CENTRAL AMERICA--RAILWAYS, CANALS, AND TRANSIT.
How best to get about this world which God has given us is certainly
one of the most interesting subjects which men have to consider, and
one of the most interesting works on which men can employ themselves.
The child when born is first suckled, then fed with a spoon; in
his next stage, his food is cut up for him, and he begins to help
himself; for some years after that it is still carved under parental
authority; and then at last he sits down to the full enjoyment of his
own leg of mutton, under his own auspices.
Our development in travelling has been much of the same sort, and we
are now perhaps beginning to use our own knife and fork, though we
hardly yet understand the science of carving; or at any rate, can
hardly bring our hands to the duly dexterous use of the necessary
tools.
We have at least got so far as this, that we perceive that the leg
of mutton is to be cooked and carved. We are not to eat hunks of raw
sheep cut off here and there. The meat to suit our palates should
be put on a plate in the guise of a cleanly slice, cut to a certain
thickness, and not exceeding a certain size.
And we have also got so far as this, that we know that the world must
be traversed by certain routes, prepared for us originally not by
ourselves, but by the hand of God. We were great heroes when we first
got round the Cape of Good Hope, when we first crossed the Atlantic,
when we first doubled Cape Horn. We were then learning to pick up our
crumbs with our earliest knives and forks, and there was considerable
peril in the attempt. We have got beyond that now, and have perceived
that we may traverse the world without going round it. The road from
Europe to Asia is by Egypt and the Isthmus of Suez, not by the Cape
of Good Hope. So also is the road from Europe to the West of America,
and from the east of America to Asia by the isthmus of Central
America, and not by Cape Horn.
We have found out this, and have, I presume, found out also that
this was all laid out for us by the hands of the Creator,--prepared
exactly as the sheep have been prepared. It has been only necessary
that we should learn to use the good things given us.
That there are reasons why the way should not have been made
absolutely open we may well suppose, though we cannot perhaps at
present well understand. How currents of the sea might have run so
as to have impeded rather than have assisted navigation, had the
two Americas been disjoined; how pernicious winds might have blown,
and injurious waters have flowed, had the Red Sea opened into the
Mediterranean, we may imagine, though we cannot know. That the
world's surface, as formed by God, is best for God's purposes, and
therefore certainly best for man's purposes, that most of us must
believe.
But it is for us to carve the good things which are put before us,
and to find out the best way in which they may be carved. We may,
perhaps, fairly think that we have done much towards acquiring this
knowledge, but we certainly know that there is more yet to be done.
We have lines of railways from London to Manchester; from Calais
across France and all the Germanies to Eastern Europe; from the
coast of Maine, through the Canadas, to the central territories
of the United States; but there are no lines yet from New York to
California, nor from the coast of the Levant to Bombay and Calcutta.
But perhaps the two greatest points which are at this moment being
mooted, with reference to the carriage about the world of mankind and
man's goods, concern the mode in which we may most advantageously
pass across the isthmuses of Suez and Panama. These are the two land
obstacles in the way of navigation, of direct water carriage round
the earth's belt--obstacles as they appear to us, though in truth
so probably locks formed by the Almighty for the assistance of our
navigation.
For many years, it is impossible to say how many, but for some few
centuries as regards Panama, and for many centuries as regards Suez,
this necessity has been felt, and the minds of men in those elder
days inclined naturally to canals. In the days of the old kings of
Egypt, antecedent to Cleopatra, attempts were made to cut through the
sands and shallow lakes from the eastern margin of the Nile's delta
to the Red Sea; and the idea of piercing Central America in some
point occurred to the Spaniards immediately on their discovering
the relative position of the two oceans. But in those days men were
infants, not as yet trusted with the carving-knife.
The work which unsuccessfully filled the brains of so many thoughtful
men for so many years has now been done--at any rate to a degree.
Railways have been completed from Alexandria on the Mediterranean to
Suez on the Red Sea, and from Panama on the Pacific, to Aspinwall
or Colon on the Caribbean Sea. These railways are now at work, and
passengers are carried across with sufficient rapidity. The Isthmus
of Suez, over which the line of railway runs for something over
two hundred miles, creates a total delay to our Indian mails and
passengers of twenty-four hours only, and the lesser distance of the
American isthmus is traversed in three hours. Were rapidity here as
necessary as it is in the other case--and it will doubtless become
so--the conveyance from one sea to the other need not create a delay
of above twelve hours.
But not the less are many men--good and scientific men too--keenly
impressed with the idea that the two isthmuses should be pierced
with canals, although these railways are at work. All mankind has
heard much of M. Lesseps and his Suez canal. On that matter I do not
mean to say much here. I have a very strong opinion that such canal
will not and cannot be made; that all the strength of the arguments
adduced in the matter are hostile to it; and that steam navigation
by land will and ought to be the means of transit through Egypt. But
that matter is a long way distant from our present subject. It is
with reference to the transit over the other isthmus that I propose
to say a few words.
It is singular, or perhaps if rightly considered not singular, that
both the railways have been constructed mainly by Anglo-Saxon science
and energy, and under the pressure of Anglo-Saxon influence; while
both the canal schemes most prevalent at the present day owe their
repute to French eloquence and French enthusiasm. M. Lesseps is the
patron of the Suez canal, and M. Belly of that which is, or is not to
be, constructed from San Juan del Norte, or Greytown, to the shores
of the Pacific.
