In consenting to this important change, Great Britain had made only one stipulation.

"The Canal," so read Article III of the Convention of 1901, "shall be free and open to the vessels of commerce and war of all nations observing these rules, on terms of entire equality, so that there shall be no discrimination against any such nation, or its citizens or subjects, in respect of the conditions or charges of traffic, or otherwise." It would seem as though the English language could utter no thought more clearly than this.

The agreement said, not inferentially, but in so many words, that the "charges" levied on the ships of "all nations" that used the Canal should be the same.

The history of British-American negotiations on the subject of the Canal had always emphasized this same point.

All American witnesses to drawing the Treaty have testified that this was the American understanding.