New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-04-19
CANAL DIPLOMACY.
QUESTIONS TO BE SETTLED BY VIGOROUS
ACTION


ENGLISH INTRIGUES IN NICARAGUA-IHE
PETTY JEALoUSEs OF oUARRELsoME RE-
PuBIICs - THE CLAYToN-BULWER
TREATY TO BE ABRoGATED-A
CANAL POLICY WANTED.
,,sosAsrArp coRRrsPoSDESr OF THE rRBUNE.l
Manaeua. March 25-The Nlcanguan Govern
ment on November 8, $780, officially declareu
that the Canal Company had complied with uhe
provisions of the concession requiring on eXpehui
ture Of SO. 0OO, 900 during the first year OF the
notion nerod. This admission ought TO have
forestalled captOus criticism ana despalring com
mont hit there is much dissatisfaction expressed
horn IN relation to the progress of the work.
The reduction of the force employed on the canal
has been regarded as q confession of failure ana
an indication of financial instability. The enc
mics Of the enterprise have made much OF 1t, ana
have confidently predicted the premature collapse
of the undertaking The withdrawal OF the Dill
,onortod hv tho Senate Committee on Foreign
po,o+ions has also been interpreted here as
decisive defeat for the company. The English
version If rho transaction which has been re-
peated 10 me many times is that the company
having exhausted It's resources In barely Degn-
ming the work. appealed 10 Congress for ASSIST
ance and received fiat refusal. When nave
reminded these ill-inf0Tned critics that the COM
pany did not inspire the measure, and that the
unanimous recommendation of the Comm'ttee OH
FOREIGN Relations of Government guarantee OF
s10o mo- 600. principal and interest was
great victory for the enterprise, | have been met
with chances of incredulity. The English here
are intensely hostile to the American canal and
are doing everything in their power to dis
credit the enterprise They choose to assume
that the company has expended all its available
resources is already suspendng construction opera
TONS and has been repulsed by Congress. Inc
Nicaragua officials, disappointed because the Work
is not advancing more rapidly, are listening
creduousIy to criticism and assumptions OF this
nature. They cannot be expected TO understand
either the intricacies Of Congressional legisla-
ton or the mysteries of canal finance. Ihey only
knew that the engineers have taken In Good
many projects-the aqueduct the oreakwater,
the railway, and the first section OF the canal
and have not finished anything Which they have
undertaken. The reduction Of the force and the
withdrawal of the Senate bill they regard as
the beginning of the end.
The English opponents of the canal have,
moreover. an alternative policy OF their own.
They assert that the Americans have been sur
veying routes and talking about cutting the canal
for forty wears and that nothing has been accom-
plished except 900 feet of breakwater and 1,2OO
yards of canal dredging to the depth of sixteen
feet. They magnify the engineering difficulties
Of the work and assume that the money never can
be raised without Government guarantee, and
that Congress has already vetoed that proposal.
Having demonstrated to their own satisfaction
the impractica bity of the canal project, they bring
forward their railway scheme for connecting the
two coasts. An English syndicate has already
been formed for constructing q railway from San
~ c1,c n I oil, fcar ocff,o
TO Rama, on the edge of the Mosquito reservation
Surveys have been completed and work has been
begun on the roadbed at San Ubado. This rail
way Of 1O2 miles will be built through a forest
that is now impossible. When constructed it
will complete the chain OF communication between
Corinto, on the Pacific, and Rama, on the Blue
fields River Lakes Nicaragua and Managua being
navigated in transit. An extension of the rail-
way around Lake Nicaragua 10 Granada IS also
projected, and this, with similar loop around
Lake Managua, will connect the oceans by an
all-rail route. English capital is available for
this enterprise, which will open the Nicaragua
forest and vastly increase the resources of the
country. But this is not the whole scheme. Mic
aragua covets the control Of the Mosquito reserva
ton. and English intrigucrs here throw out dark
hints that it's ambition be gratifed in due
time They represent that the British Foreign
Office is anxious 70 be relieved from the obligation
imposed by the treaty Of Managua of supporting
the rights of the Indians and negroes in the res
ervation They assert that if the Nicaraguan
Government can make anicable arrangement
with the population of the reservation, England
will readily assent TO the annexation of the dis
trict Precisely how this result is to be accom-
plished when the Indians and negroes and foreign
residents are violently opposed TO any invasion
of rights Of autonomy which are guaranteed by
| treaty and the decision Of the Emperor OF Aus
tria these intriguers do not state; but the bait
is thrown out that when the railway is completed
to Rama Bluefelds and the entire coast as far as
| Cape Gracias will be brought under the control
of Nicaragua.
One of the advantages pointed out by those who
are proposing this alternative plan is that Mica
ragua will be entirely independent of Costa Rica
| in regulating this system of interoceanic commu-
nicaton. This is an argument that appeals
strongly TO national jealousy. For generations
these rival States have been quarreling over their
boundary and cheriShinG resentments, each against
| the other, with passionate intensity of feeling.
The San Juan River which will be converted into
an interoceanic waterway upon the completion of
the canal, is the disputed boundary. Strong
as is the desire of Nicaragua for the successful
construction of the canal, it cannot reconcile it,
eelf to the idea of sharing with Costa RIGA the
honor and Advantages Of the work. The jealouses
Of these two States have been revealed at every
stage of the negotiations conducted by Mr. Menocal
and Mr. Hall for Obtaining the canal concessions
and the questions at ssue still unsettled. The
canal company has made contracts with both
Governments, STIMULATING 70 pay compromising
damages for the flooding caused by the construc-
ton of the Ochoa dam, and TO issue blocks OF
stock in lieu Of all privileges conveyed Each
Government has been satisfied with the terms OF
its contract, but neither Nicaragua nor Costa Rca
will consent TO ratify these engagements with
each other. At the outset trouble was caused By
the authorization Of the appointment of Costl
Rican director. and this privilege was finally
withdrawn. Then repeated efforts were made t.
secure the negotiation of treaty. and when thi.
result was accomplished one of the States rejected