There are three proposed methods of crossing the isthmus, that by
railway, that by canal, and a third by the ordinary use of such
ordinary means of conveyance as the land and the waters of the
country afford.
As regards railway passage, one line being now open and at work,
has those nine points in its favour which possession gives. It does
convey men and goods across with great rapidity, and is a reality,
doing that which it pretends to do. Its charges, however, are very
high; and it would doubtless be well if competition, or fear of
competition, could be made to lower them. Five pound is charged for
conveying a passenger less than fifty miles; no class of passengers
can cross at a cheaper fare; and the rates charged for goods are
as high in comparison. On the other side, it may be said that
the project was one of great risk, that the line was from its
circumstances very costly, having been made at an expense of about
thirty-two thousand pounds a mile--I believe, however, that a
considerable portion of the London and Birmingham line was equally
expensive--and that trains by which money can be made cannot run
often, perhaps only six or seven times a month each way.
It is, however, very desirous that the fares should be lowered, and
the great profits accruing to the railway prove that this may be
done. Eventually they doubtless will be lowered.
The only other line of railway which now seems to be spoken of as
practicable for the passage of the isthmus is one the construction
of which has been proposed across the republic of Honduras, from a
spot called Port Cortez, in the Bay of Honduras, on the northern or
Atlantic side, to some harbour to be chosen in the Bay of Fonseca, on
the southern or Pacific side. Mr. Squier, who was Chargé d'Affaires
from the United States to Central America, and whose work on the
republics of Central America is well known, strongly advocates this
line, showing in the first place that from its position it would suit
the traffic of the United States much better than that of Panama;
as undoubtedly it would, seeing that the transit from New York to
California, viâ Panama, must go down south as far as latitude 7°
north; whereas, by the proposed route through Honduras it need not
descend below lat. 13° north, thus saving double that distance in
the total run each way.* Mr. Squier then goes on to prove that the
country of Honduras is in every way suited for the purposes of a
railway; but here I am not sure that he carries me with him. The road
would have to ascend nearly three thousand feet above the sea-level;
and though it may be true that the grades themselves would not be
more severe than many that are now to be found on railways in full
work in other countries, nevertheless it must be felt that the
overcoming such an altitude in such a country, and the working over
it when overcome, would necessarily add greatly to the original cost
of the line, and the subsequent cost of running. The Panama line
goes through a country comparatively level. Then the distance across
Honduras is one hundred and fifty miles, and it is computed that the
line would be two hundred miles: the length of the Panama line is
forty-seven or forty-eight miles.
[*Not that we may take all that Mr. Squier says on this
subject as proved. His proposed route for the traffic of the
United States is from the western coast of Florida to the
chosen port, Port Cortez, in Honduras; and he attempts to
show that this is pretty nearly the only possible passage in
those seas free from hurricanes and danger. But this passage
is right across the Gulf of Mexico, and vessels would have
to stem the full force of the gulf-stream on their passage
down from Florida.
In all such matters where a man becomes warm on a scheme he
feels himself compelled to prove that the gods themselves
have pointed out the plan as the only one fit for adoption,
as the only one free from all evil and blessed with every
advantage. We are always over-proving our points.]
The enormous cost of the Panama line arose from the difficulty of
obtaining the necessary sort of labour. The natives would not work as
they were wanted, and Europeans died there; so that, at last, labour
was imported from the coast of New Granada. At the high level named
as the summit of the Honduras route, the climate would no doubt be
comparatively mild, and labour easy to be borne; but near the coast
of the Bays, both of Honduras and Fonseca, the heat would be as great
as at Aspinwall and Panama, and the effects probably the same.
As regards our British traffic, the route by the Isthmus of Panama is
the better situated of the two. Looking at a map of the world--and
it is necessary to take in the whole world, in order that the
courses of British trade may be seen--it does not seem to be of much
consequence, as regards distance, whether a bale of goods from London
to Sydney should pass the isthmus by Honduras or Panama; but in
fact, even for this route, the former would labour under great
disadvantages. A ship in making its way from Honduras up to Jamaica
has to fight against the trade winds. On this account our mail
steamer from Belize to Jamaica is timed only at four miles an hour,
though the mail to Honduras is timed at eight miles an hour. This
would be the direct route from the terminus of the Honduras line
to Europe, and matters would be made only worse if any other line
were taken. But the track from Panama to Jamaica is subject to what
sailors call a soldier's wind; even working to St. Thomas, and
thereby getting a stronger slant of the trade winds against them, our
mail steamers can make eight or nine miles an hour.
As regards our trade to Chili and Peru, it is clear that Honduras
is altogether out of our way; and as regards our coming trade to
Frazer River and Vancouver's Island, though the absolute distance,
via Honduras, would be something shorter, that benefit would be
neutralized by the disadvantageous position of the Bay of Honduras
as above explained.
But the great advantage which the Panama line enjoys is the fact of
its being already made. _It has the nine points which possession
gives it._ Its forty-eight miles cost one million six hundred
thousand pounds. It cannot be presumed that two hundred miles through
Honduras could be made for double that sum; and seeing that the
Honduras line would be in opposition to the other, and only be used
if running at fares lower than those of its rival, I cannot see how
it would pay, or where the money is to be procured. I am not aware
that the absolute cost of the proposed line through Honduras has been
accurately computed.
