There is a new cause for supposing that the Treaty with Great Britain will
either be defeated in the Senate, or else delayed for some time to come.
This new trouble concerns the building of the Nicaragua Canal.
It seems a remote cause, does it not? but it only shows how closely the
affairs of one nation are bound up with those of all the others. No matter
what our speech, our climate, or our color, we are all a portion of the
great human family, and the good of one is the good of all.
The Nicaragua Canal is a water-way that will cross the narrow neck of land
that makes Central America. It will connect the Atlantic Ocean with the
Pacific Ocean.
With the help of such a canal, ships in going to the western coast of
North or South America will not need to make the long and dangerous voyage
around Cape Horn.
Cape Horn, you will see if you look on your map, is the extreme southerly
point of South America.
=Copyrighted 1897, By WILLIAM BEVERLEY HARISON.=
There are so many storms and fogs there, that the Horn, as it is called,
is much dreaded by sailors.
Since the invention of steam, all the steamships go through the Straits of
Magellan, and save the passage round the Horn; but there is not enough
wind for sailing vessels in the rocky and narrow straits, so they still
have to take the outside passage.
The Straits of Magellan divide the main continent of South America from a
group of islands, called Tierra del Fuego, and Cape Horn is the most
southerly point of this archipelago.
The journey down the coast of South America on the east, and up again on
the west, takes such a long time, that the desire for a canal across the
narrow neck of land which joins North and South America has been in men's
minds for many years.
A railway was built across the Isthmus of Panama to shorten the distance,
and save taking the passage round the Horn. Travellers left their ship at
one side of the Isthmus, and took the train over to the other, where they
went on board another ship, which would take them the rest of their
journey.
This plan greatly increased the expense of the journey, and the canal was
still so much wanted, that at last the Panama Canal was begun.
You have all heard about the Panama Canal, which was to do the same work
that the Nicaragua Canal is to do, that is, to connect the Atlantic and
Pacific Oceans. You have probably heard how much time, labor, and human
life was wasted over it, and how much trouble its failure caused in
France.
This Canal was to cut across the Isthmus at its very narrowest point. It
was worked on for years, every one believing that it would be opened to
ships before very long. Many of the maps and geographies that were printed
in the eighties said that the Panama Canal would be opened in 1888, or at
latest in 1889.
No one expected what afterward happened. In 1889 the works were stopped
for want of money; the affairs of the Canal were looked into; it was found
that there had been dishonesty and fraud, and in 1892 the great Count
Ferdinand de Lesseps, who built the Suez Canal, and a number of other
prominent Frenchmen, were arrested for dealing dishonestly with the money
subscribed for the Canal.
There was a dreadful scandal; many of the high French officials had to
give up their positions, and run away for fear of arrest.
When the whole matter was understood, it was found that, for months before
the work was stopped, the men who had charge of the Canal had decided that
the work would cost such an enormous sum of money that it would be almost
an impossibility to complete it.
They did not have the honesty to let this be known, but allowed people to
go on subscribing money, a part of which they put in their own pockets,
and spent the rest in bribing the French newspapers not to tell the truth
about the Canal.
The worst of it was, that the money which had been subscribed was not from
rich people, who would feel its loss very little, but from poor people,
who put their savings, and the money they were storing away for their old
age, into the Canal; and when they lost it, it meant misery and poverty to
them.
So the Panama Canal failed.
But the project of making a canal was not given up. Two years before the
idea of digging at Panama had been thought of, the ground where the
Nicaragua Canal is being built had been surveyed, and thought better
suited to the purpose than Panama.
The reason for this was, that at Panama a long and deep cut had to be made
through the mountains. This had to be done by blasting, in much the same
way that the rocks are cleared away to build houses. This is a long and
tedious work.
The Nicaragua Canal will be 159 miles long, while the Panama, if it is
ever completed, will be only 59 miles; but of these 159 miles, 117 are
through the Nicaragua Lake and the San Juan River--water-ways already made
by nature. For the remaining distance, there are other river-beds that
will be used, and only 21 miles will actually have to be cut through.
The main objection to this route for the Canal is, that there is a volcano
on an island in the Nicaragua Lake, and there are always fears of
eruptions and earthquakes in the neighborhood of volcanoes. A great
eruption of the volcano might change the course of a river, or alter the
face of the country so much, that the Canal might have to be largely
remade.
