The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1879-12-19
1NrER.ocEANIc CANAL.
Reasons for TenderInE Grant the PresI.
dency OF the Company.

Reasons for rendering Grant the Presi.
dency Of the Company.
PHILADELPHIA, December l7.-General
Grant this evening dined few capitalists
who are interested in the Nicaraguan In
ter.oceanic Canal. Among the guests
were Hon. Edwards Pierrepont, Admiral
Ammen, ]. S. Morgan, of London, and
Senior De Franco, the Nicaraguan Minister
to Italy. All these gentlemen are well
known psrtisans of the Nicaragua s
scheme, and the special object was an in
formal discussion of it, with view of ap-
prisiDg General Grant thoroughly OF the
nature OF the enterprise, to which he is
asked to lend the influence Of kis name as
President.
Mr.. De Lesseps, as is well known, favors
route across the Isthmus OF Pana-
ma, whilo an American Commits
sion, OF which Admiral Ammen was a
member, recommended the NicaraGuan
route. Mr.. De Lesseps, in the last num-
ber Of the North AmsricGn Reriar, discusses
the routes at great length, concluding
with the declaration OF his conviction that
the Panama Canal will be easier to begin,
finish and maintain than the canal OF
Suez. However that may be, French
capital, according TO Senior De Franco, is
now largely pledged to the Nicaraguan
route. Mr.. De Franco says that the sub.
scribers to $4,000, 900 OF the needed $780,.
000, 900 are very anxious to have General
Grant as the President OF the corporation.
One reason why they have favored him
is that they wish to shut out the possibility
that certain Frenchmen OF prominence
might aspire to the post, and ultimately
gain itin spite OF theopposition which the
mere mention OF their names would
arouse.
General Grant appears as altogether the
most available man for the place. His
the moneyed men OF Paris. In addition
to the money already mentioned as pledg-
ed, an additional $50, 900, 900 is pledged by
them as conditional upon his acceptance
as President Of the Company, and that he
will engage TO remain with it long enough
for them to finish the work.
This, as may be seen, might interfere
with any schemes that are aaoat to make
him President OF the United States again.
The two positions would be incompatible,
and this evenings informal talk was de.
signed to present the canal project as al
together worthy OF the ambition OF any
man.
Mr.. Cyrus Field aud other New York
capitalists have become very much inter-
ested In the canal, and are relied upon TO
obtain subscribers for S20,000,000 Of the
stock. This pledged, Mr.. DeFranco says
that he will be abIeto complete the capi-
tai stock in France. You may say that the
richest Baron in the world is deeply inter-
ested, he said.
Admiral Ammen, while declining to
say what had transpired at the dinner, did
not hesitate to say that he is preparing a
paper which will simply refute all that
Mr. Lesseps' disquisition claims. He says
that the new company will ask for a Ma
tioual charter, both in the United States
and Nicaragua. The route was discussed
for the third time by the American So
ciety OF Civil Engineers in New York last
night. The two previous discussions had
resulted favorably to the Nicaragua route,
on economic engineering grounds, and as
the discussions Of the French Engineers
had resulted SO, they might be eregarded as
fixed.
II General Grant should definitely &C.
cept, the three months OF his absence in
Cuba and Nicaragua, which he will visit
to investigate the route personally, will be
ample for filling up the stock subscription,