As regards the public interest, two lines would no doubt be better
than one. Competition is always beneficial to the consumer; but in
this case, I do not expect to see the second line made in our days.
That there will in future days be a dozen ways of commodiously
crossing the isthmus--when we have thoroughly learned how best to
carve our leg of mutton--I do not at all doubt.
It may be as well to state here that England is bound by a treaty
with Honduras, made in 1836, to assist in furthering the execution
of this work by our countenance, aid, and protection, on condition
that when made, we Britishers are to have the full use of it;
as much so, at least, as any other people or nation. And that,
as I take it, is the sole and only meaning of all those treaties
made on our behalf with Central America, or in respect to Central
America--Clayton-Bulwer treaty, new Ouseley treaty, and others;
namely, that we, who are desirous of excluding no person from the
benefits of this public world-road, are not ourselves to be excluded
on any consideration whatever. And may we not boast that this is the
only object looked for in all our treaties and diplomatic doings?
Is it not for that reason that we hold Gibraltar, are jealous about
Egypt, and resolved to have Perim in our power? Is it not true that
we would fain make all ways open to all men? that we would have them
open to ourselves, certainly; but not closed against any human being?
If that, and such like, be not what our diplomatists are doing, then
I, for one, misunderstand their trade.
So much for the two railways, and now as to the proposed canals. Here
no happy undertaking can boast of the joys of possession. No canal is
as yet open carrying men and goods with, shall we say, twenty-five
per cent. profit on the outlay. Ah, that is an elysium which does not
readily repeat itself. Oh, thou thrice happy Colonel Totten, who hast
constructed a railway resulting in such celestial beatitude!
The name of canals projected across the isthmus has been legion, and
the merits of them all have in their time been hotly pressed by their
special advocates. That most to the north, which was the passage
selected by Cortes, and pressed by him on the Spanish government,
would pass through Mexico. The line would be from the Gulf of
Campechay, up the river Coatzacoalcoz, to Tehuantepec, on the
Pacific. This was advocated as lately as 1845, but has now, I
believe, been abandoned as impracticable. Going south down the map,
the next proposition of which I can find mention is for a canal from
the head of the Lake of Dulce through the state of Guatemala; the
Lake or Gulf of Dulce being at the head of the Gulf of Honduras.
This also seems to have been abandoned. Then we come to the proposed
Honduras railway, of which mention has been made.
Next below this we reach a cluster of canals, all going through the
great inland lake of Nicaragua. This scheme, or one of these schemes,
has also been in existence since the times of the early Spaniards;
and has been adhered to with more or less pertinacity ever since.
This Lake of Nicaragua was to be reached either direct by the river
San Juan, or by entering the river San Juan from the ocean by the
river Colorado, which is in effect a branch of the San Juan; the
projected canal would thus ascend to the lake. From thence to the
Pacific various passages for egress have been suggested; at first it
was intended, naturally, to get out at the nearest practicable point,
that being probably at San Juan del Sur. They have San Juans and San
Josés quite at pleasure about these countries.
Then came the grand plan of the present French emperor, bearing at
least his name, and first published, I think, in 1846; this was a
very grand plan, of course. The route of "transit" was to be right up
the Lake of Nicaragua to its northern point; there the canal was to
enter the River Tipitapa, and come out again in the northern Lake of
Managua; from thence it was to be taken out to the Pacific at the
port of Realejo. This project included the building of an enormous
city, which was to contain the wealth of the new world, and to be, as
it were, a new Constantinople between the two lakes; but the scheme
has been abandoned as being too costly, too imperial.
And now we have M. Belly's scheme; his scheme and pamphlet of which I
will say a few words just now, and therefore I pass on to the others.
The line of the River Chargres, and from thence to the town of
Panama--being very nearly the line of the present railway--was
long contemplated with favour, but has now been abandoned as
impracticable; as has also the line over the Isthmus of Darien,
which was for a while thought to be the most feasible, as being
the shortest. The lie of the land, however, and the nature of the
obstacles to be overcome, have put this scheme altogether out of the
question.
Next and last is the course of the River Atrato, which runs into the
Gulf of Darien, but which is, in fact, the first of the great rivers
of South America; first, that is, counting them as commencing from
the isthmus. It runs down from the Andes parallel to the coast of
the Pacific, and is navigable for many miles. The necessary surveys,
however, for connecting this river with the Pacific have never yet
been made; and even if this plan were practicable, the extremely low
latitude at which the Pacific ocean would be reached would make such
a line bad for our trade, and quite out of the question for the chief
portion of the American "transit."
It appears, therefore, that there are insuperable objections to all
these canal routes, unless it be to some route passing through the
Lake of Nicaragua. By reference to a map of Central America it will
be seen that the waters of this lake, joined to those of the San Juan
river, comprise the breadth of nearly the whole isthmus, leaving a
distance not exceeding twenty miles to be conquered by a canal. At
first sight this appears to be very enticing, and M. Belly has been
enticed. He has been enticed, or at any rate writes as though this
were the case; anything worded more eloquently, energetically, and
grandiloquently, than his pamphlet in favour of this route I have not
met, even among French pamphlets.
M. Felix Belly describes himself as a "publiciste," and chevalier of
the order of Saint Maurice and Lazarus, and of the order of Medjidie.
