In February Colombia sent to the canal company and to the railroad company official written requests (signed by the minister of foreign affairs, under date December 24, 1902) calling upon these companies to appoint an agent in Bogota empowered to negotiate, and declaring that, as to any permission to transfer the concessions, "she would demand and exact from the concessionary company in return a sum of money previously agreed upon, and a release by the company from all undertaking or obligation on the part of Colombia under the concession for the opening of the Isthmus of Panama until such date as this concession should be transferred to another party." Mr. Mancini, the company's agent in Bogota, wrote frequently to the company and to ourselves, declaring that Colombia would neither make nor ratify any treaty unless the company came to a previous arrangement with her for a cash payment; and on May 7, 1903, he cabled that this demand amounted to 50,000,000 francs and that he had been requested to state the company's intentions. Other news received through the State Department and its minister in Bogota, which Secretary Hay communicated to us as soon as received, was equally significant and plain. But Mr. Cromwell and the Panama Canal Co. set about to defeat the demand of Colombia. They succeeded in virtually freezing out Colombia as a shareholder in the canal company and then in setting in motion the machinery of the State Department to protect themselves against her first demands. Jose Pablo Uribe, then Colombian minister to France, wrote on February 7, 1903, from Paris, to the Colombian minister for foreign affairs, Bogota, in part as follows: In the journal of quotations of the Paris Bourse there has been published a notice of the syndicate of bankers (corresponding to the board of governors of the stock exchange), announcing that they will admit to purchase and sale only the shares of the New Panama Canal Co. marked with the numbers from 1 to 600,000. This action excludes the shares of the Government of Colombia, which are those numbered from 600,001 to 650,000, and can not be negotiated as are the others; naturally, this measure serves as a pretext for depreciating their value, which should be the same as the others. We clearly see the intention to impede the sale of the shares that belong to Colombia or the idea of buying them cheap. Possibly they figure that in this way Colombia will accelerate the signing and ratification of the treaties referring to the canal, so that they may, with greater facility, have this security for negotiation. In this there is an error, because it is not the way to compel us to do what is desired by the speculators, nor do I think that this measure conforms to the law and practice in such matters. The first move of the State Department to protect Mr. Cromwell's clients, so far as the published correspondence shows, was the following cable from Secretary of State Hay to the American minister at Bogota on April 7, 1903: Referring to the requests of Colombia to the canal and railroad companies for appointment of agents to negotiate cancellation of present concessions, etc., if the subject arises, inform the Colombian Government that the treaty covers entire matter, and any change would be in violation of the Spooner law and not permissible. Just imagine, gentlemen, what the American Government would have done when the Hay-Pauncefote treaty was submitted to the Senate of the United States for ratification if England had declared that any amendment would be in violation of the navigation act and not permissible. The treaty would have been thrown out neck and crop. That is just what happened to the Hay-Herran treaty in Bogota, and although there were other and graver reasons, it can not be doubted that Mr. Roosevelt's extraordinary pretension that Colombia could not amend the treaty had a direct bearing on its final unanimous rejection by the Colombian Senate. The diplomatic correspondence sent to the United States Senate shows that from this time on all the power of the American Government was incessantly exerted in support of the ridiculous proposition that the payment of an indemnity by the canal company to Colombia in compensation for the abandonment of Colombia's reversionary light in the Panama Railroad and the $250,000 annuity would be in violation of the Spooner law. Mr. Beaupré was keeping the State Department well advised, and Secretary Hay communicated to Mr. Cromwell as fast as they were received all views of this danger threatening the canal company in Bogota. On April 24, 1903, Mr. Beaupré deemed it best, although the subject had not arisen, to sound the Colombian minister of foreign affairs upon the intention of the Colombian Government to exact payment from the canal company prior to the transfer of the concession, and he notified Secretary Hay by letter of the same date. Further, Mr. Cromwell in his brief says: On May 30 the United States minister in Bogota arrived in New York. He called upon Mr. Cromwell and fully informed him of the situation in Bogota, more than confirming the unswerving determination of Colombia to reserve her consent until after the payment of many millions of francs by the company; this was again confirmed several days later (June 2) by a cable which Mr. Hay received from the chargé d'affaires in Bogota, who