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The Nicaragua Canal in the Nineteenth Century: Prelude to American Empire in the Caribbean

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2009

Lawrence A. Clayton
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Extract

On a hot day in early 1890, American steam dredgers lowered their scoops into the mud of the San Juan River in Nicaragua, and so began the job of connecting the seas.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Latin American Studies , Volume 19 , Issue 2 , November 1987 , pp. 323 - 352
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1987

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References

1 Von Humboldt, Alexander, Viaje a las regiones equinociales del Nuevo Continente, hecho en 1799, 1800, 1802, 1803 y 1804 (5 vols., Caracas: Biblioteca Venezolana de Cultura, 1941–1942), v, 190–230Google Scholar, contains the most important and thorough disquisition by Humboldt on the subject of inter-oceanic canals and passages; McCullough, David, The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870–1914 (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1977), pp. 28–30.Google Scholar McCullough's prize-winning book is the most satisfying and thorough modern study of the making of the Panama Canal. He also covers the Nicaragua Canal in some detail, and I have drawn much from this source as well.

2 Folkman, David I. Jr, The Nicaragua Route (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1972), p. 7.Google Scholar This account is set in the mid-nineteenth century and is a good presentation of the basics of the Nicaragua route.

3 Ibid., p. 19.

4 Ibid., p. 24.

5 Ibid., p. 35; Childs, Orville Whitmore, Report of the Survey and Estimates of the Cost of Constructing the Interoceanic Ship Canal (New York: W. C. Bryant, 1852)Google Scholar; see also Squier, Ephraim G., Nicaragua: Its People, Scenery, Monuments, and the Proposed Interoceanic Canal, with maps and illustrations (2 vols., New York: Appleton & Co., 1852)Google Scholar for a full and colorful description of Nicaragua in the middle of the nineteenth century, and Hébert's, John ‘Maps by Ephraim George Squier: Journalist, Scholar, and Diplomat’, The Quarterly Journal of the Library of Congress, vol. 29, no. 1 (01 1972), pp. 14–31Google Scholar, for a short description of Squier's career and a description of the splendid maps.

6 Crowell, Jackson, ‘The United States and a Central American Canal, 1869–1877’, Hispanic American Historical Review, vol. 49, no. 1 (02 1969), pp. 27–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

7 Many sources exist for the study of the Maritime Canal Co.'s attempt between 1887 and 1893. Some of the best are Nicaragua Canal Construction Company, The Inter-Oceanic Canal of Nicaragua: Its History, Physical Condition, Plans and Prospects (New York: Nicaragua Canal Construction Company, 1891)Google Scholar, Keasbey, Lindley Miller, The Nicaragua Canal and Monroe Doctrine, A Political History of Isthmus Transit, with Special Reference to the Nicaragua Canal Project and the Attitude of the United States Government Thereto (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1896)Google Scholar; Colquhoun, Archibald Ross, The Key to the Pacific, the Nicaragua Canal (Westminster: A. Constable and Company, 1895)Google Scholar; numerous government reports, such as Nicaragua Canal, Reports of the Committee on Foreign Relatios of the Senate in the 51st, 52nd, and 53rd Congresses, with subject index (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1894)Google Scholar, which contains valuable testimony from many of the principals involved.

8 Most of the information for Morgan has been drawn from the John Tyler Morgan Papers, Manuscripts Division, Library of Congress (hereafter cited as JTM/LC). See also Radke, August Carl, ‘John Tyler Morgan: Expansionist Senator, 1877–1907’ (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Washington, 1953)Google Scholar and Anders, James Marvin, ‘Senatorial Career of John Tyler Morgan’ (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, George Peabody College for Teachers, 1956).Google Scholar A biography of Morgan's public career is being prepared by Professor Joseph A. Fry of the University of Nevada.

9 McCullough, , Path Between the Seas, pp. 260–1.Google Scholar

10 Ibid.

11 Ibid., pp. 252–3. See also Edmund Morris's biography of Roosevelt's career to 1901, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt (New York: Ballantine Books, 1979).Google Scholar

12 Morgan, for example, consistently opposed the Blair Bill in the 1890s, which would have provided public funds for public education. Morgan considered this law an intrusion on the rights of states to legislate on education as they saw fit; in another instance he only tepidly supported the Interstate Commerce Commission, sometimes being downright antagonistic, although basing his reasoning on a purely constitutional basis (i.e. the Commission was exercising judicial and legislative powers expressly forbidden to an administrative authority).

13 H. Hitchcock to J. Morgan, 6 July 1897, New York, JTM/LC.

14 McCullough, , Path, pp. 254–5.Google Scholar

15 Clayton, L. A., Grace, W. R. Grace & Co., the Formative Years, 1850–1930 (Ottawa, Illinois: Jameson Books, 1986), chapter 10.Google Scholar

16 James, Marquis, ‘Merchant Adventurer: The Story of William Russell Grace’ (unpublished book-length manuscript owned by W. R. Grace & Co.), p. 105.Google Scholar

17 James, , ‘Merchant’, p. 108Google Scholar, also, ‘Replies to Possible Objections’; typed notes, undated, with additions in William R. Grace's handwriting, W. R. Grace and Co. Papers, Rare Book and Manuscript Division, Columbia University (hereafter cited as GP/C).

18 H. Hitchcock to C. N. Bliss, 15 August 1898, New York, JTM/LC.

19 Karnes, Thomas L., Failure of Union: Central America, 1824–1960 (Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, 1961)Google Scholar is the best work in English on the subject.