As such he has made a convention with Don Thomas Martinez, President
of the republic of Nicaragua, and with Don Juan Rafael Mora,
President of the republic of Costa Rica, in accordance with which he,
Chevalier Belly, is to cut a canal or water-route for ships through
the territories of those potentates, obtaining thereby certain
vast privileges, including the possession of no small portion of
those territories, and the right of levying all manner of tolls on
the world's commerce which is to pass through his canal. And the
potentates above named are in return to receive from M. Belly very
considerable subsidies out of these tolls. They bind themselves,
moreover, to permit no other traffic or transit through their
country, securing to M. Belly for ninety-nine years the monopoly
of the job; and granting to him the great diplomatic privilege of
constituting his canal, let it be here or there, the boundary of the
realms of these two potentates.
What strikes me with the greatest wonder on reading--not the
pamphlet, for that is perhaps more wonderful in other respects--but
the articles of the convention, is, that these three persons, the
potentates aforesaid and the chevalier, should have among them the
power of doing all this; or that they should even have had the power
of agreeing to do all this; for really up to this period one seems
hardly to have heard in England much about any one of them.
That there should be presidents of these two republics is supposed,
as there are also, doubtless, of San Salvador and Venezuela, and
all the other western republics; but it is to be presumed that as
presidents of republics they can have themselves no more power to
give away a ninety-nine years' possession of their lands and waters
than can any other citizen. Mr. Buchanan could hardly sell to any
Englishman, however enterprising, the right of making a railway from
New York to San Francisco. The convention does certainly bear two
other signatures, which purport to be those of the ministers of
foreign affairs attached to those two republics; but even this hardly
seems to give us a sufficient guarantee of power. What if we should
put our money into the canal, and future presidents should refuse to
be bound by the agreement?
But M. Belly's name stands on his side alone. No foreign minister or
aide-de-camp is necessary to back his signature. The two potentates
having agreed to give the country, he will agree to make the
canal--he, M. Belly, Publiciste and Chevalier. It is to cost
altogether, according to his account, 120,000,000 francs--say,
four million eight hundred thousand pounds sterling. Of a company,
chairman, and directors we hear nothing. We cannot find that the
shares are in the market. Probably they may be too valuable. On our
own Stock Exchange the matter does not seem to be much known, nor do
we perceive that it is quoted among French prices. Nevertheless, M.
Belly has the four million eight hundred thousand pounds already in
his breeches-pockets, and he will make the canal. I wonder whether he
would drain London for us if we were to ask him.
But wonderful as is the fact that these three gentlemen should be
about to accomplish this magnificent undertaking for the world, the
eloquence of the language in which the undertaking is described is
perhaps more wonderful still.
"On the first of May, 1858, at Rivas, in Nicaragua, in the midst of a
concourse of circumstances full of grandeur, a convention was signed
which opens to civilization a new view and unlimited horizons. The
hour has come for commencing with resolution this enterprise of
cutting the Isthmus of Panama. ... The solution of the problem
must be no longer retarded. It belongs to an epoch which has given
to itself the mission of pulling down barriers and suppressing
distances. It must be regarded, not as a private speculation, but as
a creation of public interest--not as the work of this people or that
party, but as springing from civilization itself." Then M. Belly goes
on to say that this project, emanating from a man sympathetic with
the cause and a witness of the heroism of Central America, namely
himself, possesses advantages--which of course could not attach to
any scheme devised by a less godlike being.
It may be seen that I have no great belief in the scheme of M. Belly;
neither have I in many other schemes of the present day emanating
from Englishmen, Americans, and others. But it is not that disbelief,
but my admiration for French eloquence which urges me to make the
above translation. Alas! I feel that I have lost so much of the
Gallic fragrance! The Parisian aroma has escaped from the poor
English words!
Is not this peculiar eloquence used in propagating all French
projects for increased civilization? From the invention of a new
constitution to that of a new shirt is it even wanting? We, with our
stupid, unimaginative platitudes, know no better than to write up
"Eureka" when we think we have discovered anything; but a Frenchman
tells his countrymen that they need no longer be mortals; a new era
has come; let them wear his slippers and they will walk as gods
walk. How many new eras have there not been? Who is not sick of the
grandiloquence of French progress? "Now--now we have taken the one
great step. The dove at length may nestle with the kite, the lamb
drink with the wolf. Men may share their goods, certain that others
will share with them. Labour and wages, work and its reward, shall
be systematized. Now we have done it, and the world shall be happy."
Well; perhaps the French world is happy. It may be that the liberty
which they have propagated, the equality which they enjoy, and the
fraternity which they practise, is fit for them!
But when has truly mighty work been heralded by magniloquence? Did
we have any grand words from old George Stephenson, with his "vera
awkward for the cou"? Was there aught of the eloquent sententiousness
of a French marshal about the lines of Torres Vedras? Was Luther apt
to speak with great phraseology? If words ever convey to my ears a
positive contradiction of the assertion which they affect to make, it
is when they are grandly antithetical and magnificently verbose. If,
in addition to this, they promise to mankind "new epochs, new views,
and unlimited horizons," surely no further proof can be needed that
they are vain, empty, and untrue.
But the language in which this proposal for a canal is couched is
hardly worth so much consideration--would be worth no consideration
at all, did it not come before us now as an emblem of that which
at this present time is the most pernicious point in the French
character; a false boasting of truth and honesty, with little or no
relish for true truth and true honesty.
The present question is whether M. Belly's canal scheme be feasible;
and, if feasible, whether he has or can attain the means of carrying
it out.
