Clayton, Powell

was born in Pennsylvania in 1833. In 1861 he entered the Union army and became brigadier-general in 1864. After the war he became Governor of Arkansas, and represented it in the U. S. Senate from 1871 to 1877. Became minister to Mexico, May, 1897. Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, a treaty concluded between Great Britain and the United States in 1850, the negotiators being Secretary John M. Clayton and Sir Henry Bulwer. It related to establishing communication between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans by means of a ship canal acro Nicaragua. It forbade the exclusive control of communication by either party. The claim was set up that Great Britain abrogated the treaty by establishing a colony in British Honduras, contrary to the provisions of that convention. A further claim was made that the treaty was abrogated in 1888 by Great Britain signing the Constantinople convention, in which the United States was not invited to participate. This convention provided for the control of the Suez Canal by European powers, in which canal Great Britain holds the majority of stock. The Clayton-Bulwer treaty also concerned a canal to be immediately constructed, and as the scheme contemplated in the treaty was abandoned, it has been maintained that the treaty lost effect by that fact. This contention, however, was disputed by the McKinley administration, which through the Hay-Pauncefote agreement (February 4, 1900) vitalized the treaty by providing for its abrogation, upon condition that the United States should build and own the Nicaragua Canal, but should maintain it as an open highway, during peace and war, and that the United States should not fortify the canal or its approaches, A violent opposition to this agreement was developed, which left the matter open for the submi ion of a more satisfactory treaty.