aroused in this way, on January 10, 1888, two bills were introduced simultaneously in the Senate and the House by Senator Edmunds and Representative Norwood, providing for the incorporation of the Maritime Canal Company of Nicaragua. Inasmuch as these bills only asked for the government's political protection, and as this had already been virtually promised by the President, there was little opposition in Congress to the request. Both bills being identical, the Senate bill was, therefore, allowed to take the place of that before the House, and the measure ultimately secured the sanction of both branches of Congress. On February 20, 1889, the President added his approval, and the Maritime Canal Company thus secured the rights of a juristic personality under the laws of the Federal govern ment. On the fourth of the following May the company was duly organized, with a capital of $150,000,000 in five-per-cent. bonds and $100,000,000 in ordinary stock. Mr. Hiram Hitchcock was elected president,' and the concessions were duly transferred from the old company to the new. A contract was then entered into with the Construction Company for the prosecution of the work, and henceforth the Maritime Canal Company of Nicaragua came to represent the American canal project as a private undertaking.' Mr. Menocal retained the post of engineer-in-chief The position he still fills. 2 U. S. Statutes, Vol. XXV., pp. 673-675. U. S. Sen. Report, 1944, Appendix K, 51st Cong., 1st Sess. Nicaragua. of the undertaking, and on May 26th the first construction party, consisting of forty-seven § 163. The engineers and their assistants, was sent off Inauguration of the to Nicaragua to inaugurate the work under Work in his direction. Supplies and materials were despatched with the party and orders were given to stop at Jamaica and pick up a sufficient number of acclimatized laborers. The party arrived at Greytown on June 8th and at once commenced work, with nothing like the display that had characterized the inauguration of the Panama canal, it is true, but with far greater determination to succeed. What de Lesseps had called the "installations" were little more than begun, however, when Nicara gua and Costa Rica again fell to quarrelling over their respective rights along the canal line. Each had made its own contract with the canal company, to be sure, but neither would consent to countersign the grants accorded by the other, and thus fresh controversies were bound to arise. The company appealed to the government of the United States to adjust matters, and, as Mr. Blaine had now reassumed control of the State Department, he was again called upon to exercise his good offices in behalf of the canal. Mr. Mizner was then our minister to Central America, and by acting decisively and at once he was able to bring the refractory little republics to order, and finally induced them to sign a convention, called the "Treaty of Limits," which emphasized President Cleveland's award, and once more "settled" the boundary dispute for the time. This diplomatic difficulty occasioned some delay in the technical prosecution of the work, but after the adjustment had been affected operations were resumed. The canal line was now laid out according to the plans, storehouses, machine-shops, and wharfs were constructed, dwellings for officers and employees were erected, a hospital service was organized, and railroad and telephone lines were run along the eastern section of the canal route.1 These works were merely preliminary, however, and were only intended to substantiate the company's rights under its concession with Nicaragua. § 164. ExThe real test lay in the ability of the Mari- peditions of time Canal Company to raise the necessary Inspection. funds for the actual construction of the canal. The promoters were, indeed, genuinely anxious that the work should be completed with American capital, but sufficient funds could not be raised in the United States, they thought, unless the gov ernment should come to their aid with a financial guaranty and give the enterprise at least the stamp of a national undertaking. Otherwise, they openly declared they would have to float their securities on the markets of the world and invite foreign capital to subscribe. This latter plan, again, if vigorously pursued, must necessarily react in favor of the former, by stirring up American patriotism in the undertaking when confronted with the possibility of 1 Report of the Maritime Canal Company to the Secretary of the Interior, 1890. U. S. Sen. Ex. Doc., 5, 51st Cong., 2d Sess. U. S. Diplomatic Correspondence, 1890. foreign control. Thus in following its own business interests, the canal company really cast the responsi bility of the decision upon the American people themselves. On March 5, 1890, Hon. Warner Miller was elected president of the Construction Company, and a few days later he set out on an expedition of inspection, taking with him a number of gentlemen, both experts and laymen, that they might see for themselves and report to their friends the progress and possibilities of the work. The party was selected with rare discrimination, and all interested elements were well represented. Two English engineers, Messrs. H. F. Donaldson and H. F. Gooch were invited, in the hopes that their report might enlist British capital in the enterprise. An American technical expert from private life, Mr. D. McN. Stauffer, was also present to encourage American investors. The United States government likewise detailed experts from the Army and Navy to accompany the expedition in an official capacity and report the results of their inspection. The officers appointed for the purpose were Major C. E. Dutton, and Lieutenant Guy Howard of the Army, and Commander Willard H. Brownson, and Lieutenant W. I. Chambers of the Navy. A number of journalists also accompanied the party, that the people might be informed of the undertaking through the press. A mishap befell the party on the voyage, as their vessel, the steamship Aguan, was wrecked upon a coral reef in the Caribbean Sea, but fortunately no lives were lost, and, after being obliged to spend six days on an island, they were taken off by a coasting steamer, and finally landed at Greytown on April 2d. The visitors were then shown over the route, and given an opportunity to see the equipment in working order and inspect the work thus far accomplished. General satisfaction was expressed at the result. The English engineers on their return to Great Britain spoke with approval of the work, and the American officers also reported favorably on the enterprise to their government. The press was likewise loud in its praises of the undertaking, and altogether, as a result of the expedition, the Nicaragua canal project was placed on a much firmer and surer basis before the world. Shortly after this, the Nicaragua government appointed two commissioners, Señors Don J. A. Roman and Don Maximilian Sonnenstern, to inspect the work of the company, and determine whether, during the first year, $2,000,000 had been legitimately expended upon the work, as provided for under the concession. Their report, handed in on November 6, 1890, was also entirely favorable, and the company was duly informed by Nicaragua's President, that Article XLVII. of the concession had been fully and completely complied with." Thus under the terms of their contract with Nicaragua the canal promoters now had ten years before them to complete the work, and they felt justified, therefore, in continuing their preparations accordingly.' 1 U. S. Sen. Ex. Doc., 4, 52d Cong., 1st Sess., p. 3. "Interoceanic Canal of Nicaragua," loc. cit., pp. 17, 18, and Appendix 10. |