In the first place, it has already come to pass that the convention
signed with such unlimited horizons has proved to be powerless. It is
an undoubted fact that it was agreed to by the two presidents; and as
far as one of them is concerned, it is, I fear, a fact also that for
the present he has sufficient power in his own territory to bind his
countrymen, at any rate for a time, by his unsupported signature. Don
Juan Rafael Mora, in Costa Rica, need care for no congress. If he
were called dictator instead of president, the change would only
be in the word. But this is not exactly so in Nicaragua. There, it
seems, the congress has refused to ratify the treaty as originally
made. But they have, I believe, ratified another, in which M. Belly's
undertaking to make the canal is the same as before, but from which
the enormous grant of land, and the stipulations as to the boundary
line of the territories are excluded.
In M. Belly's pamphlet he publishes a letter which he has received
from Lord Malmesbury, as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs--or
rather a French translation of such a letter. It is this letter which
appears to have given in Central America the strongest guarantee
that something is truly intended by M. Belly's project. Both in the
pamphlet, and in the convention itself, repeated reference is made
to the French government; but no document is given, nor even is any
positive assertion made, that the government of the emperor in any
way recognizes the scheme. But if this letter be true, and truly
translated, Lord Malmesbury has done so to a certain extent. "And
I am happy," says the letter, "to be able to assure you that the
stipulations of the treaty made between Great Britain and the United
States, commonly called the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, are in my opinion
applicable to your project, if you put it in execution."* And then
this letter, written to a private gentleman holding no official
position, is signed by the Secretary of State himself. M. Belly holds
no official position, but he is addressed in his translation of Lord
Malmesbury's letter as "Concessionnaire du Canal de Nicaragua."
[*See note to page 29, 12th edition. I have not happened
to meet with any earlier edition of the work.]
Such a letter from such a quarter has certainly been very useful to
M. Belly. In the minds of the presidents of the republics of Central
America it must have gone far to prove that England at any rate
regards M. Belly as no adventurer. There are many of the clauses
of the convention to which I should have imagined that the English
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs would not have given an
assent, although he might not be called on to express dissent. In
the 26th Article it is stipulated that during the making of the
canal--which if it were to be made at all would be protracted over
many years--two French ships of war should lie in the Lake of
Nicaragua; it having been stipulated by Art. 24 that no other
ships of war should be admitted; thus giving to France a military
occupation of the country. And by Art. 28 it is agreed that any
political squabble relative to this convention should be referred to
a tribunal of seven; two to be named by the company, and one each by
France, England, the United States, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. It is,
I imagine, hardly probable that the English government would send one
member to such a tribunal, in which France would have three voices to
her one, two of which voices would be wholly irresponsible.
Of course the letter does not bind Lord Malmesbury or any secretary
for foreign affairs to the different articles of the convention;
but if it be a genuine letter, I cannot but think it to have been
imprudent.*
[*M. Belly speaks of his convention as having been adopted
by France, England, and the United States. "Adopted, as it
already is, by the United States, by England, and by France,
and as it soon will be by the contracting Powers of the
Treaty of Paris, it will become"--the saviour of the world,
&c. &c. What basis there is for this statement, as regards
France and the United States, I do not know. As regards
England, I presume Lord Malmesbury's letter affords that
basis.]
The assistance of Lord Malmesbury has been obtained by the easy
progress of addressing a letter to him. But to seduce the presidents
of Central America a greater effort has been made. They are told
that they are the wisest of the earth's potentates. "Carrera, of
Guatemala, though an Indian and uneducated, is a man of natural
genius, and has governed for fifteen years with a wisdom which has
attracted to him the unanimous adherence of his colleagues." "Don
Juan Mora, of Costa Rica, the hero of Rivas, has not had to spill
a drop of blood in maintaining in his cities an order much more
perfect than any to be found in Europe. He is a man, 'hors de ligne,'
altogether out of the common; and although he counts scarcely forty
years, but few political examples of old Europe can be compared to
him." And as for General Martinez, President of Nicaragua, "since he
has arrived at the direction of affairs there, he would have healed
all the wounds of the country--had not the fatal influence of
North American spirit paralyzed all his efforts." What wonder that
Presidents so spoken of should sign away their lands and waters?
But presuming all political obstacles to be removed, and that as
regards the possession of the land, and the right of making a
canal through it, everything had been conceded, there remain two
considerable difficulties. In the first place, the nature of the
waters and land, which seems to prohibit the cutting of a canal,
except at an expense much more enormous than any that has been ever
named; and secondly, the amount of money to be collected, even if M.
Belly's figures be correct. He states that he can complete the work
for four million eight hundred thousand pounds. From whence is that
sum to be procured?
As regards the first difficulty, I, from my own knowledge, can
say nothing, not being an engineer, and having seen only a small
portion of the projected route. I must therefore refer to M. Belly's
engineer, and those who hold views differing from M. Belly. M.
Belly's engineer-in-chief is M. Thomé de Gamond, who, in the pamphlet
above alluded to, puts forward his calculations, and sends in his
demand for the work at four million eight hundred thousand pounds.
The route is by the river San Juan, a portion of which is so shallow
that canoes in their course are frequently grounded when the waters
are low, and other parts of which consist of rapids. It then goes
through the lake, a channel through which must be dredged or cleared
with gunpowder before it can carry deep-sea ships, and then out to
the Pacific by a canal which must be cut through the mountains.
