objections was drafted, and passed the Senate a few months after
Roosevelt became President. Its vital provisions were, that it
abrogated the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty and gave to the United States
full ownership and control of the proposed canal.

This was the second illustration of Roosevelt's masterfulness in
cutting through a diplomatic knot. Arrangements for constructing
the Canal itself forced on him a third display of his dynamic
quality which resulted in the most hotly discussed act of his
career.

The French Canal Company was glad to sell to the American
Government its concessions on the Isthmus, and as much of the
Canal as it had dug, for $40,000,000. It had originally bought
its concession from the Government of Colombia, which owned the
State of Panama: At first the Colombian rulers seemed glad, and
they sent an accredited agent, Dr. Herran, to Washington, who
framed with Secretary Hay a treaty satisfactory to both, and
believed, by Mr. Hay, to represent the sincere intentions of the
Colombian Government at Bogota. The Colombian politicians,
however, who were banditti of the Tammany stripe, but as much
cruder as Bogota was than New York City, suddenly discovered that
the transaction might be much more profitable for themselves than
they had at first suspected. They put off ratifying the treaty,
therefore, and warned the French Company that they should charge
it an additional $10,000,000 for the privilege of transferring
its concession to the Americans. The French demurred; the
Americans waited. Secretary Hay reminded Dr. Herran that the
treaty must be signed within a reasonable time, and intimated
that the reasonable time would soon be up.