This thread appeared on MARHST-L in October 2000, and appears here by permission.
From Steve McLaughlin (stevem@sfpl.lib.ca.us)
Treaties and Other International Agreements of the United States of America 1776-1949. Compiled under the direction of Charles I. Bevans, LL.B., Assistant Legal Advisor, Department of State. Vol. 10, Nepal-Peru. Department of State Publication 8642. Washington: Department of State, 1972, page 711.
Neutrality
Protocol of an agreement signed at Washington October 10, 1914
Entered into force October 10, 1914
Confirmed by agreement of August 25, 1939
38 Stat. 2042; Treaty Series 597
PROTOCOL OF AN AGREEMENT CONCLUDED BETWEEN HONORABLE ROBERT LANSING, ACTING SECRETARY OF STATE OF THE UNITED STATES, AND DON EUSEBIO A. MORALES, ENVOY EXTRAORDINARY AND MINISTER PLENIPOTENTIARY OF THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA, SIGNED THE TENTH DAY OF OCTOBER, 1914.
The undersigned, the Acting Secretary of State of the United States of America and the Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Panama, in view of the close association of the interests of their respective Governments on the Isthmus of Panama, and to the end that these interests may be conserved and that, when a state of war exists, the neutral obligations of both Governments as neutrals may be maintained, after having conferred on the subject and being duly empowered by their respective Governments, have agreed:
That hospitality extended in the waters of the Republic of Panama to a belligerent vessel of war or a vessel belligerent or neutral, whether armed or not, which is employed by a belligerent power as a transport or fleet auxiliary or in any other way for the direct purpose of prosecuting or aiding hostilities, whether by land or sea, shall serve to deprive such vessel of like hospitality in the Panama Canal Zone for a period of three months, and vice versa.
In testimony whereof, the undersigned have signed and sealed the present Protocol in the city of Washington this tenth day of October 1914.
Robert A. Lansing [seal]
Eusebio A. Morales [seal]
Marc James Small (msmall@ROANOKE.INFI.NET) translated one paragraph into simpler English:
Any vessel of a belligerent power which commits a warlike deed within the territorial waters of the US Panama Canal Zone or the territorial waters of the Republic of Panama shall be barred from both such waters for a period of three months.
[and then further explained:]
The Protocol reads:
That hospitality extended in the waters of the Republic of Panama to a
belligerent vessel of war or a vessel belligerent or neutral, whether armed
or not, which is employed by a belligerent power as a transport or fleet
auxiliary or in any other way for the direct purpose of presecuting or
aiding hostilities, whether by land or sea, shall serve to deprive such
vessel of like hospitality in the Panama Canal Zone for a period of three
months, and vice versa.
_________________________
The operative language in distinguishing these vessels is "which is employed by a belligerent power as a transport or fleet auxiliary or in any other way for the direct purpose of presecuting or aiding hostilities"
In other words, warships and auxiliaries which are "prosecuting or aiding hostilities" will be barred for three months from Panamian/US Canal Zone waters. Those which were not so "prosecuting or aiding" could, I suppose, go about their lawful occasions. I know the Dutch and Americans in the Orient so treated German vessels calling on their ports.
Obviously, actual warships and AMC's would be treated with great suspicion by the local authorities, but a merchantman could chug in, recoal, give the lads a three-day liberty, and so forth, so long as they were not doing something warlike such as hauling a draft of Hardy Canadians from Vancouver to Liverpool. Ships doing this sort of thing would be restricted, as would actual warships, to the 24-hour rule.
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