The building of this Canal will cost hundreds of millions of dollars--two
hundred millions, it is said.
Nicaragua is not a rich-enough country to be able to pay for this, and it
is here that the subject touches the closest interests of other countries,
and is serious enough to overthrow a much-desired treaty.
If the Canal is to be built, it must be built by a country rich enough to
pay for it.
The country which builds the Canal will have the right to collect a toll
from every vessel passing through, and also to defend it, and prevent the
ships of an enemy from using it.
The United States is naturally anxious to be the country that controls the
Canal. But England does not appear to want us to have entire control.
England owns the greater part of the Suez Canal, which joins the
Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. This Canal, you will see by looking at
the map, makes a short cut to Asia, and saves ships the long journey round
Africa and the Cape of Good Hope.
England finds this Canal very useful; it makes a great deal of money for
her, and she would like to have just as large a share of the Nicaragua
Canal That is at least what the Senators say.
When the Treaty was mentioned in the Senate, Senator Morgan at once
demanded that his Nicaragua Canal Bill should be acted upon.
His bill provides that the United States Government shall furnish the
money for the Canal, and in return shall own nearly the whole of it, and
have the right to say who shall have charge of its affairs.
No sooner had his request been made in the Senate, than a protest came
from Mr. Rodriguez, the Minister for the Greater Republic of South
America, who was received by President Cleveland a week or two ago.
He said that Nicaragua would not consent to any such arrangement, and
would not allow the United States to have so much control of the Canal. He
added that if Senator Morgan's bill were passed, Nicaragua would not allow
the building of the Canal to go on without entirely new arrangements.
The Senators are very angry about this. They think that Nicaragua has
been told to say this by England, to prevent the matter of the Canal being
settled before the Arbitration Treaty is made with England.
They say if the Treaty is accepted in its present form, and ratified
before the Nicaragua Canal Bill is passed, England will have the right to
take a hand in the Canal question.
An interest in the Nicaragua Canal would give England a right to use both
the short water-ways of the world, and, with her great navy, it would give
her rights that might be very dangerous to us.
The excitement about the Canal has taken away all hope of the Treaty being
acted upon by Congress this session. When it does come up, the Senators
intend to have it so worded that the Nicaraguan affairs cannot be
interfered with by England.
The idea of the Treaty seemed a splendid thing for us, and all lovers of
peace will grieve if some satisfactory understanding is not arrived at;
but we must not neglect our own best interests.
* * * * *
There is a good deal being said about King Oscar of Sweden and Norway
being chosen as the umpire, in case the members of the Arbitration
Committee are unable to agree.
Many people are saying that King Oscar would not make a fair umpire, and
that he would lean to the side of England in every matter that came up.
A treaty was made in Stockholm, in 1855, between Sweden and Norway, and
France and England, which they say binds King Oscar to agree with England.
This treaty said that the King of Sweden agreed not to sell to Russia, or
allow her to use, any portion of his kingdom; and that if Russia made any
offers for land, the King of Sweden was to tell England and France at
once.
England and France, in return for this, promised to help Sweden with men
and ships in case of any trouble with Russia.
This treaty is not binding any longer. France has put it aside, and has
made friends with Russia on her own account. It would not be possible for
her to keep to her agreement if she wished to.
The old agreement being broken, England and Sweden will have to make a new
one, to bind them together again.
Nothing has been heard of such a treaty, so it is to be supposed that none
exists.
In this case, there is no reason why Oscar of Sweden should not be the
umpire chosen.
It would, of course, be more agreeable to us if the umpire were not a
European ruler. England would be sure to object to an American umpire, and
neither Asia nor Africa could give us a person capable of filling the
office, so it looks very much as though the only person to be found, who
understands diplomacy well enough to be of use, would be a European
sovereign.
If the umpire must be such a person, King Oscar of Sweden is the most
desirable of them all.
He is, besides, almost the only European ruler who is free to accept the
office.
The royal families of Germany, Russia, Denmark, and Greece are all related
to England, and therefore could not be chosen. Austria and Italy are too
hemmed in by other countries, and too much bound by treaties, to be free
to give any decision that might offend Europe.
Sweden and Norway are cut off from the rest of Europe by the Baltic Sea,
and for this reason have not needed to burden themselves with as many ties
as the other powers of the Continent.