stated that "Colombia intends to force the company to make a heavy payment, without which no ratification." This cable was suppressed by President Roosevelt when the diplomatic correspondence was called for by the Senate. Now, gentlemen, here is a cable from the chargé d'affaires of the United States, which Mr. Cromwell quotes in his brief: "Colombia intends to force the company to make a heavy payment without which no ratification." I have searched in vain through all the diplomatic correspondence published by Mr. Roosevelt at the request of the Senate of the United States bearing upon this matter for any trace of that cable. The correspondence was published in Senate Document No. 51, Fifty-eighth Congress, second session, and I will now present to this committee all of the correspondence of the Government of the United States with its minister in Bogota in the original cipher of the State Department. Mr. HARRISON. Is that the only instance where that correspondence is not embodied in the public document? Mr. HALL. No, sir. For obvious reasons, as these dispatches have all been published and as this cipher is a numeral cipher, and it would only be necessary to collate one with the other, I will not ask that the secret cipher of the State Department be embodied in the record, but I will as I go along read into the record those dispatches which were suppressed, and I will read them in the cipher of the State Department, so that if the committee deems it necessary it can ask the State Department to translate them, it can do so. Mr. LEVY. But they are all in the correspondence sent to the Senate. Mr. HALL. No, sir; I will read into the record the dispatches that were suppressed, and I will read them in the cipher of the State Department. Of course, it is up to the committee to decide if it wants to print the whole correspondence. The CHAIRMAN. Yes; we will put it all in the appendix to the record. Mr. HARRISON. Are those the suppressed telegrams? Mr. HALL. No; this is the entire correspondence of the United States Government The CHAIRMAN. You have made the translation? Mr. HALL. I have not got the secret cipher. The CHAIRMAN. Let me ask you a question for the purpose of information. Where did you get those cipher telegrams? If you do not want to answer, you do not need to answer. Mr. HALL. In order to avoid the possibility of anybody suggesting that any of the evidence obtained by the Press Publishing Co. for its defense in the criminal action brought against it by the Government was improperly obtained, I will tell the committee how these were obtained, although in so doing I am overstepping the bounds of professional etiquette. A staff correspondent of the New York World was sent to Bogota, and he obtained these transcripts, made from the original telegrams delivered to the American Legation in Bogota, from the head of the national telegraph system of the Republic of Colombia. These are all on the official paper. The heading reads "Republica de Colombia-Direccion General de Correos y Telegrafos-Seccion de Telegrafos." The manager of the national telegraph system of Colombia, when he gave these copies of this official correspondence to the correspondent of the World, was actuated solely by motives of the highest patriotism, and acted without either the consent or the authority of his superiors. Mr. HARRISON. Do I understand these are copies of originals? Mr. HALL. Those are copies; the originals are on file in the telegraph department, the national telegraph department of Colombia; the Government owns the telegraphs. Mr. HARRISON. Are those the originals that were used in the trial of the libel case? Mr. HALL. No, sir; they were never introduced in evidence. We never got so far as that. The CHAIRMAN. The case was dismissed by the United States courts for lack of jurisdiction. Mr. KENDALL. You say these are the telegrams that were suppressed? Mr. HALL. Only certain of the cables were suppressed, and those I proposed to read into the record in their chronological order. Mr. KENDALL. Suppressed by whom? Mr. HALL. Suppressed by Mr. Roosevelt from the diplomatic correspondence transmitted to the Senate by the State Department. Mr. KENDALL. Mr. Roosevelt was President then? Mr. HALL. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. These telegrams to which you refer now are the telegrams which the President did not send to the Senate in response to the Senate's resolution? Mr. HALL. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. How about the dispatches? Mr. HALL. I do not know; I presume that if some of the cables were suppressed some of the dispatches were also. Of course the great majority of the correspondence was sent to the Senate. The CHAIRMAN. And that which you hold in your hand is the correspondence that the President sent to the Senate? Mr. HALL. This printed document is Senate Document No. 51, Fifty-eighth Congress, second session. The CHAIRMAN. And the other telegrams to which you refer now are those which were not sent in? Mr. HALL. Yes; and I think it is a fair presumption that if some of the cables were suppressed some of the dispatches were suppressed also. Mr. KENDALL. How did you acquire those, Mr. Hall-the copies that you have of the suppressed telegrams? Mr. HALL. Why, it was only necessary to compare the dates of cables in cipher and the dates of cables