The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1888-12-26
The Panama Matter.


There are strong indications that the
| present embarrassment of the Panama
Canal Company will prove ultimately
fatal to DeLesseps' cherished project
and lead to the abandonment of the en-
terprise. When the first crash of the
company's affairs came it was thought
that the French government would
step into the breach and save the under
taking from failure. This, however.
it seems indisposed to do, and hope of
assistance from that direction has been
abandoned. France having failed
them, DeLesseps and his colleagues
would naturally turn to the United
States, the country most directly inter-
ested in the success or failure of an
interoceanic waterway. There is very
little prospect of assistance from this
quarter, owing to the fact that its rival,
the Nicaragua Canal Company is likely
TO secure the support that might
otherwise go to DeLesseps. The
Nicaragua Company is composed
largely of citizens of the United
States, has already secured a charter
from the Vermont legislature and will
probably secure another from the
United States congress before the close
of the present session. If congress in
dorses this project by granting the COM
pany an act of incorporation, men of
affairs predict the abandonment of the
Panama route. That the Nicaragua
route is the more feasible of the two can
be seen at a glance. The San Juan river
can be utilized at a comparatively small
expense, and Nicaragua lake offers a
deep waterway of fifty miles, almost
one-third of the entire distance to be
traversed. If any transisthmian canal
is ever completed, it is likely to be
along the proposed Nicaragua route.
Rumors of interference on the part
of France with the Panama Company's
affairs in the isthmus reached Wash
ington last week and quickly excited
the suspicious of the friends of the
Nicaragua enterprise. They gave rise
to the introduction of the following
precautionary resolution by Senator
Edmunds
ReSolred, That the government of the
United States will look with serious con-
Germ and disappointment upon any connec-
ton OF any European government with the
construction or control of any ship canal
across the Isthmus of Darien or across Cen
trail America, and must regard any such
connection or control as injurious to the
just rights and interests of the United
States, and as a menace to its welfare;
that the president of the United States be
and he is hereby requested to communi-
cate this expression of the views of con-
gress to the government of the countries of
Europe.
The resolution probably represents
the sentiment of the American people
on this subject. 1t is simply a cour-
teous g hands off to France. 1t is a
reiteration of the Monroe doctrine
nOn-intervention in the affairs of the
country by any European power-and
the American people will never hest
tate to give their support to this prin-
ciple. While the Panama enterprise
remains private concern, this resolu-
ton has no force; but in case it be-
comes government enterprise, the
United States is brought into immedi-
ate antagonism to France. There is.
however, little prospect of a serious
conflict between the two nations, either
of diplomacy or arms. The French
government has sufficient sagacity to
divine the sentiment of the American
people on the question and sufficient
wisdom to treat their opinion with
wholesome respect.