The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1891-04-13
THE NICARAGUA CANAL.
History of the Efforts Made To Con-
meet the TWO Oceans.
George Pellew, in Harper's Weekly.

lGeOrgc IeIleW, IN darperS Weekly.l
For four centuries it has been the dream of
far-sighted statesmen of the great CONNER
cial nations to cut asunder the two Ameri-
can continents where at the isthmus the
land narIows like the waist of wasp be-
tween the two oceans. and where their noun
tain backbone dips to within few hundred
feet of the sea. As early as 1851, Gomara,
the historian, suggested the four locations
for waterway that have since been ap-
proved as the only possible oDes-namely,
at DarieD, at Panama, at Tehuantepec, and
at Nicaragua. Under the lazy rule of Spain
no serious attempt was made to realize this
dream, but as soon as the old kingdom of
Guatemala revolted ard formed the republic
of Central America, negotiations were be-
gun with the American government, under
the Presidency OF Adams, 1926, and after
Nicaragua separated and became an indie
pendent state, on some ten or more occasions
negotiations for the building of an interO-
ceanic canal were proposed between Nicara-
qua and tie governments or individual citi-
Holland, of Belgium and Of France. After
the Mexican war, when the United States
first gained a foothold on the Pacific, a con-
vention for canal was negotiated by the
American charge d. affaires to Central Amer
lea, but the act was disavowed by this gov
eminent as without authority. A still more
favorable concession to Mr.. Cornelius Van
derbilt and others, who formed the Ameri-
can Atlantic and Pacific Ship-Canal Com
pany, was secured by the new charge d. af-
flares to Central America, but the conces-
sion was connected with a treaty Of friend
and failed when the latter was defeated in
the Senate on account of the recent Clayton
Bulwer treaty with Great Britain, that had
been hastily negotiated for that purpose.
The successful completion Of the Suez Ca
nal revived the. interest of the civilized
world in an isthmian canal. At the instiga-
ton of its then famous promoter, M. de Les
seps, an International congress was held at
Paris, to which this government sent dele
gates. among them Mr.. Menocal Their re-
canal turned the attention of the govern
ment and OF private capitalists to the Near
aqua route. A Provisional Interoceanic
Canal Society was organized by Captain
Phelps. General Grant, Admiral Ammem,
the Hon. Levi T. Morton, and others, and in
Nicaragua, which was forfeited in 1884 for
failure to perform the conditions. Then Pres
ident Arthur negotiated treaty for the
building of canal by the United States in
cooperation with Nicaragua; but the treaty,
while still pending in the Senate, was with
drawn by President Cleveland.
Am lng the concessionaires of the Provi-
sional Interoceanic Canal Society, which had
become merged into the Nicaragua Maritime
Canal Company, was Mr.. A. q. Menocal,
mentioned above, civil engineer in the
United States navy. The failure Of this COM
pany was due to a long-continued effort to
procure aid from C0ngress.-an effort defeated
by the influence of M. de Lesseps and Cap
tain Eads-and the attempt to finance the
company without government guarantee was
made mad finally impossible BY the failure of the
work on the Panama Canal was In active
progress, 1t was impossible to secure capital
for rival, almost parallel, canal. Before
the close, however, of 1885 the failure of the
french undertaking was manifest to close
observers. for In that year the expenses al
ready incurred in the performance of less
than 0ne.third of the work of excavation
amounted to double the sum estimated by
M de Lesseps for the cost of the whole. It
was also beginning to be suspected that a
canal could not be constructed at Panama
without locks, and yet the practicability of a
sea-level canal there was the only scientific
reason given at the congress for preferring
That location to Nicaragua. Tehuantepec
presented certain advantages from theoret-
,cs ZIP point t OF view, but It was impossible as
ah siee dor canal, and Captain Eads was un-
aDle 10 pursuade the hard-beaded business
men OF America that vessels could he econ-
omlcally carried on wheels over mountains
Inc necessitleS OF commerce seemed tn re-
qulre some lnteroceanic canal. and commar
cially it made little difference what nni,t o.,
the isthmus should be selected for that MI vi
pose so long as the canal could be construpptad
with reasonable economy. Attention tbe,,
was naturally drawn to the Nicaragua ro onta
since the experimentation of half a centnry,
hadlfailed to find better one. AS earlyy
as 1879 the American Geographical Society.
at the instance mainly Of its President, the
Hon. Charles p. DAILY. had discussed the
question. In 1886, by invitation of Judge
DAILY, Commander Taylor, who had already
interested many prominent men at Washing
ton in the enterprise, delivered lecture be-
fore the society In favor Of a canal at Nicara-
qua. The special advantages afforded by the
physical geography of this location are un-
mistakable. Though the distance from
ocean to ocean here Is 40 miles. by using the
pan Juan River and Lake Nicaragua the
length of the canal to be actually excavated
Is only ~ miles-a work of ordinary mag
nltooe In comparison with the 46 miles at
tuIanama and the s. miles at Suez. Here, too,
I .1a depression formed by the lake is only
~ Ieet above the sea, the lowest depression
~ sn tne Whole range of the COrdilleras. Here,
rom tne scientific point of view. was the
most economical route. The canal foo.
osugnt 70 De 10 the control of Americans. and
was therefore prudent to take up without