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CHAPTER III

ANGLO-AMERICAN ISTHMIAN DIPLOMACY

ROM the time when Columbus started on his famous

quest of a new route to an old world, a shorter waterway from Europe to farther Asia has been the dream of navigators. Columbus believed that he had found a new route to India, but he realized that there remained the task of finding a passage by which he could cross between the great land masses and circle the globe. With the discovery of the Pacific by Balboa, the search for the secret of the strait was prosecuted with increased diligence, but in vain. Magellan finally discovered the secret, but his solution via the Straits of Magellan or Cape Horn was too long to be satisfactory, and the quest continued. When Cortez, by numerous expeditions, became virtually certain that no natural waterway connected the two great oceans, he proposed to construct one. Charles V took much interest in the project; and, according to the historian Gomara, four routes were considered practicable, i.e., those of Darien, Panama, Nicaragua, and Tehuantepec. Thus not only was an interoceanic canal regarded from the earliest times as feasible, but the four routes considered most practicable up to our own time were among the first to be considered.

Early in the nineteenth century new interest in the idea was provoked by the interesting surveys and reports of the great scientist Alexander von Humboldt. After five years of exploration in Central and South America, he urged the construction of an artificial waterway, and he went so far as to discuss the possibilities of nine different

'See Report of J. T. Sullivan on Problem of Interoceanic Communication, House Ex. Doc. No. 107, 47th Cong., 2nd sess., Chaps. I and II.

routes, although he, too, regarded the four routes already mentioned as particularly worthy of investigation.1 Spain was finally aroused once more to the advantage that would accrue to her through the possession of such a waterway, and in 1814 the project was authorized by the Cortes. With the outbreak of the revolutions throughout Latin America the project lapsed, and it remained for the newly liberated republics to resume its consideration. As early as 1823 the matter came before the congress of Central America, and in the following year Señor Cañas, the diplomatic representative of this federation at Washington, drew the attention of the United States to the importance of a canal linking the two oceans and urged that the United States coöperate with his country in the construction of such a waterway. Henry Clay, Secretary of State, was interested in the project and promised to instruct the American representative to investigate and make a report.2

At approximately the same time the United States was invited to send representatives to the Panama Congress, called at the instance of Bolivar, at which the canal question was one of several subjects to be considered. Owing to strong opposition in Congress, the American representatives were not sent until it was too late to participate in the congress, but in their instructions the canal project was considered a proper subject for consideration. The sole limitation was that such a canal should not be under the control of any one nation, "but its benefits be extended to all parts of the globe upon the payment of a just compensation or reasonable tolls."3 Although nothing substantial came of the Panama Congress, the importance and need of a trans-isthmian canal persisted, and in the next few years various projects were launched. An American

'For complete citations see House Report No. 145, 30th Cong., 2nd sess., pp. 169-204.

House Report No. 322, 25th Cong., 3d sess., pp. 15, 16.

'J. B. Moore, Digest of Int. Law, Vol. III, p. 2, or Report of Int. Amer. Conf., Vol. IV, Hist. Index, p. 143 ƒƒ.

company obtained the concession for a canal in Nicaragua; but, although the cost was estimated at only five million dollars, that sum could not be raised. The King of Holland, who had been represented by General Werweer at the Congress of Panama, also obtained a contract to construct a canal by the Nicaragua route; a company was formed, and the United States was sufficiently interested to consider the desirability of obtaining a majority of the shares. The revolution in the Netherlands, resulting in the separation of Belgium from Holland, forced an indefinite postponement of the project.1