published. Mr. KENDALL. The dates in the cables that were delivered for transmission at Bogota? Mr. HALL. No; these cables were delivered to the legation in Bogota. These are cables from the State Department to the American minister in Bogota. Mr. KENDALL. The original of these cables would be where? Mr. HALL. The original of the cables must be in the State Department here in Washington. Mr. KENDALL. And the transmitted cables are in the legation at Bogota? Mr. HALL. In the legation at Bogota. And the record of transmission kept by the telegraph and cable companies is in the possession of the telegraph and cable companies. Mr. KENDALL. Then the telegraph company at Bogota would have the cable transmitted by the State Department here to the legation at Bogota, and also the answer of the legation at Bogota to the State Department here? Mr. HALL. Yes, sir. Mr. KENDALL. And that is the record you have here complete? Mr. HALL. Yes, sir; and it does not agree entirely with the correspondence sent to the Senate. Some of the messages were suppressed. Mr. HARRISON. Have you a copy of the resolution that passed the Senate calling for this correspondence? Mr. HALL. It is a public document. Mr. LEVY. The question is whether we can publish the dispatches but withhold the cipher. The CHAIRMAN. There is no particular secrecy. Mr. LEVY. That is not the question. It is a question that the cipher might be found out by foreign powers. Mr. HALL. That is the very point I made. Here are the cipher dispatches; here is the entire correspondence of the United States Government with its minister in Bogota referring to this matter. It is in the original cipher of the State Department. On comparison with the dispatches published in Senate Document No. 51, of the Fifty-eighth Congress, second session, it is clear that part of that cable correspondence was suppressed by Mr. Roosevelt. Now, if you print in the record the whole of this cipher, which is a numeral cipher, anybody I have done it myself-can take the corresponding telegram printed here, superpose the words, and they will fit in. I am able to tell you that the suppressed telegrams here refer to this matter. They contain such words as "revolution," "Panama," "Colombia," and so forth. Now, if you print the whole of this in the record, anybody will be able to find out what was the cipher of the United States with its legation in Bogota in 1903. Whether that cipher has since been changed, whether the United States uses a different cipher for every legation, I do not know. I was intending merely to read into the record at the appropriate place such telegrams as I say were suppressed. The CHAIRMAN. Well, you can print the suppressed ones here in the record. The following cables are among those not included in Senate Document No. 51, Fifty-eighth Congress, second session, December 19, 1903; in all, some 50 cables were withheld: BEAUPRE, Minister, Bogota: WASHINGTON, September 29, 1903. ABJMM 44390 18918 21129 52421 38908 52579 55397 27480 41621 50838 53149 18405 12674 11049 41621 25825 17788 33437 21129 12926 31700 206002 53006 41680 52608 21129 32735 35885 52608 19257 41598 36606 18918 49684 53149 24712 10788 54653 19100 47151 44869 56833 45175 52608 25369 10138 41598 44963 12792 24771 10788 18529 41662 56755 24225 33189 57371 18926 25126 41788 38825. BEAUPRE, Minister, Bogota: ADEE, Acting. WASHINGTON, September 29, 1903. JBJBP 47375 41598 44365 of 19597 12792 50462 52392 21129 43518 14803 LUIS CUERVO MARQUEZ 53149 49805 57349 19661 23028 41598 CONCHA 11927 12792 10436 38452 MARQUEZ 34527 37757 36899 52868 30073 12293 MARQUEZ 39429 158454 22428 34549 39173 41598 36899 49497 50941 31694 32005 21475 30333 42402 20466. BEAUPRE, Minister, Bogota: ADEE, Acting. WASHINGTON, October 1, 1903. KOCDP 57371 52891 53834 52868 12792 30073 46174 18918 21129 54198 52561 of 52867 38927 20328 31785 21129 28741 21455 for 41798 39923 51318 18926 41783 42402 20466 for 53825 57322 31694 17907 36607 31008 54917 39220 41598 telegraphing 42097 51318 18926 11668 52969 57322 17360 15428 53062 43000 21129 11942 to 31734 45044 45292 28747 21475 30333 18927 28362 for 52838 57322 35449 53825 on 16382 41598 14480 52969 CONCHA 11927 39738 10251 56942 34191 21129 16672 30910 53938 36606 18926 56963 37805 31018 20624 50916 56211 42086 39222 41598 telegraphing 16672 28426 18742 43037 of 31691 527744 21208 56902 21129 43000 12057 20/78 for 54015 44594 45929 41625 22647 53155 19118 bj 18209 31694 12792 21129 43000 21826 45950 21475 10546 52608 52504 52891 11927 43000 21129 28449 47010 12792 47042 53149 18926 17788 42467 12792 18529 56755 23225 41798 33789 and 29962 52955 26793 16366 CONCHA 11927 41598 40870 44789 53846 20624 52392 53309 36977 21129 34527 34893 50253 37352 29029 30391 18926 12792 47010 31055 56902 48070 41598 21209 11668 52969 57322 54459 21475 30461 38115 52491 52542 53825 57322 52776 21129 45088 52868 57322. BEAUPRE, Minister, Bogota: LOOMIS, Acting. WASHINGTON, October 14, 1903. KADDP 18918 21129 10474 52504 39118 in 52390 41581 27505 21129 22557 57349 30457 51680. BEAUPRE, Minister, Bogota: LOOMIS, Acting. WASHINGTON, October 17, 1903. 49497 18918 21129 14596 10685 52394 46154 25131 52356 41598 30825 35636 56382 21129 10446 20624 31734 52504 12293 52408 25103 56213 20626 45943 22647 56902 21129. HAY. Mr. KENDALL. What is to become of this other mass of telegrams? |