Show AN INTEROCEAN HIGHWAY America does not indulge in much political talk when there is no political i campaign in progress or Congress is not I in session Summer campaigning except f ex-cept under the above conditions has never become popular and the speech oi I Senator Miller of California on Wednesday f Wednes-day last at the request of the Chamber of Commerce Board of Trade and Manufacturers I Manu-facturers Association in the rooms of the Chamber of Commerce on the proposed J interocean canal by the Nicaragua = route and the relation of the ClaytonBulwer t treaty to the construction and control of p the proposed canal by the United States is a departure in the matter of summer political polit-ical speaking The speech has additional I interest from the fact that Senator Miller I is the Chairman of the Senate Committee I on Foreign Relations The Senator was r under the necessity of discussing the treaty with Nicaragua from the text as it appeared in the New York Tribune sometime I some-time ago the rules of the Senate forbidding forbid-ding him to discuss the treaty as it is It is to be presumed that the Tribune text was correct in the main The chief J thing that the Senator discussed was the famous ClaytonBuhver Treaty the treaty over which Mr Elaine when Secretary I of State made so much ado by ignoring I it and having to be imformed from f across the waters of its existence The t Senator first devoted his remarks to that I treaty and said that it was founded on an ignoble terror of England It certainly t cer-tainly was not made under duress and I ignoble terror in the absence of duress and fear of body haim has never yet been held to be a sufficient reason for violating a solemn compact Neither is the fact that a person or a nation may 1 not have made a contract or treaty of I greatest advantage to them a valid reason p rea-son for avoiding its terms It is to be r expected that things will change in I thirtyfive years but because they do is J no reason for repudiating an obligation I obli-gation that was made for a longer period especially when the obligation is as valid today as then On this point Senator Miller makes the following rather curious comment in speaking of the commerce of the Pacific Coast This commerce is the result of develop I ment which has taken place almost entirely since 1850 Shall it be said that such an arrangement ar-rangement with Great Britain made with reference to the conditions of isrJ and for the specific purpose which has failed shall bo hold to restrain this Nation from pro id ing a route of transportation for her great and growing commerce Soon after President Cleveland entered upon his official duties he withdrew the Nicaragua treaty and the withdrawal leaves the country without any route in Nicaragua to discuss Whether that treaty was inconsistent with the provisions of the ClaytonBulwer treaty is rather more a matter of speculation than anything else as the country I has no schemes for an interocean canal t at present Senator Millers position on the canal J question is what maybe termed the JMgo position He says J Shall we be shut out from the Isthmus and our Pacific Coast and cities and cur merchant marine left at the mercy of European fleets 1 ie + Once in posses sion of that line of trnroportntiou no sin gle power nor tho allied powers of half the world could dislodge her and there in tho I security of that interior sea she would con oontrnlo her fleets of warships and tho ma terial of war and bo able to send forth her commerce destroyers to swaini upon either ocean and her ironclads to devastate the towns and cities of either coast I It is a terrible picture and one which I sends a thrill of horror through every I Amoricnn heart Vlr is j it Why not just as icujKiMe to demand the surrender of I the British possessions on our north as I I tho country may be invaded from there j I I any time It is the theory of the English 1 with regard to India that any highway whether by land or by sea which I may possibly give access to India is an English interest and English interest I must dominate it It is the theory of a f 1 chosen nation that must be preserved at I the expense of the rights of other nation If a canal is built either at Panan Nicaragua it is more than PrObe a or the control of it will pass mtf tDlc that f of that nation which has > the hands r it which interest will Jllost iuterest in i upon the amount De dependent more lion sends thjv If tonnage that t that na siderationp ugh it than upon any con Tho Si of coast or seaboard towns d i w ex Canal although projected and 4 1 I iStruclcdby the French has passed I into the control of the English r U llljll because the number of English vessels which use I it is far greater than the aggregate number c of vessels of all other nations The total t number of vessels which passed through r ° the Suez Canal in 1SS3 was 3307 with a tonnage of 8106001 Of this number of vessels 2357 were British 272 were French and other nations a far less number num-ber Not an American vessel passed p through the canal in 1883 Of the total amount of tonnage 0130847 tons were I British This explains why England ob tained control of the Canal Had Eng land changed positions with Egypt which only sent three vessels through the Canal the latter would have had tho control So it will be with I I any canal that may be constructed to unite the Atlantic and Pacificthat nation which has most j t commercial I com-mercial use for the canal will naturally obtain the control to obtain which there I win be no need to disregard solemn treaty obligations |