The Panama route was also being seriously considered at this time, and Bolivar went so far as to have the route surveyed. But the engineers reported that there was a difference of three feet between the levels of the two oceans, a factor that enormously increased the difficulty of the project. Nicaragua realized the particular interest that the United States had in an interoceanic canal, and on June 16, 1825, the congress of the Central American Confederation passed a decree offering liberal concessions to stimulate the construction of a canal. Bids were received and the contract was awarded to an American financial group; whereupon a company, capitalized at five million dollars, was formed under the name of the "Central American and United States Atlantic and Pacific Canal Company." Sufficient funds, however, were never subscribed.2 About a decade later, in reply to another decree of the Central American congress offering the United States prior rights, a Senate resolution authorized the President to open negotiations with the governments of both Central America and New Granada in regard to protecting the rights of such companies as should undertake to open communication between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and to secure forever "the free and equal right of navigation of such canal 1 House Report No. 322, op. cit., pp. 17-33. 'Ibid., p. 125.

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to all nations, on the payment of such reasonable tolls as may be established." President Jackson appointed Mr. Charles Biddle to undertake the necessary negotiations. But Biddle did not carry out his instructions in the proper fashion, and in his next message to Congress the President declared it inexpedient to enter into negotiations with foreign governments upon the subject.2 President Van Buren sent Mr. John L. Stephens upon a similar mission in 1839, but after surveying the route and estimating the cost at twenty-five millions, he declared that in his opinion the country was too unsettled to risk the undertaking.3

Among the most interesting of the early projects for a canal was the one launched by Prince Louis Napoleon while he was a prisoner in the fortress of Ham. In 1845 he secured a concession from the Nicaraguan government for the construction of a canal, and when he finally escaped, he published a brochure on the subject, pointing out the possibilities of the Nicaragua route and emphasizing the great political interest of England in the execution of this project to create a new center of enterprise in Central America, which would prevent any further encroachments from the north. With the fall of the July monarchy, Louis Napoleon found more interesting and vital matters to engage his attention.1

It was about this time that the United States took the first important step to secure control of the trans-isthmian route in Panama. On December 12, 1846, the American chargé signed a treaty with the Republic of New Granada, which, among other things, guaranteed to the United States "that the right of way or transit across the Isthmus of Panama upon any modes of communication that now exist,

J. B. Moore, Digest of Int. Law, Vol. III, p. 3.

Senate Journal, 24th Cong., 2nd sess., p. 100: for Biddle's report see House Report No. 322, 25th Cong., 3d sess., pp. 38-44.

House Report No. 145, 30th Cong., 2nd sess., p. 236.

See B. Jerrold, The Life of Napoleon III (London, 1874), Vol. II, pp. 320-330.

or that may be hereafter constructed, shall be open and free to the government and citizens of the United States"; and in return the United States guaranteed to New Granada "the perfect neutrality of the before-mentioned isthmus, with the view that the free transit from the one to the other sea may not be interrupted or embarrassed in any future time while this treaty exists." As a natural corollary, the United States also guaranteed the sovereignty of New Granada over this territory. In other words, although "perfect neutrality" clearly meant that all nations should have equal right to free passage across the isthmus, and was so interpreted by Polk in his message to Congress, February 10, 1847,2 it was understood both by the President and the Senate that by guaranteeing this neutrality the United States accepted a responsibility that was justified only because of the fundamental importance which the transisthmian route already possessed for the United States. This treaty was ratified unanimously by the United States Senate.

Owing to the discovery of gold in the recently acquired California, the importance of the treaty was speedily demonstrated. The difficulties of overland travel were such that the sea route, with the short passage across Panama, became the most practicable avenue for the great horde of gold-seekers and settlers. Relying upon the terms of the new treaty, an American company constructed a railway across the isthmus from what is now Colon to Panama-a road that, since its completion in 1855, has been one of the most profitable short lines ever laid down. Another American company established a second interoceanic route through Nicaragua, by means of the lakes and short stretches of land travel, but it never attained the success of the Panama Railroad route. It was in connection with W. M. Malloy, Treaties, Conventions, etc., of the U. S. (Wash., 1910) Vol. I, p. 302.

'J. D. Richardson, Messages and Papers of the Presidents, Vol. IV, p. 512. For a more complete account of this undertaking see Chap. XII.