nothing is easier. I
have no doubt we can have a solemn resolution of th