There is nothing in the mere sound of all this to make a man, who is
ignorant on the subject as I and most men are, feel that the work
could not be done for the sum named. But before investing cash in the
plan, one would like to be sure of the engineer, and to know that he
has made his surveys very accurately.
Now it appears that M. Thomé de Gamond has never set foot in Central
America; or, if he has done so now--and I do not know whether he has
or has not--he never had done so when he drew out his project. Nor,
as it would appear, has he even done his work, trusting to the eyes
and hands of others. As far as one can learn, no surveys whatsoever
have been taken for this gigantic scheme.
The engineer tells us that he has used marine charts and
hydrographical drawings made by officers of various nations, which
enable him to regard his own knowledge as sufficiently exact as far
as shores and levels of the rivers, &c., are concerned; and that
with reference to the track of his canal, he has taken into his
service--"utilisé"--the works of various surveying engineers, among
them Colonel Child, the American. They, to be sure, do leave him at
a loss as to the interior plateau of the Mosquito country, and some
regions to the east and south of the lake--the canal must enter the
lake by the south-east;--but this is a matter of no moment, seeing
that all these countries are covered by virgin forests, and can
therefore easily be arranged! Gentlemen capitalists, will you on this
showing take shares in the concern?
The best real survey executed with reference to any kindred project
was that made by Colonel Child, an officer of engineers belonging
to the United States. I believe I may say this without hesitation;
and it is to Colonel Child's survey that M. Belly most frequently
refers. But the facts, as stated by Colonel Child, prove the absolute
absurdity of M. Belly's plan. He was employed in 1851 by an American
company, which, as it went to the considerable expense of having such
work absolutely done, was no doubt in earnest in its intentions with
reference to a canal. Colonel Child did not actually report against
the canal. He explained what could be done for a certain sum of
money, leaving it to others to decide whether, in effecting so much,
that sum of money would be well laid out. He showed that a canal
seventeen feet deep might be made--taking the course of the San
Juan and that of the lake, as suggested by M. Belly--for a sum of
thirty-one millions of dollars, or six million two hundred thousand
pounds.
But when the matter came to be considered by men versed in such
concerns, it was seen that a canal with a depth of only seventeen
feet of water would not admit of such vessels as those by which alone
such a canal could be beneficially used. Passengers, treasure, and
light goods can easily be transhipped and carried across by railway.
The canal, if made at all, must be made for the passage of large
vessels built for heavy goods. For such vessels a canal must hold not
less than twenty-five feet of water. It was calculated that a cutting
of such depth would cost much more than double the sum needed for
that intended to contain seventeen feet--more, that is, than twelve
million four hundred thousand pounds. The matter was then abandoned,
on the conviction that no ship canal made at such a cost could by
any probability become remunerative. In point of time it could never
compete with the railway. Colonel Child had calculated that a delay
of two days would take place in the locks; and even as regards heavy
goods, no extreme freight could be levied, as saving of expense with
them would be of much greater object than saving of time.
That this decision was reached on good grounds, and that the project,
then, at any rate, was made bonâ fide there can, I believe, be no
doubt. In opposition to such a decision, made on such grounds, and
with no encouragement but that given by the calculations of an
engineer who has himself made no surveys, I cannot think it likely
that this new plan will ever be carried out The eloquence even of M.
Belly, backed by such arguments, will hardly collect four million
eight hundred thousand pounds; and even if it did, the prudence of M,
Belly would hardly throw such an amount of treasure into the San Juan
river.
As I have before said, there appears to have been no company formed.
M. Belly is the director, and he has a bureau of direction in the Rue
de Provence. But though deficient as regards chairmen, directors,
and shareholders, he is magnificently provided with high-sounding
officials. Then again there comes a blank. Though the corps of
officers was complete when I was in Costa Rica, at any rate as
regards their names, the workmen had not arrived; not even the
skilled labourers who were to come in detachments of forty-five
by each mail packet. The mail packets came, but not the skilled
labourers.
Shortly before my arrival at San José, there appeared in the
journal published in that town a list of officers to be employed
by M. Felix Belly, the Director-General "De la Compañie Del Canal
Atlantico-Pacifico." The first of these is Don Andres Le Vasseur,
Minister Plenipotentiary, Veteran Officer of the Guard Imperial,
Commander of the Legion of Honour, and Knight of the Order of St.
Gregory. He is Secretary-General of the Direction. Then there are
other secretaries. In the first place, Prince Polignac, Veteran
Officer of the Cavalry of the Cazadores in Africa, &c. He at any rate
is a fact! for did I not meet him and the O'Gorman Mahon--Nicodemus
and Polyphemus--not "standing naked in the open air," but drinking
brandy and water at the little inn at Esparza? "Arcades ambo!" The
next secretary is Don Henrique Le Vasseur. He is Dibujador fotografo,
which I take to mean photographical artist; and then Don Andres
L'Heritier; he is the private secretary.
We next come to the engineers. With reference to geology and
mineralogy, M. Belly has employed Don José Durocher, whose titles,
taken from the faculty of science at Rennes, the Legion of Honour,
&c., are too long to quote. Don Eugénio Ponsard, who also is not
without his titles, is the working engineer on these subjects. And
then joined to them as adjutant-engineer is Don Henrique Peudifer,
whose name is also honoured with various adjuncts.
The engineers who are to be intrusted with the surveys and works of
the canals are named next. There are four such, to whom are joined
five conductors of the works and eight special masters of the men.