King Oscar is moreover a quiet, sensible man, who would be likely to help
the Committee to arrive at wise and just conclusions.
There is another advantage in choosing King Oscar. The royal family of
Sweden is only eighty years old, and has not those centuries of traditions
behind it, which make other royal houses so difficult to deal with.
Oscar II., the present King, is the grandson of the famous French Marshal,
Bernadotte, for whom Napoleon secured the throne of Sweden and Norway.
He is a man who loves learning, and encourages clever people, and is very
simple in his ways.
His eldest son, Prince Oscar, wished to marry one of the ladies of his
mother's household, Lady Ebba Munck, but she was not a person of
sufficient rank to marry the heir to a throne.
A prince, you know, cannot marry any one he chooses. There are very strict
laws about this, and the marriage of a prince is not considered a marriage
at all, unless his wife is of royal blood.
King Oscar told his son that the marriage was impossible, but when Prince
Oscar said he would rather give up his right to the throne than the lady
he loved, King Oscar permitted him to do so, and made a special decree,
allowing the marriage of his son with Lady Ebba.
King Oscar could have prevented this if he had chosen, and it must have
caused him much pain to have his eldest son give up his right to the
throne, and to know that, if he and all his other sons died, neither
Prince Oscar nor any of his sons could ever come to the throne because of
this marriage. But he loved his son better than his pride, and so Prince
Oscar married Lady Ebba, and Prince Carl will be King of Sweden and Norway
when his father dies.
Oscar of Sweden did a most kind and amiable thing for some of our
countrymen last year.
A party of Americans were travelling in Norway, and two of them, Mr. and
Mrs. Youmans, of New York, were drowned in one of the lakes. They were
driving, and the horses becoming frightened, backed over the bank into the
water.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Youmans were much respected and loved, their goodness
and charity were unbounded, and much sorrow was felt when the news of
their dreadful end was cabled to this country.
King Oscar not only expressed his sorrow for the accident, but ordered
that a marble monument should be placed on the spot where they had met
their death.
During the twenty-seven years that Oscar has been on the throne, his
country has been peaceful and prosperous.
* * * * *
From Cuba, the news comes that another gunboat has been captured.
The story of the capture is that the boat, the _Cometa_, had been sent to
a certain post on the coast to prevent the landing of any filibustering
parties.
The Cubans found that the vessel anchored at night, at a spot from which
she could easily be attacked from the shore.
[Illustration: Attack on Spanish Gunboat.]
One night they opened fire on the vessel, struck her in several places,
and damaged her. During the confusion on the ship, several boat-loads of
Cubans put off from the shore and boarded the _Cometa_.
A terrible fight took place. The commander and half the sailors were
killed, and the rest surrendered. The Cubans then burned the vessel.
This news comes from the Cuban side.
The Spaniards deny that any such fight took place, and the Admiral of the
fleet declares that he will have the _Cometa_ come into Havana harbor,
with all her flags flying, to show that she has not been burned.
It is so difficult to get at the truth of these reports.
The news of General Weyler is, that he has left Havana once more, and is
marching through the western end of the island, to convince himself, and
the authorities in Spain, that the rebellion is over, and the island has
been pacified.
He declares that he has not met a single Cuban in all his marches, that
there are no insurgents round Havana, and that sugar-grinding will be
begun very shortly.
This is what General Weyler says of himself.
The Cubans, on their side, say that it is true that Weyler never sees any
of the rebels, for the simple reason that he knows perfectly well where
they are, and carefully avoids going anywhere near them.
They had a great plot laid to make him aware of their presence.
They prepared an ambush for him--which means that they set a trap for him.
Weyler was walking into it, and in a few minutes would have been
surrounded by the Cubans, who had planned to take him prisoner, when
unfortunately one of the Cuban guns went off. The Spaniards were instantly
warned that they were in danger, made a hasty retreat, and the Cubans lost
their prize.
The Cubans are in strong force round Havana; they are further than ever
from being pacified; the rebellion is by no means over, and Weyler's
telegrams are not deceiving any one any more.
The General is not in favor in Spain, his reports are no longer believed,
and he will most likely be ordered home before long, and some one else be
sent to Cuba in his stead.
Spain is in a very unhappy state at present. The people are angry at
having spent so much money, and wasted so many lives, over the wars in
Cuba and the Philippine Islands, without arriving at any result, and they
are blaming the Government for not trying to bring about peace.
