FIRST SURVEYS OF PANAMA ROUTE.

37

in the mountain range which would permit of a passage at no greater height above the average level of the Pacific than thirty-seven feet. The company's statements excited extraordinary interest, and in 1843 Guizot, then Minister of Foreign Affairs, instructed Napolean Garella to proceed to Panama, to investigate the company's statements, and to make an independent examination of the entire situation.

Garella's report,* which was an able treatment of the subject, heavily discounted the claims of the Salomon company and led to its failure. An interoceanic canal was recommended as the only means of communication that could adequately meet the future demands of commerce. Garella agreed with Lloyd that the Atlantic terminus should be in the Bay of Limon rather than at the mouth of the Chagres. That river would be met by his canal near its junction with the Gatun. The reported low depression which had raised hopes of the practicability of a sea-level canal at a reasonable cost, could not be found. Garella suggested the passage of the divide by means of a tunnel more than three miles in length. The floor of this tunnel was to be 325 feet below the summit, 134 feet above the ocean, and the water level 158 feet above extreme high tide at Panama. The canal was to have a guard lock at each entrance and the summit level was to be reached

* Reprinted in House Report No. 322, 25th Cong. 3d session,

by eighteen locks on the Atlantic slope and sixteen on the Pacific. The water supply was to be derived from the Chagres through two feed-canals. The Pacific terminus was placed at Vaca de Monte, about twelve miles south of Panama. Garella estimated the cost of a canal on these lines at about twenty-five million dollars. At the cost of an additional three millions he calculated that a cut might be made in place of the tunnel.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNITED STATES AS A FACTOR IN THE CANAL QUESTION.

"About the middle of the century a succession of great events vastly increased the importance of a maritime connection between the two oceans to the United States. The dispute with Great Britain as to the boundary line west of the Rocky Mountains was settled by the Buchanan-Packenham Treaty in 1846, and in August, 1848, an act of Congress was passed under which Oregon became an organized territory. The war with Mexico was commenced early in 1846, and by the terms of the GuadalupeHidalgo Treaty, which closed it in 1848, California was ceded to the United States. Before the treaty had been ratified gold was discovered there, and in a few months many thousands from the eastern part of the country were seeking a way to the mining regions. To avoid the hardships and delays of the

UNITED STATES AND CANAL QUESTION. 39

journey across the plains or the voyage around the continent, lines of steamers and packets were established from New York to Chagres and San Juan del Norte and from Panama to San Francisco, some of the latter touching at the Pacific ports in Nicaragua. For a while those travelling by these routes had to make arrangements for crossing the isthmus after their arrival there, and were often subjected to serious personal inconveniences and suffering as well as to exorbitant charges.

THE UNITED STATES INSTITUTES NEGOTIATIONS FOR A RIGHT OF WAY.

"The requirements of travel and commerce demanded better methods of transportation between the Eastern States and the Pacific coast, but there were other reasons of a more public character for bringing these sections into closer communication. The establishment and maintenance of army posts and naval stations in the newly acquired and settled regions in the Far West, the extension of mail facilities to the inhabitants, and the discharge of other governmental functions, all required a connection in the shortest time and at the least distance that was possible and practicable. The importance of this connection was so manifest that the Government was aroused to action before all the enumerated causes had come into operation, and negotiations

were entered into with the Republic of New Granada to secure a right of transit across the Isthmus of Panama." * This object was effected by a treaty that was ratified in June, 1848.

The con

In the following year, Elijah Hise, the representative of the United States in Nicaragua, negotiated a treaty with that republic. By its terms Nicaragua undertook to confer upon the Government of the United States, or a corporation composed of its citizens, the exclusive right to construct and operate roads, railways, or canals, or any other medium of communication by means of ships or vehicles, between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean and through the territory of the former state. cessions made by this treaty were extremely liberal, but in consideration of them it was required that the United States should pledge itself to the protection of Nicaragua and should hold its army and navy and any other effective resources it might be able to command available for the defense of the Latin-American republic against foreign aggression. Nicaragua was prompted in this negotiation by the desire for aid in withstanding the policy of Great Britain, which at that time appeared to be directed toward extending her control of the Mosquito coast to the lower waters of the San Juan.

*

Report of the Isthmian Canal Commission. Washington, 1899-1901.