The Minneapolis journal., 1903-03-31
a Leading Engineer Thinks. That
the Colombian Congress Will
u ! Not Ratify the Treaty.
He Adds That the Nicaraguan Route
2r>-.: Is the Better After -
All.
The Climate Is More Salubrious and
s., the Lake Serves as a Fine :.
Reservoir.
New York Sun Special Service.

New York Sun Special service.
Paris March 31.-In view Of the hostile
attitude WHICH the government OF Colon
bia seems disposed to take in regard TO
the Panama canal, 1t Is interesting to
know the opinion of a French engineer
who has done much for that canal. he
does not believe the Colombia congress
will ratify the treaty with the United
States.
tYou ask my opinion on the Nicaragua
route" he said. 1T Is for me tnfandum
renovare deloren. ] was one OF the first
and most ardent partizans of the N1cara-
qua route for the canal. My remem-
brances are exact. My participation IN the
first labors Of M De Lesseps caused him,
after he had presided over the congress
for an interoceanic canal, to hand to me
the documents published by order OF the
United States senate on the explorations
which the Washington government had
carried out in the isthmus by Com
nodore Maury. In handing me the doc
uments M. De Lesseps asked me to- study
them and ito give him my opinion In re-
) gard. to the, most advanta geous route
K MY preference was in conformity with
{ these of the Washington committee which
n concluded it's labors in 1875. sfEThey were
4 lakes Of Nicaragua. The notorious in
salubrity2of the Panama climate had been
confirmed by k1nyg friend Paul Levy, who
] having directed the work Of the Panama.
i railway, had admirable knowledge Hof the
I CLIMATIC conditions there. -
{ ..The Nicaragua route had as a great
advantage Lake Nicaragua, which has an
! area of 6, 900 square kilometers, which each
i year, pours fourth milliards Of cubic. me-
I ters Of water into the Atlantic by the river
; San Juan. This lake constitutes an In
. exhaustib reservoir of water for a canal
with locks above the lake, which is about
z Sc meters above sea, level. There is only
ut It'll ,ir1, je-c ntorc tph
5 than the lake, while on the Panama route
there is Culegra, which is more than 100
D meters above the level Of the sea and Is
more than 10gkilometers long.
Il "a Nicaragua was going to be adopted but
i fsfor this we required beforehand to come
/. .toral understanding with the United
b States- This was my first care and my
i first communication with Admiral Am
mon.
u * Everything was arranged when the
Z 1fsobstr tructton of some members OF the con
gress of Nicaragua destroyed everything.
All our dreams OF concord and union be-
tween France and America disappeared,
franks to the facility with which M.>zDe
Lesseps allowed himself to be circum-
vented. This was the end OF my anicable
relations with M. De Lesseps, Of whom
I say but little afterwards. Y
For a long time I imagined that the
project was abandoned and thought OF
applying to the Panama canal my scheme
for Nicaragua. I went to Bogota, where
I saw President Raphael Nunez, Prime
Minister Carlos Holguin and General Ay-
cardL who led me to hope that an inter
oceanic canal would no longer be a myth
and that I would be permitted to termin.
ate the work, which would have been the
greatest of the last century. I only under.
went another disappointment. Interna
. dissensions in Colombia proved too strong
1T is my profound conviction that thu
Nicaragua route is practicable and feas
ble at a relatively small cost. In fact
the conditions have not changed and thu
means of construction have developed. II
this + am in accord with the remarkabl,
works the subject by Major Lull ant
Mr. Menocal.
las I have said, I followed with en-
thusasm the projects Of Admiral Ammol
in 1879, for my most ardent desire ha.
always been to see an interoceanic cana
constructed, the United States and Franc
joining hands to open to the world a grea
maritime route to the west.
''It was without astonishment that
read in the dispatch from Bogota that tn
Colombians will regard it as point o
honor not to cede one inch Of their terri
tory. What could have been done som
years ago seems to be now impossible
President Marroquin is the first to shir]
this responsibility and we may epect tn
Colombia congress to follow his example.