All these composed an expedition which left Southampton on the 17th
of February, 1859,--or which should so have left it, had they acted
up to M. Belly's promises.
Then by the packet of the 2nd of March, 1859, there came--or at least
there should have come, for we are told that they sailed--another
expedition. I cannot afford to give all the names, but they are
full-sounding and very honourable. Among them there was a maker of
bricks, who in his own country had been a chief of the works in the
imperial manufactory of porcelain at Sèvres. Having enticed him from
so high a position, it is to be hoped that M. Belly will treat him
well in Central America. There are, or were, hydrographical engineers
and agricultural engineers, master carpenters, and masters of various
other specialties.
I fear all these gentlemen came to grief on the road, for I think
I may say that no such learned troops came through with the mail
packets which left Southampton on the days indicated.
Then by the following steamers there would, it is stated, be
despatched in succession an inspector of telegraphs, an engineer for
making gas, an engineer to be charged with the fabrication of the
iron way, an agriculturist-in-chief, a scientific commission for
geology, mineralogy, meteorology, and natural history in general. And
attached to all the engineers will come--or now long since should
have come--the conductors of works and special masters of men, who
are joined with them in their operations. These are to consist
principally of veteran soldiers of the Engineers and the Artillery.
These gentlemen also must, I fear, have been cast away between
Southampton and St. Thomas, if they left the former port by either
of the two mail steamers following those two specially indicated. I
think I may say positively that no such parties were forwarded from
St. Thomas.
The general inspection of the works will be intrusted ultimately to
a French and to an English engineer. The Frenchman will of course be
M. Thomé de Gamond. The Englishman is to be "Mr. Locke, Member of
Parliament." If, indeed, this latter assertion were true! But I think
I may take upon myself to say that it is untrue.
All the above certainly sounds very grand, especially when given at
full length in the Spanish language. Out there, in Central America,
the list is effective. Here, in England, we should like to see the
list of the directors as well, and to have some idea how much money
has been subscribed. Mankind perhaps can trust M. Belly for much, but
not for everything.
In the month of May Don Juan Rafael Mora, the President of Costa
Rica, left his dominions and proceeded to Rivas, in Nicaragua, to
assist at the inauguration of the opening of the works of the canal.
When I and my companion met him at Esparza, accompanied by Nicodemus
and Polyphemus, he was making this journey. M. Belly has already
described in eloquent language how on a previous occasion this
potentate condescended to leave his own kingdom and visit that of
a neighbour; thus sacrificing individual rank for the benefit of
humanity and civilization. He was willing to do this even once again.
Having borrowed a French man-of-war to carry him from Punta-arenas,
in his own territories, to St. Juan del Sur, in the territory of
Nicaragua, he started with his suite, of whom the Prince and the
O'Gorman were such distinguished members. But, lo! when he arrived
at Rivas, a few miles up from San Juan del Sur--at Rivas, where with
gala holiday triumph the canal was to be inaugurated--the canal from
whence were to come new views and unlimited horizons--lo! when he
there arrived, no brother-president was there to meet him, no M.
Belly, attended by engineers-in-chief and brickmakers from Sèvres,
to do him honour. There was not even one French pupil from the
Polytechnic School to turn a sod with a silver spade. In lieu of
this, some custom-house officer of Nicaragua called upon poor Don
Juan to pay the usual duty on bringing his portmanteau into Rivas.
Other new views, and other unlimited horizons had, it seems, been
dawning on M. Belly.
One of the first words of which a man has to learn the meaning on
reaching these countries is "transit." Central America can only be
great in the world--as Egypt can be only great--by being a passage
between other parts of the world which are in themselves great. We
Englishmen all know Crewe; Crewe has become a town of considerable
importance, as being a great railway junction. Men must reach Crewe
and leave Crewe continually, and the concourse there has rendered
labour necessary; labourers of all sorts must live in houses, and
require bakers and grocers to supply them. So Crewe has grown up
and grown important; and so will Central America become important.
Aspinwall--Colon, as we call it--has become a town in this way within
the last ten years.
"Transit" in these parts means the trade of carrying people across
Central America; and a deal of "transit" has been done and money made
by carrying people across Nicaragua by way of the great lake. This
has hitherto been effected by shallow-bottomed boats. I will say one
word or so on the subject when I have done, as I very soon shall have
done, with M. Belly.
Now it is very generally thought that M. Belly when he speaks of this
canal means "transit." There can be no question but that a great
carrying trade might be opened, much to the advantage of Nicaragua,
and to the advantage of Costa Rica also though not to the same
extent. If all this canal grandiloquence would pave the way to
"transit," might it not be well? What if another agreement could be
made, giving to M. Belly and his company the sole right of "transit"
through Nicaragua, till the grand canal should be completed--a very
long lease; might not something be done in this way? But Don Juan
Mora there, Don Juan of Costa Rica, that man altogether "hors de
ligne," grand as he is, need know nothing about this. Let him,
left quite in darkness as to this new view, these altered unlimited
horizons, go to Rivas if he will, and pay his custom dues.
It may be that I have written at too great length, and with an energy
disproportionate to the subject, on this matter of the Nicaraguan
canal scheme. I do not know that the English public generally, or at
any rate that portion of it which may perhaps read my book, is very
deeply interested in the subject. We hear now and then something of
the Clayton-Bulwer treaty, and a word or two is said about the Panama
route to Australia, but the subject is not generally interesting to
us, as is that of the passage through Egypt. We can reach Australia
by another and a shorter route; and as for Vancouver's Island and
Frazer River, they as yet are very young.