20 Alexander S. Bacon to Edward F. Cragin, 22 Sept. 1898, San Jose, Costa Rica, GP/C.

21 Ibid.

22 Ibid.

23 Ibid.

24 Ibid.

25 Ibid.

26 Ibid.

27 H. Hitchcock to J. Morgan, 9 Oct. 1898, New York, JTM/LC.

28 The Union never went into effect, but of course the principals could not foresee that end.

29 C. Donaldson to H. Hitchcock, Jan. 1899, Managua, JTM/LC.

30 Ibid.

31 H. Hitchcock to J. Morgan, 22 Nov. 1898, New York, JTM/LC.

32 James, , ‘Merchant’, p. 107.Google Scholar

33 Edward Eyre to M. P. Grace, 16 Oct. 1898, Managua, GP/C.

34 Ibid.

35 Ibid.

36 M. P. Grace to José Santos Zelaya, 29 Oct. 1899, New York, GP/C.

37 Ibid.

38 H. Hitchcock to J. Morgan, 7 Nov. 1898, New York, JTM/LC. Hitchcock told Morgan that Correa's note was a mere ‘rumor in Managua’ and ‘I am trying to run it down’.

39 Zelaya, J. S., Mensaje del Senor Presidente del Estado a la Asamblea Legislativa en sus sesiones extraordinarias de 1898 (Managua: Tipografía Nacional, 27 10 1898), p. 1.Google Scholar A copy of this Mensaje is in the GP/C.

40 Ibid.

41 James, , ‘Merchant’, pp. 106–7.Google Scholar

42 W. R. Grace to J. S. Zelaya, 6 Dec. 1898, New York, GP/C.

43 W. R. Grace to J. S. Zelaya, 17 Dec. 1898, New York, GP/C.

44 H. Hitchcock to J. Morgan, 31 Dec. 1898, New York, JTM/LC.

45 Ibid.

46 J. R. Whittle to W. R. Grace, 28 Nov. 1898, Nashville, Tenn., GP/C.

47 F. C. Smith to W. R. Grace, 19 Nov. 1898, Warrington, Florida, GP/C.

48 Henry Curtis Spalding to Hon. William R. Grace, 4 Jan. 1899, New York, GP/C.

49 William H. Orret to F. G. Fisher, 15 Nov. 1898, Kingston, Jamaica, GP/C.

50 H. Hitchcock to J. Morgan, 15 Jan. 1899, New York, JTM/LC.

51 J. Hay to J. Morgan, 21 Jan. 1899, Washington, JTM/LC.

52 Algernon S. Garret to J. Morgan, 25 Jan. 1899, Hot Springs, Arkansas, JTM/LC.

53 Leo Willis to J. Morgan, 23 Jan. 1899, Salem, Oregon, JTM/LC.

54 Radke, , ‘John Tyler Morgan’, pp. 359–61.Google Scholar

55 H. Hitchcock to J. Morgan, 11 Feb. 1899, New York, JTM/LC.

56 Radke, , ‘John Tyler Morgan’, pp. 360–1.Google Scholar

57 Ibid.

58 H. Hitchcock to J. Morgan, 13 Feb. 1899, JTM/LC.

59 H. Hitchcock to J. Morgan, 28 Feb. 1899, JTM/LC.

60 McCullough, , Path Between the Seas, p. 264.Google Scholar Actually, Walker chaired two commissions, the Nicaragua Canal Commission organized in 1897 and the Isthmian Canal Commission (referred to in text above), established by Congress in 1899, to report specifically on the merits of both routes and then to recommend one. The first commission, formally named the United States Nicaragua Canal Commission, delivered its 502-page Report of the Nicaragua Canal Commission, 1897–1899 (Baltimore: The Friedenwald Co., 1899) in May 1899.Google Scholar The second commission, also chaired by Admiral Walker, delivered its Report of the Isthmian Canal Commission, 1899–1901 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1904) in November 1901.Google Scholar It changed its mind in Jan. 1902. See text following for the story of this remarkable conversion. In the literature of the times, the Nicaragua Canal Commission was known as the First Walker Commission, while the Isthmian Canal Commission was known as the Second Walker Commission.

61 William R. Grace to J. S. Zelaya, 25 Jan. 1899, New York, GP/C.

62 M. P. Grace to W. R. Grace, 18 Jan. 1899, London, GP/C.

63 H. Hitchcock to J. Morgan, 19 Apr. 1899, New York, JTM/LC.

64 Pedro González to Edward Eyre, 22 Apr. 1899. Managua, GP/C.

65 Ibid.

66 H. Hitchcock to J. Morgan, 7 Nov. 1899, New York, JTM/LC.

67 Contract between the Government of Nicaragua and Edward Eyre and Edward F. Cragin for the construction of the Inter-oceanic Canal, printed in Managua, 31 Oct. 1898, in GP/C.

68 James, , ‘Merchant’, p. 108Google Scholar; W. R. Grace to J. D. Phelan, 29 May 1900, GP/C.

69 H. Hitchcock to J. Morgan, 5, 9 Feb. 1900, New York, JTM/LC.

70 Ibid.

71 See Fry, Joseph A., ‘Governor Johnston's Attempt to Unseat Senator Morgan, 1899–1900’, The Alabama Review, vol. 38. no. 4 (10 1985), pp. 243–79Google Scholar, for an excellent description of this campaign, its principals, and the issues they addressed.

72 McCullough, , Path, p. 266.Google Scholar

73 Morgan was understandably outraged by the presidential pressure put on Haupt to conform. But he did not hear of this backroom arm-twisting until after the final commitment was made to Panama in June 1902, and by then it was too late. Many letters between Morgan and Haupt, 1902–3, JTM/LC.