It is more than likely that a change in the government will soon take
place.
The present Government is very angry with Weyler, because it has come to
light that many of the marches he has cabled about to Spain have not been
made at all. He has taken the train wherever he could, and if he has seen
no bands of insurgents from the car windows he has telegraphed that peace
was restored, and no more rebels were to be found in the province.
The latest news of all is, that the Spanish Government in Madrid is
preparing a paper which will be sent to Cuba very shortly. It offers the
Cubans Home Rule, and gives them a great many rights that they do not now
possess.
While the Cubans are pleased at this, they have not much faith in the
offer, and say that unless the United States promises to see that Spain
carries out her promises, they will not consider the offer at all.
The principal Cubans are waiting to see the actual paper before they say
much about it.
In the mean while, many of the Spanish soldiers are deserting from their
own ranks, and going over to the Cuban side.
The Spaniards have been offering every inducement to get the Cubans to
desert, and go over to them, but hardly any have done so--the only person
of importance being the infamous Dr. Zertuccha, who betrayed Maceo.
A telegram from Havana says that a major in the Spanish army, with 100 men
and 50,000 rounds of ammunition, joined General Gomez the other day. At
Puerto Principe, a Spanish colonel, with a whole company of well-armed
men, also went over to the Cubans.
The Cubans think this is a very favorable sign for them, and look for a
speedy end to the war.
* * * * *
The filibustering steamers _Three Friends_ and _Dauntless_ have been
released.
Their owners have had to promise to give them up again whenever they are
wanted. They have also had to give the court some money, which they will
lose if the ships are not brought back when the court calls for them.
If the cases of piracy and filibustering against them are found to be
true, the ships will become the property of the Government, and the owners
will lose them altogether.
The United States cruiser _Montgomery_ has been ordered to Key West, to
prevent filibustering parties going over to Cuba, and the _Raleigh_, which
has been doing this duty, has gone to be repaired.
* * * * *
People who are interested in the comfort of the poor of New York are very
glad to know that some dreadful rear tenement houses in Mott Street are to
be taken away by order of the Board of Health.
We all read about tenement houses, and we all feel sorry that many of the
houses for the poor to live in are not as comfortably built as they might
be.
Very few of us know the discomforts that the poor have to endure, who are
obliged to live in the old, badly planned tenement-houses.
Poor people must live near their work, because they cannot afford to pay
car-fares back and forth every day. So the tenement-houses are generally
built in neighborhoods where the work is being done, and people have to
take them clean or dirty, well or badly built, because they must make
their home in that neighborhood.
In some of the older and poorer tenements, many families live on the same
floor; they are crowded together in the most dreadful manner, and instead
of having plenty of light, air, and water to help make them endurable,
they have little or none of any of these necessary things.
In these houses the want of water is one of the greatest evils. Instead of
giving each tenement a nice sink, and a water-boiler at the back of the
stove, so that people can have hot and cold water all the time, there is
no water put into any of the rooms.
Outside on the landing there is water, and a rough sink, which the tenants
of each floor use in common. They have to go into the hall to fetch every
drop of water they use, and this is the only place they have to empty the
dirty water away.
In some houses the sinks are not on every floor, and in these, the poor
women have to drag their heavy buckets of water up and down the stairs.
The tenements are not heated. Each tenant has to keep his own rooms warm.
Every drop of warm water they need for cooking or washing has first to be
boiled over the stove, and so the poor are forced to use a great deal more
coal than more well-to-do people need.
It is not because they don't pay the landlords enough rent that the poor
have no comforts in their homes. So many families can be packed into one
floor, that landlords find tenement-houses pay them extremely well.
Many of the tenement-houses have been allowed to get so dilapidated, that
the Board of Health has taken the matter in hand, and has been trying to
make the landlord have them properly drained, and cleaned, and repaired.
It came to the knowledge of this board that there were some rear tenements
in Mott Street, which were in a frightful condition.
They had been built at the back of some houses fronting on Mott
Street--in fact, they had been put in the little spot of ground that had
been the yard belonging to the front houses.
They came up so close to the front buildings that, by stretching out your
arms, you could almost touch the front wall of one house and the back wall
of the other. The actual distance apart was a little over seven feet.