But the matter will become of importance. And to a man in Central
America, let his visit to that country be ever so short, it becomes
at once important. To me it was grievous to find a work so necessary
to the world as this of opening a way over the isthmus, tampered
with, and to a degree hindered by a scheme which I cannot but regard
as unreal. But unreal as it may be, this project has reached
dimensions which make it in some way worthy of notice. A French ship
of war was sent to take the President Mora and his suite on their
unfortunate journey to Rivas; and an English ship of war was sent to
bring them back. The extension of such privileges to the president of
a republic in Central America may be very well; but men, seeing on
what business this president was travelling, not unnaturally regarded
the courtesy as an acknowledgment of the importance of M. Belly's
work.
I do not wish to use hard names, but I cannot think that the project
of which I have been speaking covers any true intention of making
a canal. And such schemes, if not real, if not true in the outward
bearings which they show to the world, go far to deter others which
might be real. And now I will say nothing further about M. Belly.
As I have before stated, there was some few years since a
considerable passenger traffic through Central America by the route
of the Lake of Nicaragua. This of course was in the hands of the
Americans, and the passengers were chiefly those going and coming
between the Eastern States and California. They came down to
Greytown, at the mouth of the San Juan river, in steamers from New
York, and I believe from various American ports, went up the San Juan
river in other steamers with flat bottoms prepared for those waters,
across the lake in the same way, and then by a good road over the
intervening neck of land between the lake and the Pacific.
Of course the Panama railway has done much to interfere with this. In
the first place, a rival route has thus been opened; though I doubt
whether it would be a quicker route from New York to California
if the way by the Lake were well organized. And then the company
possessing the line of steamers running to Aspinwall from New York
has been able to buy off the line which would otherwise run to
Greytown.
But this rivalship has not been the main cause of the total stoppage
of the Nicaraguan route. The filibusters came into that land and
destroyed everything. They dropped down from California on Realejo,
Leon, Manaqua, Granada, and all the western coast of Nicaragua.
Then others came from the South-Eastern States, from Mobile and New
Orleans, and swarmed up the San Juan river, devouring everything
before them. There can be no doubt that Walker's idea, in his attempt
to possess himself of this country, was that he could thus become
master of the passage across the isthmus. He saw, as so many others
have seen, the importance of the locality in this point of view; and
he probably felt that if he could make himself lord of the soil by
his own exertions, and on his own bottom, his mother country, the
United States, would not be slow to recognize him. "I," he would have
said, "have procured for you the ownership of the road which is so
desirable for you. Pay me, by making me your lieutenant here, and
protecting me in that position."
The idea was not badly planned, but it was of course radically
unjust. It was a contemplated filching of the road. And Walker found,
as all men do find, that he could not easily get good tools to do
bad work. He tried the job with a very rough lot of tools; and now,
though he has done much harm to others, he has done very little good
to himself. I do not think that we shall hear much more of him.
And among the worst of the injuries which he has done is this
disturbance of the Lake traffic. This route has been altogether
abandoned. There, in the San Juan river, is to be seen one old
steamer with its bottom upwards, a relic of the filibusters and their
destruction. All along the banks tales are told of their injustice
and sufferings. How recklessly they robbed on their journey up the
country, and how they returned back to Greytown--those who did
return, whose bones are not whitening the Lake shores--wounded,
maimed, and miserable.
Along the route traders were beginning to establish themselves, men
prepared to provide the travellers with food and drink, and the boats
with fuel for their steam. An end for the present has been put to all
this. The weak governments of the country have been able to afford
no protection to these men, and placed as they were, beyond the
protection of England or the United States, they have been completely
open to attack. The filibusters for a while have destroyed the
transit through Nicaragua; and it is hardly matter of surprise that
the presidents of that and the neighbouring republics should catch
at any scheme which proposes to give them back this advantage,
especially when promise is made of the additional advantage of
effectual protection.
It is much to be desired, on all accounts, that this route should
be again opened. Here, I think, is to be found the best chance of
establishing an immediate competition with the Panama railway. For
although such a route will not offer the comfort of the Panama
line, or, till it be well organized, the same rapidity, it would
nevertheless draw to it a great portion of the traffic, and men and
women going in numbers would be carried at cheaper rates; and these
cheaper rates in Nicaragua would probably at once lessen the fares
now charged by the Panama railway. Competition would certainly be
advantageous, and for the present I see no other opening for a
competitive route.
A railway along the banks of the San Juan would, I fear, be too
expensive. The distance is above one hundred and fifty miles, and
the line would be very costly. But a line of rails from the Lake to
the Pacific might be made comparatively at a small outlay, and would
greatly add to the comfort and rapidity of the passage.
To us Englishmen it is a matter of indifference in whose hands the
transit may be, so long as it is free, and open to all the world;
so long as a difference of nationality creates no difference in the
fares charged or in the facilities afforded. For our own purposes,
I have no doubt the Panama line is the best, and will be the route we
shall use. But we should be delighted to see a second line opened. If
Mr. Squier can accomplish his line through Honduras, we will give him
great honour, and acknowledge that he has done the world a service.
In the mean time, we shall be very happy to see the Lake transit
re-established.