This would have been bad enough, but worse was to come. After a time,
warehouses were built over the surrounding back yards, and at last these
poor tenements had brick walls round their sides and backs, to within
eight inches of the windows, and all the light they got was given them by
the seven-foot court that divided them from the houses in front.
Just imagine the darkness and the stuffiness of these rooms. Think how
awful they must have been in the summer, with not a breath of air reaching
them from any quarter. The tenants were obliged to go up to the roof and
sleep there, for the rooms were unbearable.
The people who lived on the lower floors paid less rent than those on the
top, because when you got up to the top floor there was a faint glimmer of
daylight.
The tenants were put to the expense of burning lights all day long,
because neither sun nor light could reach them.
When the Board of Health found out about these horrible places, and
learned that little children were being born and brought up in them, an
order was at once given that the rear tenements should be torn down.
But the owner objected. He tried to pretend that his houses were fit for
people to live in, and went to law to prevent the Board of Health from
interfering.
This was last September. Ever since then the matter has been in the courts
before the judge.
People have still been living in these awful dens, getting sick, and
losing their children, and spending more money for doctors and medicine
than would have paid their car-fare to healthier and more comfortable
homes.
The court has at last decided that these rear tenements are dangerous and
unhealthy, and the Board of Health will have them pulled down in a very
short time.
Many of our wealthy people wish so sincerely that poor people should have
more comforts, that they are spending their money in building beautiful
model tenement-houses, which will give the tenants every possible comfort
for the same amount of money that they now have to pay for the dark,
wretched places they live in.
One gentleman, Mr. D.O. Mills, felt so sorry for the men who had no homes,
and were obliged to take board in these wretched tenements, that he is
building a model lodging-house for them.
This house is down-town, where the men need it. It is large enough for
1,500 men to sleep in, and for each to have a comfortable room to himself.
The house is to be heated throughout, and there are to be elevators to
take the men upstairs. The arrangements for washing and bathing are
splendid, there is any amount of hot and cold water, and a laundry, with
all the newest arrangements for washing and drying clothes quickly, where
the men can go and wash their own clothes, and have them clean for the
morning.
There are also comfortable rooms, where the men can read and write and
play games. All the books and papers and games will be ready for them in
the rooms, for it is Mr. Mills' wish to make the lodging-house a home to
the men, so they may find their amusement at home, and not be tempted to
go to saloons.
All they are to be charged is twenty cents a night. For this they will
have all the comfort, warmth, and cleanliness that a man could wish for.
There is to be a restaurant in the house, where the lodgers can buy their
meals. Their food will not be given them for the twenty cents, but it will
be made as cheap as possible, and will be of the best kind, and cooked in
the nicest way.
It is to be hoped Mr. Mills' experiment will be such a success, that many
others will follow his example. This lodging-house is on Bleecker Street,
and work is already commenced on it.
* * * * *
A sailor who has just come back from Japan brings word that sixteen
American sailors are in prison in Siberia for trying to kill Russian
seals, and carry away their fur to market.
The story the man tells is that in October, 1895, the American schooner
_Saitans_ was cruising in the Okhotsk Sea, off the Siberian coast. Some of
the men landed on an island, and while they were ashore a heavy gale
sprang up, and, to save herself, the _Saitans_ put out to sea, leaving the
men behind.
They remained where they were for five days, and then they were found by a
Russian man-of-war. They were accused of trying to catch seals, and were
sent to prison for five months.
The following May, one of the United States cruisers went to the port
where the men were imprisoned, and the officers saw them.
The men begged the officers to do something for them, because they had
been told that when their five months' imprisonment was over, they were to
be arrested again, and sent back to prison once more.
The officers asked the police about this, and were told that it was all
nonsense; the five months would be up in a few weeks, and the men set at
liberty. The officers were satisfied that this was the truth, and went
away.
But when the five months were up, the sailors found that their fears were
only too well grounded. They were rearrested, and sent back to prison for
eighteen months.
The sailor who brings this news says that, when he reached the port where
the men are imprisoned, he managed to be taken to see them, and found them
working on some Russian fortifications.
He says the men were very unhappy, and had almost lost their courage.
Their second sentence will not be over till October, and they are afraid
that they will be rearrested, and imprisoned once more, unless something
is done for them.
They declare that it was not their fault that they were on the island.
They insist that they were doing no harm, and their vessel put back to sea
and left them in their unhappy position.